Thunder Bay Arts Gallery marks 15 years with open house Saturday
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ALPENA - Artists from the Thunder Bay Arts Gallery will honor the volunteers who launched and sustained the downtown cooperative with a free open house from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday.
The event marks the gallery's 15th anniversary.
Past and present Arts Council board members are invited as are special guests. All 21 artists in the cooperative will be present, refreshments will be served, and a short presentation of appreciation is planned.
"We have invited past and present council members so we can show our appreciation," said Paul Baker, one of the gallery artists. "We will have gifts for them, and we have a special presentation planned to give thanks to those who made the gallery possible and kept it going all these years."
The gallery opened in July of 2011 as a place for local and area visual artists to show and sell their artwork. It operates separately from the nonprofit Thunder Bay Arts Council as a business with artists renting space and volunteering to staff it six days a week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Midge Connon, who was co-president of the council when the gallery was founded, recalled the uncertainty of those early days. A former teacher, who never considered herself much of a businessperson, and the group, had no clear idea whether the venture would succeed.
"I can't believe it has been 15 years already," Connon said. "We were so nervous when we got started. We had to set it up separately from the arts council, which is a 501(c)(3), because the gallery had to be a business."
They rented the location from Chris and Missy LaFave and when asked to sign a two-year lease, Connon said she told them the group had no idea if the gallery would work. Fifteen years later, it remains open.
"Over the years we've had different artists but each and every one of them have kept it going, largely because it's working for them," Connon said. "They have a place to sell their art, and we couldn't have done it without them."
Baker said the 21 artists form a cooperative in which each member works roughly 20 days a year so the gallery can stay open. They pay rent to the council for the space but function as independent vendors.
"We are honoring the 15 years and those that have been a part of it," Baker said. "It was those Midge Connon's of the world who had this conception some 15 years ago and made it a reality."
The Thunder Bay Arts Council itself dates to the early 1970s. Connon said it began after former Gov. George Romney asked each Michigan county to send representatives to Lansing to discuss forming local arts councils. Stanley Van Lair, then president of the local college, and music teacher Lori Schultz returned and helped organize the group around 1971 or 1972.
The council is marking roughly 55 years this year and is regarded as one of the oldest continuously operating arts councils in the state.
"We do not stick around this long without all of the people who helped along the way," Connon said. "Art Council members are volunteers, and we have been blessed with strong volunteers on the board right now."
Baker said the open house also raises awareness of the broader work of the council, which includes an ice sculpture contest, music programs, YouthCore student exhibitions, and the annual Art on the Bay arts and crafts show. Michelle Miller, who has worked with the organization for about 17 years, will also be recognized on Saturday.
Baker said success also wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and passion of its volunteers.
"The volunteers of the council give endless hours to provide exposure and opportunity for people to experience the arts," Baker said. "And for a small town, that's a pretty big thing, I believe."
Connon, who stepped away from the gallery four or five years ago and left the council board two years ago, said the strength of the local arts scene has come from organizations working together rather than in isolation. She pointed to cooperation among the Downtown Development Authority, the convention and visitor's bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, Art in the Loft, the Besser Museum and local theaters.
"Over the years, I have seen all of the people involved with arts or promoting Alpena working together, and that's why it has been successful," she said. "That individualized work just doesn't work."
The open house is free and open to the public. The gallery is normally open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
For more information, call the Thunder Bay Arts Council office at 989-356-6678.