Now that Anne Connor knows what her gallery is, she's ready to share it with State Street.

Connor, a photographer, author and nature lover, opened Driftless Studio in Fitchburg in November 2006. At the time, it was a place for her to write and store her photography between regional shows.

"People kept saying, ‘What is it?'" Connor said of the space. "And I kept saying, ‘I don't know!' We had to decide -- do we have regular hours? Do we carry retail items? Do we carry other artists' items?

"Eventually we decided, we are a nature gallery and gift shop," Connor said. "Now I know what we are, so now I'm ready to come Downtown."

In early October, Driftless opened its doors on State Street, a move that nearly quadrupled its business. Connor estimates that in Fitchburg, 70 percent of visitors came for the art. Now most people make a beeline for the toy box and the sock monkeys.

"I think it will become more playful without losing its connection to nature," Connor said. "We want about 80 percent of what we have to have some connection to nature, whether it's photography, natural products, gemstones. The message is: Play outside. More."

The name "Driftless" comes from land owned by Connor's family, 165 acres located in the Driftless Area region of southwest Wisconsin. Some of Connor's vivid photography, displayed prominently on the wall of the gallery, comes from this area. Connor's first photo exhibit at Espresso Royale Café, 208 State St., is next to her current location.

Driftless Studio started in part because Connor needed a life change. Her father passed away in April 2006, and the next month she quit her job as the editor of Brava Magazine (called Anew Magazine at the time).

"I just was burned out," Connor said. "I continued to write for them, but I took the summer off and spent it with my kids. It was a much slower pace than I had been keeping before."

It was her father, the "very Type-A" Malcolm Stack, who inspired her to pursue her artistic passion.

"He said, ‘You're really good at this,'" she said. "‘I hope, if you want, you will pursue this.' And he wasn't prone to saying things like that. He was very hard-driving."

A big priority for Connor is accessibility. The gallery is dominated by large prints of Connor's vivid nature photos, and many of the same images can be found on cards and smaller prints at much more recession-friendly prices.

"Maybe a framed print is $400," Connor said. "You can get that same print as a matted 8-by-10 for $25, or a matted 11-by-14 for $40. People say, ‘Doesn't that upset you?' And I say, ‘Why?' ... My art is in their home, and that makes me so happy."

The art in Driftless Studio includes the work of local metalsmith Jill Schienle; Kristin Joiner, a graphic designer at 622 Press; Fitchburg jeweler and photographer Amy Strohfeldt of Sprout Images; and ceramics from Carol Kaeser Taylor.

Novica, which links artists in developing countries with retailers, makes the Fair Trade jewelry that Driftless carries. Margaret Dorfman, an Oakland, Calif., artist, makes bowls out of vegetable parchment, and Brenda Peo makes whimsical horse sculptures called Twisted Ponies.

"Ideally, an artist for us would have some kind of nature or natural theme," Connor said, "without something being made from hemp or having the texture of burlap. Our sock monkeys are made in China, but if that's what gets the people in to see the other things, I'm OK with that. We have a wide array."

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