Cottage Gallery

Cottage Gallery was an art gallery that was located in Carmel, California. It was owned and operated by George Goff. It opened in November 1984, and closed in 2001. The significance of the Gallery is primarily due to the involvement of artist Thomas Kinkade who was a friend of Goffs. Kinkade suggested the name, Cottage Gallery, because of Carmel's quaint look and because of the actual building that the Gallery was located in had a pseudo-cottage feel. The Gallery was located at the corner of Sixth and Mission. In addition, Kinkade also designed the Gallery's logo which appeared on the main wood sign outdoors, all stationary and secondary collateral material. Cottage Gallery was one of the first galleries in which Kinkade started showing his fine art paintings in. Kinkade also produced paintings under a “brush name” of Robert Girrard. Cottage Gallery was the only gallery that showed the “Robert Girrard” paintings of Kinkade. For decades there were only a handful of people who knew that Robert Girrard and Thomas Kinkade were one and the same. The gallery mostly showed original oil paintings by living artists.