Photo by Jessica Stewart

The Pony Express Bank displays the art from the Riverwalk Art Association.

If you go to restaurants or delis, you will see it. You’ll see it at banks. Libraries, too. And lest we forget the local hospital.

“It” is local art. Local art that is spread out all over town in large part because it doesn’t have a local gallery to call home.

While St. Joseph is home to the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art and there are different art shows held throughout the year, most galleries have been opened independently and closed quickly.

By the Stroke of a Brush Galleria opened at 726 Felix St. in 2004.

Gone.

The Starving Artist Gallery was at 617 Felix St. So was The Gallery, which opened afterward.

Now, the address is the home of Planet Ink Tattoo Gallery.

With plenty of art and no place to hang it, art organizations like the Riverwalk Art Association have worked out deals with businesses to display the work of local artists in relatively high-traffic areas like restaurants, banks and libraries.

“In my opinion, you’re going to get people that might see them on a day-to-day basis in a public place such as this,” says Luke Moore, operations officer for the Pony Express Bank in downtown St. Joseph, which displays local art regularly.

Moore says people have come to the bank specifically to purchase art. Mary Korneman, a St. Joseph painter, is grateful for whatever she can get, but also sees the surroundings as not conducive to her artwork being purchased.

“It’s better than not being able to display at all,” she says. “People who are interested in purchasing don’t have any place to go to have a selection of things to look at. It’s nice exposure for the artists.

Photo by Jessica Stewart

This painting from the Riverwalk Art Association is on display at the San Jose Steakhouse. The restaurant has many pieces of art on display. The banquet room's walls are filled with art.

“But it isn’t a place that people go to shop. It’s like ‘maybe while I’m there, I’ll catch a peek of what somebody has on display.’ I just don’t think people go to the library to look for artwork.”

Karen Organ, president of the Riverwalk Art Association, believes that St. Joseph needs an art gallery, but there are several things that have to fall into place for it to flourish.

“You’ve got to have people to come in and look. You’ve got to have a good location. You’ve got to have advertisement. Just all sort of little things,” Organ says. “Until we have a permanent building, it’s all talk.”

But talk could be what makes a gallery a reality. The Allied Arts Council has expressed interest in supporting a co-op art gallery and held an open meeting back in February to discuss the possibilities with members of the arts community.

“We are opening the dialogue to see if there is a desire for the artists in the community to have one,” says Teresa Fankhauser, executive director for the Allied Arts Council. “There was definitely an interest, so we are investigating options at this point.”

The Allied Arts Council will be holding a second open meeting to discuss opening a gallery at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, at the East Hills Library. Until then, artists like Organ can only hope for the best.

“The gallery is a dream,” Organ says, “and hopefully, it will come about.”

Lifestyles reporter Blake Hannon can be reached at blakehannon@npgco.com.