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Arts & Entertainment

Mall Masterpieces: MindWorks Gallery Hopes Chesterfield Mall Becomes Art Destination

With twenty resident artists, MindWorks Gallery in Artropolis plans to expand to short-term gallery shows.

Owner Robert Cornman calls the twenty local artists who call MindWorks Gallery home one big happy family.

The gallery is a focused on fine art, and features local artists who work with paint, fabric, glass, metal, blowtorches and everything in between. They range in experience, too—from the 19-year-old Rachel Brown who is studying art at Missouri State University, to Loren Corell, who had his own gallery in Omaha for 30 years. The gallery is part of Artropolis, a group of six shops owned by and featuring local artists and craftsmen at . 

Each of the artists uses the space somewhat differently. For some, such as Cornman, who regularly take their work to shows, MindWorks serves as a sort of home base—somewhere to point customers back to between showings. For others, it is the only venue they have for displaying and selling their art.

The space also functions as a working studio for some of the artists. On any given day, at least one of them can be found working at the long counter running along the middle of the store.

Denise Williams is a fiber artist who uses scraps of cloth as her paint, fusing them to glass bowls, plates and other objects in intricate designs.

"I'm 53 years old and this is the first job I've ever had—and I do consider it a job—that I absolutely adore coming here every single time I come in," she said.

MindWorks is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Each artist works a certain day of the week, usually with three or four people manning the store at a time. Cornman said this allows each artist's fans to know exactly when they can come by to see him or her.

"If someone wants to come in and speak with Denise on her piece, we can tell them, 'She's here every Wednesday. Come in next Wednesday and she'll be here,' " he said.

Cornman and four other MindWorks artists will be setting up at the Artists Boutique show in Kirkwood together this weekend, each showing his or her individual work, but also representing the store and helping spread the word.

Word of mouth is important to drive business to the store, Cornman said, because typical mall foot traffic is not prepared to buy fine art; shoppers really come out looking for a pair of jeans.

"It takes people coming to the mall specifically to buy art," he said.

A new program starting in May at MindWorks is aimed at doing just that. The shop will host monthly gallery showings, inviting outside artists to exhibit their work there, complete with a theme, gallery opening event and advertising.

"People that don't get the opportunity to hang or don't have the time to put in, this way they can come in…show their work for that month," Cornman said. "It kind of opens it up to the community and gets more people in the mall and in here."

Though Cornman's name is on the lease for MindWorks, he works hard to make sure that every one of the 20 artists there feels a sense of ownership over the gallery.

"He doesn't just tolerate other people's ideas, he actually invites them," Williams said.

"Robert is always up. I've never seen him depressed," Corell said. "And he's always trying something new. He's got more irons in the fire than any person I've ever met in my life."

"I'm just as happy when they sell a piece as when I'm selling a piece," Cornman said. "I know what kind of feeling I get when someone wants one of my pieces for their wall, because I still get that, 'Are you crazy? Really? Seriously?' "

Editor's note: This is the seventh and last installment in a series of stories about Artropolis. The series, Mall Masterpieces, ran weekly on Mondays. The  at the group of stores as a whole and their progress in their first year.

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