Thanks to my friend, Denny Schroeder, for sending me this link from Sunday's Parade Magazine: Can Art Save a Mall?
When too many stores came up empty at a large mall in the St. Louis area the owners decided that instead of demolishing it they would offer the spaces to artists for their use at $100 per month, plus utilities. You'll enjoy reading the various uses to which it has been put: art gallery, dance studio, museum, etc. Not only does it give the arts groups a home but it also increases traffic in the mall for the other stores and restaurants.
There are lots of empty spaces in the nation's shopping centers this season and entrepreneurial artists are taking advantage of this empty real estate. The organizers among them have rallied their friends and acquaintances to fill the spaces for the holiday time. My brother, Michael Mettler, is hanging his photos in a gallery at Jefferson Pointe along with about twenty five other artists. This is a "lifestyle" mall of upscale stores in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The gallery is next to the Barnes and Noble, a nice location.
My friend Donna Beaubien, has gathered the work of around forty artists to fill a lovely space at the Village in Rochester, MI, including my husband (Norm Darwish) fine art photographs. Donna reports sales were being made before they had even opened.
Now neither of these places are going to become arts districts, but we all know, where the artists settle gentrification occurs and their appearance is often the prelude to better days for the nieghborhood.
Don't believe me? Then read one of my favorite books, Richard Florida's, The Rise of the Creative Class.
Are you participating in one of these "temporary" galleries this season? Tell me about it and I'll add the info to ArtFairCalendar.com.
My neighborhood in Chicago used to be the home for artists, antique dealers, and interesting thrift stores until the media discovered its proximity to their downtown jobs and featured Victorian brown and graystone homes that were affordable fixer-uppers. There were also nearby public and private schools, restaurants and cleaners. Over a short period of time the artists were priced out and the Victorians started to be torn down instead of rehabbed and replaced with mini and not-so-mini mansions and the neighborhood became the 38th richest in the country. Only a couple of artists remained who are university professors, nurses or psychologists in the day time and artists at night. The recent economic downturn closed a lot of the high-end businesses and I thought the natural thing would be to bring artists into the store fronts and spice up the neighborhood again attracting people to patronize the remaining stores.
There is a lovely seasonal gallery in Michigan that's been open for two months now, a fairly large one. It's "State of MInd" (no, that's not a typo), with 43 mostly local Michigan artists. A co-op gallery, State of MInd is staffed and run by the artists themselves. Jewelry, ceramics, metal sculpture, painting, photography and glass are all well-represented. With over 6,000 square feet of space in Twelve Oaks Mall, it's a winter wonderland for the art-savvy gift shopper! (Is that too commercial? LOL!) Some of the artists include Ro Lambert, Marji Rawson, Susan Collick, and Beth Jones (jewelery); Jim Williams, Lucia Lucas, Chris Unwin and Theresa Plitocwicz (painters); Jennifer and Joe Rutherford (murals and mixed media scultpure); Rich Wood, Sooney Kadouh and Jim Parker (photography); Dave Hilty and Dennis Varvatos (wood); Lisa Boesch and Debbie Cooper (wearable fiber) and a whole lot more. You can find gifts from a few dollars to a few hundred, along with some seasonal trimmings and decorations.
Since its grand opening in October, sales have been good at the gallery. Traffic has been steadily growing, and Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) was busy, busy, busy. Smaller items like jewelry and novelties, like the granite serving platters, have been selling briskly. Plans are to remain open til the end of January, 2010. After that, who knows? If there is enough interest, we may continue with the concept. State of MInd is located on the second level of Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, in between Brookstone and Macy's. Hours are the same as the mall. The store's phone number is 1-248-773-8988. Contact Ro Lambert at jewelro@aol.com for more info -- it's her brainchild.
I am participating in St. Louis' 2nd mall space, which is at Chesterfield Mall. It is a thriving mall suffering from recession woes and they had a few empty spaces. With support from our Regional Arts Commission and our local arts organization, Chesterfield Arts, the Mall offered up 5 spaces to artists.
Wood Icing, the space I am in, is a collaborative effort between 4 artists - 1 painter, 1 mixed media(me), 1 photographer, 1 faux finisher (who has created the Wood Icing texture product). We have signed a 1 year lease which is kind of scary but we got a 'deal.' We are part gallery-part workshop-part custom framing-part design. Our slant is a little different as we offer fine art but also teach. We also attract interior designers and others who want to use the Wood Icing product. For the holidays, we have invited guest artists (in other media, like jewelry, wood) to set up shop with us over the weekends.
Wood Icing is located in the Chesterfield Mall, Chesterfield, MO. Our hours are 11-7 Wed-Sat and 12-4 on Sun.
I am seeing this catch on in a mall not far from me where about 5 artists pulled together and have a small shop in the mall. In my opinion it isn't the greatest looking shop (display wise), but it is working according to some of the people who work there. I think the rent is about $500 for one month and that might include utilities. This mall, the Westminster Mall in Westminster, MD is really suffering. They have 2 dept. stores still but a lot of vacant space. I do know one owner who applied to have a kiosk, but ended up - with a few dollars more - with a huge space where a large Dress Barn was (probably 5000 sq. ft. or more). The place is lovely - she sells all of her stuff, sells unique gift items like yard art and local jewelry artists and soap makers. This place is doing a great business and many in the mall are REALLY thankful for it. It's doing so well that this store is helping to support the original store as its sales has slumped.
