‘He touched so many people’: Jim Ferry, gallery owner key to Second Saturdays, dies at 86

If you attended a raucus Second Saturday in Sacramento, you might have Jim Ferry to thank.

Though his art may have been a passing thought for many, Ferry’s effect on the Sacramento art world was vast and deep. Ferry died two weeks ago after suffering complications from pneumonia at the age of 86.

“He touched so many people,” said his wife, Joan Pope-Ferry. “If anybody needed help, Jim was there for anybody. ... You gave him a sob story and he was there.”

Ferry is credited with helping many artists get their start at 20th Street Gallery, which he co-owned with Pope-Ferry, but it was his booming parties on 20th Street that helped popularize Second Saturdays in Sacramento.

From 2000 to 2011, Ferry was instrumental in making Second Saturday into a popular and lively monthly event whose epicenter at its height was 20th Street between I and K streets. His 20th Street Gallery was a large space that showed both emerging and established artists. It was located midblock and anchored art spaces ranging from the sophisticated b. sakata garo to a funky mobile gallery in an old van.

It was a busy scene, with art and craft booths along the sidewalk and blues and rock bands playing at high volume in the middle of 20th Street. The crowds were so thick, it was hard to breathe at times, let alone carry on a conversation.

“They would wait down the street to get in,” Pope-Ferry said of the line for her gallery.

The outsized parties made sense if you knew Ferry. He grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Sacramento in the 1960s, where he worked as an engineer and built a loving family before opening the gallery with his wife in 2000. He was outgoing and always looking for an interesting experience.

“People always said he had a twinkle in his eyes,” Pope-Ferry said.

His art career was a prominent feature in his life up until the end. As he entered hospice care a few weeks ago, the woman working there recognized him. She’d been a nude model for him for four years.

Fittingly, Ferry’s life will be remembered at Society Church, the former location of the B Street Theater. Ferry and his wife used to rent out the theater for shows. The celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 1:13 PM.