Collaboration is an essential component of the arts. When you observe all the disciplines within the fine and performing arts, collaboration is a common thread and its effective use can lead to great things. Such is the case for visual artist Kelly Sullivan, who has been working diligently to renovate a former theater in New Jersey into a modern arts space for clients and artists alike.
The Strand Theatre was destroyed by fire 50 years ago in Lambertville, New Jersey. In recent times, the building has been used as a storage center. Kelly Sullivan is transforming the theater into Strand Arts: An Enterprising Art House. Sullivan’s designs, along with her collaborators, will create space for artists and their creations as well as corporate clients.
Kelly Sullivan has a unique perspective on what the new arts center can achieve. She has been creating customized, collaborative artworks for corporate clients for over 25 years. Her designs of the 5,000 sq ft building is multi-faceted, including space to host corporate and client meetings and showcase visual, musical, and performing arts. The new center will also have broadcast capabilities.
Sullivan began the planning board application process in 2020, and secured a purchase option contract from RJF Holding. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic made the application process more difficult, it was unanimously approved by local government and received outstanding public support. Sullivan closed on the building in November of 2021 and renovations are now taking place. Sullivan and architect Michael Farewell are collaborating on the project. According to the official press release he stated “the great potential of the project is not only to save the Strand Theatre through restoring its grand historical façade and urban presence but also, in allowing the audience to pass through that historical scrim and into a new dynamic space, to create the audience to pass through that historical scrim and into a new dynamic space, to create an experience of the fine and performing arts in a contemporary setting. Art is always a reflection of the past, and invention of the present.”
For ongoing information regarding the renovation, read the art center’s official blog here: https://strandartsnj.com/news-blog/
About Kelly Sullivan:
Kelly Sullivan was born and raised in Clinton Township, New Jersey. She knew she would be a visual artist by the age of five, when she started working with art supplies and the encouraging words from her grandmother: “Don’t be shy with the paint.”
In the beginning stages of her career, the artist focused on creating musical portraiture, painting those whom inspired her like Bruce Springsteen, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Pete Seeger, Jimmy Rogers and more. Her work appeared on the walls of BB Kings Blues Club in New York and were displayed in the Ambassador Gallery in Soho along with Jerry Garcia and Ron Wood. She produced multi-artist/discipline shows in the 1980s that have since evolved into new experiential events. She invented a collaborative painting method called FingerSmears® where hundreds of painters use only one canvas and no brushes. By 1994, over 100,000 people took part in the collaborative art, including Fortune 500 CEO’s, musicians and other celebrities (including The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Edie Falco, Carol Burnett, Harrison Ford, and William DeFoe among others.
She received an artist residency to orchestrate a school wide integrated art exchange in Alta, Wyoming in collaboration with seven other schools from around the world. She launched Mighty Fingers Facing Change (MFFC) which empowers and connects adolescent girls through art. Since its inception, MFFC has appeared in many locations.
View more from the artists here: https://kellysullivanfineart.com/
Interview
Dominic Richardson: What was the old Strand Theater known for creating? Was it visual art? Theatre? Opera? Or some other medium?
Kelly Sullivan: It was film. It was built in 1915 and opened as a movie house. It was very plush. It had over 700 horsehair stuffed velvet covered seats. It had an elevated floor that looked down into an orchestra pit, and the screen was at the back end.
Dominic Richardson: Did it show films in black and white? Were these the talkies of the early part of the century?
Kelly Sullivan: Yes, they started out as silent films. I think just before the fire, they were doing a lot of foreign films. The fire in 1969 started in the back end of the building and then into the drop ceiling, which collapsed onto the 750 chairs-only the masonry and the steel beams survived. It has been a 5,000 square foot warehouse ever since.
Dominic Richardson: With the renovation project, how long has the process been with your involvement in renovating the Strand Theater? Is it something that’s been a short time, like a couple of years, or have you been working on this for a long time?
Kelly Sullivan: It’s been a couple of years, but it doesn’t seem all that short. I got a contract in the building in 2019 and then at the end of 2019 it took several months to kind of get it put together for the planning board as an informal proposal and then put it back in front of the planning board as a formal proposal with engineered stamped surveys and architectural plans. It was quite the process and it took a long time. It is fully approved by all of the bodies. The construction documents are almost complete. We’ve applied for our first building permit. We haven’t done any real renovation yet. We’ve removed old wall coverings and old insulation. We’ve gotten it ready.
Dominic Richardson: How about for yourself? What inspired you to become a visual artist?
Kelly Sullivan: My grandmother introduced me to paint when I was about five years old. She always had creative things around. I would spend a couple of weeks up there with her. She lived in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I visited every summer. It was a very crafty experience that ended in ice cream every day. So to me, it was pretty much heaven. Then she introduced me to paint, and I loved paint, but my mother didn’t like the smell and the mess in the house. As I grew up, I was at home using basically colored pencils and dry mediums.
Dominic Richardson: Will your existing works appear in the new art center, or will you be creating something new for the gallery?
Kelly Sullivan: Some of my work will be there, certainly, but it will have a lobby that is being designed to also hang art. There’s a mezzanine as well, and half of it looks into the assembly space on the other side of the wall and half of the mezzanine looks into the lobby. We could just open the front lobby and do visual art displays. It will not always be just my work. I’m sure it will be a variety of shows that are curated. It will not always be just my work. I’m sure it will be a variety of shows that are curated and with artists from the region.
Dominic Richardson: What impact do you think this new art center will have on its community in New Jersey?
Kelly Sullivan: I think it will be wonderful for all of us. The focus during the week is to bring in corporate teams. I’ve been creating customized collaborative pieces of art for corporate events for 25 years. This will serve as a place where we can bring existing and new clients in. They can produce their meetings and all of the arts-visual music, theatrical arts to amplify the message of their meetings and support the work they’re doing. On weekends, we can do incubation, theater, comedy, music, a variety of curated events. I think it’ll be fun. Midweek, we live in a beautiful village, it’s on the Delaware River. It’s got very old architecture. It’s very charming and walkable. There’s a canal path that goes up and down the river. It’s really a beautiful, beautiful spot. To be able to bring a smaller team to a place like this where they can have a very customized, creative experience in a top notch, well-designed venue-that is professional and creative. And to have them come mid-week, it’ll support all the merchants. It’s quieter here mid-week. And there’s a lot of very interesting shops and independently owned businesses here. To bring that kind of clientele here midweek is beneficial for everybody and then to be able to do more. More community-oriented art pieces on the weekend will be good for everyone that lives here and everyone that visits here. And I think it’s a win. I think it’s a win for all of us.
Dominic Richardson: It looks like a win for everyone. And also, I’m pretty sure people from New York are going to travel to New Jersey and see this.
Kelly Sullivan: I think so. We get a lot of traffic here; we’re sort of centrally located between New York and Philadelphia. We get a lot of designers that come here. It’s a great place to find one-of-a-kind pieces. There’s a lot of antique stores and there’s a lot of original art here and artist run galleries. I have nine paintings on the set of Madam Secretary, which is a CBS political drama. Leoni was in it, so nine of my paintings were in their home on the set. Set designers come here to find one-of-a-kind pieces. That was a pretty good day. And it’s pretty fun to watch on TV too. For the four years that it ran, it was it was fun. There is a two-bedroom apartment in the back of the building, which is where my studio will be. That’ll be my live work studio. Clients can still come back there and see my work. It won’t be open to the public on any kind of regular basis.