Former gallery owners Jessica Steeber (left) and Cassandra Smith have channeled their art interests into producing a national art magazine.

There is a fine line between running an art gallery and publishing an art magazine. So, the best name for such a publication is, well, Fine Line, a hybrid between a gallery and a traditional magazine. The new Milswaukee-based publication is advertising-free and encourages the viewer to develop an "understanding of and relationship to the ideas presented," according to founder/friends Cassandra Smith and Jessica Steeber. They had previously partnered in running the Armoury Gallery, which closed in 2009.

"Aside from being amateur connoisseurs of magazines and other printed materials, neither of us have any previous experience in the publishing industry," says Steeber about Fine Line, which debuted this past summer. Subsequently, the first two issues were designed by a friend with publishing experience, Jonathan Cassidy.

Yet Smith and Steeber agree that managing the fabled, and much lamented, Armoury Gallery contributed greatly to their approach and confidence. Being working artists helped foster an additional level of trust and communication.

The two funded the gallery out their own pockets, holding down outside jobs to keep both their art and the gallery alive. The gallery, which opened in 2008, hosted eight major exhibitions featuring 32 artists. But they eventually agreed it was time to move on and focus their energy on something more sustainable.

Steeber is a native Milwaukeean and graduate of Mount Mary College, focusing on history, literature and philosophy. Smith is from Rhinelander, moving to Milwaukee for her BFA degree in sculpture from MIAD. They met while interning at a Bay View boutique Fashion Ninja. Returning from a six-month world jaunt, they dove almost immediately into organizing the Armoury.

After closing the gallery, it took Smith and Steeber more than a year to narrow down an approach they wanted to take, dabbling with the idea of blogs, traveling curatorial projects, studio visits, restaurant/alternative exhibition spaces and more formal approaches to art critique and appreciation via SNAP Milwaukee. Figuring out what to do was naturally a challenge, they admit. Yet they bravely took on every aspect of the production, financing, promotion and development themselves, with Cassidy helping make the leap between idea and execution.

Fine Line is distributed in seven U.S. cities, as well as Berlin and Vancouver. "Anyone who appreciates art and ideas could find something worthwhile in Fine Line," Smith says.

Having four issues under their collective belt, the women are changing their approach for the next year, including more artist profiles, biographies and interviews, as well as reducing the frequency of publication to twice annually. "This will allow us to increase and expand the content in each issue without saddling us further financially," Smith says.

She handles a majority of the contact with blogs, artists and venues. The research is a joint effort and they maintain a private web album to store all the artwork they are considering. "So, as we come across artists we’re excited about, we both add images to the folder," she says.

Among their featured artists have been David Maisel of San Francisco; Nina Nolte from Dusseldorf; Brooklyn’s Angelina Gualdoni; and Sherif Elhage in Paris.

Steeber handles a majority of the design, image editing, research and inclusion of the text, whether quotes, poetry and short excerpts from books or articles.

For each issue, they collectively choose the artists and the theme/title for the issue. They revisit the layouts and image choices periodically through the process, eventually coming to an agreement and sending it to the printer under their self-imposed deadlines. Getting it all done makes for another fine line.