The Galleries at 1351 & 1345 Grant Avenue
From the beginning, the Smartshop has been both a store and a gallery. Today, that vision continues across two venues, side by side on Grant Street, one of the most animated streets of North Beach
Professor Seagull’s Smartshop & Art Gallery (1351)
Inside our Smartshop, the gallery walls are covered in psychedelic light green and yellow
wallpaper — vibrant, but still perfectly balanced to receive and highlight artwork of all
kinds.
We have a rotation every 1–2 months, featuring either solo exhibitions or group shows. Our
walls most often showcase painting, drawing, and collage, while we are also open to
sculpture, photography, and other media.
Live Worms Gallery
(1345)
Next door, the Live Worms Gallery is our iconic exhibition space — a high-ceilinged,
white-wall
setting ideal for immersive shows and large-scale works.
Live Worms has a history as a gallery long before our arrival, a space deeply anchored in
the
neighborhood and loved by the community for many years.
To showcase a new artist, we like to open a reception during First Friday. This event is a mix of
an art walk and block party, happening - as it said - on the first Friday of every month across the
neighborhood.
The streets fill with music from local bars, live performances, and poetry readings, while
merchants open their doors for special happenings.
For us, it’s the perfect moment to welcome a big crowd and introduce new works. We also share
some of our non-alcoholic botanical beverages, which often makes curious people stop in
and discover the galleries.
We are open to hosting a closing reception or any other event in honor of the artists.
To keep exhibitions smooth and engaging, we ask artists to prepare a few essentials:
- Artwork ready to hang or display (framed, wired, or otherwise exhibition-ready).
- Price list and tags for each piece.
- Short biography to be displayed during the exhibition.
- Promotional content is not required, but encouraged — if you’d like to provide images or text, we can use them to help promote your show on social media and announcements.
Please note that participants handle their own installation.
We encourage collaborators to
be
present at First Friday receptions, as it’s the best way to meet the public and connect with the
neighborhood community.
We also take a 30% commission on all sales.

