{"id":1125,"date":"2016-02-11T13:24:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T19:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2016-05-09T03:45:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T08:45:22","slug":"jessica-balls-art-garage-engages-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2016\/02\/11\/jessica-balls-art-garage-engages-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Peoria Art Garage Engages Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A growing movement hopes to foster a stronger art scene in Peoria. This print story and video extra detail the work of artist Jessica Ball, who is trying to make art accessible to every Peorian.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Peoria\u00a0Art Garage Engages Community<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jessica Ball grew up learning that art was supposed to be a hobby. Now it\u2019s her career.<br \/>\nBall owns the <a href=\"http:\/\/art-garage-studio.com\/\">Art Garage Studio<\/a> and Gallery at 712 West Main. For the past three years she\u2019s been teaching art classes there to people of all walks of life\u2014from toddlers to ladies nights to retirees. They also offer drop-in art hours, where people can stop in and complete a project in under an hour, with no experience required.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big melting pot around here. Art is the driving force, diversity is the driving force, accessibility is the driving force. It\u2019s for everyone to experience and enjoy,\u201d said Ball.<br \/>\nThe Art Garage also hosts a different local artist each month, displaying their work around the gallery. This month\u2019s featured artist is Fanni, who says its been an interesting month for her.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s very awkward because I\u2019m not used to this community. It\u2019s very enlightening to see the different people who come into see the art and ask about it. Since I\u2019m not from here and not a lot of people know me or my work, I\u2019m getting a lot of new comments,\u201d said Fanni.<br \/>\nFanni is also a student at Bradley University and works at the Art Garage once a week, helping do set up for projects and interact with clients.<br \/>\nBall said she didn\u2019t feel like her community encouraged or appreciated art when she was growing up, and she\u2019s thankful she got to foster a space where her daughter can grow up being exposed to art and professional artists. Ball\u2019s daughter, Olivia, is 8 years old and likes to hang out at the Art Garage sometimes to do homework or make projects.<br \/>\n\u201cShe\u2019s been able to socialize with our customers and clients but also the artists that come through here or work here. She\u2019s met actors and writers\u2014just a real diverse group of people. And not just because of us at the Art Garage but because we\u2019re in a community that draws in those people,\u201d she said.<br \/>\nOlivia says she likes to hang out at the Art Garage and hanging out with people the people who come there, even though they are mostly older than her. She\u2019s made friends with an actress named Liz.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to this kind of influence, Olivia says she wants to grow up and be an artist like her mom.<br \/>\n\u201cWhen you have an environment that supports creativity and diversity and culture, you\u2019re going to get people that are diverse and cultural,\u201d Ball said.<br \/>\n<strong>Peoria Art Garage Makes Art Accessible to Everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This video extra includes interviews with Jessica Ball and the Art Garage&#8217;s featured artist Fanni, who talk about the importance a strong art scene can have on a community.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Art Garage\" width=\"352\" height=\"198\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7QKPLnIyeIM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A growing movement hopes to foster a stronger art scene in Peoria. This print story and video extra detail the work of artist Jessica Ball, who is trying to make art accessible to every Peorian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,205],"class_list":["post-1125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","hentry","category-general","tag-com425","tag-public-journalism","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1125"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}