Neighborhoods are the backbone of any city. Beyond geographic boundaries, neighborhoods define who we are by way of our ordinary, daily interactions with our environment and most importantly, our neighbors. Springfield is home to 34 neighborhood service areas, which include 17 registered neighborhood organizations.
Whether addressing zoning issues, participating in neighborhood clean-ups or simply checking in on the person next door, the countless interactions among neighbors make Springfield neighborhoods vital and vibrant places rather than simply points on a map.
In addition to its great neighborhoods, Springfield is also home to a vibrant artistic community, says Springfield Art Museum Director Nick Nelson, which inspired him to dedicate the museum’s new flex space to local artists for the next two years.
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“I built this piece for a couple reasons. First of all I wanted to tell a story that everyone could relate to I think we all feel like an outcast at some point in time, and I wanted to relay that feeling through the countenance on his face. Secondly, it was important to me to give the piece humanity without looking like a mechanical representation. It’s very hard to make a human form from metal and have it not look like a robot. I am excited about it being showcased at the museum – it is quite an honor! I’ve exhibited in galleries here and Kansas City as well as festivals and shows, but this is the first time I’ve been juried to exhibit in a museum. I am encouraged that it gives validity to my work as a professional metal artist and I look forward to a continuing relationship with the creative community in the Springfield area.”
– “Frankenstein” sculptor James Dale
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The ‘Art In Our City’ exhibition highlights and celebrates the creativity of the Springfield community, focusing on artists living and working in the neighborhoods that make up our city. This exhibition not only concentrates on the artists on display, but the neighborhoods they live in and what it means to live and work creatively here,” Nelson says.
The exhibit, which opened in October 2017, will rotate every six months; the first exhibition features work by eight artists from five neighborhoods located in Zone 1:
- Christiano Bellotti: Westside
- Annie Campbell: Woodland Heights
- James Dale: Young-Lilley (unregistered area west of Westside; boundaries are Chestnut Expressway to the north, Grand Street to the south, West Bypass to the east and I-44 to the west.
- Sarah Jones: Midtown
- Johnny Kriebel: Midtown
- Christine Schilling: Midtown
- Kori Smalley: Downtown
- Jennifer Rose Wolken: Woodland Heights.
These artists all live or create in the downtown Midtown, C-Street, Westside, Woodland Heights and Young-Lilley areas, Nelson says.
He added that the museum received more than 50 entries for the “Art In Our City” exhibition during the summer of 2017. Thirty-five artists were selected to display their work over the next two years.
For information on how to submit your work for this exhibit, please visit sgfmuseum.org.
“The inspiration for this piece was the place I live. I love that there are so many beautiful mature trees in the community I live in, Woodland Heights. It really adds to the quality of life. I can see these grain elevators from my home and I drive past this view of them every day. I find them very stately; they mark home from afar. The railroad has been such an important part of my family for generations, and it shaped Springfield. These markers of its past importance in our economy are part of our daily lives all over north Springfield. I am so honored to have this piece in the Springfield Art Museum. The renewed commitment of the museum to really reach into the local community and engage people with the arts in new ways is transformative for southwest Missouri,” Wolken said.
Smalley said, “It’s important to me that each person be able to draw their own unique perspectives on my art, so I try not to give too much of my personal thought process away. When I was creating this piece, I was inspired to represent a certain time of day that felt like relief to me and I relied on my use of color to get there,” she said. “It is so incredibly meaningful to have a piece of my work hanging in the museum, as I’m sure it would be for any emerging artist! It’s such a cool opportunity and I would have never thought I’d see this dream realized in my lifetime. I am grateful for it and humbled by it, and so motivated to keep creating and pushing myself as an artist.”
Former shop transitions to Avant Art flex space
In April 2017, the museum shop, which was run by volunteers from the Southwest Missouri Museum Associates, the museum’s longest-serving support group, officially closed its doors. Soon after, the museum announced its intention to transform the former shop space into a new flexible social gallery that combines exhibitions, retail and limited beverage and snack service.
Avant Art was chosen as the name for the new space – the French word “avant” meaning “before.”
“Exploring this space is literally the thing you do before you enter the museum’s galleries, due to Avant Art’s prominent location near the museum’s renovated lobby that now includes the stunning ‘Autumn and Persian Feather,’ chandelier by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly,” Nelson says.