CLEVELAND, Ohio - Will Sanchez chose the name La Cosecha Galeria - "The Harvest Gallery" - as a tribute to his roots. Entwined in his new art gallery in the Stockyards neighborhood, which opens this weekend, is a devotion to the place he grew up, a friendship that shaped him and a past that's come, like harvest season, full circle.

La Cosecha Galeria began with a gun and a change of heart. In 2004, the building at 5404 Storer Ave. was home to a small convenience store. Sanchez walked in one wintry night ready to rob its husband-and-wife owners. But standing in the middle of the store with his finger on the trigger, the woman recognized him and pleaded: Why would he do this? Something inside him told him to stop. He turned over his weapon, and she stayed with him until the police came.

"I couldn't do it; I saw her eyes and I couldn't do it," he remembers. The couple didn't testify against him, but sentencing was mandatory, and Sanchez spent 18 months in prison.

When he was released, he turned his attention to his true craft: the arts. In 2017, after nearly two decades of establishing himself in Cleveland, he saw the vacant building was up for sale. With money saved up as a quality control supervisor, he bought it to transform into an art gallery.

"I guess I figured it was serendipity," he said.

Sanchez's vision comes to fruition with the gallery's first show Saturday, June 2. It begins at 2 p.m. with music in the outdoor garden, featuring Ray McNiece, James Thaddeus and Shy Moon, among others. It moves indoors at 6 p.m. with performances by Meg & The Magnetosphere and M. Moody. The gallery will be showing works by Hector Vega and Sanchez's own art under the name Topiltzin.

A second chance

Many in the art scene may recognize Sanchez from his current Warehouse District space, Gallery 1299 at 1299 West 9th St., which he has operated since 2016.

La Cosecha Galeria, however, marks a project for Sanchez near the Clark-Fulton neighborhood where he was raised and has been active in for years. In fact, he flew under the radar by using the Topiltzin pseudonym - and many of the neighbors he worked with had no idea he was an artist.

"I've been heavily into community involvement, especially in the Latino community, for a long time," Sanchez says. "And for a long time, it was because I felt guilty. I tried to do some kind of penance for what I did. It wasn't until I did bigger events that they began to put two-and-two together."

It's not the first iteration of La Cosecha Galeria. In 2002, a gallery by the same name stood at West 45

th

Street and Bush Ave. It was the work of Sanchez, Gabriel Gonzalez and Sanchez's best friend, Palin Perez-Jackson. Perez-Jackson and Sanchez first bonded over their love of art at the age of 5, and it was his tenacity and charm that eventually pushed Sanchez to not only build on his own talent, but to get more involved in the local scene. Though Perez-Jackson moved out of state, the two remained close and Sanchez pressed on by producing art shows across Northeast Ohio under the La Cosecha moniker.

But in 2009, Jackson passed away at just 36. Sanchez was devastated, but determined to uphold his legacy.

"He was the one passionate about gallery and having other people in it," Sanchez says. "He was an artist's artist. He was the gold-tongued guy who could get people to come to the shows. When he passed on, I had to adapt. There was no one to do what he was doing. I learned from the best, and I tried to continue what influence he had - and still has."

For Sanchez, the rebirth of La Cosecha is a way to sustain his vision.

"I figured I could always keep the name alive," he says. "My goal was to always have a brick-and-mortar where a new generation of artists can come. It was the perfect time in my life to do it again."

Creativity across mediums

Sanchez's true passion is painting, but he's branched out to other mediums, including graphic design and videography. Much like his own dabbling in different art forms, he's already making La Cosecha into a hub for creative projects from all walks of life.

"When I put a call out for artists, it was actually the musicians who really reached out to me," Sanchez says. "I went to Paris last year, and there's a bridge over there that they shut down every weekend and they invite artists to come there and do their thing. They had bands, painters. It was an incredible scene. I was like, there's a garden right next to the gallery, why not just open it up and let the artists come? I just wanted a place where people can show their art or play their music - whatever they do that's artistic."

But the major push comes after the grand opening, Sanchez says. La Cosecha has multiple rooms to rent, and he's hoping to host a resident artist. In late August, he's planning Vivid, a festival of colors.

"It's just like a canvas to me; it doesn't end," he says when talking about the gallery's potential.

He's even garnered big-name attention before opening the doors: former Cleveland Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel, who's also an artist. Sanchez connected with Vizquel while working for a local Latino newspaper, and the sports star showed his work at a La Cosecha-organized event in 2010. Sanchez has permission to show prints of his artwork, and plans to reach back out to him for future shows now that he has a gallery.

"An artist is an artist, no matter what they're doing," Sanchez says. "They're trying to be creative and think outside of the box."

For Sanchez, the gallery may be new, but it's the culmination - the harvest - of years of determination, heartache and perseverance. And in La Cosecha's new life, it's carrying a torch that pays respect to his past, a chance to give back to his own neighborhood.

"I've watched galleries pop up in all these other areas, but not here," he says. "To me, it needs it. Anytime I can serve and do something to make things better, I feel a weight, like I need to do it."