Central Illinois has a
really strong food community
music community and art
community we've been telling
you about it for CI living in
today. We are in Springfield
once again with the
Springfield art Association
and executive director Betsy
dollar in a new space to the
Springfield art Association
tell me about this building
and how it came about yes,
this is the a collective
gallery, we represent about 70
central Illinois artists most
of whom are from Springfield,
but as far as Champaign and.
Almost St. Louis
we recently moved closer to
downtown here on the corner of
5th in
mostly for greater
visibility you it true this
space is truly a store front
and we get people.
Driving by and walking by
and we're hoping that once
tourists and people actually
start coming back downtown on
a regular basis and when there
are festivals and things
again.
That the traffic will be
good visibility. The higher
visibility even now has been
really beneficial to our
location is is perfect right
here in downtown Springfield
on 5th Street.
And this is not just a
gallery, but store as well All
the working here is for sale.
And we have a broad range
of price points everything
from ice.
Think $8.
close to 5,000 on is the
$5,000 pieces are rare has
actually that giant cactus
peace over there, but which by
the
but you know I would say
most of the paintings You know
today $800 so you know really
quite affordable for really
high quality or buy regional
artists and there's jewelry
there's glass there's
paintings Thurs photographed
little bit everything, yeah
we've got ceramics glass
fibers jewelry we have several
really silversmiths in in our
stable of artists and.
You know people always say
oh you have to go to Chicago
or Louis to buy our know you'd
out there some really really
good stuff here in town and
you should always shop local
Go to those places but if you
can get something made by
somebody who lives where you
live. I think that makes it
all that much more special
anyway it has a story that
that these other playwright
and in many cases they may
even know the Ernest so that
part is really are you nicer
discover that they're like
their next door I had coffee
his guy. This building is is 3
stories. There's aloft up
above and then I want to take
a peek in the basement due to
customer,
all right now we're on the
lower level of the a
collective all little echoey
but equally beautiful, yes,
yes, we're kind of excited
about this space because it's
really flexible I look forward
in the future too.
Doing some installation
down here possibly doing some
work with the emerging But
it's a really flexible space
particularly with the movable
walls, there's a lot we can do
down here. I know you've just
been in here for a few months
but talk about the vision for
what you have.
For this page you talk
about installations obviously
that's bringing in different
artists in different mediums,
what you have in mind.
Well not a 100% sure as I
said it's just a very flexible
space and. There aren't a lot
of large scale sculptors here
in central Illinois. So I'm
still kind of on the lookout
got a bonsai group of that
here in Springfield that's
going to do a little show
probably upstairs a little
more
and in May so we try to mix
it up with you know some
plants and some Ard and some
other media that way so yeah
we're we're always open to new
ideas all sorts of
opportunities for the
Springfield art Association
here at the collective.
If you're the next
Michelangelo Leonardo Vinci
Mister Miyagi this is the
place to show yourself you did
the so anyway, all the details
about Springfield are
Association and the brand new
location with the collective
here in Springfield just go to
CI living dot TV. There will