Vintage photos and live music ondisplay at Gallery West’s 10th anniversary

It’s Gallery West’s 10th anniversary and Kirk and Kirsten West have a celebration planned for Feb. 7’s First Friday with a unique opportunity to own some of Kirk’s vintage work.

It was in January 2015 that the gallery had a soft opening displaying Kirk’s photos of many of the world’s most illustrious music stars, including The Allman Brothers Band. He’d photographed them in their earlier days and then worked for them as road manager — or Tour Mystic, as he was dubbed — for a couple of decades beginning in the 1990s.

Then the gallery had its official, ribbon-cutting grand opening on 2015’s February First Friday.

At first, it was only Kirk’s work on the walls attracting Allman Brothers and other music fans through its doors from all over the world. That was before Macon had risen to the music tourism level it has today with the proliferation of attractions and superb promotional efforts of Visit Macon.

In recent years, Kirk and Kirsten have added to the mix by inviting a variety of local and international artists, photographers and writers to exhibit alongside Kirk each month

That’s the tip of the West’s story, which we discussed during a phone conversation as they headed home from a visit with Kirsten’s kids and grandkids in Tennessee.

I asked how they got started in Macon, why they decided to move here and about their connection to The Big House.

“Kirk first came to Macon for GABBA Fest,” Kirsten said.

GABBA is the annual music gathering here of the Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association.

“He returned with photos he’d taken of The Allman Brothers’ old house on Vineville, The Big House. It was just old and empty at the time. I was still working in insurance, but we decided we should move to Macon and turn The Big House into a rock-and-roll bed and breakfast.”

It was pretty much Kirsten’s idea. She’d gone from being a Minnesotan to being a Hollywood hippie who knew a lot about music. Then she became a hippie-at-heart vice president of a multinational insurance company. When she and Kirk met, he was impressed she knew the names of obscure bass players in Chicago blues bands.

You see, Kirk grew up in small-town Iowa taking pictures of hot rods until he moved to Chicago to be close to the Chicago blues scene and take pictures, as he’s told me, of old-school greats who were seeing their last days.

He began selling photos of all sorts of musicians coming through the Windy City including all manner of rock legends but also country music stars that no one else wanted to shoot. He gained their respect and friendship.

Upon meeting, he and Kirsten were engaged within three weeks and married in three more. Kirk said he knew he better marry her quick before she got away.

“After we moved to Macon into The Big House, we found out zoning wouldn’t allow a bed and breakfast,” Kirsten said. So, they just kept piling it full of photos and memorabilia Kirk had. It started looking like a museum. 

“We began putting out ‘Hittin’ the Note’ magazine that united Allman Brothers fans all over the world. And people started showing up at The Big House from everywhere as sort of a pilgrimage to pay their respects to the band and its members, sometimes — a lot of times — in the middle of the night.”

The two set in motion having the house become a full-fledged, non-profit, self-sustaining museum operated by a board and moved themselves into a more private home Kirsten fell in love with.

She told Kirk if they got the house she’d never move.

Kirsten also began managing the Capitol Theatre in its early days as a venue, cleaning floors, emptying trash, booking bands – doing it all including paying bills, saying she sometimes took no salary for it.

“Because of Kirk, I knew how things worked backstage and how to treat bands well,” she said. “I’m proud of who we were able to book. Like Marty Stuart. He was in town recently for a big show but I remember booking him for the Capitol years ago.”   

Kirk has admitted to me over and over that Kirsten has the business brains and is the one who gets things done. 

“I just take the pictures,” he said, honoring what his wife has accomplished. 

She, in turn, has no end of compliments for his photos, photo books and reputation among musicians.

Here for the 10th anniversary, I’m glad to highlight her efforts. She’s the one who runs things, who runs the gallery. After all, Kirk gets – and deserves – a lot of spotlight, like being inducted last year into the Iowa Rock Hall of Fame.

“When we started the gallery, we weren’t planning to start a gallery at all,” she said. “We were just thinking of doing a six-week pop-up to sell Kirk’s work around Christmas and gee – here it is 10 years later. We opened it when there was nothing on Third Street. No lofts, no restaurants, and now look at what’s happened. We’re proud to have been a part of downtown becoming what it is and one of the first music tourism destinations. We’ve made Macon home for 33 years now.”

If you go to Gallery West now, you’ll see an exhibit by Warner Robins High School students, an example of the place’s wider community involvement. Soon, though, all the walls will once again be rehung and dedicated to Kirk’s photographs for the First Friday 10th anniversary exhibit reception.

“Saralyn Collins and Grow Local Food will cater, and we’ll have music by Scott Baston and his band Headstrings – I love his music,” Kirsten said. “Hours will be 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.”

And how about that opportunity to own vintage West photos?

“Kirk found a bunch of vintage photographs printed directly from negatives back in the day by Kirk himself in his darkroom on silver oxide paper,” Kirsten said. “There are tons of the old country music photos from Eddie Rabbit to Merle Haggard to Hank Jr. There are Dickey Betts portraits and shots of him playing going back to 1973. There are rock bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s and more with a wide variety, including his old shots and of bands like The Clash and people like Elvis Costello. These prints will be very affordable and signed by Kirk. It’s truly something very unusual and special for the anniversary.”

It is. I can’t wait to see those old shots born of Kirk’s artistry behind the camera, brought to life by his hands in a darkroom, and now bearing his John Hancock. And say kudos to Kirsten for bringing to life the gallery and keeping it viable all these years.

Gallery West is located at 447 Third St. and Kirk and Kirsten are active on social media at facebook.com/kirkwestphotography and instagram.com/kirkwestfotos.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Find him on Instagram at michael_w_pannell.