The Green Bank Artisans Cooperative Gallery reopened its doors Saturday after a few months of repair and restructuring.

When some co-op members decided to focus on the 4th Street Gallery in Marlinton, the upper end members made the choice to start over.

“We’re a group of folks from this area and will probably stretch a little bit into Highland County, Virginia,” president Marsha Laska said. “We have some people who are interested in coming and joining us from there, too.”

The gallery received a facelift as members banded together to repaint the space and rearrange the displays.

“What I love about when we did the renovation and the work is we had an idea of what we wanted to do,” Laska said. “These wall units are very traditional to a retail store, they call them slat walls. We found Mr. Fitch who had wonderful barn wood and he planed it for us and then Mike Taylor actually figured out how to cut that groove and mounted them for us. That’s what makes this really unique.”

Laska calls the renovation a rebirth a return to the way the gallery was in 2007.

“We think of it as coming home, back to the original,” she said. “We always want people to feel that when they come in that they are sort of coming into our home.”

As a part of the grand opening celebration, Clyde Jenkins demonstrated white oak basketmaking.

Jenkins taught himself the art at a young age and has perfected the art over the years.

His baskets have been featured at the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival and Jenkins said First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, each have one of his baskets.

A selection of his baskets, including acron shaped baskets, will be for sale at the co-op.

The cooperative currently has 13 members and is always on the lookout for more. Artists interested in becoming members may call the gallery at 304-456-9900.

The gallery is open Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m., to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com