Who is behind this Bear and Bird Boutique + Gallery?
Tate & Amanda,
April 2006
Bear and Bird is an off shoot of TATE'S Comics+Toys+Videos+More which was established in 1993 by Tate Ottati and the young age of 17! You can find more info on the origins of TATE'S by clicking on the sentence you just read. TATE'S is family owned an operated and is constantly evolving to stay fresh and interesting. Tate's wife, Amanda (hereafter referred to as "I", since I am the one writing this!), has been involved with TATE'S since 1996, when it was a much smaller and more traditional comic book store. Through many years of hard work, Tate and I, along with many others (notably: Tate's parents, Tony & Eileen) grew TATE'S into the 6,000 square foot business that has been called a "pop culture mecca".

When it was decided to expand TATE'S an additional 2,000 square feet in 2006, we finally had an opportunity to send a tentacle in another new direction. The 700 square foot loft area in the expansion was the perfect spot for the art gallery and boutique that we had often dreamed of. I left my job at an advertising agency to focus full time on this new venture and I'll be responsible for make Bear and Bird a part of the online and South Florida art community!

While we have not run an art gallery in the past, dealing with artists and the gallery world is not new to us. We have worked with many artists for special projects promoting TATE'S events. We are also collectors of art and will take great joy in bringing pretty pictures to the people. We pledge honesty and respect to everyone we work with and hope that there will be a place for us on your walls! :-)

What is Bear and Bird Boutique + Gallery?

Bear and Bird Boutique + Gallery is a new, fresh venue for artists locally and around the world. The 700 square foot wood floored loft space is divided into a boutique and a gallery. The boutique features special items that I feel will entice the savvy shopper. Think of it as a 'museum store' of sorts, the contents of which will be curated by me. It is an ecclectic mix of jewelry, books, clothing, toys, housewares, handmade items and more. Really, whatever strikes my fancy!

The gallery is nothing but walls without all the artists out there! We will feature group and theme shows, as well as one-man shows; focusing on up-and-coming artists and illustrators, and hope to keep the prices in the range that people can't afford to pass up! The possibilites of teaming up with so many talented people is very exciting. Officially we will specialize in "contemporary representational art".

Everything in the boutique & gallery will also be featured in an online store, which will be another new venture for us. I hope to bring our wares to a wider audience through the internet!

What is with the name? Why not just call it TATE'S Gallery?

We decided to create the upstairs gallery and boutique as a separate entity from TATE'S - besides, the name "TATE GALLERY" was already taken! ;-) I struggled with the name for quite some time. It had to be catchy and cute, but not TOO cute. It had to be available as a dot com and I wanted it to evoke some kind of visual element and emotions. I went crazy thinking about it all the time... Did you know that EVERY word I looked up in the dictionary is not available as a dot com?! Even multisyllabic, unspellable long words! We tried to work in the word Tate, but "Gallery DecapiTATE" just did't evoke the feeling I wanted.

One morning the words "Bear and Bird" just popped into my head. I skipped over to my computer to check and see if the dot com was available. Amazingly it was! My parents have called each other "Bear" and "Bird" as long as I can remember. The reason behind THAT I do not know, I never questioned it. I called them "Mom" and "Dad" after all. But, it works! It is cute and catchy, it has familial history, alliteration and was available as a dot com! Bear and Bird Boutique + Gallery was born...

By the way, that is me with my parents in a photo booth in the 1970's. --->