“I confused a lot of people,” Fortune said. “They’d ask me why I’d make my own competition. For one, it was for the greater good. A selfish reason might be I wanted to create a dynamic space where artists can gather in one location.”

This year the Adirondack Artists Guild is celebrating its 20th anniversary. For the past two decades, locals such as photographer Barry Lobdell, painter Georgeanne Gaffney and potter Mary Lou Reid, among others, have displayed their work while promoting Saranac Lake as a destination and home for artists.

Sandra Hildreth has been a member of the Guild for 14 years, and she said the gallery provides a stimulating environment for its members while also creating aesthetic enjoyment for the community and visitors.

“I see it as a very strong base for attracting visitors and people who might want to live here,” she said. “Now there’s art in so many of our businesses, and that’s valuable. Saranac Lake has built up that reputation so much that we have artists who want to come here and teach workshops.”

People browse the artwork inside the Adirondack Artists Guild in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

On the first Friday of every month, the Guild has an art opening with a different featured artist, much like another cooperative gallery in the village — NorthWind Fine Arts.

“To have that consistency is really important,” Fortune said.

When it first opened, the gallery was originally called the North Country Artists Guild, and it was located further down Main Street where Origins Coffee is now, right across from Fortune’s personal gallery.

“I contacted the owner of the building whose name was, believe it or not, Countess Alicia Paollozzi,” Fortune said.

He then found seven artists and one frame maker who agreed to rent out the space. The gallery now has 13 members. Still on Main Street, the Guild is only a few buildings down and is connected to the Ampersound music shop, Mark Kurtz Photography and the Adirondack Center for Writing.

“It’s the most visible art gallery, and it’s just the perfect location,” Fortune said. “Having all the other art shops next to it adds to that.”

Fortune thinks the Guild and other pieces of art culture, such as the Third Thursday Art Walks and the Center for Writing, have made Saranac Lake a hub for creative types.

“The Guild actually encouraged members to open their own galleries,” he said. “Mark Kurtz was an original member, and he has since opened his own space.”

However, he’s always blunt with people who want to learn about or join the scene. It can be intimidating yet uplifting.

“I don’t sugarcoat it,” he said. “We’re in the Adirondacks. It’s a depressed economy. Many artists have to do something else or work out of their homes and that sort of thing, but they’re very supportive. Artists generally just need a place to work and a place to live that is conducive to whatever creative bent they have.”