Burnet Gallery closing in Minneapolis

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With the turn of the new year, Burnet Gallery, a contemporary art gallery located in the Le Meridien Chambers Hotel on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, is closing.

The gallery was the project of art collector and hotel owner Ralph Burnet.

Burnet sold the boutique hotel to Ashford Hospitality Trust in August for $15 million. Gallery director Jennifer Phelps said the new owners decided not to keep the gallery.

"The hotel will remain as it is," Phelps said. "Ralph's artwork is in the public spaces. He sold the hotel to them with all the artwork in the rooms, so art is a major part of this hotel, and will continue to be so."

For close to 10 years, Phelps said, the space presented contemporary art exhibitions with a major focus on Minnesota artists.

"We actually got a lot of local artists' artwork out there into the public, and because we're in a hotel and on Hennepin Avenue, we had a lot of people from out of town come in and get exposed to these artists," she said. "So I think that's a really great thing."