Odds are that any coffee-bearing establishment you wander into will have art on its walls. There’s an equal chance that those artworks, hung above half-and-half stations and study spaces, are the creations of a local or small artist.
So it’s no surprise that Wake Up Iowa Coffee at 3605 Douglas Ave in Des Moines would expand to include art in some way. The surprising bit: they have an actual gallery to house it in.
In 2011, Jarrett Mitchell and a friend began Wake Up Iowa Coffee as a cart at the Iowa City Farmers Market and beyond. Since then, the business has expanded to include a coffee roastery and distribution center in Iowa City, and a coffee shop in Des Moines, which Mitchell and his wife Cristin opened in the fall of 2024.
The espresso bar debuted its new art gallery on Saturday in a side room featuring plain walls, carpet and a restroom door. It bears the rather literal name “Sideroom Gallery.”
“We didn’t initially go into the coffee shop thinking it was going to be an art gallery,” Mitchell said. “There was this room we didn’t know what to do with, and at some point, I realized we could have a space for art — a sort of attempt to transcend your typical coffee shop art.”
Mitchell attended the University of Iowa for his undergraduate degree. From there, he went to California College in San Francisco.
“My time out there [in California], you see art galleries popping up in all different spaces, maybe they’re permanent, maybe they’re temporary. But [they] were trying to utilize space in a way that is unique, and different spaces help people see things differently,” Michell explained. “We wanted to take this space and let each artist, each month, transform it into something different.”
Wake Up Iowa has shown Mitchell’s personal collection of original pieces, collected rock concert flyers from the time he lived in San Francisco, and a few customers’ artworks. Saturday marked the business’s first curated show.
Iowa native and Milwaukee-based artist Tyler Corbett’s exhibition “Superposition” is the first to be featured at the Sideroom Gallery.
Corbett transforms the quiet side room of Wake Up Iowa Coffee into a portal of emotion and meticulous craftsmanship. The exhibition features a stunning blend of drawing, painting and collage to create confrontations of human feelings. Corbett’s artistic visions always begin with a geometric vision, he says.
Donut began as an omnipresent figure made of individual triangles.
“I just kind of imagine this donut kind of sphere, it was intimidating and an oppressive thing,” Corbett said. “I was like, ‘How do I want to construct this?’ And then, I broke this donut shape into chunks, and it became interesting and detailed.”
When everything is broken down, it becomes modular, Corbett said. When everything is broken into tiny granules, they start to fit together. That’s how he puzzles through pieces that combat the complexities of daunting emotions.
The intricacies call the viewer to take a closer look and dissect the material and meaning of Corbett’s work.
“I’m not trying to beat home a message,” Corbett said. “I hope that [the viewer] would be like ‘What is this?’, ‘What texture is this?’ and ‘What is this made of?’ Making something that invites someone to look at the finer details is the best connection someone can make with the art.”
Corbett and Mitchell are long-time friends, and relished the opportunity to collaborate — not just on the show, but on the new gallery itself. They share a mutual understanding that the world needs more inclusive art spaces, unpretentious, flexible and deeply rooted in community. With no pressure to sell, Corbett focused on creating work that he wanted to create.
“There should be more spaces like this,” Corbett said. “The best thing about this show is there’s no pressure; the only pressure for me is to make the work as good as I can. That’s the best part. It’s not an intimidating place for artists to exhibit … I’m just an old DIY, crusty punk dude that does this. If you don’t have a spot [to show art], you create a spot to do it.”
Tyler Corbett’s “Superposition” will be on display at Wake Up Iowa’s Sideroom Gallery through October 4.
