In today’s day and age, it seems art can be found everywhere. All we really need to do is log onto a computer and browse through a few sites before we find what we are really looking for. But for The Vault owner, Jon McDevitt, and almost 80 artists from Central Illinois, art is nothing without a community to enjoy it.
McDevitt opened a small shop in Sullivan in 2007 to showcase and sell his woodwork. In 2008, a fellow artist joined him as they held two shows in their studio, located in an old shoe factory. As other local artists saw what McDevitt was doing, they also rented space from the owner of the shoe factory building, and soon two people grew to 15, and by 2010, the art collective had 30 people involved.
But in 2010, the owner of the building passed away, and McDevitt had to find another spot for the collective.
“It was a different mindset,” McDevitt said. “We couldn’t just look for a mom and pop operation type of building. We had to find something with some space because there were people involved.”
After looking at almost 20 building throughout Central Illinois, McDevitt decided to purchase the 12,000 square foot bank in Tuscola. Seven of the 30 artists decided to come along with him, while the others wanted to see how things worked out.
McDevitt said they did not have to do any structural renovations to the building when they came in. The loan offices are now showrooms for photography, the backroom is now a wood studio and every other space on both floors is filled with a variety of art.
As The Vault has grown and changed, the collective has realized that there not only needs to be a balance between the traditional and nontraditional, but that the types of work people are looking for needs to be accessible to its audience.
The first floor of the vault is filled with more traditional pieces, included wood bowls made by a man who is blind, jewelry, photography tables and culturally inspired pieces. The second floor, which is currently being cosmetically renovated showcases more mixed media, digital and painted pieces.
On the first Saturday of each month (but not in July and August of 2015), The Vault invites the community into the building for an art show that includes music, drinks and hor dourves.
“The art events are a carry over from the factory,” McDevitt said. “In a small town people may not understand the whole art gallery thing, but they will show up for a party. If you can use that and get them in the door, then you can expose people to the work.”
With 80 artists, McDevitt said the events bring in people from all over Central Illinois, as the artists come from places like Decatur, Blooomington-Normal, Champaign, Charleston and Springfield.
“One of the benefits of having a lot of different artists is they have their own people,” McDevitt said. “They have their own following. Another reason for having the events, other than exposing the public, is so the artists can bring their people. That’s drawing a lot of people from outside of Tuscola.”
McDervitt said the group in Sullivan had begun to form an arts council before before they had to move. Through this, he learned there are many local artists looking for a place to showcase their work.
“They had nothing,” he said. “They were creating their work in their basement or their garage and nobody saw it. Or they were traveling to festivals. And you didn’t see their work unless you attended these festivals. I started to realize that there were a lot of talented people out there just locally. And once you get to know those people and you give them an avenue or venue, you get to know them quickly and form a tight knit small community.”
Although The Vault is a privately owned small business, the group functions very much like a collective where members come to monthly meetings to help make decisions for the whole group. McDevitt has also set the collective up so that members have options to rent space or he has given them commission options.Part of the membership includes a responsibility to work in the space once a month.
“When those artists are working, they inevitably sell their work that day,” he said. “And I know it’s not them hawking their stuff at the expense of everyone else, it’s because people meet them, they get into a discussion with them. They can ask questions about what they were doing or thinking.”
“People are then invested in that artist and it’s a little bit more special to by that piece,” he continued. “You can walk by it, and think I like that. But if you walk by and meet the person who did this, then there’s a relationship that starts.”
It’s this simple exchange that is not only building community at The Vault, but it’s that simple mindset and lifestyle that many of the artists at The Vault enjoy.
McDevitt said he has seen a shift in artists who are both looking to make ends meet while also following their passion to create. McDevitt has seen an increase of artists who have retired and now following their passion that they have put off for so long and in young people who are figuring out how to work part-time jobs so that they can also make their art on the side.
“There’s this element of this society when the economy is bad,” he said. “they make their own stuff, they do their own thing, they go back to the basics. It’s a natural, more holistic approach to life. And they are focused on doing more of what they love instead of doing less.”
“It’s the luck ones who continue that love or find it again,” he said.
With this mindset, The Vault does not have to recruit to get artists into the studio. Every now and then, they put a message on Facebook about openings, but currently, they are working on a waitlist for space.
The studio is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
