Going rogue is working for Nick Jakubiak and Steve Vaught, co-founders of an art gallery unlike any other in Battle Creek.
In May, the two men officially opened
Rogue Gallery in what had been a vacant storefront at 117 W. Michigan Ave. Officials with the Downtown Partnership, which is part of the economic development group
Battle Creek Unlimited, are allowing Jakubiak and Vaught to use the 1,600-square-foot building rent-free for a "few months," Vaught says.
"Nick approached me about this and I was all for it," Vaught says. "He went to the city and offered to fill one of their vacant buildings and the city was agreeable."
Jakubiak says he wants to provide a place where all artists will have an opportunity to showcase their work. He thinks there are plenty of individuals who have the talent, but nowhere to exhibit it.
"With as much art as we have, there's something for everybody in here," Jacubiak says. "You can't walk through and get bored in half an hour. A lot of galleries make the mistake of putting up artwork you'd want in your house. What you want to put up in your house is not what I want to put up in my house."
While Jakubiak and Vaughn say they fully support all artists, they say their gallery is meant to create opportunities for those whose work may not make the cut at more traditional galleries. This is how the name of their space came about.
"Nick was an artist in New York and Detroit and he came back to Battle Creek to take care of his elderly mother. His brother is the chairman of the board of the Battle Creek Arts Council and Nick voiced his concerns about the lack of exposure of other artists to him and he said, 'Well, don't be going rogue on us,'" Vaught says.
Passersby will likely see Jakubiak sitting in a chair painting at his easel when the gallery is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. He and Vaught would like other artists who display their pieces at the gallery to also come in and work with their various art mediums so the general public can see how they go about putting their thoughts into a visual format. They believe this will inspire others to unearth their hidden talents.
Currently there are 16 artists with work in the gallery. Some of their work such as paintings and photographs hang salon-style on the brick walls while sculptures rest on the floor. The mix is purposely eclectic and includes oil paintings, watercolors, and acrylics.
A self-portrait of Jakubiak hanging on one wall is made entirely out of tiny strips of paper cut out of magazines. Visitors who are tempted to touch it risk a gentle rebuke because of its fragility.
"With some of Nick's work you can look at it once and look at it again and you'll see 12 things you didn't see the first time," Vaught says.
Chris Lampert, who exhibits custom work with automobiles, says visitors are guaranteed to see a diverse mix of art from local artists.
"For some artists, no one knows who they are," Lampert says."There's so much talent in town even if it's not in your face it's in people's garages and shops and no one knows about it or sees it."
The majority of artists featured at the gallery are from the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo area, although there previously was a graffiti artist from Grand Rapids.
"Our goal was to give artists in Battle Creek a place to exhibit their work and not to have to fit into some preconceived mold of what art centers and councils want," Vaught says. "We have turned some people down, but for the most part we have a policy that if they bring it down, we'll hang it."
Linda Taffola, curator and manager of Commerce Pointe, says she thinks the Rogue Gallery fills a niche in downtown Battle Creek and the city's art landscape. "There aren't many arts venues around here," Taffola says. "Rogue is great because more than one artist can be on display. It's important for people who are artists to display their work."
Taffola has been exhibiting the work of artists on open wall space at Commerce Pointe since 1999.
"I always have a single artist exhibiting," she says. "Most of the artists I represent have quite a bit of work. I try to find artists who have been around for awhile and have a body of work. I like helping the artists get their work exposed."
Jakubiak and Vaught recently got major exposure during Art Prize this past fall in Grand Rapids. Vaught says he finished just out of the Top 100 with a butterfly he made out of sheet metal that he hand-painted and airbrushed before mounting it on a wood-frame drum he'd hollowed out to look like a rain barrel.
Jakubiak's entry -- a seven-foot crow made out of car and bike tires -- finished in the Top 50. Vaught says they're negotiating with the city to lease it for a year and put it on display in a public area.
However, Vaught's real medium is photographs and several of his pieces grace the walls at his gallery. Even though he's been a professional photographer for more than 30 years, Vaught says it's only been within the past year that he's been exhibiting and selling his work.
"I started my photography as a hobby when I was in the Navy and seeing parts of the world I was sure I would never see again," Vaught says. "I was using a Kodak 110 Instamatic. At our first stop in Naples, Italy, I went to the Navy Exchange and bought my first nice camera. I managed to work it into a side business."
While photographing weddings and high school seniors brings in money, Vaught says he really wants to get into the fine arts side of photography.
"There's always been a stigma between what I do and real artists," he says. "They've looked down their noses at us for years. "These 'artists' would probably be loathe to hear that sales of prints outpace the purchase of original artwork."
Vaught says he and Jakubiak know that their concept is fairly new to many people in the community. They take 10 percent of each sale and put it back into the gallery, which is supported by sales and donations. This is a boon for the artists who would be looking at giving back to the gallery between 40 and 50 percent of each sale if they were in a more traditional space.
"Ten percent of very little is still very little, but we're young and we're just happy to have people coming in," Vaught says. "If it's a good experience they'll tell their friends."
Besides, Vaught says, he and Jakubiak didn't open up the gallery with the expectation of becoming rich. Their prime motivation was providing an experience that will bring people to downtown Battle Creek.
"Battle Creek is a great town. I just think it needs some direction," Vaught says. "Battle Creek Unlimited rejuvenated the Michigan Avenue strip. I think they're really trying."
Taffola says the community is supportive of these efforts.
"Battle Creek has never been known as an artistic community and we're surrounded by other communities like Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Lansing that have strong arts support," she says. "It took us a long time to get here."
Vaught says the Rogue Gallery is proof of Battle Creek's commitment to establishing a strong arts community.
"I think BCU and its Downtown partnership saw the benefit in it for them and for us. They like having the storefront full and and our being able to put artwork up in the windows of the two buildings next to us to makes it look less empty," he says. "We are truly community-minded and we want this to work for Battle Creek."
Jane C. Parikh is a freelance reporter and writer with more than 20 years of experience and also is the owner of In So Many Words based in Battle Creek.
Photos by Erik Holladay.