“If you had told me that any such entity would last two years, let alone 15 years, I would have looked you right in the eye and told you you were a liar,” says Gordy Beil, volunteer public relations guru at Seattle’s oldest non-profit art gallery, Art/Not Terminal at the corner of Westlake and Lenora.

What’s the key to longevity? Survival of the fittest? Survival of the richest? At Art/Not Terminal, the strength of their momentum lies in the selfless act of giving, underscored by a passionate commitment to the arts.

Gordy Beil, an artist himself, volunteers his time along with eleven board members and countless member-volunteers to keep the gallery going. Beil has a true appreciation of what the gallery provides. A native of Bellevue, Beil recalled that when he was growing up – and Bellevue at that time was largely a wooded area – there were very few places to go to see art. Artists were influenced mostly from books and what was taught in school. When Beil’s not busy with the gallery, he’s a photographer, sculptor and painter. He logs in most of his hours at the gallery in the beginning of the month, when there’s a new show to hang.

Art/Not Terminal began in October of 1988 as a one month venue in a space a few blocks away from it’s current location. It was an empty space that Lonny Johnson, the founding member, leased out to show his own art. Then a few other people wanted to show there and the lease continued a few more months. In 1989, the gallery was incorporated as a non-juried, non-censored, volunteer run gallery and continues as such today.

The name Art/Not Terminal comes from the original space, which had formerly been the Trailways bus terminal. People would come to the gallery looking for the bus station (which had moved to the Greyhound station just a few blocks away). Beil points out the name’s double meaning: “Art isn’t terminal. It won’t hurt you unless it falls on you and kills you or something, but that’s very rare.”

The gallery is a Washington State non-profit, which allows for the organization to run itself with low operating costs, and without pouring all of their energy into fundraising. When the board decides to take on a large and costly project, like installing a wheelchair lift, they engage in fundraising, using Allied Arts as their 501(c)3 umbrella. The ground floor and basement of this 1909 apartment building is leased from Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program. There are no paid staff members – the gallery is run by a board of directors and it’s volunteer members. There is no fee for membership, just a hanging fee for artists who wish to exhibit their work, and a required minimum of six hours of gallery work in a month. Some revenue is generated from the gallery’s gift shop, which sells goods made by member artists. Even here, the gallery only takes 10% of the profit of the sale of these unique gifts.

The freedom offered to artists here is unique. And with all the space the gallery has (including the recently acquired Subterranean Room), a great number of artists can show at the same time. “Here I can see as much variety as I can see on the [Pioneer Square] artwalk,” says Beil. ”Here I have 43 artists this month... that’s a lot of art, and I don’t have to do the walking.”.

Things are very busy at the gallery, with amateur and serious artists alike signing up to exhibit their work. The Subterranean room is booked several months ahead of time. The absence of censorship draws many talented artists that are usually overlooked by the mainstream. Often times in the art world, political, religious and economic issues confronted in a body of work may seem dangerous to show for a gallery that survives on big profits. Those fears do not exist here. Art/Not Terminal exists solely for the profit of the individual artist.

“We have people [showing here] who could show at any mainstream gallery in town,” says Beil. “But they don’t choose to. They like the freedom that they have here. They like the interaction that they have here.”

Beil counted, and found that approximately 1500 different artists have shown at A/NT over the years. Some of what Beil likes to do at the gallery is bring in examples of many people’s work to inspire and influence others. He also hopes to encourage those who create art but never show it to exhibit here. “I don’t think you choose art. I think art chooses you,” says Beil. “And some people for a long time suppress it. They work at all these other jobs and do everything except what they really like to do, never really knowing why they’re unhappy. I think you just have to do it, you just have to let it out. It’s great therapy.... Seattle’s full of closet artists, and every now and again we get one to come out and show here. I think that’s a victory in a way.”

Most galleries in Seattle operating under the same principle as A/NT haven’t lasted very long. I asked Beil why A/NT is different from other galleries. “I think, largely because people put their egos aside [here] for the better of the gallery. That’s the only way this type of thing can work. You have to think, what’s best for the gallery, not what’s best for me. If you do well for the gallery, I think you might do well for yourself... [volunteering here] is not something you do with the thought of reward, and yet you are rewarded anyway, because you learn something. Your rewards aren’t always tangible, and they’re not always what you think they’re gonna be.”

Beil also gives weight to chance. ”I don’t think you could have planned this and made it work. It just took a certain group of people that had a vision and just wanted to do stuff. And they were willing to work very hard to do it. And they were successful.... sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time, and you have the right people saying the right words to the other people, and it works.”

As A/NT matures, it’s climate and operational style continues to evolve. Beil: “When the gallery began there was a little more of a freer atmosphere. A little more anything goes. As a business gets on in years it looks to upgrade, in this case to a nicer, bigger building... [and] as you get out there and interact with the business community more, you’ll change... the business community doesn’t really understand artists, so you have to learn to speak their language.”

Although the Denny Triangle where the gallery is located is a designated expansion area, Beil sees a bright future for A/NT, and knows what is required to ensure the gallery’s continued success: “[The future] depends on space issues, and saving ourselves from developers... [we] have to be frugal, and look at what’s most important... [we] need people involved who are selfless, and people who understand philanthropy, without reward in mind.”

The gallery opens new exhibitions on the first Saturday of every month, with a reception from 7 to 10 pm that night, which includes refreshments and music. A/NT is open 7 days a week: Monday - Saturday 11a.m. - 6p.m., and Sunday 12 - 5p.m. and is located at 2045 Westlake Avenue.