In this photograph from Feb. 25, 1992, the Ford Motor Co. Lima Engine Plant presented a donation to ArtSpace of Lima. Pictured from left are Ellen Nelson, executive director of ArtSpace/Lima, Fred Odium, president of the organization’s board of trustees, Dan Fuhrman, campaign chairman and John Mather, engine plant employee relations manager.
LIMA — One generous donation led to the birth of a new legacy in Lima.
In 1990, the BP Refinery (now known as Cenovus) celebrated its 100th anniversary with an exhibit. A month-long event filled with memorabilia from the last century.
The building used to showcase the history was an old abandoned building on Town Square in Lima. BP decided to repurpose the space, and it became what many know today as the ArtSpace/Lima.
“The Chamber of Commerce established themselves around the same time the refinery did,” said Sally Windle, executive director of ArtSpace/Lima. “The refinery had their 100th anniversary. They wanted to celebrate it with a historical lookback and some presentations and talks. They decided to choose a building downtown in the middle of town.
“It was interactive. You could see things and look at photographs and talk to people about the refinery because 100 years was a pretty big anniversary. They had that for probably about a month from start to end. When they were finished with that, they had this building. The refinery decided to donate the building to the arts in Lima.”
ArtSpace/Lima was not the organization’s first start in the community. According to a June 1, 2005, article in The Lima News, the Arts Association was established in December 1955. The organization was formed by a group of artists who wanted to showcase the arts.
In 1961, the group was gifted two homes on Metcalf Street by the Allen County Historical Society. The artists held classes and meetings to continue to bring art to the community.
Following holding classes in the homes, the Art Association moved to Memorial Hall, on Elm Street in Lima.
“There was a mezzanine gallery, so that is where they had their shows,” Windle said. “They had their offices there, and they did some classes in some of the areas in Memorial Hall. They also did art in the park. They had an outreach program.”
After years of focusing on the arts, the generous donation of the refinery, along with the help of community members, changed the course of history.
As the Art Association made its transition, director Ellen Nelson weighed in a 1990 article in The Lima News.
“The arts are not a thrill but vital to the community,” Nelson said. “We want this to be a place where all people can come, not just the elite. We really hope to expand art enrichment classes for people of all ages, from children to senior citizens.”
The transition from one home to the next was a success. In 1991, ArtSpace of Lima celebrated its one-year anniversary by hosting an exhibit. The headlines of the commemorative day read “New building called boost to ArtSpace/Lima.”
Nelson said in the same article that ArtSpace began to see more visitors due to the change of location.
“We had no idea when we moved last year what was going to transpire, but I think we now see ourselves as the regional art museum between Dayton and Toledo, Columbus and Fort Wayne, Ind.,” Nelson said.
As the spark was lit, the community began to play a huge role in the development of the new space. A $1 million grant from the refinery was just 10% of the funding needed to transform an abandoned building into a work of art.
“The interesting thing is that $1 million only covered 10% of what it took to do this,” Windle said. “The rest of it was done by the community. There were people that came in after they were done working, would come in in the evening and scrape layers of plaster, so the original brick would show, and peel layers and layers of wallpaper off. Built walls. Do 2×4 sections and partitions for the building as it existed in the 1980s, when Madison’s Dress Shop was the last one here. When that changed over to what it is now, you wouldn’t even recognize it.”
Multiple 1992 articles in The Lima News told of the generous efforts the community gave to the arts in Lima.
In February 1992, Nelson launched a $600,000 campaign to aid in the improvements of the building. By March of that same year, $463,020 was pledged or collected to give to the arts community.
By March 1992, BP also donated $100,000 to install an elevator and paid for the insurance and utilities until 1995, according to The Lima News.
Windle said the community continues to support ArtSpace/Lima even today.
In a couple of years, Artspace of Lima will celebrate 70 years as an organization.
“We want to make sure that this is never about ArtSpace solely,” Windle said. “We want to make sure that this will be a community celebration in 2025. In May, we will have been in the building for 33 years.”
Windle added it was because of the refinery celebrating that the ArtSpace/Lima became what it is today.
”(Art) is a major component of all human life,” Windle said. “We are creators; we are creating our world. The creativity element is there and how we maneuver through life, creating our own circumstances for our own benefit. We just happen to be a place where you can do creative activities with visual arts, but there are creative opportunities with the symphony with the dance performances.
“Anything that fosters creativity actually helps you in all aspects of life because your everyday life is about making choices, problem-solving, and those are the things you do in artistic pursuit.”
SOURCE
This feature is a cooperative effort between the newspaper and the Allen County Museum and Historical Society.
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Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
