Gallery 202 and art center to merge By LIN RICE, ThisWeek Staff Writer Thursday, August 24, 2006 Go to This Week News or direct story link. If link is missing, the story is below. Young Westerville artists will have a place to learn their craft side by side with their adult professional counterparts when Gallery 202 Partners in Art Inc. pools its resources and space with the Westerville Art Center. The building at 250 N. State St. where the Art Center was located was sold June 30, according to CEO Cindy Allison. After speaking with Gallery 202 president Renee Kropat, she said the two decided on a plan to move the youth-based art center in with the professional gallery. Both centers will retain their original names, but will share space and resources at 38 N. State St., Kropat said. "Originally, when Cindy and I began working together, she focused primarily on children's activities," Kropat said. "Now we can continue to offer more programs, as well as getting the kids used to being in the gallery." Allison was still in the process of moving supplies to Gallery 202 late last week. She said she hopes to begin scheduling classes by the end of September or beginning of October. The art center's six computer training stations have already been moved to Gallery 202, she said, and the rest of the move will involve organizing and moving art supplies. While Gallery 202 focuses primarily on adult artwork, providing a venue for local professionals to display their work, the Westerville Art Center provides a place where young people can continue art education that the schools cannot always provide, according to Allison. "So many of the art programs have been cut in the schools, and they don't necessarily have those sort of resources," she said. Allison said placing fledgling artists in Gallery 202 with their adult counterparts will facilitate greater learning and comprehension. "It's a great opportunity to have the kids in a gallery setting," she said. "Gallery 202 represents different artists, so if the kids are working on a drawing or painting, they can look over and actually see how local artists have done the same thing." Kropat said one problem in the art world is that professional and school-age artists are highly segregated. "The tendency in this field is that we have 'fine arts' and 'refrigerator arts,'" Kropat said. "We want to show people the continuum and allow the students to work alongside professional artists, see their art and, hopefully, have their own gallery show." The Westerville Art Center also places students from Otterbein College in the classes as teachers, so high school age artists can learn from them and ask questions about how to get into art as a career, along with what steps in education are needed to make that happen, Allison said. The Westerville Art Center mainly catered to individual lessons at its former location, but Allison said she wants to focus more on group classes, specifically for organizations such as Girl Scout troops, once the center is settled in at Gallery 202. Instead of classes meeting on a monthly basis, she anticipates a longer, two-to-three lesson format. "One thing will be a big difference: The center's setup was very kid-friendly, where they could run around and play, and the gallery is a little more restricted on how they can run," Allison said. "But it will have a more professional atmosphere. We're very excited." lrice@thisweeknews.com