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Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau.
This morning our guest is Jacob Vallejo with the Downtown Art Place in Ironwood.
The Downtown Art Place, or DAP, is a 501C3 non-profit that works in partnership with the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Arts Midwest.
Their primary funding comes from fundraisers, grants, and donations.
The mission of the DAP is to promote and sustain the creation and appreciation of the visual arts in the greater Ironwood area, encompassing Gogeve Canatonagon counties in Michigan, and Iron and Vilas counties in Wisconsin.
The DAP is also dedicated to promoting local and regional artists in its galleries, gift shop, and arts education, and is committed to partnering with its neighbor, the Historic Ironwood Theater.
Joining me to talk about the DAP today is Jake Vallejo.
Jake is the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the DAP.
In his role there he helps with marketing and advertising.
He considers himself more of a crafter than an artist.
However, he is an aerial photographer and his drone style photography is on display in the DAP Gallery.
Good morning Jake and welcome to In Our Range.
Good morning.
Good to have you here.
Thanks for coming in.
Well, thanks for having me.
The downtown art place was formed in 2010, and they were able to purchase the building next to the historic Ironwood Theater, and there was so much work
that had to
go in to that building.
And so after years of renovations, it's kind of become a jewel of downtown Ironwood.
The gallery is a beautiful showcase for local artists, and the studios are excellent spaces for education and artistic development of everyone from young kids to experienced artists.
With the building really being secured and keeping its stride going over the years, how has the community at the DAP also sort of evolved since its inception?
I would say that over the years, it has changed just because of the things that needed to happen at the time of its creation to now.
You needed some of those go-getters to find funding and figure out planning and sort out who go.
who does what and what goes where.
Now I would say that again a lot of it being secured is how to continue offering things the community wants and needs by still bringing in those who might not have heard of it before while trying to just reinforce what has been done all along kind of just bulk up the capacity.
Okay.
And just
improvements across the board, I would say.
There's always room for those type of improvements, and it's the people that we find or those we need at the time.
I would say that you see the talent when you have a certain task.
Like if you need somebody to be like a project leader for a classroom, you might be able to find a teacher who wants to take that on, or if you find an artist who wants to
talk to the community more about just what the area has to offer.
They moved here, they're inspired by the environment, the scenery, the people.
They might want to share that with others who come to town.
So that sort of thing.
Yeah.
So that's one of the really cool things about the DAP is we're not just sharing art from local artists and regional artists, but in the sharing of that art, we're actually sharing our home.
a place and sort of promoting it while also promoting the arts, everything from basket weaving to aerial photography.
I'm always amazed at the type of things that I do find in the gallery and the people who create them, everybody in their their side hustles or their hobbies.
You never know what someone might do in their off time.
So yeah, the basket weaving, fiber arts, different metalwork.
The jewelry that people create, it's really quite amazing.
The painting and photography as well really gets inspired by what we see, especially now.
There's the fall color.
Some of the waterfalls have dried up, but there is a lot of interesting scenery there to get out and just explore and see what comes to mind.
And as people then on say both sides the artists who get inspired by that to create and then those who just enjoy the community who come up here to experience it They then see some of the art to like have that memory of their time here so they get the keepsake
like a lot of people and then they have it for themselves or a gift for a friend to say oh I went to this amazing place here is something that I got for you to share whether it's a postcard or a painting or a mug
yeah or earrings or
a bracelet or an necklace something that kind of catches your eye and looks like it came from this area and would do a good job representing it so you pass it along again do a loved one or just keep it for yourself
Yeah, the artwork is unique to the Gogevic range.
And so it's sort of not just a souvenir.
It's a little more than that.
It's really of the place,
not
just promoting the place.
It is of the people from here and of the place.
And I'm always amazed that there is just an incredible wealth of talent here on the range.
And the Four Counties sort of represented by the downtown art place.
And you
just see some really
I've been, I've had my breath taken away from me by some of the pieces I've seen over the years in the DAP and dreamed about being able to purchase some of these paintings that I couldn't afford because they just were so evocative of so many of the things that I love here, you know.
I agree there is quite a bit of talent and all around and the downtown art place does a good job of trying to represent the visual side of that.
Yeah.
And with the talent of the artists there, they're not just producing their own artwork, but you also offer these classes in the fall and during each season.
And so this fall on Monday afternoons.
There are classes available.
Some of them are for kids.
Some of them are for all ages.
Some of them may be more specific for adults.
But on the Mondays, it's a mixed media type of class.
It's taught by various DAP artists.
And we try to do a seasonal theme.
So October and past already, but there was some painting of pumpkins and like a polka dot style.
And then on November 2nd, there would be a different seasonal theme.
And then on December 7th, they're
be something more appropriate for that.
So maybe, I don't know, a snow or a Christmas or who knows, it'd be up to the creativity of the teacher.
Yeah, and it's amazing.
I've brought my kids down there for so many classes over the years and it's everything from very culturally specific, like the Ukrainian Easter egg decoration class.
We did that one or two years in a row and you just, you learn these very specific, not just
like higher art forms or traditional art forms, but very specific cultural folk art forms that are wonderful to participate in.
That's the exciting part about these classes is that the variety that you'll never know what could come up again with people's talents and hobbies.
