Artists’ studios open, bringing more creativity downtown
Art Crossing at RiverPlace provide high profile to local works

OWEN RILEY JR. /Staff
Studios open doors: Visitors view Jared Emerson’s work at The Art Crossing at RiverPlace, which held its grand opening Friday afternoon at the base of the RiverPlace condos in downtown Greenville. Fourteen artists work and sell their work in eight studios that line the walk facing the river.

Envision artists working on the sidewalk or in their studios with the door open and people stopping by to watch them in the throes of creating. Or, perhaps to shop for finished fine art.

Are you thinking Paris’ Montmartre or New York’s Greenwich Village? Think again.

Think downtown Greenville, where the newly announced Art Crossing at RiverPlace houses 14 painters, potters, sculptors, photographers and fine-print makers in brightly lit new studios open and welcoming to the community.

On Friday, at a grand opening ceremony, Mayor Knox White, announced the venture creating more arts space downtown.
“It is a realization of a dream,” White said, calling Art Crossing yet another “great spot in downtown Greenville.”

To make Art Crossing a reality, the city partnered with developer Phil Hughes, president of RiverPlace Development Inc., and the Metropolitan Arts Council in creating the space, originally planned as parking spaces.

In the three-way venture, the city provided the “wall space,” to which Hughes’ company added plumbing, wiring and air conditioning. MAC recruited the artists.

The business end is a three-way deal, Hughes said. The city owns the studio spaces, which his company rents form the city and leases to the artists at a low cost.

in turn, the artists agreed to be engaged with the project in three ways, Hughes said.

“We asked them to create good art, be present at their studios, and to engage the public in an entertaining way.”
As for foot traffic there’s already plenty of it, Highes said, with the public visiting Falls Park on the Reedy River, strolling Liberty Bridge and attending ballgames at the new West End stadium.

Abstract expressionist painter Ric Standridge, who spoke on behalf of the artists, said having 14 artists in one place engaged with the public is inspiring. Bustling downtown commerce merging with energetic art creates the kind of partnership that has been the mark of great cities around the world, he said.