Two artists plus empty windows equals art in downtown Augusta

AUGUSTA — Some people see empty storefronts and think of the lack of opportunity. Kitty Winslow and Tom Jessen saw an empty storefront in Augusta and could think of nothing but possibilities.

Now, their work is on display in the windows of 347 Water St., and will remain there until it can’t anymore.

That date may be a year away, but in the meantime a unique shared opportunity has emerged for the artists to show their work and for anyone who walks on that stretch of Water Street to see it.

“For me,” Jessen said, “the reason I was attracted to the idea wasn’t that I thought people were going to come from far away, but that this was rather for people walking down the sidewalk. I felt it was about this street, as opposed to getting people to migrate.”

Winslow, a retired teacher who lives in Rockland, and Jessen, who lives in Temple and teaches at the University of Maine at Farmington, had met each other years ago when they were showing their art in a Brunswick gallery, and had remained friends. They found themselves wandering on Water Street in Augusta after they entered a juried show at the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell.

The empty spaces gave them ideas.

“It looked like people were throwing some money into these places and really making some investment,” Jessen said. “I thought, I don’t know what’s going on with all of these other buildings, but I wonder if anyone would be interested … because we’re looking to show. Just because you want to show (your art), doesn’t mean you get to show.”

The initial idea was to take over a vacant space and convert it into a gallery. They didn’t know if anyone would charge rent, or whether they’d have to find people to staff the impromptu gallery space or pay for electricity.

“We had visions of grandeur,” Jessen said. “And we kept paring it down and down and down.”

Co-owner of 347 Water St., Matt Pouliot, center, chats with artists Tom Jessen, left, and Kitty Winslow, right, who have works displayed in the windows there, Sept. 26 in downtown Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo

In the end, they met Matt Pouliot, who with his wife Heather, owns the Water Street building. The Pouliots have plans to renovate the upper floors into market rate apartments. The lower floors, the site of the former Shenanigans, will be developed into a function space called the Caucus Room.

Last week, when Winslow and Jessen were in Augusta, Pouliot stopped by briefly on a lunch break.

“We just got state Historical Preservation approval to do historic tax credits,” Pouliot said. “So it’s sitting on some bureaucrat’s desk in D.C. right now waiting to get approved to do eight apartments upstairs and three different retail spaces.”

Pouliot said he’s negotiating for a tenant to occupy an office on the street level. And he’s fairly sure he’ll relocate his real estate office to a portion of the building overlooking the Kennebec River.

As for the two sets of storefront windows where Winslow and Jessen are displaying their work, he said he’d like to recruit a small market, like Boynton’s in Hallowell, to lease the space.

“The plan is largely the same, it’s just been slowed down because all the (subcontractors) are just so busy right now,” he said. “The availability of labor and the shortage of that in the workforce has been a challenge to moving these things along. A lot of it has been the historic preservation access.”

This is not the first time creative use has been made of downtown Augusta’s empty spaces.

The Augusta Downtown Alliance has showcased both art and retail spaces for lease with the Raw Space Art Walk. Once or twice a year, the Downtown Alliance hosts a juried art show as part of its art walk. The work is displayed in vacant spaces.

“In general, we have had great feedback from the artists and the people who see the art,” said Michael Hall, executive director of the Augusta Downtown Alliance.

It’s transformational, he said, because the raw nature of the spaces enhances the art, and people can imagine for what else the otherwise empty spaces could be used.

“We’ve never done an art walk were one of the spaces hasn’t been leased,” Hall said.

After an early artwalk, Peter Precourt leased a space at 265 Water St. for his Pop-Up 265 gallery, a small storefront space in the Vickery building. That building, 257-271 Water St., is now undergoing renovation into market rate apartments on the upper floors and retail spaces on Water Street.

Pouliot said once the space is developed, maybe the art can be moved like a caravan through other vacant downtown storefronts.

“It would help provide something in the storefronts,” he said. “Because, frankly, this looks a million times better than a vacant front, and the glass is a lot cleaner.”

When they received the go-ahead from the Pouliots, Winslow and Jessen started working on getting the windows into display-ready, traveling to Augusta about once a week from their homes to scrub and wash the spaces, and consider what art to hang and how to best hang it. They tried different backdrops to better showcase their art by blocking the distraction of the space behind the windows.

Now that the art has been up for a month, Jessen and Winslow said they may consider changing out their works for the next stretch of time.

It’s not clear when the space will become unavailable. Pouliot said work will start in the upper floors first. But eventually, the storefronts will be ripped out and rebuilt to reflect the more historic character of the building.

In the meantime, the display of the art is revealing connections between their their work.

A detail shot of cloth work by Tom Jessen, seen Sept. 26, in windows of 347 Water St. in downtown Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo

Jessen’s work on display are fabric pieces, including a structural piece that incorporates parts of pants his kids have grown out of in a grid-like pattern.

Winslow works in acrylic on heavy paper that she’s seamed together using the same kind of paper. Her abstract work incorporates grids and blocks. The similarity of theme is something she’ hasn’t noticed before, she said.

They’re not sure who has seen their work since it’s been installed, but as they were working, people would stop by to chat, and show their own work, Winslow said, like a hand embroidered jacket one person was wearing.

But knowing who is seeing it isn’t critical; it’s that the work is being seen.

Several art pieces by Kitty Winslow are seen Sept. 26 in front windows at 347 Water St. in downtown Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo

Winslow said she’s gotten feedback from the photos she’s posted on Instagram, a photo-sharing social media platform, but she doesn’t know whether anyone has traveled to Augusta to see the work.

Jessen said if their work were hanging in a traditional gallery, they probably wouldn’t know who was stopping to see their work after the opening reception.

“In other towns, it’s more difficult,” Jessen said. “But this is more centralized because it’s all on one street. If it’s in other parts of town, I don’t know if I would do it because maybe it wouldn’t get as much traffic.”