On Monday, Oct. 2, Southern Heartland Art Gallery resumed business on the Square since Aug. 25’s devastating fire left the gallery with smoke and water damage. However, this time, Southern Heartland is conducting business at a new, temporary location – in Revolution Casual Living’s store front at 1114 Monticello Street. 

With Revolution set to move out of its Square storefront at the end of December, Southern Heartland will also only be occupying the space until the end of this year. Despite this short, three-month duration, Elise Hammond, director and an artist at the gallery, explained how the two establishments have been working together.

“The owner, Megan [Dial], of Revolution, was happy because she’s downsizing everything to be able to share the rent [and] the space with us for three months,” Hammond said. “So, it’s kind of a symbiotic relationship. It helps us, we help her. And that’s how that happened.”

Since the fire, Southern Heartland has been renting a storage space in town to house its salvaged art pieces, fixtures, supplies and more. Though services such as framing are not offered at the gallery’s temporary location, some art classes have resumed at the First Presbyterian Church, where Hammond is renting space in its Sunday school classrooms. 

At Revolution, Southern Heartland has utilized wall space to hang their artists’ work as well as displayed pieces made by artists throughout tables and shelves in the store.

Gallery artist and woodturner Rick Jackson, has his Turning Transformations collection exhibited in the back corner of Revolution. Though over a month has passed since its destruction, the aftermath of the fire is something Jackson and those in close association with Southern Heartland continue to grapple with.

“I looked at it as a restful distraction,” Jackson said. “I enjoyed it, I would go, you’d pop in, you’d see your friends. Not every gallery artist is the same, but some of them are closer to others, so it’s like your family. That freedom of that distraction for me is gone now, because now we’re at a facility under another owner and there’s not access all the time. So, on a personal level for me, the kind of distracting enjoyment, refreshing connection that I had that was kind of casual and whatnot is gone now.” 

The smoke and water damage Southern Heartland Art Gallery’s original location suffered is amendable. According to Hammond, she was given an estimated timeline of six to nine months for renovations to be made to their space, which has been a staple of the community and the Square since 2004. 

The gallery’s plan once their shared space with Revolution closes in December is still unknown. The feeling of uncertainty for the coming months until Southern Heartland’s storefront is mended is something Hammond has become all too familiar with.

“I feel off balance. I feel like I don’t have firm footing,” Hammond said. “There’s so many unknowns and so many things that keep changing day-to-day that we have to adapt to and be flexible for. So for me, it feels like a juggling act. It still hasn’t become intuitive.”

For the last 19 years, Southern Heartland Art Gallery frequently hosted events for the community to acclimate themselves with their creative side and interact with others. Jackson considered the gallery to “nurture” the community and encourage connection – another aspect that has been ceased due to the fire.

Throughout the unknowns and challenges brought on by the Aug. 25 fire, Jackson and artists involved with the gallery are thankful for the support from Revolution to be able to continue sharing their art.

“Even though [Dial is] in a little bit of a transition as she shuts down, I’m thankful that somebody says, ‘You know what? I have the ability to reach out to somebody else and I’ll do that,’” Jackson said. “Sometimes people aren’t willing to take a risk or sacrifice for others very much. If you look at it that way, I think she reached out and truly helped a lot of other people. I think that that’s a great thing.”