Owned by Lauren and Matt Johnson, Asheville’s ZaPow bills itself as the Southeast's only gallery and workspace focusing on illustration and pop culture art. ZaPow, though, also promotes its artists and hosts an array of events, exhibits, and workshops.

Located at 21 Battery Park, Suite 101, the venue is conveniently located in the heart of downtown. No doubt the location has allowed the young business—open since October of 2011—to thrive. “We’re ten months ahead of our business plan,” Lauren says.

Matt adds that ZaPow’s reception by the community has been nothing short of amazing. “People are constantly telling us how much they enjoyed their visit and how glad they are that we opened up in Asheville,” he says. “All of our openings and parties have been smash successes. Our artists have been happy, too. Sales have been very brisk.”

As an artist and illustrator, Lauren says that ZaPow grew out of her own desire to have a gallery that showcases illustrative work and pop art. Matt says at first he and Lauren considered a cafe with a gallery. “It then morphed into artist studio space and a gallery and was fine-tuned into ZaPow from there,” he says.

The couple understood there were some really great illustrators in the area but most galleries weren’t paying attention to illustration. “We decided to create a fun place for them to showcase their works,” Matt says. “We also wanted to be a place where artists could learn and grow and get assistance in promoting themselves and their work.”

Lauren says ZaPow is a multifaceted business. The gallery is one aspect. Currently about 60 artists have works displayed in ZaPow’s gallery and the space can hold works of up to 80 artists. “We are very selective,” Lauren says about accepting new artists. “And we’re very particular about the types of art we accept.” That said, ZaPow tries to be artist-friendly, taking only a ten percent commission on sales and renting gallery space for as low as $55 a month. It should be noted that ZaPow serves about 60 percent local clientele while the other 40 percent comes from all over the country.

Another aspect of ZaPow is its studio/workspace rental. Two studio spaces are available to rent on an hourly ($7.50), daily ($25), and weekly ($85) basis. The two spaces have access to natural light and have great visibility within the gallery. “We have one artist who rents a space every Saturday,” Lauren says. “It allows customers to see her working and see her work. She sells a ton of stuff.”

ZaPow also provides professional marketing and promotional services. Member artists (those who have been juried and rent space at ZaPow) receive an array of promotional services ranging from mentions in social media to press releases to having their work in rotation in local digital LED billboards. ZaPow offers additional fee-based services such as video promotion, submission services, manuscript and portfolio critiques, and more.

Matt and Lauren say that the goal for ZaPow in the short term is to be full. “It is looking like that will occur by this summer, just in time for the tourist season,” Matt says. “We also want to help our artists and writers become business and creative successes. Already this year, we have begun holding workshops on a variety of topics relating to being a successful artist or writer. We offer these workshops to the general public for a fee but all of them are free for our artists. We even stream them live on the Internet for those out of town.”

Workshops may include a variety of topics, including grant writing, self-publishing, and licensing artwork. Lauren says that she hopes ZaPow will be recognized as a springboard to national acclaim for artists and that the workshops can help give the knowledge, resources, and encouragement to get artists to the next level.

One recent development in the young life of ZaPow is that it has announced that Spellbound Children’s Bookshop will move from its current location on Wall Street into ZaPow as part of a new partnership. “Starting in February, Spellbound and ZaPow will be two separate businesses sharing the same space,” says Leslie Hawkins, owner of Spellbound. Lauren adds, “We are really looking forward to having Spellbound as part of ZaPow. Spellbound will enhance and compliment the children’s book style illustration we already have hanging in the gallery.”

During the holidays, ZaPow offered events in collaboration with LaZoom Tours and The Hop Ice Cream Café (both owned by husband-wife teams). “Long-term, I want to see ZaPow become an institution in Asheville, following in the footsteps of businesses like The Hop Ice Cream and LaZoom Tours,” Matt says. Already exceeding projections and expectations, it seems ZaPow is well on its way.

ZaPow is located at 21 Battery Park, Suite 101, in downtown Asheville. It’s closed on Tuesdays. For more information, call 828.575.2024 or visit zapow.com. For more information about Spellbound, visit spellboundchildrensbookshop.com.