Four Lemons, a charming shoppe (I’ve always wanted to write ‘shoppe’) that opened Oct. 4 at 4850 South Highland Drive, is an upscale Pier 1 imports-type store for home interior DIYers. Subtitled “Art Within Reach,” it’s 7,000 square-feet filled with really nice, decidedly eclectic decor you can work with to create a stellar living, dining, or bedroom space and is conveniently housed where Pier 1 once lived. And it opened just in time to begin serious holiday shopping for anyone on your list.

Colorful drums made by a family in Uganda; a multiplicity of walls of paintings in a wide range of genres and price points by mostly Utah artists; kitchenware and pottery that sing; stunning handmade quilts; small skeins of fine brightly colored yarn yearning to be knitted into something substantial; teensy stuffed kitty cats and other small animals that, surprise! are actually charming finger puppets; tempting and popular coloring books for grownups; it all has a place at Four Lemons, an offshoot of the Utah Art Markets that Nanette Amis has run for decades.

Utah Art Market is a marketplace for local artists who are passionate about sharing their talents with the community. It was first held in May, 1994, offering the Salt Lake community access to affordable arts and crafts, though it goes back even further to when Amis began selling her friends’ wares out of her home at Christmastime. Though she says she is more crafty than artistic herself, she has a lot of very talented artist friends and she knew she could broker their work.

At each Art Market, the best and most creative local artisans are invited to showcase their unique, whimsical, and always-handmade merchandise at a seasonally-themed event. It began as a once-yearly event, run out of Amis’ home, but has grown into six shows during the year. The venues may change each time and in the past few years they have been held at  held at Midvale Plaza in Midvale, Foothill Village in Salt Lake City, Town & Country Plaza in Millcreek, High Point Center in Sandy, Woodbine Food Hall in Salt Lake City, and Cottonwood Country Club. Each of the events—February, April, June, October, November, and December—are stocked with pieces that reflect the show’s theme.

The one-of-a-kind Arts and Crafts shows include: jewelry, candles, original paintings, fine art prints, stationery, frames, pillows, holiday décor, clothing, stained glass, ornamental iron, pottery, baked goods, baskets and other creations. And the 135 shows feature paintings that sell for one hundred, three hundred or five hundred dollars. Each included artist brings one work at each price. Amis is passionate about good artwork finding a home in a price range that isn’t out of sight for a beginning collector.

When Amis found this space on Highland Drive, she remembered her early days as a collector, when her first piece of original art, a gift, was a painting of four lemons on a windowsill by Rebecca Wagstaff. She’s always been about keeping “art within reach” and when this space became available in October, she felt that having a store to expand into was a terrific idea. Think of it as the best of her art markets brought together in one permanent space. She has jewelry, artwork by a hundred artists, fun gifts for all ages in a variety of prices, a collection of “Four Lemons” paintings and photos on the wall behind the cash register. It takes an hour to walk through the store, checking out all the artists and artisans with work available there. Hand-dyed wool yarn. Puzzles for grownups. “Perfectly Imperfect Pottery.” Just outside, there is an excellent Indian restaurant and also a place that serves wonderful fish.

Four Lemons Gallery, 4850 S. Highland Drive, Holladay, Tue-Sat, 10am-6pm.

Ann Poore

A graduate of the University of Utah, Ann Poore is a freelance writer and editor who spent most of her career at The Salt Lake Tribune. She was the 2018 recipient of the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Artist Award in the Literary Arts.