As appears in http://panzeepress.com/20070919.pdf
Harrisburg flexed its cultural muscles during its 19th annual Gallery Walk this past Sunday, hoping to highlight the city as the artistic hub of central PA. Would it succeed? Would the 26 different locations and all their events combine to imbue your enthusiasm and appreciation for the “arts scene?”
The map they distributed for the event, which I picked up a few days beforehand to plan my day, did not instill confidence. A very small font and poor contrast made it difficult to read, and the map itself was a mish-mosh of triangles and lines which, for one thing, showed one museum in two different locations. The day wasn’t mentioned on harrisburgevents.com, so even finding details online proved a tad difficult.
Shouldn’t this day have a greater sense of import? Kipona wrapped up one week ago and September’s necessities are now engaged. Its ArtsFest (just like Memorial Day’s ArtsFest, but with an admission charge) brought the same booths around to centralize the talent and products. One week later, would people be willing to walk all over Harrisburg to go where the art is? A local event highlighting local artists and galleries, does it demand too much of its patrons?
I worked to fight off the “bastard stepchild” sense creeping into the event, and leapt in hoping to update my sense of the community that three years ago brought me and the “Human, Being” piece to the city. I disregarded how five of the 26 locations required a car (um, Gallery Walk? ), and even planned to give the churches and businesses on the map the benefit of the doubt. It felt puffed up, something trying to be more than it was…but I shelved my early cynicism and hoped to keep it there as the day progressed.
So off I went towards downtown Harrisburg.
My excitement grew as I walked towards the upbeat deejay music coming from North Street. They’d closed the street off to hold “Rambo Faire,” and by noon the street already had a crowd of people, activities, and tables with local artists plying their wares. What fun! I wondered why all this bustle and hoopla had no mention as part of Gallery Walk – it seemed like a missed opportunity. With the placement of the other locations, I passed through North Street three other times, turning it into a most vibrant centerpiece for the day.
Since it was only around the corner, I began at Harrisburg’s newest gallery, Arts at 510 on Third St.. They featured one artist in particular, displaying a number of colorful paintings on their walls. For this day, the artist was at the gallery creating a new work and talking to visitors about her methods and choices. Pottery, glass, mixed media, and jewelry were spread out well in the close space, and refreshments are always a plus. I may not have been able to afford anything in there, but at least I’d walked through a place that felt like an appropriate Gallery Walk stop.
This feeling continued after passing through the Susquehanna Art Museum and the Whitaker Center, Harrisburg’s “usual suspects” for art. Sure, they were just trying to get me in the door, but I appreciated their efforts nonetheless. Whitaker, as an example, had a rather interesting collection of paintings based on a “community” theme – an exhibit that might escape notice if you went there for some other event. And not being a frequenter of these types of places, I was happy to have had the chance to glance through the Museum’s “Photography as Fine Art” exhibit.
Strawberry Square had its own version of the North St. flavor, with tables for local artists and live music. The stores were closed so you could concentrate on the displays, and Habitat for Humanity’s “Door-to-Door” silent auction displayed doors that artists had festooned with all manner of color and design. Very cool! The day was going very well so far, and the Square’s choices felt interesting and worthwhile.
Things took a turn for the worse, though, with the next four stops. La Femme Jolie? Merely open for business, and nothing special for the day – I simply got pulled in the door so I might spend money. Downtown Improvement District? A one-room office with most of the furniture removed for the day and a series of small paintings by one featured artist. He was there, but seemed rather involved with the large, oniony sandwich that sat in his lap. Penn National Insurance? Forced to sign in, a glance at the few paintings hung for the day, a brief conversation about scale with the featured artist (the only person on-hand besides the security guard), then gone. VQC Designs? This was a total joke – the map description pumped up the “contemporary office space” but it felt like I got yanked into a startup business office who decided to hang a couple things in the conference room so they could “be a part of things” and get people into their office and to see their own advertisements.
Not everything can be pure, though, I guess, and part of the challenge of promoting art lies in its funding. These stops reminded me that often times promotional events like these require a bit of “dancing with the devil.” I imagine that VQC Designs cut a check to be a part of Gallery Walk, which helped pay for some of the day’s costs. I didn’t spend a lot of time at any of these locations, though, mostly because they felt “trumped up” as a Gallery Walk stop – I was walking through businesses, not galleries.
