L
eigh Kellis, owner of Portland's Holy Donut brand, is taking another risk with her latest venture: "The Gallery of Life," a three-floor artist co-op in a former print shop on Congress Street. After leaving her doughnut empire in her brother-in-law's hands to support her daughter's surfing career, Kellis returned to Maine and opened the gallery just three weeks ago.

    Her goal is to create an affordable space for local artists to showcase their work, host performances, and record music. The space has already hosted a wine tasting, improv theater workshop, and reggae Christmas performance, among other events. Kellis hopes to attract 100 artists who will pay $100 per month for shared use privileges.

    "I want to do spoken word and poetry here," said Munye Mohamed, aka Shine, a Portland Somali-American rapper and poet, during a brainstorming session with Kellis. "You know, get the lights down low, get some tea going. People would be stoked." Kellis is open to ideas, but her condition for hosting events is that they must have "good energy."

    The city's housing crunch and skyrocketing rents have made it difficult for mid-level artists to find affordable working and performance spaces, not located inside bars. Kellis hopes to fill this gap with The Gallery of Life, which she believes will be a hub for creative expression in Portland.