Adapt Gallery Now Open in Phoenix Warehouse District

A new art space called Adapt Gallery opened earlier this month at Bentley Projects in Phoenix.

It’s operated by Craig Randich, one of several artists with space inside The Studios at Bentley Projects.

Owned by gallerist Bentley Calverley, Bentley Projects is home to both Bentley Gallery and a special events space called Warehouse215.

The Studios are located in a detached building on that site, just a few steps west of the Warehouse215 courtyard.

“We wanted a space to showcase our work,” Randich says of the new gallery.

So they transformed a central area into a gallery. The entrance is on the south side of the building, off the main parking lot for Bentley Projects.

The gallery officially opened with a group show on First Friday, September 1. The exhibition featured Bentley Studio artists Chris Raypole, Jesse Paulk, Idakatherine Graver, Katharine Leigh Simpson, and Randich.

Adapt Gallery will show primarily works by studio artists.

It’s open from 6 to 10 p.m. on First and Third Friday, and by appointment.

The first solo show, a Simpson installation titled "Reviving the Imagination," continues through Friday, November 3.

Adapt Gallery is the latest art space to open in the Phoenix warehouse district, an area bounded by Jackson and Grant streets between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue.

Others galleries in that neighborhood include Bentley Gallery, which Calverley relocated from Scottsdale in 2012. Calverley represents dozens of local, national, and international artists. They don't include The Studio at Bentley Gallery artists.

Just two blocks east of Bentley Gallery, there’s an art space called Grant Street Studios, which houses two ASU galleries that show primarily student, faculty, and alumni work. Those exhibition spaces are called Step Gallery and Northlight Gallery.

Both Bentley Projects and Grant Street Studios are former warehouses that were refurbished by Phoenix developer Michael Levine and then sold to their current owners.

A longtime arts venue called The Icehouse is also located in the warehouse district. In 2016, Joe Holdren became director for the Icehouse gallery, which presents predominantly group shows featuring Arizona artists.

“We’re so excited about the new gallery and Katie’s show,” Randich says.

“As always, it’s about creating a space that sparks the imagination,” Simpson says of her first show at Adapt Gallery. “I want all who walk into the space to feel as if they have traveled to a new land of enchantment, and to create a new and lasting memory.”