Detail from “mammatus” by Maria Soledad Jofre.

Surely I was not alone in my dismay regarding the news that Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager was appraising the DIA’s priceless art collection, the suggestion being that it might be considered a source of revenue to balance the city’s debt. However, among the thoughts I used to console myself over this unlikely tragedy, the most reassuring was that even if the worst should happen, as far as the DIA is concerned, it would do nothing to kill the spirit of the arts in Detroit. We would just have to make some new museums of our own.

“A New Map” by Kelly Darke.

A fine idea, financial peril notwithstanding, and one that Yvette Rock, owner and director of the new Live Coal Gallery has taken to the street, opening a brand new gallery and permanent collection last month, with the kickoff show “Texture Intertwined.” The show features work by local artist Kelly Darke and Maria Soledad Jofre, who currently resides in Miami, and as the title would suggest, is heavy on texture. Darke is a fiber artist, who dyes, paints and embroiders into vintage and new cotton surfaces, creating dreamy landscapes and fabric moon shapes. Jofre, whose work has never before been shown, is the rare artist for whom pencil may be the ultimate medium. Her studies of inanimate objects like rope coils and rocks are surprisingly emotional and tense, and her more recent larger-scale work punctuates her Edward Gorey-like dense and dark landscapes with frenetic color.

Owner/director Yvette Rock with one of Jofre’s large-scale works.

A beautiful show, effectively and imaginatively interspersed (rather than keeping artist segregated to their own areas), “Texture Intertwined” closes today. But Live Coal is continuing their good work with “Modern Impressions,” which will open June 14th and feature the work of Senghor Reid, Gilda Snowden and emerging artist Antoinette Conner. Featuring emerging artist is just a piece of Live Coal’s mission, which also includes making donations through the LCG Giving Program, which selects worthwhile non-profit organizations to receive a portion of monthly sales from the gallery. Detail from “Moon” by Kelly Darke.

Detail from “A Hoarding Sensibility” by Maria Soledad Jofre.

All in all, an exciting new addition to the scene, Live Coal is doing all it can to stoke the fires of art in Detroit!

Live Coal Gallery: 5029 Trumbull St., Detroit; 313-402-5274; livecoalgallery.com