Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991 TAG: 9103160054
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The enterprise offered artworks for sale and studio space for rent, all on the second floor of a refurbished downtown building - a location that many thought undesirable for retail business.
Unicorns and Butterflies has survived but hasn't thrived. Its original operators, Joan Henley and Jean Oxley, have chosen not to renew their lease on the building, though both continue to rent studio space.
Now landlord Richard Kurshan has paused - in mid-dream, you might say - to evaluate the place.
"It's frustrating because it's not making money," he says. "Anything that's not making money is frustrating."
But he feels the potential is still there.
By the time Unicorns opened, Andy Williams' Gallery 3 across the street had already found success by dedicating its second floor to displays of quality American crafts.
But Williams had the advantage of a first-floor gallery to bring people in the door, where they could be guided upstairs.
What Unicorns had - and still has - at street level is an imposing staircase facing visitors. It's "a fairly steep climb," Oxley says, and one that could well have discouraged some shoppers.
Kurshan is making changes, including improvements to the entrance. But the steps remain. He calls them an obstacle only "for people who want it to be an obstacle."
In any case, he says, those who don't wish to climb them may use the elevator from Books, Strings and Things on the ground floor.
Kurshan's first change is in the name, from Unicorns and Butterflies to the more specific Studios on the Square.
A new doorway is being built, with a bright red awning above it. One advertising banner is in place, and another is planned for Campbell Avenue.
To bring more traffic into the bright, spacious gallery, an art show featuring works by David Wharton, a contemporary western artist from Sun Valley, Idaho, and fabric artist Mimi Hodgin of Salem, will have its opening Friday. There will be music, food and drink. The event is co-sponsored with the Orvis store and Books, Strings and Things.
Kurshan said Studios on the Square will feature one of its artists each month with a special display, and additional activities, such as workshops and demonstrations, will be scheduled.
The gallery also will be used for private receptions.
Thinking more broadly, he would like the market area's galleries to coordinate their openings and artists' receptions so all might stay open for art enthusiasts who come to the neighborhood, and he says an "art-walk" could be organized to attract people specifically to market galleries.
At present, 25 artists occupy the 18 studios, paying from $100 to $375 in monthly rent, depending on space. Kurshan says he will encourage more of them to be there full-time, so visitors can talk with working artists, one of the project's original aims.
Initially, the gallery and studios occupied 5,000 square feet of space. Later, a wall was knocked out of the building next door, adding about 3,500 square feet. Now the business features artists and craftsmen who offer handmade clothing and jewelry as well as paintings, wreaths and other objects.
Large windows overlook the Market Square. Skylights add brightness, and shiny pine floors lend a homey warmth. Kurshan estimates the cost of the improvements at "a couple of hundred thousand dollars."
Artistically, Kurshan says, the business has succeeded. Financially, it has not.
The growth expected of the city's Design '79 project has "been a lot slower than anybody anticipated at the time."
Improvement is obvious everywhere, from the Orvis store and Mish Mish art supply store to the Market Building's Food Court and the Marketplace Centre that is coming to life across the street.
What is lacking, Kurshan says, is the "critical mass" of people needed to fuel continuous growth. The opening of Dominion Tower and the new Norfolk Southern building may bring people a bit closer, but what's really needed is more people, total.
Some of his other ideas, such as erecting a building on an adjacent parking lot for retail shops and downtown housing, must wait until he is certain a market exists for them.
In the meantime, says Joan Henley, she and Oxley are proud of what they accomplished. The business not only has been a base for them to work from, but it also "opened up careers for a bunch of people and widened their scope and abilities, because the competition was good for them."
by CNB