Charlotte, MI, artists are pooling their resources and creativity to open a 1,500 square foot artist’s co-operative in the city’s downtown.
Charlotte painter, Stormi Stuler, and Richard Turbine, owner of Windwalker Antiques and Fine Arts, are working together to draw art lovers into downtown Charlotte. Turbine is offering the second floor of his building for the co-op.
“We like the idea of this being downtown,” Stuler says. “I think a lot of artsy kinds of people tend to like a lot of old town areas.”
When it comes to starting the revitalization of a downtown area, artist groups tend to be first in line, Stuler says, adding that smaller cities in other states have been brought back to life by the art community.
“I’ve seen this happen in a lot of old towns, even on Michigan’s West Coast,” she says. Artists “seem to have a niche for taking old, abandoned, dilapidated places and bringing them around. We’d love to see the downtown jump back like that.”
Members of the proposed co-op would split the rent and share the space. Stuler says she needs about six artists to fill the space.
“An artist came in and did a fresco-type of sculpture on one wall—it kind of looks like ruins,” she says. “The room already starts out with a beautiful, 60-foot painting on one wall.”
To contact Stuler about joining the co-op, click here.
Source: Stormi Stuler
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.