WALK Gallery

Starting today, many empty storefronts near King Street will benefit from a badly needed cosmetic procedure. It's a nip-tuck, courtesy of the WALK Gallery, a new, ambitious public art project.

WALK (Window Art Local Knowledge) aims to turn unoccupied space - vacant buildings on or around King Street from Broad to Spring streets - into small showcases for local artists. The installation includes pieces positioned onto the window fronts of former downtown businesses, Millennium Music, for one, fostering interest in the artwork, and also the buildings and spaces available for lease and sale.

"It's a win-win all the way around," says Rena Lasch, who is heading the project.

The stores won't be open or accessible like traditional galleries, though WALK allows passers-by and Spoleto Festival goers ample opportunity to browse paintings and other works. Think of it as window shopping.

Plum Elements gallery owner Andrea Schneck came up with the idea, approaching Lasch to coordinate the effort. Schneck asked that WALK make use of the King Street corridor.

"(Schneck) said there are so many shops closing up on King Street, and it's really starting to look desolate," Lasch recalls. "We live in this community with wonderful artists and so many of them are underrepresented or not represented. It seems that it would be a great match between artists and empty storefronts."

WALK's initial installation includes eight unoccupied businesses, the 14 artists chosen from a pool of 52 applicants by a blind jury of artists and curators. A few of the artists include Redux Director Karen Ann Myers, G&M/Fast and French restaurant owners Gwylene Gaillimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet, Paul Reetz and Nathan Durfee.

"I think WALK Gallery is a great example of people who are rooted in the artist community organizing and taking action to take advantage of spaces that are available, beyond the what-ifs," says Durfee. "A lot of artists were thinking about the idea, and a few months later we're actually looking at it as reality."

But such a process took synchronization. Lasch worked with the city to approach business owners, inviting them on board. WALK and the city primarily received good response, Lasch says.

WALK's exhibit, mostly contemporary art paintings, concludes June 27. Each storefront contains contact information for the artist, should someone want to buy the art. WALK, which operates by donations, cannot afford to manage sales.

"These are artists who have phenomenal work," Durfee says. "We just haven't seen it yet, and it's stuff I probably wouldn't have seen if WALK Gallery had not been here."

Lasch, Schneck and others believe this to be the project's first phase. The gallery aims to find additional vacant properties around Charleston to involve more artists, alternating installations after 6-8 weeks. Around December, the gallery wants to put children's Christmas artwork into windows.

"Hopefully we'll get more refined as we go and expand on these ideas," Lasch says.

A kickoff party, open to anyone, is planned tonight at Billy Reid clothing at 150 King St. It's conveniently located next to one of WALK's unoccupied storefronts - artwork included.