SILVERDALE — Sheila Peterson has never been fond of empty wall space.

Recently, that was the catalyst for the Artists’ Edge in Silverdale to offer local artists space to show their work.

“The artists who come in here tell me there just aren’t enough places around here to show their work,” said Peterson, who has been with Artists’ Edge since 1996. “That got me thinking that we have wall space we can offer to them.”

So, she began a gallery inside the store that will show local artists’ work rotating work each month. There will be a reception on the third Friday of the month from 5-7 p.m. where the featured artist will be on hand to greet visitors and answer questions.

“And some months, if the artist wants to, they can paint while the reception is going on, so that people can see how they work,” Peterson said.

July’s artist is Maggie Huff of Poulsbo. She works with acrylics and watercolor.

“An interesting thing about her work is that she uses glitter in her paint and she uses a style called Interference, which makes her paintings have a shine to them,” she said.

Another interesting thing about her work is that some are nudes.

“She’s had trouble finding a place to show them,” Peterson said. “It’s not always welcome, depending on the gallery.”

Peterson is a master frame designer and has framed art for most of her life. She doesn’t consider herself an artist, but she’s creative and does counted cross stitch.

“(Owner) Bill Greenlaw bought the Silverdale store in 1990,” she said. “And when he bought the Poulsbo store in 1996, he bought me, too,” she joked.

Both stores carry high quality professional art supplies and do custom framing. They also try to meet the needs of student artists.

“We carry the essential products that students need — those who are taking classes at Olympic College or at NCAD (Northwest College of Art and Design),” Peterson said. “And we have drafting supplies.”

About half of their sales are in supplies and the other half is customer framing. Since Peterson has been there, she’s framed an original Norman Rockwell and a Salvador Dalí.

“A woman brought in an original Norman Rockwell,“ she said. “It was a painting of a barbershop, and the woman told us that it was her grandfather’s barbershop that was used for the painting. She remembered playing there when she was a child.”

Peterson and the other employees in Silverdale and Poulsbo have seen just about everything be framed, including an officer’s service revolver.

“People frame what’s important to them,” she said, noting that she framed the dress she wore when she was baptized in 1964.

They’ve framed medals, military items, U.S. flags, athletic letters and even an antique shaving blade and cup. They do a lot of framing for offices and car dealerships.

The most popular frame color is black, she noted.

“It’s classic,” she said. “It’s simple and clean and it goes with everything.”

But there’s more than black to choose from. The store has more than 1,000 framing options in every color possible. And they carry matting materials from three wholesalers.

With the increase in popularity of coloring for all ages, the store has also added a selection of adult coloring books and colored pencils.

“We sell a lot of coloring books,” she said, noting that they just got in an order of new ones.

Peterson is looking for other businesses in and around Silverdale who are willing to donate a wall for an artist to show his or her work.

“My goal is to get a lot more places to do this,” she said. “Once that happens, I’d like to start an Art Poker Run, where on the third Friday of the month, people would travel from place to place and get a card stamped and then enter a drawing for a prize.”

That, she said, would be open to any kind of business: coffee shops, retail and others.

“And we want to show photographer’s works, too,” she said.

Customers have noticed the artists’ gallery as they come in the store, Peterson said.

“They really like having a chance to see local artists’ work,” she said. “They like all the color on the wall.”

The artist on exhibit for August is Shar DuFresne, of Bremerton.

Anyone interested in showing their work, or any business interested in being a part of the gallery plan, can call Peterson at 360-698-3113, or email her at info@artistsedge.com.

The Silverdale store is located at 9960 Silverdale Way NW, Suite 6. The Poulsbo store is at 18723 Highway 305.