December 13, 2001
Students to provide window dressing for Ave. storefronts
When Aaron Hoard met with Ave. merchants on the Business Improvement Area Board, they complained about the unsightliness of the vacant storefronts in their area. Meanwhile, Hoard, special projects manager in the UW Office of Regional Affairs, was hearing from the School of Art that they’d like to have a student art gallery on the Ave.
So Hoard put two and two together, and now students are displaying art in the window of one vacant store, while Hoard negotiates with other store owners for use of their space. Talk about your win-win solutions: Students get free and very public space in which to display their work, while store owners get not only a better looking property but also a possible tax break for donating the space.
“I approached the Limantzakis family, which owns the old Wizards of the Coast property, and they agreed to let us use it,” Hoard said, “The Real Estate Office drew up a use agreement and the Office of Development helped us sort out the donation issues.”
Art advisers Judith Clark and Matthew Campbell turned the space into a sidewalk gallery using the resources of the school’s Art on Loan Program. The program accepts artwork from students and loans it out for exhibit in various places on campus – most visibly Mary Gates Hall and the HUB.
“The school has only one small gallery, and it’s devoted to student work only three times a year,” Clark explained. “This program gives students another way to show their work.”
Since the work on loan is also for sale, these exhibits can sometimes give the students an economic boost. Clark says about $60,000 worth of student art has been sold in the five years of the program.
Six artists are represented in the current Ave. exhibit. Clark says the school is looking at the space for future display of three-dimensional work – work that is difficult to place in University space because of security issues.
Hoard, meanwhile, has gotten good feedback from merchants about the display and continues to talk with other storeowners about the possibility of using their space. It’s not quite the permanent gallery that students would like to have, he says, but it’s “a good first step.”
