Whether you’re looking for a niche piece of wall art, that one record your parents used to listen to, or the perfect frame for your family portraits, there’s a good chance it’s sitting in the Art & Antique Mall of Walker. The mall is unique in the fact that it sort of doubles as a gallery.

“What we do at the mall here is we showcase local artists in the area. We have potters, painters, jewelry makers, wood workers, everything in between,” says Joel Mensch, the owner of the mall.

The mall has been in business for 20 years. The lower level houses hundreds of antiques like records, books and figurines. Meanwhile, the top floor is where you’ll find the art.

“This is CJ Green. He does watercolor, oil, mosaics as you can see here,” says Mensch about one of the featured artists. He continues about a different artist: “Right here we have Kelly Kramer. She our number-one person. Very stylish, current, up-to-date styles.” And Mensch adds about another artist: “Cyrus Swan. He’s from Pine River, which isn’t too far from Walker. Very talented potter. Also teaches at BSU.”

As you would imagine, the mall is pretty big. Every nook and cranny is filled to the brim with different works of art. There’s thousands of items spanning around 30 different genres. The mall works with around 75 different collaborators right now, but in the summer, that number expands.

“95% of our artists are local within a half hour to an hour. We do have a few from the [Twin] Cities and one from Alaska,” says Mensch.

The mall has become a treasured spot among artists and locals in the community. Right now, they’re on the off season, but in summer, the foot traffic really picks up, which creates a ton of opportunities for artist to have their work be seen by the public.

Mensch says, “There’s a lot of good artists in the area, and it’s good to showcase them and have a spot where they can show their items and have a low overhead.”

The mall is open six days a week from 10 to 5 during the year, excluding summer when it is open seven days a week. You can find more information on their Facebook page here.

By — Shirelle Moore