If they have something that they're willing to share, I mean, it's really not anything that you're going to get judged on.
It wouldn't be a place where others would come to appreciate what
you also enjoy and you could kind of give back to the community and just share it.
Yeah and nurture it and grow it in this really direct way.
Oh
for sure.
I mean, between the mixed media classes, there's also monthly offerings in the clay cave.
So in the lower level of the gallery, there's a whole room where you can either use a pottery wheel or do it by freehand.
And once you create your works, there's a kiln available to fire it after decoration and you can take it home.
Again, monthly offerings, they do it at $15 a class, usually from like 4.30 to 6 o'clock.
We do have posters and flyers put up around town with information about the dates and the classes.
They're also available on the Downtown Art Place website.
You just follow the links to find the classes you like to sign up and learn more.
Yeah, all the information you need is there at downtown artplace.org and it is an easy website to navigate I found on both the desktop and mobile You know I'm I mean I was raised in the era of the internet But I am a little older and sometimes I struggle finding my way around these websites But I really appreciate the easy nature of using that one and the calendar is easy to find and you can register Sort of directly from the calendar.
Oh, yes, it's great to
see when people sign up.
That way you can know if a class is filled or not, if it's reached capacity.
That way the teachers also know what amount of supplies to bring and it just helps to better plan and prepare.
And the online ability to sign up really helps with that.
Wonderful.
The classes are a great opportunity to, if you have a passion or a curiosity for something, to follow through on that and dive in.
But I really loved for myself the ability to just sit there with my kids and learn something together.
I really enjoyed those classes with my kids too.
So I would encourage anyone that's listening, you know, these after school programs that get the kids involved, find a way to get them down there and
You just watch the kids light up when they get to be creative.
It is a fun idea and option for something to do, especially in these darker months to come for November and December.
If you can get out and find an interest to share with your kids, if you can experience and then grow your talents or at least encourage your kids to find out what they like to do.
If it's from the the more
folk classes to the fine art classes, see what they gravitate towards, and then again encourage that.
You never know what you're going to learn about each other if you don't spend the time together.
And these type of creative offerings are definitely something that would be exciting to do.
Yeah, yeah.
So as we move through the second half of October here towards December, what are some events coming up?
that you'd like folks to know there at the DAP.
Going over some things briefly.
Again, there's the mixed media classes on the Mondays.
There is the clay cave coming up on November 16th.
And then there's a Viking wire weave jewelry on November 23rd.
I'd like to also jump back a little bit into that.
If you have a talent and are willing to step up and teach it, there's something coming on
Monday, November 9th, taught by Dale Jackson.
It's a smartphone photography class.
Kind of a unique thing this fall that would speak to all the amateur smartphone photographers out there.
Dale is a published photographer and she was featured in the Emberlite show this year.
I believe other years as well, but I remember looking at her work this year and
just really appreciating how she framed the shots, her subject matter, and just again, enjoying what she had to show.
Now she's trying to put up this class, kind of offering the tips for better smartphone photography.
And again, what you can do to just make it look like it wasn't shot on a smartphone.
But yes, Monday, November 9th, class runs from 4.30 to 6 o'clock and it's only $15.
There's always something going on, especially as we move closer towards winter.
So how can artists who want to get involved with the DAP or maybe get their work displayed there?
What is the process like?
How can artists get involved?
We do have in the gallery an artist selection committee where if you do have some work you can come in and kind of get an application filled out.
drop off some art to be reviewed and then get some response back about what it would take.
If it's all put together, ready to go, I mean, it's quality
work.
I'm sure there'd be no problem to be accepted to the gallery.
I'm not on that committee.
So I'm just passing along again, the steps to take.
But if you were to go discuss with one of the gallery attendants, get the proper forms.
and submit your artwork.
It would be reviewed and you'd kind of get the feedback of what the next steps would be.
There's really not many.
You would then just add it to inventory and it would be put on display at the appropriate amount of time.
Not everything happens instantly.
It does take...
Proper steps to make sure accuracy the numbers get logged accordingly prices are set descriptions are made
Well Jake before we get out of here.
Is there anything else you'd like to add or say before we leave this morning?
Again, thank you for the opportunity the downtown art place has been something that I've been aware of for several years, but
have taken a long time to get involved with but once I did kind of step up and into it I found that a lot of the effort was appreciated it did help to make a difference or I'm trying to make a difference and I hope I am helping to make that change if I can share information if I can make more people aware about what goes on or what they can do to become more involved I'd be glad to chat
and can't just let me know if there's ever a time.
Well, well, Jake, thank you for joining us this morning on In Our Range.
Appreciate all the work that you do and that the DAP does.
Hope you have a great weekend.
You're welcome.
You too.
Once again, I'd like to thank Jacob Vallejo for joining me this morning on in our range to talk about the downtown art place If you are interested in learning more about the downtown art place whether you just want to check out some art Maybe take a look at their schedule of classes or find a way to volunteer you can visit their website downtown art place
They have a wonderful website that's easy to navigate.
You can see some of the art that they have there in the gallery.
Check out the schedule of events and learn how to get involved.
Thank you for listening to In Our Range this morning.
I appreciate it.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau, and we will catch you back here next week.