The art store Sign of the Dove reopens Sept. 1 at Lesley’s University Hall – next to Porter Square Books – in time for the Cambridge Arts Open Studios, said Susan Tornheim, a member of the arts collective.
The store, which had been in the Porter Square Shopping Center for 23 years, lost its lease April 30 and could not find a location fast enough to relocate without a monthslong gap. But the time taken to negotiate the new space brings benefits: It has 50 percent more space than before, making room for 15 new artists in addition to the 19 represented at the old space, Tornheim said Tuesday.
“For us, this is a big change. We are exploring rejiggering things a little bit to make this all work.” The five-year lease includes a rent that is “more than we were originally paying” but good for the area, and the artists are grateful to Lesley, she said.
The artists create ceramics, jewelry, stained glass, textiles, prints, wood and more and staff the store, “each member taking one or two cashier shifts a month and covering needed tasks such as treasurer, newsletter editor and lighting designer,” Tornheim said.
Works of all kinds are expected to be on display for the Sept. 19-20 open studios event, which takes place across citywide.
Sign of the Dove’s move makes for something of a creative exodus from the shopping center, which in June changed its name and branding to The Mix Porter Square under the management company Wilder. Porter Square Books also moved from the shopping center to The Shops at Porter in University Hall: It relocated in 2024, even forming a human chain that Oct. 6 to pass along boxes of books the roughly 1,000 feet from old location to new.
Porter Square Books added a Page & Leaf cafe; its former partner, Cafe Zing, stayed in the old bookstore space. Construction underway since April will put “Cafe Zing 2.0” in half the square footage, with a storefront added between it and the wellness store Cambridge Naturals. Though a pilates studio was rumored for the new space, that has not been announced; the greenhouse-style space once shared by Sign of the Dove and the nonprofit Mudflat pottery studio is not leased.
TA Realty and Wilder bought the 175,687-square-foot shopping center in May 2022 from Gravestar, its owner since 1994, as part of a $390 million deal that included eight other properties from Brookline Plaza to the Pontiac Avenue Plaza in Cranston, Rhode Island. Wilder, a Boston company, operates retail properties including the Arsenal Yards mall in Watertown as well as properties in states from New England to Florida and Illinois.
Sign of the Dove grew out of The Christmas Store, a high-end craft gallery that began in 1972 and popped up each November through December, usually in the Porter Square area. “In 2003 the fine-craft cooperative, renamed Sign of the Dove, was invited to move into subsidized space for a year-round store by the then Porter Square Shopping Center owner, Gravestar – a rare community-minded landlord and supporter of the arts,” Tornheim said in a press release.
“The gallery was an artful presence in the Porter Square Shopping Center for decades and successfully survived the Covid-19 closings. Nevertheless, when the shopping center was sold to new owners, they decided that their vision for the center did not include Sign of the Dove,” Tornheim said.
When the Mudflat pottery studio lost its space next to Sign of the Dove, owners decided not to seek a replacement gallery space and instead focus on its school and studio in East Somerville.
The new Sign of the Dove expects to be open from 1 to 6 p.m. weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. on weekends at 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge.
