AURORA - Beauty has inauspiciously arrived on Main Street, in Aurora.

Announcing itself with a single word written on a wooden sign, this new addition to the community is called the Grove, a place where merchandise doubles as museum pieces and even each piece of furniture is a work of art.

“It's true that a lot of contemporary art is harder to understand if you've not been exposed to it or studied it. But it's been great. We have some people that come in weekly, not to buy, but to see what we've changed, and a lot of them are older people,” said Anna Baxter, co-owner of the Grove. “Then again, last week we had a 15-year-old that stood in front of a piece and said, ‘Do you see how the artist creates emotion here, with this brush stroke?' These works may inspire them to create art on their own someday.”

The path that brought the Harvard graduate, a native of Juno, Alaska, to Aurora to open the Grove is one crisscrossed with life's unexpected circumstances.

Pursuing an interest in gymnastics, Baxter attended the Green Mountain Valley School, a high school ski academy located in Vermont. While there she met Rufus Bates, of Aurora. The couple dated until graduation, then went separate ways.

“There was no indication in high school that we would be interested in the arts and furniture,” she said while sitting at the gallery at one of Bate's tables made of rich black walnut cut with a careful freeform edge.

Regardless, Baxter attended Harvard, first as an English major, only to redirect her interest to visual and environment studies, which entailed art history and theory. After graduating in 2001, she became involved in the film industry in Los Angeles. This involvement later took her to the opposite coast, when in 2003, she oversaw an art production in New York City of a film written by David Benioff, known for the movie “Troy,” and directed by Marc Forster, noted for “Monster's Ball.”

“It was called “Stay,” and was not very well received. It looked beautiful. It was a psychological drama, but it was too ‘different,'” Baxter said.

However, while there, she reunited with Bates, who had attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study film after high school, later to become a furniture builder in Hoboken.

The two shared a car trip to Vermont, to celebrate their high school's 30th reunion and fell in love.

Then on June 15, they opened the Grove, showcasing the taste of Baxter, who selects the oil, watercolor, and print work of primarily regional artists; and the distinctive woodwork of Bates.

“He loves nice wood,” Baxter said. “It all tends to extenuate the strength of the wood.” Such was the nature of another table, made of Osage wood dashed with heavy cracks that Bates had filled with clear, bold epoxy.

With calm appreciation, Baxter also praised the artwork silently stationed on the walls of the four Grove rooms.

“I do have a strong taste of what I like and don't like,” Baxter said. “I do tend to be contemporary, but I have to like it on some level. I have to enjoy looking at it. It's very hard not displaying what I think might sell - that's been the biggest challenge.”

Still, business has been good, according to Baxter. With guests staying at the Aurora Inn from such locations as New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, bringing with them a wide range of tastes in art, many find what they are looking for at the Grove. Others, including residents of Aurora, sometimes are first challenged, then won over by pieces on display.

Some pieces, like Aurora native Curtis Carlisle's work, “Nina Got Frostbite,” have indefinable movement. “His work tends to be abstract, but playful as well. There are suggestions of subject matter; I don't think you ever resolve what this is,” said Baxter, smiling.

Anther work by Port Byron artist Karen Thomas-Lillie, “Into The Woods Great Gully,” floats in a cloud of green that seems to move and change shape as it is approached.

“It also changes with the time of day and light,” Baxter noted.

But some are more down to earth. Witness the work of Margaret Manning, of Skaneateles - specifically her grouping of chickens in her work “Bavingartner's Leghorns.”

“I think her work appeals to a pretty broad range. It is fairly representative of scenes of the area. I love her color palate, especially with animals. (If) you get close, you see how she's putting these around, together,” said Baxter, following the work with her index finger.

Soon, the couple plans to open the upstairs area of the Grove, to allow the inclusion of handmade dishware, jewelry, pillows and general home accessories. Experimental video art is planned, primarily for entertainment, as well as utilizing the Grove for community involvement. A poetry reading has already been held there.

Most art pieces are replaced on a monthly basis, said Baxter, with some changed weekly. Furthermore, some, like “Intuit Future,” an acrylic, three dimensional work of declarative beauty, created by Edward Heiple an Aurora artist now living in Moravia, are displayed with questionable profitability, for the pure enjoyment of those who wish to browse.

“This is a perfect example of a piece,” Baxter said. “I'd love to sell it, but people certainly have enjoyed looking at it.”