Working together: Coffee, art and playing possum

Editor’s note: This short feature is one of several brief looks at local professional collaborations included in Xpress‘ Business-to-Business Issue. 

With flyaway fur and a scrunched-up snout, the little marsupial depicted in Jen Toledo’s drawing “Opossum Joey” caught Kristin Britton’s eye.

“He resonated with me,” says Britton, who co-owns Izzy’s Coffee Den, with locations in downtown and West Asheville. Both shops exhibit local artists. “People just love this little possum. It’s like [he suggests] needing to get a cup of coffee or feeling frazzled from too much caffeine.

“Art and coffee are a natural mix,” Britton continues. “It’s great … for people to walk in here and be able to see a brand-new art show every month.”

Toledo, who graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in fine art, was waiting tables downtown at a restaurant next door to Izzy’s when she walked into the coffeehouse for a cup of joe.

“That’s when I saw the art up there,” Toledo says. She learned she could get a spot on Izzy’s walls by simply signing up for a show.

On Toledo’s website, the artist notes that her drawing of Joey was inspired by a young opossum that clambered into her attic bedroom and sat beside Toledo while she was watching an episode of “Twin Peaks.” Eventually, the critter curled up to sleep in Toledo’s sock drawer.

Capitalizing on the popularity of the adorable bedraggled critter, Britton and Ross, her husband and business partner, asked Toledo for permission to make “Opossum Joey” Izzy’s unofficial mascot, gracing the shop’s custom T-shirts. The artist agreed. Now, in addition to receiving payment for use of her art, Toledo says she also gets exposure.

“I see people at [art] markets, and they’re like, ‘I have your T-shirt from Izzy’s,” Toledo says.

Izzy’s hosts 24 art shows a year between its two locations, with Toledo participating in at least two annual exhibits. The sign-up calendar fills two years in advance of scheduled shows, Britton says.

“The art sells, and that’s a testament to our artists,” Britton continues, noting that 100% of proceeds from sales go to the makers.

For Toledo, discovering Izzy’s coffeehouse gallery proved to be a lifeline, and not for just financial reasons. At the time, she was coming from the professional art world, where she produced oil paintings, sculpture and prints for gallery shows.

“I didn’t like the art openings, the white walls and all of the ceremony around it,” Toledo says. “I didn’t like how unrelatable it was to everyone else around me.”

Toledo notes that exhibiting in coffee shops may be deemed unacceptable in the fine arts world, but she prefers the space that Izzy’s offers to the professional gallery walls.

“It’s more of an interaction [with the viewer] than just a one-sided statement,” Toledo says. “I really appreciate Kristin and her staff for facilitating art shows. It’s been a real leg up for me.”