Only seven months after opening Lucas Gallery at 33 Jordan St., Skaneateles, the owners are just 20 artists away from launching a second venue next door.
Kevin Lucas, 42, and wife Molly, 43, have put out the feelers for what will be known as the Danube Gallery.
The Lucases need 20 artists to commit to the project by the end of August, and they will then lease the home at 31 Jordan St. as another place for area artists to exhibit their paintings, sculptures, jewelry and other work.
Danube would then be open by November, said Lucas, who has had the idea to open another gallery on his mind for quite some time.
“I wanted to see how Lucas Gallery went first, and things are going very well,” said Lucas, the director of information technology at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum on Science and Technology in Syracuse. “I had originally planned on expanding if the market warranted it.”
And according to Lucas, it does. The demand to exhibit art is larger than Lucas Gallery can currently accommodate, Lucas said, referring to the 600 square-foot space that debuted in December 2006.
But the Lucas' plans aren't limited to the Danube Gallery alone. They envision transforming Jordan Street and surrounding roads into a fine arts district and are excited about many of the galleries and art-related businesses already located there, from John Francis McCarthy's photo gallery to Long Lake Custom Framing and Interiors.
“There is some momentum gathering in a couple different areas that I can see,” Lucas said of fine arts in Skaneateles.
Lucas said the initial phase of a fine arts district will take a few years, and he would like it to include at least eight fine art galleries and at least three or four craft venues. Good models for such a district are places like New Hope, Pa., and Croton-on-the Hudson, he said.
People, Lucas continued, are growing tired of the same consumer, mass-manufactured art and are craving original work. They are also becoming more savvy about what fine art is, he added.
One of the areas that Lucas believes says a lot about Skaneateles' desire for independent artists is the acceptance that the area has given Lucas Gallery.
“I could not have been more pleased with how we were received in the area,” Lucas said, noting that there have been about six openings for a variety of artists who showcase their work there. “We're having a blast with the local market.”
Another indicator of the town's thirst for original art, he said, is Skaneateles Artisans, the artist co-op on Fennell Street that opened in June.
Holly Knott, secretary for the co-op, said that things have been going well with the business. She expressed her support of a formalized fine arts district.
“Oh my gosh, I think we would love this idea,” Knott said, noting that the Skaneateles arts community is great now but has a lot of potential to expand.
Knott said that some people might not think it's worth the trip to Skaneateles for just one or two galleries, “but if they know they could spend the whole day, I think that would really help the area.”
Skaneateles Artisans have also proposed a monthly art walk in which all of the galleries would stay open later and patrons could receive discounts from area restaurants, Knott said. The co-op is currently in the planning stages of this effort and is in discussions with the Skaneateles Area Council for the Arts.
Joe Strodel Jr., president of the council's board of directors, said he was also looking forward to meeting with Lucas about his ideas for the fine arts district, which Strodel called “clean economic development.”
“People are going to a destination and then they're enjoying the rest of the community while they're there,” Strodel said of other areas with art districts. “It just makes sense.”
Strodel said that he can't say definitively whether or not there is room for more galleries in Skaneateles. But there does appear to be a large interest in local artists, he said, citing the success of last year's first “Fall in Love with Art” artist studio tour, which will be reprised this September.
“The public is saying I want more of this, I like it, and I think the businesses are responding,” Strodel said.
Lucas, who moved from Syracuse to Skaneateles last year to open Lucas Gallery, is constantly impressed by the number of talented artists in the area. He surmises that the reason for that can be traced back to the Hudson River School landscape painters, some of whom spent time in the Finger Lakes region.
“I think that we're actually experiencing the crop from that seed,” Lucas said.
Additionally, Lucas noted that the area has a lot in common with Provence, France. There are similarities in the landscape and the culture, and this draws artists to the area, Lucas said.
And should Lucas' new gallery go through, Skaneateles will have another connection to Europe.
