Creative freedom: Macon developer, Arts Exchange provide artists work space

Craig Burkhalter slaps down a glob of black ink, spreads it over a metal plate, then wipes it away with sheets from the Yellow Pages.

He keeps up the wax-on, wax-off motions until the only ink that remains is pressed into lines etched into the metal. Burkhalter covers the plate with paper, then cranks it through a press, transferring the image through a centuries-old art form.

The summer breeze creeping off the corner of Second and Mulberry streets and into the open window of Burkhalter's third-floor studio offers some relief from the afternoon heat. There is no air conditioning.

But who's complaining? Certainly not Burkhalter and the 20 or so other artists who occupy the two floors above Michael's on Mulberry.

Since developer Tony Long bought the building in the mid-1980s, he's provided studio space to the Contemporary Arts Exchange. All he asks is that the artists pay utility costs, take care of the almost 150-year-old building and clean up once in a while.

The result has been a thriving community of artists ranging from printmakers and painters to sculptors and musicians.

"You've got 20 artists down here, unrestricted by economic hardship," said Burkhalter, who teaches art at Bibb County's Hutchings High School. "We get total freedom to go off on any aesthetic tangent we want to.

"It's certainly kept me here in Macon when I had thought about leaving, and it has other people, too."

Long said he offers the space to support the arts and to encourage downtown revitalization after Macon Mall lured businesses and shoppers away.

"Other cities in the same position came back by bringing in artists and restaurants to re-establish downtown," Long said.

The Arts Exchange has a gallery, where it holds "laid-back" shows during First Friday gatherings and bigger shows in November and May.

"We buy soft drinks, water and beer for the First Friday shows," Burkhalter said. "We get Michael's on Mulberry to cater the big shows. That's when we have the good beer."

'JUST ABOUT PERFECT'

Eric O'Dell, a painter who shares a studio with his sculptor brother, has been at the Arts Exchange for 10 years. To an outsider, the studios might not be much to look at, but O'Dell describes the digs as "just about perfect."

"It's not too clean, not too pretty, so we're not bothered by too many folks, but when we want to open it up to people, we can," he said. "From New York to New Orleans, it's as good a place as any."

Added Burkhalter, "These are working studios. ... Most of the time, if we're not cleaning up for a show, you have to step over things."

The artists feed off each other, seeking advice and opinions from their neighbors.

"We get a lot of honest feedback. For artists, this is one of the most unpretentious places around," O'Dell said.

"You can just walk down the hall and say, 'Hey, how do I do this?' " said painter Eric Wakefield.

Wakefield, who enjoys re-creating scenes from Macon and its nightlife, uses his studio walls as an easel and to display finished pieces for sale. On this day, he had several works-in-progress hanging on the walls, awaiting the next brush stroke.

Sometimes, the studio is the canvas. The baseboard is painted yellow, with the warning, "Caution Artist at Play." Near the ceiling, there's a scene of a girl lounging in a grassy field of blooming cherry trees. At the top of the facing wall, there's a sketch of the view down Cotton Avenue.

"That's what I'd see if this wall wasn't here," Wakefield said.

A few doors away, Dean Brown is busy mixing a reggae recording for a band mate. He and fellow musician Reggie Soloman share a studio, where they record, produce and perform. On First Fridays, Brown and Soloman sometimes play on the sidewalk, either as a duo or with their respective bands.

"We're trying to establish this as a venue for music as well as art," Brown said.

Most of the artists at the Arts Exchange hold down full-time jobs. Several of them are college professors. Brown is morning director at a local television station. Wakefield manages a bookstore. Soloman is an anger management counselor.

Burkhalter, who serves as chairman of the group, said he occasionally has to ask an artist to leave for "not pulling his weight."

"We've had some who used this as cheap storage space," he said.

Burkhalter said the arts community is indebted to Long for his support and for creating opportunities for local artists.

"He has done more for the arts than anyone in Macon. He's very low-key about it. He wants no fanfare."

Long and his partner, Gene Dunwody Jr., have developed studio apartments on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, around the corner from the Macon Arts gallery, where four full-time artists live and work. Long points to the opening of other galleries downtown as evidence that arts supporters are making a difference.

"We've tried to create an art community downtown," he said. "I think it's happened, a lot more than it was in the 1980s."