New gallery director makes splash
Expect the Butler Art Center's walls to fill with even more color.
At the start of 2019, Stephen Haley, took over as the center's gallery director. The 32-year-old from Butler wants to build the downtown art shop into a bright, collaborative space that's free from the art world's usual pretentiousness.
“I want everybody to know we don't think we're the Louvre or the Guggenheim,” Haley said. “We're a community art center. Everybody can and should take part.”
Haley's art filled the center's walls for a show in October. During it, long time former art center manager Terry Haden pitched Haley on taking the job.
“He had no idea whether he was any good or not,” Haden said. “I saw some talent, and I saw some promise in him. He thought the art center was the best thing he's ever seen.”
Haley has spent his first month fiddling with the gallery itself. The center's Christmas show came down recently, and he's replaced the works with a smattering of pieces. His gallery-building style lacks formality or loftiness — rather, Haley is trying to show as much art at once as he can manage.
“It's a collage of everything we've accumulated over the years,” Haley said. “I ran out of art to put up.”
The gallery's pieces are scattered on every wall. They're not in straight lines, or carefully aligned. Haley said he's emulating a French salon-style gallery, where things are free to clutter the walls so long as they're given enough play to catch a visitor's eye. Haley plans to employ this style in between the center's shows.
Haden said he's appreciating the new look.
“He's in there every single day putting something on the wall and moving stuff around,” Haden said. “People look around in there and say 'Holy cow this place looks different.' A lot of times, when we didn't have a show we got lazy. People would come in and it'd be bare.”
A few of the pieces on display now are Haley's own paintings. They're soft looking, colorful landscapes.
He's hoping to assemble a larger collection of similarly vibrant works for these times between shows. He has one wall already assembled with bright works of various styles. He hopes to replicate it throughout the gallery.
“You can look in here at just straight colors and realize that you can do it,” he said. “They're just exciting.”
Haden said he's happy to have some more young blood around the center. Upcoming show plans from Haley, he said, reflect the youthful influences.
The center's next show is a showcase of elementary school art from around the county. It runs from Feb. 5 through 16, with a reception planned for Feb. 8 at the facility at 344 S. Main St.
Around the end of March, a pinball machine collection will be displayed, along with vintage pinball advertisements and the old rock-opera film “Tommy,” which features music from The Who. A fashion show is also in the works.
One canvas on display is covered in different colored paw-prints. It's signed by Fingers, Haley's dog. Haley hopes to host some pet-art classes as just-for-fun events.
Dog painting, in a way, gets at his main goal for the art center — having fun. All there is to making art, Haley said, is making controlled messes.
And he reckons, Butler could use a few more creative messes.
“If there ever was a town that needed saving, well, Butler could use some healing,” said Haley, a Butler native. “I want people to come down here and heal themselves and our town. Hopefully, we can make one person smile.”
