Three centuries of goodness: Seroogy’s turns 125
Ardy & Ed’s Drive In serving up food and fun since 1948
January 6, 2025
WAUSAU – When Chuck O’Brien moved back to the Wausau area, he said he couldn’t find the artist community he sought.
His solution was to – along with Brenda Stiegman – co-create ART on Grand, he said, at 2202 Grand Ave.
Together, the two co-owners said they reimagined a former muffler shop as a destination art gallery, marketplace, art studio and teaching space.
“The building was a muffler shop, and we’re not trying to hide that it was one,” O’Brien said. “We just went with it.”
Stiegman said they looked at several places – “and there was something just not right about each of them.”
“But (the Grand Avenue location) was right, and we just went with it,” she said. “Now it’s our vision come alive.”
ART on Grand, they said, not only showcases and sells art, but also offers visitors a sightline into how artists create their work.
“This is a paradigm shift as the business promotes art and the arts,” O’Brien said. “We do that by renting space where artists can create, display and sell what they do.”
Part of that shift, he said, is the premise of the space.
Another is that artists are not juried, the co-owners said – rather, if they want to be a part of ART on Grand, they are welcome to do so.
“Here, if an artist wants to come in and rent a space, they can,” Stiegman said. “Art is in the eye of the beholder, and so who are we to say what art is good and what art isn’t good? We do have limits on that (however), as we strive to keep art PG-13.”
A third differentiator in how ART on Grand operates, O’Brien said, is its financial structure.
Whether an artist rents and uses one of the six, six-foot-by-eight-foot studio spaces or solely rents panel space to exhibit and sell art, he said the cost is a flat monthly fee.
“When people generally sell art, the (gallery) takes a commission and makes its living off the back of the artist, upward of 40-60% commission,” O’Brien said. “When you see something at ART on Grand, whether it’s $5 or $1,300, the artist receives the full commission, with the exception of items from the Wisconsin Visual Artists Guild because they don’t pay rent. Otherwise, the artist receives the full amount of the price of their art.”
A space for possibilities
The art is showcased in several ways, he said, with great intentionality to highlight the process of creating art, as well as the finished pieces themselves.
Currently, the co-owners said, five of the six art studios running down the center of the space are occupied by artists – including the Visual Artists Guild, three painters and one felter who spins her own yarn to create knit items.
“The artists can sell their things from the studio or right outside their studios,” O’Brien said. “We wanted it to be a treat for your eyes and an opportunity to really experience art in working studios. If the artists are there, (guests) can speak to them if they like.”
The marketplace is built around the studio area, he said, and is further complemented by the greeting and gallery area, which currently showcases the work of a painter and a film photographer.
In addition, Stiegman said, ART on Grand offers a dedicated teaching/learning space, in which guests are encouraged to experience art for themselves.
“This is where people can come in and get messy – that’s what the space is for,” she said. “We have a small pottery studio tucked in the back, and there’s room for teaching and demonstrations and up to six tables of six in here if we want. We’re working on filling out a schedule for pottery throwing (this month), starting with an introduction to throwing using the pottery wheel. And we will develop more.”
O’Brien and Stiegman said their vision is for the spacious area to host classes in painting, stain glass making, welding and multimedia.
“People are asking for classes in these, and we were hoping teachers would step forward,” Stiegman said. “That hasn’t happened, and so we’re looking for instructors for the classes people desire. We will have an interesting list of opportunities for people to jump in and try.”
O’Brien said the space also allows for dabbling in multimedia, screen printing and large-format printing given its vastness.
The new, 23-foot sculptures featured outside the Children’s Imaginarium (195 S. 2nd St.) originated in that open-bay space, he said, with welders climbing on scaffolding to create the art.
“The skeletons were assembled here and they started to wrap them in stainless steel here,” O’Brien said. “The sculptures were born in this shop.”