“The Danube...served to really kind of connect a lot of very strong and premiere cultural centers,” Lucas said.
He'd like Danube Gallery to do the same for the artists throughout the community.
The Lucases need 20 artists to commit to the project by the end of August, and they will then lease the home at 31 Jordan St. as another place for area artists to exhibit their paintings, sculptures, jewelry and other work.
Danube would then be open by November, said Lucas, who has had the idea to open another gallery on his mind for quite some time.
“I wanted to see how Lucas Gallery went first, and things are going very well,” said Lucas, the director of information technology at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum on Science and Technology in Syracuse. “I had originally planned on expanding if the market warranted it.”
And according to Lucas, it does. The demand to exhibit art is larger than Lucas Gallery can currently accommodate, Lucas said, referring to the 600 square-foot space that debuted in December 2006.
But the Lucas' plans aren't limited to the Danube Gallery alone. They envision transforming Jordan Street and surrounding roads into a fine arts district and are excited about many of the galleries and art-related businesses already located there, from John Francis McCarthy's photo gallery to Long Lake Custom Framing and Interiors.
“There is some momentum gathering in a couple different areas that I can see,” Lucas said of fine arts in Skaneateles.
Lucas said the initial phase of a fine arts district will take a few years, and he would like it to include at least eight fine art galleries and at least three or four craft venues. Good models for such a district are places like New Hope, Pa., and Croton-on-the Hudson, he said.
People, Lucas continued, are growing tired of the same consumer, mass-manufactured art and are craving original work. They are also becoming more savvy about what fine art is, he added.
One of the areas that Lucas believes says a lot about Skaneateles' desire for independent artists is the acceptance that the area has given Lucas Gallery.
“I could not have been more pleased with how we were received in the area,” Lucas said, noting that there have been about six openings for a variety of artists who showcase their work there. “We're having a blast with the local market.”
Another indicator of the town's thirst for original art, he said, is Skaneateles Artisans, the artist co-op on Fennell Street that opened in June.
Holly Knott, secretary for the co-op, said that things have been going well with the business. She expressed her support of a formalized fine arts district.
“Oh my gosh, I think we would love this idea,” Knott said, noting that the Skaneateles arts community is great now but has a lot of potential to expand.
Knott said that some people might not think it's worth the trip to Skaneateles for just one or two galleries, “but if they know they could spend the whole day, I think that would really help the area.”
Skaneateles Artisans have also proposed a monthly art walk in which all of the galleries would stay open later and patrons could receive discounts from area restaurants, Knott said. The co-op is currently in the planning stages of this effort and is in discussions with the Skaneateles Area Council for the Arts.
Joe Strodel Jr., president of the council's board of directors, said he was also looking forward to meeting with Lucas about his ideas for the fine arts district, which Strodel called “clean economic development.”
“People are going to a destination and then they're enjoying the rest of the community while they're there,” Strodel said of other areas with art districts. “It just makes sense.”
Strodel said that he can't say definitively whether or not there is room for more galleries in Skaneateles. But there does appear to be a large interest in local artists, he said, citing the success of last year's first “Fall in Love with Art” artist studio tour, which will be reprised this September.
“The public is saying I want more of this, I like it, and I think the businesses are responding,” Strodel said.
Lucas, who moved from Syracuse to Skaneateles last year to open Lucas Gallery, is constantly impressed by the number of talented artists in the area. He surmises that the reason for that can be traced back to the Hudson River School landscape painters, some of whom spent time in the Finger Lakes region.
“I think that we're actually experiencing the crop from that seed,” Lucas said.
Additionally, Lucas noted that the area has a lot in common with Provence, France. There are similarities in the landscape and the culture, and this draws artists to the area, Lucas said.
And should Lucas' new gallery go through, Skaneateles will have another connection to Europe.
“The Danube...served to really kind of connect a lot of very strong and premiere cultural centers,” Lucas said.
He'd like Danube Gallery to do the same for the artists throughout the community.
The Citizens' Say
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