Phoenixville Daily - New Gallery
What started as an Instagram account in 2018 has become a brick-and-mortar gallery in 2025. Read the interview with the founder of Phoenixville Daily, Jedi Wright, to learn about this creative hub at 223 Prospect Street.
Emily: What inspired you to create the Phoenixville Daily Instagram account?
Jedi: After moving back to the area from California, my family and I settled in Phoenixville in the fall of 2014. Based on my prior art and community engagement and participation out west, I was eager to connect with the local scene here in Phoenixville, eventually getting involved with the Firebird Festival for a few seasons. At some point, I decided to take my involvement virtual as well, opting for Instagram (January 2018) as the primary platform to engage with and help spotlight the local arts and community. The first inspiration for doing so might have been seeing the continued fall of traditional news and media, and I had aspirations of doing something akin to that through daily postings online, hence the name.
E: How has Phoenixville Daily evolved over the years?
J: It's evolved from our daily (or as nearly daily as possible) posting to more targeted curation and spotlighting. As Meta's algorithms have changed, so has our approach to our account. At one point, we started extending our online post-curation to feature Phoenixville-adjacent art, news, events, and more. And then, of course, we got our first brick-and-mortar space a couple of months ago.
E: What prompted you to turn it into a gallery and retail space?
J: I'd wanted to extend what we were doing online for a while and had been searching for a space for well over a year before landing on this space. I'd always entertained the idea of creating a physical space to bring elements of my past creative pursuits and work to bear here. However, I didn't prioritize it as much as other pursuits until late 2023/24, when I started searching for a space in earnest. My wife Tristan and I were itching for dedicated creative/studio space and figured now was as good a time as any to give it a go. I looked at a number of locations in and out of town. Finally, I landed on 223 Prospect St (formerly Teresa Haag’s gallery and studio location) after touring it twice between September and December of 2024.
E: What can people expect when they visit Phoenixville Daily?
J: They can expect to see a mix of art, crafts, and goods from local artists and vendors, along with me, Tristan, and our smaller dog, Sir William. They can browse the gallery, studio, and shop to see works on display, available art, crafts, and goods available for purchase, check out our growing studio (still a WIP), and select from the available services on-site, including photo editing and printing, creative co-working hourly and day rental use, and a range of other creative and professional services. We're more than just a gallery and shop; we're striving to build and support a creative cultural center to serve an equally diverse community. Some of this will continue to change and evolve as we settle in, refine, and mature our space. But, one thing’s for sure–we likely won’t survive long-term solely as a gallery, hence the mixed use of the space. We welcome constructive public input on what folks want to see and experience from us and this wonderful space!
E: What are some upcoming events we can look forward to?
J: Our next few events include our first exhibition show, Apokálypsis, an art exhibition exploring themes of truth, rebirth, and the transformation of established systems, running from 3/20-4/20. This is followed up by the 15th Chester County annual studio tour on May 17th-May 18th.We're serving as a host artist studio with several guest artists, including Dave Yasenchak, Jay Holt, Kat Collins, Mandy Martin Art, Polly Davis Chalfant, and myself.
