In recent months, local communities have seen an influx of new art galleries and centers encompassing all things creative. The renovation and repurposing of old buildings into artistic showrooms is helping to generate new life in neighborhoods aching for revitalization. Such transformation doesn’t happen by accident, but through the conscious efforts of passionate volunteers seeking to turn the tide on a downward spiral in the arts by opening up fresh avenues for learning and creativity.
Local artist Doug Goessman knows the meaning of transformation after watching a two-story-and-basement building transition from a Prohibition-era drinking hall into a space for the artistically expressive. A former speakeasy turned eclectic art gallery, the Speakeasy Art Center located at 353 Court Street in Pekin held an open house on April 24th, when dozens of artists of all ages had their work on display.
According to Goessman, the open house was “a great starting point for the facility in terms of what is to come.” With space for approximately 20 individual studios, the gallery exhibits encompass everything from sculpture to music to photography. “We really want to make this a multi-purpose space,” he says, noting that while all the “major stuff” is in place, much more work lies ahead.
His involvement with the Speakeasy Art Center is one such opportunity. The journey began two years ago when co-owners Todd Thompson of Manito and Steve Foster of Groveland approached Goessman to glean ideas on how to usher more artwork into the Pekin community. To bring the dream to pass, the three worked in collaboration with Pekin Main Street, a community project that aims to revitalize the city’s downtown area.
That collaboration was the impetus for beginning renovations, according to Goessman. “Todd said, ‘We have this building. What can we do with it?’ Then it hit me: Let’s build this multi-purpose art gallery,” he says.
Goessman claims that Thompson and Foster are the “brains behind the operation,” while he keeps the heart of the project beating, accumulating regional interest and artistic talent. Thompson, a builder with a commercial construction background, says the more than hundred-year-old building has housed a ceramic shop, comedy club and numerous restaurants over the years, but has sat empty for the last five or six.
Thompson says he and Foster “didn’t make a whole lot of changes. We did a lot of cleaning, and we removed a lot of the improvements people had done in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and took it back to its original form.” Foster, who handles the mechanical and electrical end of things, says they are taking the “greenest approach possible” to the demolition process, recycling or repurposing items elsewhere in the building.
For more information on the Speakeasy Art Center of Central Illinois, log onto facebook.com/speakeasyartcenter.
Art has the power to heal, to move, to make one laugh or simply stand in awe; it also has the ability to redeem the human spirit. No one knows this better than Jonathon Romain, a successful gallery owner for 15 years, whose own life story has been molded, shaped and beautified much as art itself. One might never guess this painter, photographer, entrepreneur, speaker and advocate served seven years in prison at the Dixon Correctional Center just weeks after graduating from Bradley University in 1990 with a degree in psychology.
During his middle school years, Romain lived on Peoria’s south side before returning to Chicago. But like many young people, adolescence presented challenges for Romain, and he became involved in crime and gang activities. After transferring to Bradley from Triton Junior College, he took independent study courses in art, but the self-destructive habits of his youth left him without a sense of direction, and he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years on drug charges.
The journey has encompassed a few pleasant surprises along the way, including a brush with politics. Commissioned by the National Black Prosecutors Association to paint a portrait of Bill Clinton, Romain spoke to the group following a speech by the former president. The week-long conference also included a presentation of his painting to Clinton.
And greater opportunities did present themselves. Museums, galleries and other national exhibitions have showcased Romain’s work, including The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, The Studio Museum of Harlem and The National Black Fine Art Show in New York. His art is “an extension of his ongoing love affair with the past, both as it relates to African-Americans and to Americans in general,” according to his website. A broad range of artists, from Michelangelo to Norman Rockwell, have influenced his work.
Aside from his gallery, Romain has helped to raise tens of thousands of dollars to benefit minority scholarships and community organizations nationwide. He serves on the board of directors for Illinois One Family One Child and the Peoria Black Chamber of Commerce and speaks to schools, juvenile facilities and organizations across the country, encouraging young people to strive for success even in the midst of unfavorable circumstances. Romain is currently working on his autobiography, which he hopes to finish this year.
More information on the Jonathon Romain Art Gallery can be found by visiting jromain.com.
Another of the area’s new art galleries was chiseled from one of downtown Peoria’s oldest buildings. The 125-year-old Meyer Block building located at 1311 Southwest Adams Street has been transformed into the Meyer Block Fine Art Gallery and Studios. The gallery, located in Peoria’s Warehouse District—and unofficial “arts district”—“lends itself to art, with the open spaces, high ceilings and sandblasted brick walls,” according to Jeremiah Schmillen, one of three sons of Leonard Schmillen and his wife, Annette, who purchased the building in 1999. The family owns LensCo. Construction Company and Specialty Woodworks of Peoria, which assembles custom architectural millwork products out of the same building.
It has come a long way since its original purchase. Masonry block repair strengthened the failing foundation and created new sidewalks. The building received a new roof, and inside, the ceiling was sandblasted and repaired. Schmillen, who believes several patterns of tin ceilings were used as a marketing technique, constructed the interior walls and offices in the gallery to preserve these patterns.
The renovation of the Meyer Block building is one of several conversions of worn-down buildings to art studios within the district. The revamping dovetails with an effort by ArtsPartners of Central Illinois to strengthen connections between economic and cultural development in the area.
Touring the gallery today, it’s hard to believe the building was once a storage space for roofing materials. The wooden floors are polished, and paintings splashed with vivid color adorn the walls. Above the ground-floor display sits a balcony where the Illinois Central College Jazz Band performed during the gallery’s first exhibition last December.
Jeremiah and his brother, Jack, developed the idea for the studio, discussing various prospects with local artists, including Steph Van Doren, who hosted the December exhibition; Carrie and James Pierce; and Jacob Grant. Jack says the family is beginning to rent out space to local artists. In May, the gallery housed two artists, but Leonard Schmillen estimates it can accommodate as many as 25. As commitments accumulate, he says, he will renovate additional space. For now, the success of the gallery depends on how many artists utilize it.
“We’re trying to get shows here,” says Jeremiah, citing a May 17th fundraiser the gallery hosted for Whittier Grade School, in which students created and sold their drawings for $10 a piece. The family hopes the gallery will serve as a lifeboat for artists in the community at a time when other groups have cut back due to financial shortfalls and the loss of grant money. But there is no shortage of public interest, and artists are ever eager for exposure, a fact that prompted the Schmillens to consider the formation of a not-for-profit for the gallery.