PRINTOrr Street, artists' hot spot
New studio opens colorful doors for Columbia artists
AARON ROSENBLATT
Local painter Leslie Chalfont works in a studio she shares with three other artists at the newly developed Orr Street Studios. “Everyone can be creative in a really pretty environment,” Chalfont says.
February 15, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST
From a realtor’s perspective, 106 Orr St. doesn’t have much curb-appeal.
Venturing inside, your view changes dramatically. While some might make the mistake of thinking this is just another art gallery with polished concrete, exposed beams, track lighting and sizable, hanging art, the Orr Street Studios’ look is more than meets the eye.
Chris Teeter stands in front of “Landscape,” a sculptured door he designed for the facility.
Though an artist’s paradise, the building itself is simply a renovated warehouse.
Behind the gallery displays sit the critical and unique elements of the Orr Street Studios: working artists.
With 16 studios shared by 26 artists, Orr Street Studios provides the community with more than just an art gallery. It represents a thoughtfully developed hybrid: A place where artists can work, collaborate with one another and show their work. According to Chris Teeter, manager of the newly opened studios, this concept represents a first for Columbia, and many believe it is long overdue.
“In college, artists have a space to work in, a creative community to work among and a place to show their work,” Teeter says. “Once that’s gone, it can be tough.”
Even for artists such as Frank Stack who are well past college age, a blank canvas can be a secondary concern. “I’ve been looking for a studio outside of the house for a long time,” Stack says. “At home I get interrupted by phone calls all the time.”
With the opening of the studios and its innovative concept, Stack believes Columbia has begun a new chapter in the city’s art history.
“Ever since I got here in 1963, people always had the mind-set that anybody who’s any good leaves,” he says, explaining why he thinks the new studios are important. “I think there is an enormous amount of talent in this town. I want to see these talented people become a success.”
Stack, one of the 26 artists scheduled to work at Orr Street, knows a little something about art. He spent 40 years teaching art at MU. In those years between JFK and George W. Bush, he also gained artistic renown primarily for his plein-air paintings and underground comics.
Best known for his collaboration with writer Harvey Pekar, Stack was awarded a Harvey, the equivalent of an Oscar or Grammy in the comic book world, in 1995 for best graphic album of original work for the Pekar book, Our Cancer Year. Stack’s pictures from the book were also featured in the Academy Award-nominated movie American Splendor based on a Pekar comic-book series of the same name.
Although he continues to create art in retirement, Stack is looking forward to the Orr Street setup. “I feel comfortable being around people I can sit around and draw with.”
That ability to work alongside other talented artists also drew Columbia College assistant art professor Mike Sleadd to Orr Street. Sleadd’s easygoing demeanor masks the fact that he takes art quite seriously. Since graduating college 34 years ago, he has produced his own work while he educated students at all three Columbia colleges.
His pen and ink drawings are intricate pieces that entice viewers to inspect all the myriad detailed strokes. In addition to his teaching and his shows, Sleadd has also worked with writers to illustrate books and their covers.
Sharing work space remains a fundamental component of the Orr Street experience, but the communal setting might take some getting used to for some. Sleadd voices a common concern that reveals the private nature of many artists: “I don’t like to show my art until it’s done,” he says.
Despite that, he finds the atmosphere to be stimulating. “It’s nurturing as an artist to be in an environment where art is central,” he says. “Every once in awhile I like to break away and try something else.” Maybe this newfound proximity to other creative types will lend a hand in that endeavor.
Whether the artists can get accustomed to the presence of others remains to be seen. However, at Orr Street, there is no avoiding the presence of Chris Teeter; his sculpted doors are there even if he is not.
Teeter not only assisted the owner, Mark Timberlake, in developing the concept, but he also contributes to the creative vibe every day with his distinctive doors that serve as the building’s signature. His 6-by-9 foot, 300 to 400-pound sliding doors guard the privacy of the artists’ work spaces. Yet, calling these unique pieces of art “doors” doesn’t do them justice.
Scraps left behind from the old warehouse that used to occupy the lot serve as the ingredients for eight of the doors. Teeter fashioned piles of wood and other building materials into art forms that incorporate doors into their theme. The remainders, made of “just metal and trash laying around” his work space, according to Teeter, work as elaborately crafted metal barriers between the artists’ studios and the outside world.
Another function of Teeter’s doors might be bottling some of the imagination of the artists working alongside one another. Forming and protecting a creative environment for artists appears to be the real goal behind Orr Street Studios.
Teeter summed up his hopes for the future of Orr Street this way, “A legacy for us would be to make Columbia a place for artists,” he says. “People always talk about art, but a lot of times they forget about the artists.”
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