Guild creates community, exhibit space for artists

A new breed of art shows will happen in Bloomington this summer.

Visual Artists Guild United Enterprises seeks to unite and promote local artists in an event called the Open Studios Tour, which allows artists to display their work in their own homes.

“That’s part of the fun,” said painter and founding member of the guild Sarah Pearce.

“It’s like your studio becomes your gallery. You keep some of the mess that’s there so people can see how you make things. The artists will be present for the whole day, so it’s a great chance to buy art, see art, see how it’s made. That’s why it is different than your typical art show.”

Pearce used to be a member of the Greater Bloomington Arts Alliance and has been painting in Bloomington for many years.

Three years ago, she joined a small group of artists who wanted to band together and create a community for local visual artists.

“There are all these different thriving scenes, but they somehow don’t cooperate at all,” she said.

“We wanted to make a networking structure so that they could all communicate, and probably our biggest project to date is the Open Studios Tour.”

On June 1, the weekend of visual art will begin. 

The Gallery Walk Group, which has been collaborating closely with VAGUE to help promote the event, will present its monthly Downtown Gallery Walk. Visual artists throughout the city will open their home studios to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the following Saturday and Sunday.

Information about the locations and artist applications will be made available on the Gallery Walk Group website BloomingtonVAGUE.com.

VAGUE is currently in the process of securing flex space, so artists who are not able to use their own homes or do not own appropriate exhibit space can showcase their work temporarily in an industrial building.

Recently, the group began collaborating with the Trained Eye Arts Center, which shares many of the same goals and plans to provide space for artists to display their work during
the weekend.

Adam Nahas is a sculptor and the president and founder of Trained Eye. His organization provides an environment for artists to collaborate. Nahas said he decided to participate in the Open Studios Tour because he recognizes the difficulties of promoting oneself as a solo artist. 

“With any artist — Picasso, Dali — look beyond what they did and see who they were working with because every great artist worked in a collective,” Nahas said. “We’ve gotten away from that. We’ve gotten away from this tribal idea of community, and now we’re in this mindset that everyone has to figure out their lives by themselves after school.”

Aside from an absence of connections, up-and-coming artists also experience a simple lack of resources, Nahas said. Trained Eye Arts Center also offers tools, from sculpting wheels to metalworking equipment.

“In college, you’re used to a certain amount of supplies and equipment,” Nahas said.
“When you graduate, where do you go from there? If you’re a metalworker, you lose the lathes and the welders, and you have to think, ‘Well, if I’m going to keep doing this, I’m going to have to find 10 grand,’ and what college student has that lying around? Hopefully Open Studios will help these people get on their feet and give appreciators the chance to see artists who aren’t already famous.”

All styles and approaches to visual arts will be included in the Open Studios Tour. 

VAGUE has worked with the Downtown Gallery Walk, the Bloomington Visitors Center, and the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District to contact local artists. 

Pearce said convincing artists to participate is one of the biggest challenges because it can be hard to see the benefits. However, she said she is hopeful.

“Open Studios will hopefully be an annual event,” Pearce said. “We’re really digging our heels in and trying to invest in making this a very solid, yearly event on the level of the Fourth Street Festival (of Arts and Crafts).”