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MIDDLETOWN — When the Pendleton Art Center opens later this year, its founder, Jim Verdin, wants it to get nationwide attention.
He plans to do that by adorning the new center on 7. N. Broad St. with about 200 brightly colored car hoods, in a nod to the city’s steel-making heritage. An application for the project was submitted Monday, said Marty Kohler, the city’s planning director.
The project first must receive approval from the city’s Council of Landmark and Historic District, because the Pendleton is located in an “architectural district,” Kohler said.
The car hoods would be attached to the building around the windows above street level, according to a preliminary design for the project, which goes by the name “Arts Parts.” The hoods would be obtained through Cohen Bros. Inc., a Middletown scrap processing company.
Even Verdin admits the idea is rather wild.
“It sounds a little goofy. With any ... work of art, you’re not going to get 100 percent of people liking it. But you might get 50-50, which is great, because they’ll talk about it,” he said.
None of the other Pendletons, in Cincinnati, Ashland, Ky., or Rising Sun, Ind., has anything similar.
If the plans go forward, the hoods would be installed around the end of the year, about the time the studios would open, he said.
Kohler said he’s “not anticipating any concerns, because it’s a well-thought-out plan.”
The art center will offer studio space to about 40 artists. Preliminary plans call for a coffee shop in the building, but that has not been finalized. At least part of the studios would be open by the end of the year, and the center will be fully operational in 2011, Verdin said.
Once visualized, car hood project seemed perfect for Middleotwn building
Putting car hoods on the new Pendleton Art Center wasn’t Jim Verdin’s idea. In fact, even he raised his eyebrows at it initially.
Verdin, the founder of the Pendleton Art Center, wanted to find some way to make the Middletown building distinctive. He consulted an Indianapolis-based artist, Steven Alexander, explaining to him that Middletown had a history as a steel town.
When Alexander came up with the hoods concept, Verdin initially said: “That’s the worst idea I’d ever heard of. It absolutely makes no sense,” he said, explaining that he “was having real trouble visualizing it.”
But once Alexander helped Verdin understand the concept, he was sold.
“In order to make ( art centers) successful, they have to be something really unique. It has to be a visual draw, even from the exterior,” Verdin said.
Through the “Arts Parts” car hood concept, Verdin said he hopes to attract not only the attention of art lovers, but car enthusiasts as well. The car concept ties into the city and building because AK Steel helps supply the auto industry, and the steel maker once had ties to the Pendleton building at 7 N. Broad St. “In other words, Middletown is being recycled,” Verdin said.
“The idea that Mr. Verdin came up with sounds like a really creative solution to adorning the Pendleton building and drawing attention in other parts of the state and country,” said City Manager Judy Gilleland.
Before the hoods can be attached, the plan must meet with approval from the city’s Council of Landmark and Historic District, which is expected to meet Thursday of next week.
Also, the building needs some exterior refurbishment, such as removing a leakage stain on the front and polishing stainless steel panels.
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