All in all, I can't say if art can save the mall. I really think malls are destined to collapse due to the nature of how Americans shop for things - more are shopping online, malls are more impersonal as opposed to Main St. Shopping dist., and what is offered at malls don't fit the needs of locals anymore. Rarely do I see people going to malls yet the "Main St." type shopping places - malls modeled after the Main St. idea - are doing well. There's quite a few of these in MD and they are booming - great restaurants, larger stores like Victoria's Secrets mixed with office supply places and a gallery or two. Granted there are a few BIG high end malls that aren't suffering at all and a joy to check out - albeit most items are out of my price range, YET their retail space is actually affordable. What is nice with the new "mall" is that most stores are able to set their own hours where as in a mall you nearly need to be open from 9-9 every day. This is what I think has hurt many mall retailers - less people shopping in malls, they still have to pay for several employees and other expenses, theft is prevalent, and the list goes on. Lynnett Jennings mentioned something that rings to even today (two years ago when I was at a conference she spoke at) we are in a "you" generation - things need to be personalized for the "you" (personalized phones, computers, homes, clothing, cars, even art - why can't I have it in royal blue, I don't like cobalt blue?). It is my opinion, as more and more people can't afford all the neat things out on the market, they will simplify and get back to the basics and learn all the other stuff, is well just stuff. This is evident at shows where I constantly over hear customers say, its nice, but I really don't need it. Just like, malls are ok for one or two things, but I don't need/shop at the rest of the stores.
I'm one of the artists in Randall Jordon's "Artistic Creations" gallery at Pembroke Mall, Virginia Beach. The grand opening party is December 6th, 3-6pm. Too soon to tell how it will go but I understand many mall patrons are very excited about this new concept. That's a good thing. I also heard another art gallery group will be setting up at the mall soon too. It is catching on.
Pembroke Mall, in Virginia Beach, just offerred a space to artists. Randall Jordan remodeled the space and several other artists are sharing the gallery and sharing the time running it. It just opened this past weekend, so it's too soon to say how they will do, but the location is perfect for this time of year - next to Santa!
Don Crozier just told me that AFI member Jeane Vogel has her studio in the Crestwood Court Mall in St. Louis that is featured in this story. Way to go, Jeane!
Comments
Susan Collick, and Beth Jones (jewelery); Jim Williams,
Lucia Lucas, Chris Unwin and Theresa Plitocwicz (painters); Jennifer and Joe Rutherford (murals and mixed media scultpure);
Rich Wood,
Sooney Kadouh and
Jim Parker (photography); Dave Hilty and Dennis Varvatos (wood);
Lisa Boesch and Debbie Cooper (wearable fiber) and a whole lot more. You can find gifts from a few dollars to a few hundred, along with some seasonal trimmings and decorations.
Since its grand opening in October, sales have been good at the gallery. Traffic has been steadily growing, and Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) was busy, busy, busy. Smaller items like jewelry and novelties, like the granite serving platters, have been selling briskly. Plans are to remain open til the end of January, 2010. After that, who knows? If there is enough interest, we may continue with the concept. State of MInd is located on the second level of Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, in between Brookstone and Macy's. Hours are the same as the mall. The store's phone number is 1-248-773-8988. Contact Ro Lambert at jewelro@aol.com for more info -- it's her brainchild.Wood Icing, the space I am in, is a collaborative effort between 4 artists - 1 painter, 1 mixed media(me), 1 photographer, 1 faux finisher (who has created the Wood Icing texture product). We have signed a 1 year lease which is kind of scary but we got a 'deal.' We are part gallery-part workshop-part custom framing-part design. Our slant is a little different as we offer fine art but also teach. We also attract interior designers and others who want to use the Wood Icing product. For the holidays, we have invited guest artists (in other media, like jewelry, wood) to set up shop with us over the weekends.
Wood Icing is located in the Chesterfield Mall, Chesterfield, MO. Our hours are 11-7 Wed-Sat and 12-4 on Sun.
All in all, I can't say if art can save the mall. I really think malls are destined to collapse due to the nature of how Americans shop for things - more are shopping online, malls are more impersonal as opposed to Main St. Shopping dist., and what is offered at malls don't fit the needs of locals anymore. Rarely do I see people going to malls yet the "Main St." type shopping places - malls modeled after the Main St. idea - are doing well. There's quite a few of these in MD and they are booming - great restaurants, larger stores like Victoria's Secrets mixed with office supply places and a gallery or two. Granted there are a few BIG high end malls that aren't suffering at all and a joy to check out - albeit most items are out of my price range, YET their retail space is actually affordable. What is nice with the new "mall" is that most stores are able to set their own hours where as in a mall you nearly need to be open from 9-9 every day. This is what I think has hurt many mall retailers - less people shopping in malls, they still have to pay for several employees and other expenses, theft is prevalent, and the list goes on. Lynnett Jennings mentioned something that rings to even today (two years ago when I was at a conference she spoke at) we are in a "you" generation - things need to be personalized for the "you" (personalized phones, computers, homes, clothing, cars, even art - why can't I have it in royal blue, I don't like cobalt blue?). It is my opinion, as more and more people can't afford all the neat things out on the market, they will simplify and get back to the basics and learn all the other stuff, is well just stuff. This is evident at shows where I constantly over hear customers say, its nice, but I really don't need it. Just like, malls are ok for one or two things, but I don't need/shop at the rest of the stores.
Does anyone see this too? - Michelle