Orr Street Studios combines two contrasting worlds: those of engineering and art. The nonprofit organization was opened by building owner and engineer Mark Timberlake in downtown Columbia at 106 Orr St. in January 2007 and received nonprofit status in May 2009, according to its website.
Timberlake partnered with local artist and sculptor Chris Teeter, who helped transform the undeveloped space into what it is now. Teeter constructed massive sliding doors, each with its own unique artwork and meaning, for each individual studio. Ultimately, Teeter realized Timberlake’s vision for the studios, and transformed three run-down metal warehouses into innovative spaces for local artists to create and display their work.
In addition to promoting art and creativity within the community, Orr Street Studios shows rotating exhibitions and holds and participates in a variety of events with the goal of directly connecting Columbia to its artists and their work, according to its website. These include Seeing Visions/Hearing Voices, North Village Arts District First Fridays and Second Saturday for Kids.
Resident artist Marie-Josée Brown got a personal studio with OSS in 2010 and has thrived there since. She is inspired by her surroundings, specifically “atmosphere and light,” and conveys the striking beauty of those through her paintings of CoMo’s landscape. Not only is her artwork representing the community, but because of OSS and its efforts, it is also actively connecting with the community.
“[Art] inspires a community from its core,” Brown said in an email. “Its ingenuity becomes contagious as well as an integral part of the common growth.”
This firm belief in the essentiality of art complements her appreciation of all nonprofits, not exclusively OSS, and the support and opportunities they generate for both artists and the public. These organizations have also helped Brown achieve a personal goal for her artwork.
“I’d definitely love to share my work with the community here potentially through murals and various projects,” Brown said. “I’ve been fortunate to share my work with amazing companies and individuals locally; my goal is to keep the momentum.”
Former MU professor Catherine Parke, now a part-time teacher at Moberly Area Community College-Columbia, moved into OSS when it first opened. Parke said in an email that her “vocation is teaching” and her “avocation is art.” This contributes to her perspective on the vitality of art in the community.
“In a nutshell, bringing out the best in each of us individually and bringing out the best of one another is, I believe, the defining feature of all the arts,” Parke said in the email. “And this is why they are essential in daily life.”
The concept of a nonprofit that determines OSS’s mission and “behavior” is in part what makes it such a special environment, Parke said.
“This nonprofit status embodies the ‘art in daily life’ concept that is beautiful, vigorous and defines kind of a semi-permeable, osmotic membrane between Orr and the community,” Parke said in an email. “[It’s] not a separation or a boundary, but a transit or transition between.”
_Edited by Katie Rosso | krosso@themaneater.com_