Charlotte Studio Artists Find Home at Johnston YMCA
Former Charlotte Art League artists launch new organization in NoDa
As local artist Walter Sanders, co-founder of Charlotte Studio Artists, toured me around his organization’s new space in the Johnston YMCA’s Child Development Center, he beamed like a proud father any time he reached a new colleague’s studio space.
There was Stephanie Grainer, whose corner studio was filled with dolls and toy parts upcycled in countless creative ways. “She’s a classically trained artist,” he explained. “During COVID, she couldn’t get to her kiln and her kids gave her a gift of a box full of doll parts, and she’s been on a roll since then.”
Shana Templin’s space was next: “She does art therapy in one of the hospitals, which I don’t know how she does that. I mean, the emotional strain must be amazing on her. But she’s here … she’s all over.”
Then there’s Bojana Grujovska, who just happened to greet Sanders at the bank when he went to open a business account for the new venture. When he told her he was opening an art studio with a group of fellow artists, her eyes lit up. She pulled up her Instagram to share with him, and a few days later she was signing on for studio space.
“You can tell just from her work how bold she is,” he said, looking up in wonderment at a series of colorful pieces painted on black canvases. “Every mark is just really strong. She’s really, really cool.”
Sanders is one of a trio of artists who spearheaded the creation of Charlotte Studio Artists last year, leading the search for a new space with about a dozen of their colleagues, all of whom had left Charlotte Art League on Raleigh Street after revelations about the executive director’s financial mismanagement led the entire board to quit and the organization to downsize.
While searching for new spaces, the co-founders — Sanders along with fellow local artists Jodi Lynn McNeely and Catherine Kanvik — reached out to the NoDa Neighborhood and Business Association.
“One of the 15 of us reached out to the NoDa Business Association and they said, ‘You know what? I think the Y is looking for an art entity.’ We jumped on it,” recalled McNeely.
Following months of discussions and planning, the newly formed Charlotte Studio Artists signed a lease in the fall for space in the Child Development Center, which has cut back programming significantly in recent years.
As of early February, the organization has filled all 21 spots for resident artists in the space, which consists of about a dozen studios, a classroom for creative workshops, and a gallery for showcasing the resident artists’ work. There is also wall space throughout the building that’s used to showcase artists, including a curated display at the entrance and rentable wall space for some of the resident artists who don’t work in the building.
While a group of around seven founding artists began working in the building in November, a more complete team was able to hold a grand opening celebration on Jan. 25, welcoming around 300 guests throughout the day.
The studio is open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. every Saturday for neighborhood residents to visit. Resident artists are able to host workshops in the facility during these times. Catherine Kanvik has a few workshops scheduled in the coming months, including a needle felting workshop at 10 a.m. on Feb. 22 and a beeswax collage class at 10 a.m. on March 22.
According to Sanders, new YMCA of Central Carolinas president and CEO Sue Glass has been through to visit the space and is considering opening similar spaces in YMCA locations around the region.
For Charlotte Studio Artists, however, their new NoDa home is all they need. The team has paid homage to the neighborhood by naming each room in the new space after the sections the neighborhood was once broken into back in its mill village days: Royal Truss, Highland Mill, Steel Gardens, Mecklenburg Mill, Electric Park, and North Charlotte.
The group hopes to not only pay tribute to the neighborhood’s history as a mill town but also preserve its more recent history as an arts district.
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“It is artist-led and artist-run; we all pitch in,” explained McNeely. “It’s not just a rental. It’s not just a place to do work. It’s a place to plug in and really further your business and then help the NoDa community have another space for art.”
“Art is such a bridge,” added Sanders. “It’s an engagement tool for the community, for Y members, for artists, and merchants, too. If we bring bodies in, we want to collaborate with merchants so people go over and enjoy some food and beverage. It benefits everybody.”
