Local artist shares his talent with the community
Greg Ballou makes the art world his world
Posted on April 26, 2007
The blue doors of Ballou Studio on Market Street hide an interior that looks like something from the imagination of every kid adventurous enough to climb a tree in the backyard.
This isn’t surprising considering that the Studio’s owner, artist Greg Ballou, hopes to spark the creativity and imagination of those who see his work. His house is a spark in itself – he bought the then-condemned property 14 years ago with a friend with the intention of remodeling. After stripping it bare, his friend abandoned him. He was left to finish the project alone.
“It was kind of like living in a third-world country,” Ballou said.
The end result looks like something out of The Swiss Family Robinson.
With the help of some friends-turned-tenants, Ballou has crafted a home with a second floor consisting of all balconies and overlooks, with skylights and a chimney that will soon be converted into a waterfall.
Like many works of art, the house is a work in progress marked by periods of frenzied activity.
“We redid the bathroom in one night,” Ian Richard said. Richard is one of the house’s residents and a veteran landscaper whose own room is a split-level, with the ground floor a living-room area and the “bedroom” a platform set about a foot lower than the ceiling, reachable only by ladder. The bathroom in question is the size of many college students’ bedrooms and includes a fish tank and full-wall tapestry by JMU alumna Naomi Scully.
Ballou also is a former JMU student,about fifteen years removed, who spent six years in the art program.
Although he never graduated, he lists two former professors as major influences and has stayed involved in the JMU community, working with students like Scully and participating in Harrisonburg’s Gallery Walks.
The Arts Council of the Valley, based in Harrisonburg, organizes the Gallery Walks, and the new director, JMU alumnus Kai Degner, has welcomed the chance to work with local artists like Ballou.
“His desire to connect artists in the community is in line with the Arts Council goals,” Degner said. He also said that Ballou is well-respected in the art community as someone who makes art his sole profession.
The art is a blend of mediums – he is primarily a painter but he says his passion lies in sculpting and he integrates ceramics, glass and found material into his paintings, giving them the three dimensions of a sculpture.
“I just want to push people’s imagination,” Ballou said.
His topics vary from landscapes to more abstract pieces, and home-sculpted action figures can be found all over the studio.
“I’d prefer to be a lot more creative than what’s currently out there,” he said.
Ballou says he splits time with what is marketable in the community – mostly landscapes and wildlife – and what he considers his creative work. This split doesn’t bother him as it would some artists.
“I try to think of each one as a stepping stone to the future,” he said. He tries to learn from each piece he creates, but he freely admits the practicality of painting a variety of topics.
“I could either do that or tend bar,” he said. The profession wouldn’t be a new one for him — after leaving JMU, he helped open “almost every bar in town,” painting only sporadically.
“I was doing about one painting a year and calling myself an artist,” he said.
About four years ago, Ballou, who turned 40 in October, says he realized he didn’t want to be the “old guy in a college town” and rededicated himself to his work and learning to live simply. Now, he has small showings at seven places around town, including Cinnamon Bear, Barnes and Noble and an installation piece in TDU. The piece at TDU is a work in progress and many people have had the chance to see Ballou working on it.
“The great thing has been watching the piece evolve over time,” Taylor Down Under Program Coordinator Shari Scofield said. The piece is a sculpture and painting combination and hangs to the right of the stage.
Ballou’s dream project, however, is more ambitious than art shows. He hopes to find funding to produce a documentary where he would interview the top money-making artists in the country and find out what their career paths were.
“In art, everyone follows a different path,” he said. “When I went to JMU, I was taught a lot about of aesthetics but the practical nature of painting was never addressed.”
He wants his documentary to serve as a guide for young artists just getting out of school. This project, as well as his art, serves to define his goals.
“I really think that I’m trying to inspire other people to get out of the box,” he said. “All man is remembered for is art or war. I’d rather be at the birthing clinic than at the morgue.”