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Artist relocation program revitalizes Paducah neighborhood

PADUCAH - The Artist Relocation Program of Paducah, Ky., has transformed the once boarded up Victorian mansions of Paducah's Lower Town into a community of artists living in colorfully restored houses of the mid-1800s.

The program, devised by SIUC alumnus Mark Barone and the city of Paducah's planning department, enticed over 40 artists in the last four years to move to Paducah by providing them an opportunity to create a culture of art.

"What we told them in the beginning is that they were going to create their own environment," said Barone, Paducah's artist relocation coordinator. "When it first started, we didn't have anything that was appealing culturally."

Barone said the city couldn't sell the idea and buildings to newcomers in the early stages of the program's development because the Lower Town, the historical residential and commercial district adjacent to downtown, was in such ruin.

"We were looking at a very blighted area, so we knew we had to market," Barone said. "The first artists we had to go through - they were very vague and nebulous about it."

In the fall of 2000, Barone and the planning department regrouped with the Bank of Paducah to provide better incentives for artists to relocate. The bank agreed to provide seven percent financing with a 30-year fixed mortgage rate as a general guide for purchasing and rehabilitating existing structures, as well as building new structures.

"That's what makes the program work," said Charlotte Erwin, who, with her husband Ike Erwin, was the first to move to Paducah through the program. "That's what makes it so unique. The bank is stretching itself."

Barone, who received his Masters in Fine Arts from SIUC in 1989, purchased and renovated a building in the Lower Town through the program as a living space, gallery and studio to pursue his interests in painting and solar plate etching.

The Erwins' had a studio on Broadway, the primary commercial street of downtown Paducah, but Charlotte said they were tired of the expensive rent.

Barone said about 70 percent of the area's rental houses caused much of the Lower Town's problems.

"We had slumlords who came down and took out these old Victorian houses and basically chopped them up into as many apartments as they could," Barone said. "You have the same problem at SIU. You have landlords that rent absolute garbage, and it's all about making money."

Barone said he and the city wanted to see Lower Town revitalized rather than turn a profit.

Mark Palmer, a painter from Washington, D.C., also had rental problems as an artist - only a company in D.C. bought out his studio apartment.

Palmer was the fifth person to relocate in the city's revitalization.

"It let the artists purchase these buildings inexpensively, like for a dollar," Palmer said. "They have to have some means in order to fix it up."

In some cases similar to his own, Palmer said the city would have to give the houses away so the artists would have enough capital to renovate and live.

When Palmer saw the building in which he now lives for the first time on the Internet, he said it was a disaster, but something clicked when he visited Paducah for the first time.

"When I actually came here and stood out front, it was all boarded up and everything," he said, "and I thought 'Wow, this is even more beautiful than I thought.' And it was a mess."

Taking down the boards barring the century-old entrance, Palmer said he peered inside for the first time. The floor ahead of him, unstable from years of decay, had long since fallen through. Earth could be seen through the skeleton framing of the house, and still Palmer said he felt a connection with the historic area.

"There was just something about it that I felt I could make something out of," Palmer said. "Or I should say, the contractors would make something out of."

Much of the neighborhood at the time was no different, and residents combated social issues as well.

Barone said the Lower Town area wasn't a good neighborhood, dealing with drug issues and rental problems.

"I remember coming here for the first time and driving down Broadway," Palmer said. "It felt like a ghost town. Like it had been something at one point, and it was crying out to be something again."

Ike Erwin said they had no idea if the program was going to work.

"Everyone that comes here has a different story, but I think we all have just a little thought of insanity to let go of where we were - the security - and just come for the hope of being kind of pioneers in a new community," Palmer said. "It's almost like creating a new settlement in a strange kind of way."

Barone said the once-blighted area has become a neighborhood.

He said the goal was to bring people into Lower Town and repair the old, historical properties.

"It worked," Barone said. "It's become what it was 75 to 80 years ago, which is some small businesses in a neighborhood, zoned for commercial and residential - which is a really important piece because these artists are able to have living, gallery and studio spaces all under one roof."

Palmer said the neighborhood has changed immensely since his arrival.

"It's just amazing to see the development from old homes being renovated to new ones being built and the amount of people that are coming back into town," Palmer said. "The neighborhood itself is coming back to life."

Palmer said visitors and residents love the transformation.

"It's got some very quaint areas, and it's something very positive that's happening in an older town," he said. "It's neat to see there's something positive going on in an American community, kind of a renaissance of combining the old with the new."

Much of the Renaissance-like development is due to national marketing, said Barone.

Barone said the program recently finished advertising for six weeks with NPR in Chicago and has had articles written in the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times.

"Our thing is to promote Paducah as a cultural destination," Barone said. "There are 20 galleries open, and by next fall, there will be 20 more. We're at the point now where we have more artists than we do property."

Charlotte Erwin said the surplus of artists is good for the community.

"Art does not compete - it works best in communities," Charlotte Erwin said. "The more galleries in one area, it becomes more and more a destination. And that is happening."

Charlotte Erwin said her time in Lower Town has been some of the most fulfilling art-wise and in her professional interaction with other artists.

"My focus is to be an anchor here in the community and provide, for lack of a better word, a service to the community," Palmer said shortly after several visitors exited his gallery. "I wanted to create an environment where someone could walk in the door and almost forget where they are and get lost in looking at some art, for however long they're here."

Paducah Artist Relocation website: http://www.paducaharts.com/about.php

The Artist Relocation Program packet provided by the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce, 270 443 1746

Attached are photographs by John Henry.

 

 

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