The whole point of a for profit art gallery is to get fine artists and graphic artists in front of their customers, and to exchange money for art. Ann Arbor has quite a few of them.
A common problem is getting in to the gallery in the first place though. Application fees, studio space and the simple worry that an artist with a very particular style will be deemed too weird creates barriers to setting yourself up to be able to make any sort of living.
Galleries do generally go out of their way to accommodate new or unique artists, but none were enough for local artist Christopher Hack, who has been an artist around Ann Arbor for a very long time. When a client told him about the space opening up next to Culantro, which he was helping get off the ground, Hack jumped at his suggestion to make a very accessible art gallery to help younger and off the wall artists.
Vacancy is the result.
“The whole idea of Vacancy is ‘Vacancy is a space for artists to show their work’,” Hack explained. “It’s a bit easy to miss – between a law office and Culantro in a three story brick building on the edge of where downtown ends and Kerrytown begins, but it feels sort of like you’ve accidentally stumbled into a bank vault of weirdly wonderful art that surprises you with its sheer eclectic breadth of creativity.”
He added, “The store started as a way not for me to promote my own work, but to promote other people who I thought were more talented than me. Or at least that I thought with us being a university town, there is a large group of talented young students that go to Penny Stamps School, and because Penny Stamps is one of the least funded facets of U of M, I don’t think they get that promoting [that they could] get, and we end up losing a lot of those students. They go off to bigger cities like Chicago and New York, to do illustration jobs, or work in galleries; so, we lose artists in Ann Arbor. I was opening the store in hopes that we catch some of those artists that we would normally loose [over] of the years – give them a platform, give them a free marketplace where they’re able to do what they feel is the best presentation for their art.”
There is almost no point in describing what you are going to find at Vacancy because, even more than other art galleries, it changes all the time. Paintings and prints of wildly different styles and subject matter have been thoughtfully arranged around the walls. Tables full of sculptures line the edges, and the middle is dominated by clothing. Some of it is thrift store used apparel waiting for someone who is just dying to find a good retro steal, but a lot more of it is totally unique, custom clothing.
The basement is for artists only. It is an art studio that is full of two things artists frequently and suddenly find they don’t have out of college – a space big enough to make art, and specialty equipment that they no longer have once graduating.
Having specific equipment provided free can be especially helpful for people like apparel artist Andie Ziemkowski, who said that her Vacancy has made her life so much easier both as a place to work, and to increase the things she is able to do.
“I really like how Hack has a lot of screen printing stuff. A lot of that stuff can be really expensive if you really want to get into it – especially industrial heat setters and all of this equipment – it’s a lot for young artists to just throw $10,000 at all of this stuff,” Ziemkowski says. The U of M Stamps School graduate said that the equipment at Vacancy “allows me to use a lot of things I wouldn’t normally have – especially the heat setter. I was using an iron that was my grandmas, and I’m not even sure it was at the right heat.”
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All non-institutional art galleries take a commission – a percentage of whatever the artist is able to sell for in order to make the majority of their money – and commissions tend to be high. Hack is only taking a 30% commission and does not charge application fees. This can be the difference between an artist being able to make a living with their artform or not, or even whether they can make art at all.
“I have a really good relationship with Hack, so I approve of the 30% cut on my pay. I want to help Vacancy grow,” artist Frederick Lord said. His minimalist group of paintings emphasize the texture and depth of the canvas as much as the colors.
Despite this, Vacancy’s prices are surprisingly reasonable. Hack is passionate about solving two problems that professional art has.
The first obvious big reason why more people do not regularly buy original artwork – art galleries can charge hundreds, or thousands of dollars for their pieces. Some pieces at Vacancy are expensive. But, you can find quality artwork here for as low as $10, a point of pride for Hack.
“The thing that I was looking at a lot of times with artists is getting paid what you’re worth. I was talking to artists about production and how they are able to make art all the time, and some of them are small pieces or large pieces, and they talked about how if you are a person who is able to produce art on more of an industrial level … then you should be able to make that art available at a lower price point, because you are able to put your time and craft into it – but if you’re able to produce multiple pieces in a day … then what would you like to be paid per hour for your work, plus materials?” Hack said. “Some of these artists are willing to sell their older works or pieces that don’t take as long at a price point that we find more moderate, so that other younger people, who may enjoy this kind of work, are able to afford it and put it in their houses. That was something that we talked about when we started this: art for the masses.”
Digital art is the only medium that is not represented at Vacancy. Just about any other medium, genre or sub-genre that you can think of is there though. Any artist who does want to bring digital art into the space is welcome however, as Hack has had a handful in the past, and says he’s totally open to doing it again.
The community building aspect of Vacancy is also encouraging. Canvas painter Sam Turner says that he has been in a number of galleries across town, and that in an age where AI is producing better and better ‘artwork,’ Vacancy provides a space for real art to flourish.
“Even though I wring a lot of joy from doing digital art still because there are brush strokes in there, and people can see how long I spent on it, here: there will always be a market for paintings because they are painting. We have been making paintings since the first signs of humans,” Turner said. “If you find things made by human hands, there is always going to be a market for that, even if it gets more insular. It brings me a lot of joy to have my stuff here and have people say ‘at least somebody is ii still doing oil paintings.”
Musicians are also welcome. The gallery is Ann Arbor’s smallest, making any event involving dancing impractical. But the often have a DJ playing. More opportunities for music based installations or performances are regularly possible.
Speaking of which, the constant changeability of Vacancy is not just in the constant churn of artists bringing in new sculptures or canvases. For larger projects, the entire ground floor gallery can be cleared out and then refilled with just one artist’s work if the final project is large enough or if the artist wants to have more control of the lighting, viewing point, and sound design to influence how an outsider would be introduced to their piece. The fee structure for doing this is different however.
Hack said, “It normally takes me an evening to move everything for an artist’s takeover. And I ask for at least a weeks’ notice. In the past, I have either taken a percentage of the artist sales or we determine a price prior based on how many days they would like to use the facilities.”
Hack makes getting into Vacancy accessible. All you have to do is email vacancy.an.art.space@gmail.com and explain to Hack who you are, what kind of art you are into, and how he can help.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
