Ironton was conceived in 1999 by friends Russ Beardsley, Debra Goldman, Mike Mancarella and David Walter. They met while at UCD's sculpture department and were renting a studio on Brighton when they found the property at 36th and Chestnut.
The area had long been host to industry and artisans and they found it an appropriate place to build an artist community. It took a year to rehab the former garage and to landscape the yard. Ironton was named after the school that sat just east of the land at the turn of the century.
Complete with metal fabricating facilities, woodshops, darkrooms, sculpture and painting studios, Ironton is a place for artist's to collaborate with one another and engage the public through the gallery and open studios. Currently there are 12 artist's studios and creative businesses at Ironton.
Along with the individual spaces there is a shared kitchen area, landscaped sculpture garden and an 800 square foot gallery that is open to the public. Ironton occupies 3/4's of an acre across from Weilworks in River North. In October of 2008 Ironton received a Mayors Design Award under the category "Oh, Pioneers" recognizing their early settlement in the River North area.
In 2006 Jill Hadley Hooper became a partner. She coordinates the gallery and maintains the gardens. The same year Debra and Russ moved to Washington but are still involved and the garden is a reminder of the quiet and thoughtful attitude that they brought to the space. Mike Mancarella's business Junoworks and sculpture facilities are still at Ironton. He runs Ironton's day to day business and the studios. Jill is co-founder, with Tracy Weil, of the River North Art District-RiNo for short. Though David Walter is no longer part of Ironton, his hand is visible everywhere; from the sliding gallery door to the sculptures outside. Hugh Graham is the web and email master, gentleman gardner and most openings you can find him behind the bar.
The gallery:
We have about 10 shows a year; half of these will be artists who rent at Ironton and the other dates will be filled with artists from the community. Yearly we do a call for entries. From these submissions the outside shows are chosen, the jury is composed of Ironton owners and artists. Currently we are booked thru 2010, in the spring of 2010 we will offer our next call for entries for 2011 shows.
Ironton does not charge for the space; we provide the venue, the promotion and the opportunity to exhibit. The lion's hare of work falls to the artists; they are responsible for the show expenses, including the cards and mailing. They also hang and light the show, buy the beer for the opening and host on Saturdays.
The success and great reputation of Ironton is due is large part to our gallery alumni who have put together the varied and professional exhibits we've had over the past ten years.