Thank goodness I had the Art Association of Harrisburg as my next stop. “We are back on track!” Many people, many rooms, a lot of art very smartly distributed in the relatively close space. When your city has a bunch of row homes, your galleries end up in those homes. But here, where the Gallery Walk intends to originate and home of the day’s main agent, it felt nice to walk through and around so many people (the most crowded of all the indoor stops I made) while gazing at the paintings and drawings they had to offer.
I don’t know if I would have ever seen the inside of the John Harris/Simon Cameron Mansion if it hadn’t been a Gallery Walk stop. I felt very removed from the rest of the day’s events, though, since the mansion sat by itself as the southernmost stop. The sidewalk that passed the hospital en route had only a few pedestrians scattered here and there – the orange Gallery Walk map in hands and pockets made a telltale sign. They had decent refreshments which were a little removed from the display locations, which made the grab for an extra cookie a little more than okay. But overall, the contemporary art and photographs they displayed felt a little forced and a little anachronistic amidst the Mansion’s antiques.
After quickly passing through St. Stephen’s Cathedral House Gallery and finding nothing of note, I’d wrapped up the “downtown” portion and returned to North St. which still had a lot of energy. The Gamut Theater Group core company performed improvisational comedy, and strolling the street you might see any number of familiar faces which might represent Harrisburg’s burgeoning young artist community.
It made sense to me that The Mantis Collective would be the gathering point for such festive mayhem. Always unconventional in comparison to other galleries, Mantis’ small space fills with interesting and curious works of all different forms – almost a “gonzo gallery” approach. If I were to wonder what was happening in emerging art for Harrisburg, I’d go to the Mantis first.
I almost forgave Mangia Qui, but after going up the second floor to view pictures laying flat on restaurant tables, then going to the first floor to view the paintings on the wall while avoiding the lunch crowd (as I was encouraged to do after wondering aloud if the second floor was all they had), I had the distinct sense that Gallery Walk was just something else they wanted to be involved in, so they ponied up. Granted, it’s not uncommon for restaurants and such to have art available for viewing/buying, but I’d rather do that as a normal patron of the place on a normal day – today was a gallery day, not a restaurant day.
More than halfway through, it was time for me to make the trek to the Midtown spots. Along the way I tried spotting some of the Seven Lively Artists & More who were painting Midtown scenes. But unless all these artists were on the straight line between venues, they were nowhere to be found – I only saw three artists on my walk to the next venue. Along the way I passed the Friends of Midtown Gallery featuring other works from these same artists. Packed full of paintings of local scenes, I couldn’t help but wonder why this seemingly legitimate gallery of local art was not included on the map. I mean, they even had the green “Gallery Walk” banner, which can’t be said for every other venue I visited.
The Midtown Scholar and Midtown Cinema buzzed with people and activities. I could have spent the entire day at the Scholar, whose stage setup had nonstop music and spoken word performances, and a work of art where attendees were invited to participate and contribute. The Cinema also had a live band playing, and both venues continued their long-standing “gallery” traditions with works along their walls. I felt a little disappointed at having to walk so far to see such a lively setting so seemingly far removed from the rest of the locations. I wrapped up my Midtown tour at Riverside Framing & Art Gallery, where the walls jumped out with vibrance and color. Yes, it’s a gallery in a home, but it felt so much more spacious and interesting than the “row home” galleries.
I returned downtown (passing again through the hubbub of North St.) for a personal errand. I passed through the Pine St. Presbyterian Church to see three wood sculptures, a few paintings, and generally to waste my time. Why was this included again? Passing Arts at 510 again, now they had a young jazz ensemble playing on Third St.! I finished at The Gallery at Walnut Place. “Today Only,” they advertised, “A Gallery of Art Denied,” hoping to give attendees some sense of life without art by covering all the art on the wall with blank canvasses. I appreciated the idea, but did they have to coax me inside to see the “no” art? Couldn’t they have just closed for the day?
Overall, I had the impression that the folks who put this together were really trying to achieve something, and there were bits and pieces that suggested they came close to the mark. It felt way too much to see in a single day. The feel of North St. and the Midtown Scholar suggested to me that there could be a way to do Gallery Walk that combined the local activities from, say, ArtsFest, and include them as a larger local celebration. Save the crafts booths for Kipona or something. Gallery Walk can and does put forth a considerable effort to highlight all that’s happening around Harrisburg’s arts scene, and it can and should be highlighted, featured, and supplemented as a large Harrisburg event instead of feeling like it couldn’t stand up against the city’s other big events. They’ve got the right idea, the right venues, and the right people. Make it bigger.
One Perspective 