When the sculptures’ timeframe was compressed and the project grew, he said, the artists moved them to another location to finish the work.
A canvas for community
Stiegman said she and O’Brien also recognize “not everyone feels comfortable going into a museum or gallery.”
“People may say, ‘I don’t know what art is,’ (or) ‘I don’t know what this picture is trying to tell me,’ and we don’t want them to feel like that,” she said. “We want them to feel comfortable coming in, asking questions of the artist themselves and to enjoy it.”
Their vision, Stiegman said, was to establish a true artist community in which customers can see art in progress and grasp a true understanding of how long it takes to create a piece from beginning to end.
“What we have here is a labor of love,” she said, “and when artists give up the artwork, they’re giving a piece of themselves in the process.”
Creating a sense of community centered on art is something O’Brien said he is excited about continuing to build within the walls of ART on Grand, while welcoming people from throughout the region.
“There are 1.4 million people within a 100-mile radius of Wausau, and yet many of us can only mention four or five places in that entire circle where we can talk about art,” he said. “We want to create more places for artists to connect and people to enjoy art. There is room for all of us, and there is no reason the center of the art universe can’t be in Central Wisconsin.”
A mix of media
Art has represented a labor of love for O’Brien, who said he recently retired and is a long-time photographer and Stiegman, who said she is a ceramicist.
O’Brien said he is not a regular photographer, as he shoots with both color and black-and-white film and develops it using lith printing.
Whereas a typical developer takes about one minute, he said, the shortest of his film development processes is seven minutes – and the longest takes nearly an hour.
Every minute of the development is closely monitored, O’Brien said, resulting in a print that stains the paper and produces a nice, warm feel for the print that cannot be duplicated digitally.
O’Brien’s art is featured in the studio to fill in a few gaps on the gallery’s walls, he said, and ranges from shots in water to trees on beaches to Civil War reenactment.
“I can’t seem to find a single subject matter,” O’Brien said. “I just shoot whatever makes me happy.”
Stiegman said like O’Brien, she creates her medium – pottery – with a twist.
Instead of firing her pots in a kiln, she said she fires them in a pit using a more primitive firing technique incorporating an assortment of organic materials into the process, including wood, seaweed, banana peels and even chicken feces.
These items are incorporated into the pot as it’s fired and lives on in each pot’s unique markings, Stiegman said, achieving her goal of creating naturally tactile pots.
“I want people to pick them up, touch them and have a reaction of, ‘Oh, this is not what I thought it was,’” she said. “A lot of my work is functional, but some is not food safe and is non-functional. But when you feel one of my pots, it feels happy. When people touch my work, they sense it is happy.”
Stiegman’s work is also featured in the marketplace to add color and texture to the space, she said.
An avenue to artistry
O’Brien said customers will often find him on site, welcoming customers in, providing an overview of the space and then “letting them do their thing.”
He said he finds it extremely rewarding when he sees past customers return with others to show what they had seen previously.
“People are excited to bring others in and say, ‘Here is what I was going to show you,’” O’Brien said. “Every time we see somebody come in with someone who hasn’t been here before, it’s exciting.”
He said that in addition to word of mouth, Facebook has been a great way to spread the word about ART on Grand, as have relationships with representatives from Rise Up Central Wisconsin and nearby neighbors such as Grand Ave Artifactory, a boutique focused on vintage and upcycled items.
“They’re one block down, and I have teamed up with Jenni, who owns that shop, so that as she puts together events, she includes us. She also sends people down from her shop, and I make sure to send people down to her,” O’Brien said. “She has a great little shop, and while it’s very different from ART on Grand, the same people tend to be interested in both. Linking up with nearby businesses has made a huge difference.”
ART on Grand is currently open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.
O’Brien said he is most typically on site now that he’s retired, while Stiegman pops in and out to work, alongside managing a few other businesses.
The co-owners said the artists have 24/7 access to ensure they can create art anytime inspiration strikes.
