St. Clair Art Association to reopen center in Riverview Plaza

ST. CLAIR - Nearly a year after the major hailstorm caused it to close, the St. Clair Art Association is reopening its gallery in the Riverview Plaza.

To celebrate the gallery reopening, the St. Clair Art Association is holding a grand reopening on May 18. The event will feature umbrellas that have been turned into art pieces by local artists. These umbrellas will be auctioned off to the highest bidders during a silent auction.

"We see the value to have this establishment survive, both artistically and in a community sense," said St. Clair Art Association President Dave Fry.

More: A promise of progress: Riverview Plaza under repair after July storms

The grand reopening will start at 4 p.m. inside the St. Clair Art Association Alice W Moore Center for the Arts, located inside the Riverview Plaza at 201 North Riverside Ave. in St. Clair.

The umbrellas have been hung from ceiling and placed in the windowfronts. Some have also been hung from the skylight just outside of the center's entrance. Fry said the St. Clair Art Association gave around 70 umbrellas to artists to decorate.

"We didn't give them much of a guideline and let them do what they wanted," Fry said. "They all came out very interesting. Some of them are quite intricate and beautiful."

The center had to be closed due to the damage caused by the hailstorm last summer. Fry said the ceiling was full of holes that caused flooding. He said around120 artists came to collect their art within a week of the center closing. Many art pieces, particularly the fiber art, had to be thrown away because of the damage.

After Fry found mold in September, the center had to be taken down to the studs for a full repair.

"It's like a brand-new facility in here after the storm," he said. "Being a nonprofit, we don't have a lot of money for decorating, but between the insurance, generous donation and volunteer work, we were able to this."

Fry said the community had stepped up in a variety of ways to help the center reopen. Some people have donated books to the center's library and others volunteered to help with clean up. Generous donations were also sent in. Last year, War Water offered to be the venue for The Potter's Market, which is the art association's second biggest fundraiser.

Fry said over 2,000 hours of volunteer work went into reopening the center.

"It shows how if you keep your nose to the grindstone, you can accomplish a lot," Fry said. "It's amazing how nice this place looks. I would say we are now on the verge of being hip."

Fry said the members of the art association as well as the other businesses in the Riverview Plaza are excited to see the center reopen.

Fry said some more positive things are coming up for the art association, including the St. Clair Art Fair and the annual community art project.

Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com.

Subscribe: Follow more stories from the Blue Water Area. Subscribe to the Port Huron Times Herald.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: St. Clair Art Association reopens storefront