Miller Block moving

Miller Block Gallery, which opened in Boston in 1990, plans to move from 14 Newbury St. to 38 Newbury St. in June.

Ellen Miller said she has signed a five-year lease for the fourth floor space where Pepper Gallery is now, and plans to reopen there July 1 with an exhibition of campaign buttons that she’s asking Boston-area artists to create.

Miller’s longtime business partner Katie Block is expected to adopt a smaller role. Miller Block will retain its current name for roughly six months to a year, Miller said, but may then be renamed Ellen Miller Gallery.

“I’ll run the space. Things will seem fairly similar,” Miller said. “Change is happening. I don’t know that it’s going to be hugely apparent to people.”

Miller said she plans to continuing showing most of the artists Miller Block does now, but also add some artists, including St. Louis’s Andrew Millner and perhaps some local artists whose galleries have closed in the current art scene shuffle. And she said she plans to do more “community-based” shows, like the campaign button exhibit.

Miller said she and Block will continue to sell artwork at art fairs together, and Block will continue working with clients.

“We’ve worked together for 17 years. It’s time for a change,” Miller added. “The change that made the most sense for us as individuals was for me to take the space and run the gallery. We still have an amicable relationship.”

Miller Block originally was located at 207 Newbury St., then 11 Newbury St., until moving to its current location in 1998. The upcoming move was triggered by the gallery’s lease, which is set to expire at the end of June, with a tough art market lurking in the background.