Hidden in plain sight on Butchertown’s southeast corridor is a building some people drive past without glancing to their left. Story Avenue is a block marked by 19th century storefronts and historic shotgun houses and it’s easy to drive down the one-way street with a mission in mind: downtown Louisville or I-64 West. But a close look at the corner of Story and Frankfort—across from Butchertown mainstay Sergio’s World Beers (1605 Story Ave.) and newer addition Louis’s the Ton (1601 Story Ave.)—reveals a bright spot on the corner. Gallery K & Coffeehouse (1600 Story Ave.) has only been open a year, but it’s trying something original.
It hosts a rotating bevy of art installations, but it’s more than a gallery. It serves lattes and breakfast burritos, but it’s more than a coffee shop. Gallery K pushes back its partitioned wall to give local bands a place to rock out, but it’s not merely a music venue. It’s an entirely different kind of local space, one that’s becoming increasingly more common in Louisville and across the country. It’s a mixed-use location that’s giving artists the freedom to break out of their comfort zones and try something new.
“I want to create that kind of comfort level where people can expand and explore and feel that kind of creative energy,” says owner Will Ashton, who moved to Louisville from Pueblo, Colorado, a few years ago. “You know, visual art, comedy, music—they’re different ways of getting out your story. For me, there’s no separation between the three; they’re all just different forms of art.”
Gallery K’s art shows came first, and the coffee shop followed soon after. Stocked with treats from Wiltshire Pantry, Ashton admits the shop caters to a few different crowds. On weekday mornings, it’s not uncommon to find professionals stopping for their morning to-go cup of joe, followed by a laid-back neighborhood crowd, stopping by to browse the art. In the evenings, the place can be packed with film buffs gathering for a movie night, or a noisier crowd that migrates from the bars across the street to check out a lineup of Louisville’s emerging indie bands.
“I would love to keep experimenting with more because everything we’ve thrown at this space has worked,” says Ashton, who adds he’s recently put spoken word and live comedy onto the long list of creative endeavors happening at Gallery K. He says its smaller size and enthusiastic crowd creates a haven for more than just experienced artists, but also for people just trying out new work. “We’re the perfect space for them, because they’re still up and coming. And that’s what I wanted, to be that space where people could come and build.”
Encouraging the Cross-Artistic Experience
Experimenting with different art forms is nothing new for the owners of Tim Faulkner Gallery (1512 Portland Ave.), a mixed-use space that has solidly made its mark near 15th Street in the Portland neighborhood. Occupying a gigantic 26,000 square foot former warehouse, co-creators and artists Tim Faulkner and Margaret Archambault moved west when they outgrew first a NuLu gallery, then a spot in Butchertown. The result is a massive fine arts space, complete with a raised performance stage in a back room that can fit 1,500 fans.
Faulkner says the gallery’s transition into a mixed-use space was organic, a natural progression of the people that originally came to enjoy the art on the walls.
“Everybody was just coming and hanging out which was great: musicians, graffiti artists, poets, studio artists. They were all coming in on the weekends and really participating, creating a really positive environment just for art,” Faulkner says. “If you’re an artist it doesn’t necessarily mean you paint. It’s all kinds of things.”
Nearly two years after Tim Faulkner Gallery’s Portland opening, the space holds studios for 13 artists and a full-size gallery and regularly brings in touring bands from across the country. The owners say they play host to any genre of music and feature a full bar, though they’re quick to emphasize that the drinks are always second to the art. Up front, daytime visitors can grab an espresso and browse the bookshelves at McQuixote Books & Coffee. On Saturday mornings, groups of yogis spread their mats next to the paintings, followed by writers coming together later in the day.
Archambault says Tim Faulkner Gallery’s wide, expansive layout is by design: it encourages the cross-artistic experience.
“You can’t walk this building and not walk through the gallery. You can’t visit the studio and not find yourself kind of wandering through the space,” says Archambault. “So this made perfect sense to us, even though it didn’t make sense to everyone at the beginning.”
A Symbiotic Relationship
Galleries, coffee shops and venues have had a symbiotic relationship for years. But Do502 General Manager Amelia Stevens says she’s recently seen a bigger progression towards mixed-use spaces in Louisville’s tight-knit, locally driven business community.
“It’s been long established to do a gallery opening or a photography opening, but it feels like in the past year or so there’s been a dedicated effort to connect it to something else,” Stevens says. [The smaller spaces] are able to connect a lot of these people in a way that feels personal.”
Stevens says she thinks it’s tied, in part, to the city-sanctioned pop-up space ReSurfaced, which has brought thousands of people into several different empty lots over the past year.
“It’s put the community effort [for mixed-use spaces] on a larger scale that’s now more visible,” Stevens says.
Not a Place Where People Just “Get Drunk”
It’s the spirit of community that’s bringing music, comedy and monthly movie nights to Kaiju (1004 E. Oak St), a one-year-old bar and venue on East Oak Street in Germantown. The brainchild of Dragon Kings Daughter owner Toki Masubuchi, Kaiju caters to a rapidly changing but fiercely loyal area, made up of well-kept shotgun houses, mixed in with neighborhood pubs.
“[Toki] didn’t want a place where it was just people getting drunk. She wanted it to have other features and to have a different outlet for the community,” says Manager Casey Snook. “That was very important to her, and I think a lot of it has grown out of that.”
Snook says Kaiju lets the neighborhood dictate the atmosphere, and residents have been open to just about anything.
“People will constantly ask us about doing shows or different things, so we try to be as open as possible with what we book here,” says Snook, who mentions that events have ranged from open mic nights to an arm-wrestling federation that dresses up in WWE-themed costumes. “A lot of it has just come out of our regulars approaching us.”
Kaiju also hosts art shows and Snook says the vision for the venue’s future is something that’s continually changing and evolving.
“I think it should just keep developing with the neighborhood, and we’ll see what grows out of there.”
Being Good Neighbors
Cooperation with the neighborhood and nearby businesses is a major theme among Louisville’s successful mixed-use spaces. In fact, that might be the drive that keeps them going. Tim Faulkner Gallery’s owners are quick to praise Portland’s residents and local industries for just being good neighbors.
“Everybody in Louisville thinks they know what Portland is, thinks they know what’s on the other side of 9th Street, but they have no idea,” says Archambault. “This is one of the best-hearted neighborhoods I’ve ever been. The neighborhood comes out in force to support its own. They’ve welcomed us in.”
It all comes back to that symbiotic relationship.
“I haven’t found anyone in the [Butchertown] neighborhood who isn’t open and excited,” says Ashton. “When one of us is doing well, the other ones are doing well.”
