I'm sorry to say that I have yet to attend one of Columbia City's First Friday "Beatwalks."

As much as I enjoy the south Seattle neighborhood's galleries, bars, restaurants and assorted venues, there hasn't been a ... presence, I guess you'd call it, that could entice me to bus or Zipcar the 11 miles from Ballard on a Friday night.

But that's no longer the case. Gather, a "nontraditional" storefront gallery located next door to the Columbia City Bakery, is the element that will push the Beatwalks into must-see territory.

The space itself isn't that overwhelming -- just a spare (but handsome) wood-floored and white-walled gallery, adorned with vases of fresh-cut flowers -- but the art that owner Jenn Jones is putting on its walls is something else. Something great.

A photo producer by trade, Jones plainly has an eye for "fringe" art. Gather's first show, Eric Woll's "It Takes Ten Squirrels To Make A Squirrel Pie," is as clever as it is visually engaging.

Using a series of sculptures and glass pieces featuring -- you guessed it --  anthropomorphized squirrels, Woll gets you thinking about the hoary proverbs and aphorisms your grandfather used and what they actually mean.

It's also possible to look at Woll's glass pillows filled with corncob pipes ("Pipe Dreams") and the absent-minded squirrel staring dreamily at the heavens ("It's Better To Regret Something You Have Done Than Something You Haven't Done") without thinking too much at all. They're stunningly attractive pieces, well worth the trip south.

And on Saturday, July 26, Gather will take another evolutionary step -- this one into art retail. Artists Jeremy Bert, Jen Elek and Bennett McKnight will comprise an "Ephemeral Retail Installation" featuring glass works by McKnight and porcelains by Bert and Elek. Their attractive and functional works -- personal adornments, kitchenware and more -- will be available for purchase through August 31.

Jenn Jones intends that Gather should follow in the footsteps of Bubba Mavis, an Eastlake fringe gallery she once frequented. "(It was) a scene which brought people together to celebrate art, life and that which inspires," says Jones.

If Gather has more shows like "Squirrel Pie" in the offing, the gallery will prove to be a true-blue inspirational presence in Columbia City. Beatwalk, here I come.

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