Innovative mother-daughter duo start Art Market at Brickworks
Published 1:30 am Monday, June 1, 2026
By Kristina Stucki
Staff reporter
“My mom and I have always been very close,” Joelle Gillette, a 32-year-old watercolorist, said to the Journal. “I’m lucky to call her my best friend.”
“Agreed!!” Pamela Gillette, 64, who works mainly in acrylics and colored pencil, chimed in from the background. “Ditto!”
The two artists play off of each other with every sentence this way — highlighting the other while downplaying their own contributions, jumping in to praise or share more details on the others’ accomplishments.
“I’m the old age, I’m vintage,” Pamela laughed. “She’s the business end of our journey together — she does all the computer work and marketing.”
You can almost hear Joelle’s eyes rolling as she counters. “She’s the mature artist and I’m just trying to do the modern-day piece. How to market ourselves and get it out there!”
And she’s succeeding. Gillette Artists has gone through many evolutions over the years: from interior design and wall murals in Connecticut to children’s books and selling art out of their fancy hot dog restaurant in Midway, Utah, called “Art-full Hot Dog Haus.”
Since finding themselves on San Juan Island in 2018, the two have been trying to figure out how to break into what feels like a fairly saturated local market.
“We started doing the farmers market in November 2020 and froze out there,” Joelle remembered. “We’ve done it every Saturday it’s been going on minus maybe a handful.”
They are Studio #11 on the SJI Artists Studio Tour on June 6-7 and Artist Cottage #5 at the Roche Harbor Village, which starts June 27. They sell originals in all sizes, from as small as 2 inches by 4 inches to a few feet. Prints, cards, notebooks and puzzles of their favorite pieces (even mailable puzzle postcards!) are available for smaller budgets, and lately they’ve even been offering custom pet portraits.
“We’re trying!” Joelle said of all their creative ventures. “We’re kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. We have our hand in a lot of different buckets, just trying to see what people want, but remaining true to ourselves and our art. We want to be unique and profitable but have art that every budget can afford. From a $2.50 enclosure card up to an original piece of art, we try to have something for everyone.”
One thing they don’t have is a gallery in town, and watching the First Friday Art Walk build momentum has felt like an untapped opportunity. So, they took matters into their own hands and created the Art Market at Brickworks every first Friday (except June, while they focus on the studio tour). Out-of-town artists sell their work there while DJ Mike Duncan spins in the background and various food vendors join each month.
“We’re trying to get more artists to participate!” Joelle said of the Art Market at Brickworks. “We want to help artists that don’t have other opportunities for exposure in town, or don’t have the capability to do the farmers market or want something more art-focused.”
“I’m so proud of her, it’s hard to express in words,” Pamela said. “I just said to her the other day — where did you come from? You’re just amazing! She is brilliant!”
“Well I got it from SOMEWHERE!” Joelle laughed. “It came from her!”
