 Anderson Turner, director of galleries for Kent State’s School of Art, in the new Downtown Gallery in Kent, Ohio. The facility, located at 141 East Main Street, is the only commercial-style university gallery of its kind in the United States. Art is Smart for DowntownBy Rachel Wenger-Pelosi, ‘00 Photographs by Bob Christy, ‘95 Anderson Turner, M.F.A. ’02, thinks that artists and small business owners have quite a bit in common. For Turner, owning a business or working as an artist is more than just a career decision. It is a lifestyle choice. As director of galleries for Kent State’s School of Art, Turner wears many hats. Writer, farmer and, of course, artist, he says that he feels lucky and is especially pleased with the university’s newest gallery location. The Downtown Gallery moved in October 2007, and is now located in the heart of downtown Kent. “We’re offering an entrepreneurial opportunity for students interested in art, and that is a wonderful thing,” Turner says of the Downtown Gallery, located at 141 East Main Street. “This is something we should be very proud of because no other school is doing that.” Kent State’s Downtown Gallery is a unique venture because it is the only commercial-style university gallery of its kind in the United States. In conjunction with six other galleries, including the School of Art Gallery; the Michener Gallery, located on the second floor of the University Library; Eells Gallery, located on the grounds of Blossom Music Center; and two student galleries in the School of Art building, the Downtown Gallery offers students the chance to display and sell art alongside regional and national artists. “There is a lot of teaching that goes on here. This process helps educate students about one aspect of what it means to be an artist. Students can show and sell art while learning about pricing and how to approach a gallery director about their work,” he says. “Selling yourself as an artist is a lot like advertising for a small business.” Turner has worked with the school in many roles since his arrival at Kent State as a graduate student eight years ago. Upon entering the Master of Fine Arts program, the only one in Northeast Ohio, he started work with the gallery — once named Gallery 138 because of its location at 138 East Main Street — and immediately following graduation was hired as part-time administrator to run the space. “Picasso said you paint what you know, and I guess that is kind of what I tried to do. I bulked up sales by selling things that I knew about — what we would call more craft-like items. After all, Kent State University is unique in that it has both craft and fine art divisions,” he says. Gallery 138, established by Michael Loderstedt, currently an associate professor of art, was located across the street from the current location. The gallery was at 223 North Water Street from 2005 to 2007, and although the landlord and neighbors in that location were very congenial, the school preferred to be in the midst of things on Main Street, says Dr. Christine Havice, director of the School of Art. The opportunity to move into the current space arose when Cass and Bob Mayfield, of McKay Bricker Gallery & Framing, purchased the former Tuttle Building on the north side of Main Street and sought tenants for half the space, Havice says. McKay Bricker, an award-winning custom framing business, has been located in the Kent community for many years. The downtown location offers a Kent State presence in the city beyond the campus and serves to move the School of Art’s mission into the larger community, Havice explains. “Having another venue for art is valuable to the school. In our downtown spaces we have emphasized presentation of work by faculty, students, staff, emeriti and alumni, as well as by local and regional artists who are creating interesting and provocative things,” she says. Because the Downtown Gallery also sells art, it offers students in particular a chance to understand some important differences between works seen in a museum setting, where sales are not a feature, versus those in a commercial gallery setting, where works may be for sale, she adds.  “We are figuring out creative ways in which to partner with even more Kent community members,” Turner says. “We are very open and ready to collaborate with our neighbors and friends.” He says that the 1,000-square-foot location is triple the size of the previous space. While pleased about the additional room, he wasn’t confident at first about how the location would translate physically into an art gallery. With assistance from Brian Sullivan, ’95, equipment laboratory technician in the school, Turner says they were able to revamp the space. The two had worked together before, building simple items like pedestals or hanging lighting, “... but in this case, we took every bit of Brian’s knowledge as a builder for the last 25 years and used that,” he says. “We came in on the weekends and swung hammers and hung drywall. Now I don’t have to hunt for studs in the wall for hanging. It is as a gallery or museum should be,” he says. On October 26, 2007, the Downtown Gallery opened to the public. Havice says the facility will continue to coordinate its programming with other events occurring in downtown Kent, and to find fresh ways to introduce the public to exciting and important new art. Acting as director of the galleries has provided a unique opportunity, Turner says. “I am happy that we’ve always been able to remain open and that I’ve been a part of moving the gallery through three different spaces, into one that is better suited from where we started.” The school will work within the university and community to encourage others to utilize the space as a place for events, Havice says. “The downtown location provides the right space for delivering some of the best of Kent State’s arts activities, such as small scale music, dance or cabaret performances and poetry readings, as well as, again, a location in which to see what’s happening in the visual arts in the larger world. | |||||
