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20 North Gallery is no
longer mounting public exhibitions.
Private viewings of
artwork by our contracted artists are
available by appointment only.
Article written and published in "The Blade"
The original
article below can be found here:
http://www.toledoblade.com/Arts/2013/05/19/20-North-Gallery-closes-Toledo.html
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Published: 5/18/2013 - Updated: 14 hours
ago
ART
'Little glowing oasis' to go dark
20 North Gallery closes Friday
BY ROD LOCKWOOD
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Eric Hillenbrand doesn’t have to think
too hard to remember when downtown
Toledo was a desolate, worn-out shell of
its proud past.
Twenty years ago he bought a building at
20 North St. Clair St. in an area that
was bereft of energy and people. It was
a lonely spot, and his brand new art
gallery wasn’t much more than “a little
glowing oasis in what was pretty much an
abandoned warehouse area.”
Today when he looks out of the building
where his 20 North Gallery is now, at 18
S. St. Clair St., he sees the verdant
outfield of Fifth Third Field where a
half million Mud Hens fans each year
have flocked since 2002. Huntington
Center is a block away, restaurants are
dotted in the blocks around his gallery,
and art galleries are scattered all over
downtown Toledo.
Buoyed by “blind optimism and youthful
vigor,” this was pretty much the Toledo
real estate developer’s vision for the
downtown area when he opened 20 North in
1993. It was a good run, but on Friday
Hillenbrand and artistic director
Condessa Croninger are closing the
gallery to pursue other interests.
Rather than this being a maudlin time,
they both are visibly jazzed about the
chance to explore a number of artistic
interests and they exude energy and
optimism.
“Its something we have been planning for
awhile,” Hillenbrand said. “Although we
didn’t want to make a big drawn-out
affair of our closing, our 20th
anniversary season was at least from my
standpoint, a retrospective.”
Croninger said more than a year ago they
realized that there was an appropriate
symbolism in closing after two decades
as they concluded “maybe we’ve come full
circle. Maybe we’ve fulfilled the
mission. So we planned this fabulous
year.”
“I couldn’t imagine topping it,”
Hillenbrand said. “It’s like a baseball
player going out in his final game and
hitting a home run.”
Creating energy
The gallery fit into a proven method of
kick-starting moribund downtown areas
hollowed out by suburban sprawl and
economic bad times, Hillenbrand said,
citing Soho and Greenwich Village in New
York.
In both of those neighborhoods and
similar ones throughout the country,
entrepreneurs brought in galleries,
restaurants, and entertainment venues to
create new energy. The concept is that
once there is a positive vibe, bigger
economic development opportunities will
arise.
At first 20 North was all by itself as
Hillenbrand and artistic director
emerita Peggy Grant mounted exhibitions
by Toledo artists such as Michael
Sheets, along with national and
international painters and sculptors.
“There was not another business in this
downtown area,” he said. “Spangler Candy
had just closed and in fact there were
few lights on in this part of town.
There were often times when we would
have an exhibit and we would be the only
ones with lights on for blocks.”
An icon
Over time, the gallery’s business
thrived and as various development
pieces began to fall into place — most
notably the wildly popular Fifth Third
Field just across the street from 20
North — the gallery took on an iconic
status among the city’s art denizens.
It helped that it was successful.
Croninger, who took over as artistic
director a few years ago when Grant
retired, was at that first exhibition by
Sheets and she was thrilled by what she
saw. “This is what I thought Toledo
could always be,” she said.
“It really made art more accessible to
the typical Toledoan. How many people
went to gallery openings 20 years ago?
And now thousands of people come
downtown for the arts every month, for
the Art Walks, and we’ve had thousands
of people through our door.”
Toledo artist Steve Conine said
Hillenbrand brought a passion about art
to the job that was evident when 20
North mounted an exhibition. He works in
oil on canvas and he said virtually all
of the works he displayed in two
separate exhibits there sold out.
“It was just kick-ass,” Conine said. “It
was like being on stage, like being a
rock star. It was the greatest thing.”
Sheets agreed and said that after years
of hard work and national recognition,
but not much attention locally, it was
rewarding to finally get an exhibition
in Toledo in 1993.
“I had been showing around the country,
I guess as a prophet without honor in
his own land. It was the first solo show
I had in a Toledo gallery,” he said.
A Vision
For her part, Grant played an important
role in setting the tone of 20 North,
something that both Hillenbrand and
Croninger mention about every five
minutes in conversation about the
gallery.
Hillenbrand called her a “cultural icon”
and Croninger said that Grant’s
mentorship was crucial in helping her
take over as artistic director.
Grant was a long-time supporter of
visual arts who oversaw Owens-Illinois’
acquisition of various paintings when
she worked there. She said she was
“thrilled” when she learned that
Hillenbrand was opening a gallery 20
years ago.
“I worked downtown a long time before I
became art director at 20 North,” she
said. “I knew how important it was [to
locate a gallery downtown.]”
She said among the highlights of working
there was being able to organize shows
like her long-running annual Black
History Month exhibit and the annual
Derby Days exhibit of equine art.
Looking forward
Over the past year, the gallery has
featured a retrospective of 20 artists
(19 of whom are local) whose works were
important to 20 North, an exhibit of the
work of renowned glass artist Tom
McLauchlin, a celebration of
watercolorist Walter Chapman, and an
exhibit of the work of Abner
Hershberger.
Friday’s “birthday celebration” will be
from 6 to 9 p.m. and the gallery’s doors
will close for good the next day.
Reservations are requested, but not
required to attend the event.
Information can be obtained by calling
419-241-2400.
Once it is over, Hillenbrand said he
will look forward to taking his first
vacation in eight years, and investing
more of his time in his other artistic
passions, including theater. He also
will begin looking for a new tenant for
the 18 N. St. Clair St. space.
Croninger said she will spend the summer
archiving 20 North’s records, which will
be offered for donation to the Toledo
Museum of Art or the Toledo-Lucas County
Public Library, and then focus her
attention on her interest in promoting
visual literacy and her work with the
Toledo Ballet.
“There’s so much more we look forward to
doing, artistically and otherwise,”
Hillenbrand said.
“There’s going to be that day after
where we breathe that sigh of relief and
then just say, ‘What next,’ with an
exclamation point and not a question
mark. That’s a nice way of looking at
it.”
Contact Rod Lockwood at: rlockwood@theblade.com
or 419-724-6159.
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