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JEoMrhinecaeStE. G.SaFonlmonroensoNfaaOmeuedrdPaParartrntnenrers Specialists in Labor and Employment Law
Congratulations to our newest partner, Erica E.
Congratulations to our newest partner, John S. Gannon.
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Specialties: Employment litigation in state and federal courts elping employers navigate
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and agencies • Class action lawsuits, including class and collective
es and compliance challenges,
wage and hour litigation • Discrimination, harassment, and
laws and OSHA compliance,
yers in courts and governmental
retaliation actions • Internal investigations
petition and confidentiality
contracts, policies and training
age and hour compliance.
Amelia Holstrom
Specialties: Employment litigation • Personnel policies and practices review • Wage and hour compliance • Labor relations • Advice and training • Litigation avoidance • MCAD and EEOC proceedings • Separation and severance agreements
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emplloyment and labor rellatiionsmatterrss.. Compliance • MCAD, CHRO, and EEOC proceedings • Non-competition
and transgender law • Handbooks and policies • Immigration • I-9
agreements • Separation and severance agreements • Single plaintiff and collective/class actions • Wage and hour compliance
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to feel good knowing they’ll come back in here and see new stuff. That’s a really crucial part.”
Also rotating will be the front window space, with which the gallery will highlight a certain artist. For the opening weeks, that’s Lopes, who was on hand to celebrate the gallery’s opening on June 19.
“In conjunction with Juneteenth, we wanted to make sure we were highlighting a local artist of color, and Anika’s work with the hats ... gives us an opportunity to kind of push the boundary a little bit on what art is,” Rechtschaffen said of the front window space. “We can also have historic installations there, or we can do installa- tions of artists who aren’t local, but maybe they’re doing work you can’t find locally, and we want to highlight it.”
History is important to Lopes, whose display at the gallery includes not only her hats, but original hat blocks created by one
of first black men to have a millinery factory in the garment district of New York City — which she uses to hand-block her hat designs, which she then hand-sews.
“There’s a lot of history here, and it’s been amazing to merge this [artwork] with Amherst history as part of the Juneteenth celebra- tion,” Lopes said. “It was just a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Amherst and what’s going on here at the Mill District, which was, in itself, such a pleasant surprise to see and experience. It’s an inspira- tion for where Amherst can go.”
“I never thought I would be showing here, and it’s
been wonderful how it’s been received — and it’s a way
to give back to the community and encourage artists, especially local artists, that there is a scene and a space for everything.”
As for the rental model, Rechtschaffen charges $20 per linear foot per month for wall space, which gives the artist use of the entire wall, floor to ceiling. She also takes a 20% commission on any art sales, all of which cycles back into the gallery for marketing, events, classes, and anything that brings more people in to see the work.
“That’s the idea — the commission isn’t just flying out of the artist’s pocket; it’s going right back into running the engine of the business side,” she said, noting that she modeled it after Woolworth Walk, a much larger gallery in Asheville, N.C., which features 230 booths in a former Woolworth’s store.
“In charging a little bit of rent, you create this ownership that art-
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Anika Lopes with the front-window display of her millinery art.
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