ART | Tom Irwin
Paris, Florence, Berlin, Rome, New York, Athens – when famed art-related cities of the world come up in conversation, Springfield, Ill., is not generally on the list. That’s not likely to change soon, but recently a fresh movement in the local art scene awakened a dormant spirit of cooperation and inspiration for area visual artists at all levels of ability, age and ambition. Introducing a new troupe of creative talent to the community, the truly organic movement allows artists to offer art for public viewing without the permission of juries or venues, freeing the artist to reach an audience directly, rather than using an established gallery or presenter.
This loosely knit group of area artists, intertwined in a monthly showing of visual art known as the Third Thursday Art Show, vary in ability and experience, but come together with a concerted desire to present their creative works to the world. Based on a similar event staged in Kansas City and introduced to Springfield by the ubiquitous and itinerant area artist Michael Mayosky, the consistent monthly shows nurtured a hesitant, yet prolific and budding, art scene bubbling beneath the surface of Springfield’s average artistic presentations.
Mayosky, well known about town for his large murals at Penny Lane, Augie’s Front Burner and outside at the Maya restaurant on Second and Jefferson, has a life pictured by many as the idealistic, romantic vision of an artist on the brink, living day by day for his art. This lifestyle as an edgy entity in the area art world encourages others to present art in a free and easy way, without the normal limitations of gallery and jury. He used his reputation to encourage attendance for the original show, and challenged his fellow artists to bring their work.
“I brought an audience and they delivered the art,” says Mayosky, speaking of the first Third Thursday event held in the fall of 2009 and the initial artists involved. “I stalked some people to get them to show and kept after these younger artists who just needed to get stuff out there to gain confidence in their work.”
The shows were and are open to any artist who shows up with art objects and a desire to display them. As simple as it sounds, artists can call ahead and arrange for space or, as often happens, just be there the day of the show, find a spot to hang or otherwise display the art objects of choice, set a price for their art and become a part of Third Thursdays. Felicia Olin is likely the participating artist with the most outside shows, including an exhibit at the UIS Visual Arts gallery last year, featured artist at Prairie Art Alliance last spring, a just-finished show in Chicago in May and currently a display at the Illini Union Art Gallery in UIUC through Aug. 26. She could not emphasize enough the impact of Third Thursdays for a new presenting artist.
“You see a bigger picture of where you are as an artist by being part of a show like this,” she explains. “When finding out it’s not so hard as it seems to show art, you learn the basics: Get your stuff ready to hang, put a tag on it and show it. It’s a good starting point.”From the very first shows at Bar None, a downtown club and live music venue, Mayosky’s Third Thursday concept always included a moving gallery of sorts, so as the event grew, locations changed. After a one-time stop at another location, last summer the group found a home in the building housing the venerable Norb Andy’s Tabarin on Capitol Street.
“Jeremy, I don’t remember his last name, (Thomas, then manager) at Norb’s is a pivotal part of getting this going,” says Mayosky. “The venue there was a brilliant place to gain validity in the audience’s eyes and then the thing took off.”
Despite the city closing the block of Capitol Street directly in front of Norb’s for months to renovate the street and sidewalks, Third Thursdays flourished at the new venue. Hickox House, the building space above the bar, proved an ideal location for hosting a free-for-all art show. Like some fantasy dreamland, musicians played inside Norb’s as artists displayed upstairs, while patrons wandered between the spaces and discovered a creative pulse gaining strength in their normally artistically foggy hometown. Seemingly becoming some free form, far-flung artist colony supported by the closeness of blocked-off streets and energized by the creative forces present in the participants, Third Thursdays gained a personality. In doing so they became marketable and sustainable.
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