E-Mail This Article to a Friend Gallery gal Art Attack hits Somerville BY MELISSA OSTROW

In the local art scene, no space goes vacant for long. When Kate Ledogar closed her Gallery 108 on Beacon Street in Somerville last June to pursue her own painting and fiction, it wasn’t long before another young art entrepreneur declared the location the home of her dreams. Heather Somershein, a 2000 University of Pennsylvania graduate in drawing and painting, got into the gallery business even before she graduated, when she was picked by the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh to open a retail art space with a $100,000 grant; the experience, she says, "allowed me to know that I could do it myself." Still, she didn’t want to become another "starving artist statistic," so she took a job at the Wentworth Gallery in the King of Prussia mall near where she grew up in suburban Philadelphia. Within the first year, she had been recognized as the top sales person out of all 31 stores in the Wentworth chain and had put on her own successful show. Before long, she was working the chain’s New York store; then she came to Boston as gallery director, and she traveled all over the country mounting Wentworth’s Peter Max exhibits.

But she had always dreamed of owning her own business, and in September, she decided it was time to go out on her own. She had been business-savvy since her days of standing on a phonebook to sell jewelry in her mother’s jewelry store, and she’d been collecting artists’ business cards at trade shows since she was 15. "I decided the worst-case scenario was that I would go into debt. The best thing that could happen to me was that I was going to pursue a dream for myself, and if I was successful, then I would be incredibly happy and I would be doing a job that I could do for the rest of my life."

When Somershein walked into 108 Beacon Street, she knew she’d found the place; she signed the lease, contacted artists and began her job as janitor, merchandiser, curator, and Web-site designer for the new gallery. Within a month, she had sold her first piece, a Moroccan goatskin lamp.

Art Attack mixes fine art, fashion, crafts, and furniture, and Somershein wants it to be a place where everyone feels welcome, even canines (a sign on the steps reads: "It’s a doggie watering hole.") People "could be running by in their jogging shorts and come in. I don’t really care. It is not a formal affair to look at art. You just have to enjoy looking at it." Her goal is to make art fun and accessible, as well as affordable, with prices ranging from $4 to $3500. "I want ‘Wow!’ to be in everyone’s vocabulary when they come in here."

Art Attack’s red-and-white walls with purple trim are the background to a diverse display, from landscapes made with cut-and-shaped hand-dyed scarves to watercolor portraits and street scenes of photographic precision to kitschy lacquered mirrors and clocks. In one corner, a big yellow vintage velour chair holds delicate, individualized ’30s-style embroidered purses. The 450-square-foot space is dotted with Art Deco lacquered tables, Moroccan lamps, and glass cases filled with everything from delicate antique jewelry to modern chunkier styles. Tall glass and chrome shelves and simple wood blocks hold hand-blown Venetian glass vases and molded bronze sculptures. The result is a uncramped, funky display of art.

What’s more, Somershein has designed Art Attack so that she can mount solo shows. Through January 14, the gallery is featuring graffiti artist Caleb Sonik’s large murals in "Exterior Goes Interior." And from January 25 to March 11, Somershein will display work by the Boston-based landscape artist Anthony Petchkis.

Art Attack, at 108 Beacon Street in Somerville, is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.; call (617) 441-3833, or visit www.ArtAttack108.com