Hipkiss Gallery closes due to steep rent increase

128 percent hike to much to absorb, says longtime Sonoma artist|

Longtime Sonoma artist Cynthia Hipkiss closed her Plaza gallery on June 12, after more than a dozen years at the site – victim of a massive rent increase, she said.

Hipkiss shared an April letter from Elizabeth Franson of Sausalito-based Sequoia Land Investments, which states the monthly rent for the gallery space at El Paso de Sonoma was to rise to $2,160 with a 4 percent rise each year for at least five years, and a $75 per month charge for a parking space. This is more than a 128 percent rent increase, Hipkiss said.

“I understand that this is a very large increase to absorb, however, we cannot allow this space to continue to be leased so far under market,” the Franson letter states.

Hipkiss’s whimsical ceramic figures, as well as oil paintings by her daughter Caroline and ceramics by her son, Michael, will be available online, Hipkiss says, and some work will continue to be sold at the Marin County farmers market and in other various stores. But that’s it for her Sonoma retail presence.

Asked if she knew what was going to move into the tiny gallery space she is leaving, Hipkiss shrugged. “Another tasting room,” she guessed.

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