Q&A: Talking ArtWalk with Chuck Hamsher
If You Go: This month’s ArtWalk takes place 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 15 and includes Art Emporium, Blue Door Art Studio, Chet Lowther Studio, Gallery Eleven, Good News Mountaineer Garage, No’eau Studio, Roger Lucas Gallery, Showcase West Virginia, Taylor Books Annex Gallery and The Purple Moon. See charlestonartwalk.com for a map and links to venues.
ArtWalk, held the third Thursday every month, features exhibits in a host of downtown Charleston venues. The event has had an erratic history and a move is afoot to recharge it, including a new website — www.charlestonartwalk.com — crafted by Chuck Hamsher, who with his wife Connie opened The Purple Moon on Lee Street two years ago. Thegazz.com editor Douglas Imbrogno tossed a few questions via e-mail to Hamsher about efforts to revitalize the event.
—
GAZZ: Why did you get involved in ArtWalk?
HAMSHER: When we opened our shop in 2005 we worked to get involved but found things pretty disorganized. Over the past six months things have become much more organized. This has happened in large part thanks to the help from Amy Williams and a truly committed group of shops, galleries and studios in downtown, who see the ArtWalk as an important part of our culture in Charleston.
—
Q: What does the event bring to the city?
A: The ArtWalk truly showcases what downtown Charleston has to offer in terms of the arts. The participating venues, which not only include shops and galleries but also working art studios, offer a wide variety of artwork largely from West Virginia artists.
Art is an important part of any community and provides a city with a means of communicating the culture, politics, social commentary and ethos of the people living there. Charleston has a rich art history with a promising future that is a tremendous resource as we work to revitalize and reinvigorate our downtown.
–
Q: Who do you hope will visit the new website?
A: What we found at The Purple Moon was that not only did our website allow us the opportunity to sell our wares to other areas of the country, which is an important part of our business, but it also has drawn in people from outside the state who found us first on the web. We regularly have folks in the shop who are in town and made it point to stop in because they had been to our website. Our hope is the same for ArtWalk, that it will become a source for people inside Charleston and from other areas to access the offerings of our art-focused businesses.
–
Q: How much of an audience is there for art events here?
A: I can only speak from our experience at The Purple Moon. We have found not only an audience to view art but also a strong market of people buying art. Frankly, it has been a pleasant surprise. My wife, Connie, and I started our shop thinking art would be a sideline to our vintage items. What we have found is that we spend more and more time focusing on that area of the business. While we deal primarily in mid-20th Century items, including art, we have been fortunate to also work with some of the area’s best artists including the late Doug Goebel, Rob Cleland and, most recently, Felix Krasyk.
–
Q: Downtown Charleston shuts down pretty quickly on weekdays — is that an obstacle: keeping people downtown for such an event?
A: This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Is it that people are leaving downtown or is it that there is little to keep them here? More importantly, I believe it is an issue of getting people to come downtown. Folks are obviously leaving home in the evening and you can witness that any night at the Corridor G shopping area. What we are working to do with the ArtWalk is to develop an environment that will draw people into downtown Charleston. I believe the strength of the artwork coupled with the commitment of the participants and some good marketing will create that environment.
—
Q: What’s next for the ArtWalk in Charleston?
A: To keep broadening its scope and its reach. We’ve discussed involving roving musicians, sponsoring youth art shows and getting more buy-in from other businesses downtown such as restaurants. The Charleston Area Alliance has provided us with technical help and is assisting in raising some funds to support the marketing of the ArtWalk. It’s very exciting. I see the ArtWalk as an integral part of Charleston’s art scene.
