Dayton Innovation: How Village Artisans used the shutdown to explore new ideas

Business Name: Village Artisans

Location: 100 Corry St., Yellow Springs

Years in operation: 37

Describe what your business does: We are a co-op, so we don’t have an owner and employees. Instead we are all co-owners and we share the workload. We all take turns shop sitting, which allows us time to make our art. There are 20 of us and we make all of the art that is available for sale in the shop.

What inspired you to start this business? None of the current members were around when Village Artisans started in 1983, but we assume the idea was to have a place for artists to sell their art without having to commit the time to owning a business or the expense of having to rent a location as we share the workload and the associated costs.

How has your business embraced innovation? We have an online presence that we have been beefing up over the past several months. We have a blog that has been our primary website, and we’ve had a Facebook page for several years. We recently added an Instagram account and set up a site to use as a Virtual Reception for our current lobby show, which was a show that we put up back in late February with artwork from community artists who are nonmembers of the co-op. We’re also working on a site that will feature the art that is available in the shop so that it can be sold online or as curbside pickup.

What’s your biggest challenge right now? Because we weren’t an essential business, we closed for 10 weeks during the shutdown. We have reopened, although we aren’t open every day of the week like we used to be. One of our challenges is that many of our members are in the high-risk category, and we don’t want to compromise their health and well-being. We also decided to cancel Art on the Lawn, which is the art festival that we host in August. This event not only generates art sales for the vendors who attend the show but it is also a fundraiser and promotion for the shop.

What’s your biggest opportunity right now? As a group our biggest opportunity is expanding our online presence. Individually several of our artists have used the time during the shutdown to create new product lines and explore new ideas.

What do you want readers to know about your business today? We are open for business (Wednesday-Sunday noon to 5 p.m.) and the shop carries just a small portion of art that our artists have made. If you like someone’s art but can’t find just the right piece, you can contact them to see other art they have available and many of our artists will do custom work.

Here is a list of our current members with their media and city:

Amy Achor, photographic and ceramic arts, Yellow Springs

Tara Anderson, ceramics, Wilberforce

Sue Brezine, watercolor paintings, Kettering

Lowell Converse, wood turning, Beavercreek

Carol Culbertson, ceramics and weavings, Enon

Bill Felker, book binding, Yellow Springs

Pam Geisel, art quilts, Yellow Springs

Sara Gray, fused and glass, Yellow Springs

Rosie Huart, mixed media, Dayton

Theresa Mayer, lampwork and fused glass, Yellow Springs

Cynthia McDonald, gourd art, Cedarville