What are the biggest challenges and rewards in maintaining a “cooperative” art gallery – the kind that’s administered and funded cooperatively by a bunch of artists? Richmond’s 44-artist cooperative gallery that’s now getting ready to mark its 20th year - Uptown Gallery – could probably write the book.

I visited on 2/3/2012 and saw their all-member exhibition, “In Over Our Heads” that uses artworks to draw attention to the planet’s water challenges. One of my special interests was on the second floor – the Frable Gallery – where I saw what Uptown mainstay Emma Lou Martin had done something that I’d recently done with U.S. quarters: glued them to paper. Emma Lou’s 15-work exhibition, “From the River to Outer Space” comments on flight via artworks that rely heavily on collage, including a couple of works that include quarters. “Modest Flight to Giant Leap” includes two each of the North Carolina (Wright Brothers) and Ohio (moon landing) quarters interspersed with other collaged elements along with gorgeous little watercolor scenes. (My own glued quarters were the Virginia quarters. I glued them on letters about Richmond that I sent to some friends.)

Which brings me to what the law says about using quarters in this manner. See U.S. Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 17: “Whoever mutilates, cuts, . . . cements . . .” [coins and/or currency] “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.” (I’m not making this up.) Like all galleries, Uptown continually yearns for more attention and publicity.

You think we should bring this to the attention of the state attorney general?