The First Gallery in Vail, colorado
J. Cotter Gallery
——— Est. 1970———
Jim Cotter first began making art jewelry in the 1960s. He attended Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, where he was given an art professor as an advisor, Mr. Cordiner. Jim remembers, “He talked me into taking an art class, and after that, I realized it was the best thing I had ever done.” After a football injury, Cotter turned his full attention to art-making, taking sculpture, painting, and art education classes.
He used whatever materials he could find, usually what was affordable. He used soup cans, coins, and plumbers lead, and he made molds with two-by-fours. He still uses some of these materials and techniques today. Cotter has always had a knack for finding inspiration in life around him. He graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Education and headed to San Miguel to learn more about painting.
He only made it as far as Boulder, where he met a girl who invited him to spend the night.
The following morning, he noticed a flyer for a two-week jewelry casting course. He enrolled the next day with no money and no plan. He loved the class. He was the first student there each morning and the last to leave.
Cotter ventured to Central City to take a wheel-throwing pottery class. In downtown Central City, he strolled into a gallery. After chatting with the owner, they agreed to sell the work that he made in the jewelry casting course. The work immediately sold, which prompted the gallery to invite him to set up shop and sell more pieces.
While he was excited about this opportunity, he didn’t have the equipment to cast his own jewelry. The gallery owner knew a recently deceased metalsmith, so Cotter could use some equipment, but he needed to buy a caster and kiln.
Fun fact about Cotter: he’s a lucky man. The next day, while shooting pool, he found $87 on the ground. He tried to turn it in, but no one claimed it. He had the money to buy the equipment!
The gallery owner invited him to use her closet, and he set up his new caster and kiln. He opened his first pop-up shop in 1967. After this success, he decided to go back to school. He moved to Laramie to get his Master’s of Arts from the University of Wyoming.
He studied sculpture and stone carving, writing his Master's Thesis on the idea that jewelry is a form of sculpture.
After graduating in 1969, he moved back to Colorado. While chatting with some guys at Donovan’s Copper Bar, he told them he was thinking about opening a gallery in Vail. They told him that he should see how much it would cost, but there is no way that Cotter would make it at $8 a square foot.
He met a realtor named Charley Gersbach and toured a space on Wall St. Cotter told him that he would do $8 a square foot if he threw in the small storage unit next door. Charley agreed, and Cotter rented the gallery in 1970 at the age of 25 years old.
He dug out the dirt floor and poured concrete in the storage space. He then rented the space to Doug McGlauflin, who opened the first sunglass shop in the village. Cotter chuckles, “Charlie never forgave me for that because it paid my rent.”
The J. Cotter Gallery was the first gallery to open in the Vail Village. He worked with his father, Gene, to build out the windows, and he created a beautiful container to sell his work and educate others about art jewelry.