Downtown Belleville welcomes a new art gallery and retail shop on Friday, May 15, coinciding with opening day for Art on the Square.
Public Defender Art + Zines, located at 123 W. Main St., is owned by local artists Danny Houk and Stacie Spaunhorst, who spent the last year preparing the space for area artists and creative minds to gather, share ideas and display their art.
“This has been a dream of Danny’s for a long time,” Spaunhorst said.
The gallery will start as a three-day-a-week operation while Houk makes art and takes on side work to help sustain the business. He hopes that eventually Public Defender will be self-sustaining.
Houk worked in the corporate world until 2021. He has since earned a master’s degree in fine arts.
Spaunhorst originally planned to be a teacher. She shifted to creative writing, then photography, which she taught for a time. She now works in instructional design, in which she has a master’s degree, and still practices photography.
Very few people create art as a full-time gig, according to Houk.
He and Spaunhorst start their days early, spending an hour each morning to write and create.
In the future, the couple want to host a weekly brunch for artists and creative friends to get together and network.
Gallery will feature two local artists
This month’s opening exhibitions will showcase the works of artists Alisha Porter and Sheri White.
Porter’s exhibition, “Architectures of the In-Between: The Alchemic Body and Queer Space” will be held in the main gallery and feature her ceramics works.
White, who was a winner in last year’s Local Artist Competition at Art on the Square, will show her ceramics work in “Transfigured Vessels.” This exhibit will take place in the Martin Room, named for the gallery’s building contractor.
An opening reception for the exhibitions takes place 5-7 p.m. on May 15. The exhibition runs through June 28.
Another room at the gallery, referred to as the “pre-room,” is a future project that will eventually function as a “residency for artists to create here,” said Spaunhorst.
Buy eclectic, independent works in the shop
The last room open to the public is the retail shop space. Available items include indie comics, zines, prints and other artworks, many of which were submitted for consignment.
Houk is most excited about this part of the business as it will allow guests to see content not often found in book or comic shops. It’s modeled after two other businesses: Quimby’s in Chicago and Desert Island in Brooklyn, New York.
Indie comics are “a little more offbeat” and usually created by just one maker, Houk said, comparing them to mainstream comics like Marvel and DC that have multiple contributors, from the writer to the penciler, inker and colorist.
The overall selection will be more exclusive. Some content includes adult themes and social commentary.
Danny Houk holds a zine by artist Tori Holder inside the future location of Public Defender Art + Zines, which is scheduled for a grand opening May 15.
(Joshua Carter/Belleville News-Democrat)
For many artists, zines are a great way of starting out, according to Houk. Some of the appeal is in the material used to make them and how they’re assembled.
Much smaller in scale, occasionally limited to a single, folded, letter-sized sheet of paper, zines may tell stories or make statements and contain original imagery. A few offered at Public Defender are titled “Anxiety Pizza” and “Joe Biden Goes On Dating Apps.”
Around 13 consignors submitted about 70 products, prints and zines to be considered for inclusion in the shop, Houk said.
Information about the consignment of zines and prints is available on the Public Defender website.
Danny Houk stands in a multi-purpose workshop and storage space, where hundreds of zines and other art mediums are kept.
(Joshua Carter/Belleville News-Democrat)
Away from public viewing is an office area where a drawing table and a desk are set up along the walls. Drawing and painting supplies and other tools fill other spaces. The office currently doubles as a storage area for the submitted works being considered for inclusion in the retail area.
The back of the building is Houk’s own space to create. The garage/workshop houses some larger-scale artworks in progress and the power tools and materials he uses.
“This is what sold me on the building,” he said.
A place for the ‘uncool kids’
Although there are other area galleries like Green Root Gallery and the William and Florence Schmidt Art Center, Public Defender offers a different vibe, the owners said.
“It’s a melting pot for the uncool kids to look cool,” Houk said. “I hope people just loiter, talk shop.”
The name “Public Defender” was chosen to reflect the building’s history as a law office. Spaunhorst said it’s also appropriate because it “shows we’re behind the people.”
She said their gallery and its works will give people a voice and a place to hang out.
About Public Defender Art + Zines
Public Defender Art + Zines is located at 123 W. Main St. in Belleville. Starting May 15, hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about Public Defender Art + Zines, visit publicdefenderart.com.
Danny Houk and Stacie Spaunhorst, the owners of Public Defender Art + Zines, which is set to open May 15, pose in front of their building at 123 W. Main St. in Belleville.
(Joshua Carter/Belleville News-Democrat)