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10/06/2006
Insideout Gallery is outside the mainstream'Underground' collection attracts loyal following
Inside Out Gallery owner Mike Curths is expanding to include performance space for music and movies. TRAVERSE CITY — It may shock them, amuse them or bewilder them. But one thing the art at Insideout Gallery won't do to viewers is numb them. And that's just fine with owner Mike Curths, who claims he has the largest selection of underground art in the Midwest, including "outsider," "lowbrow" and pop surrealism. "We really want people who are seeking an alternative to mainstream art," said Curths, a native New Yorker who moved to northern Michigan by way of Southern California. "Probably my best client is the person that collects original art. They see something in here that they haven't seen before." Open for about a year and a half, the gallery has been slow to be discovered. Located way off the beaten path on Garland Street in Traverse City's downtown "Warehouse District," it doesn't attract casual passers-by. But thanks to regular concerts, which have featured acts like Victor! fix the sun, Steeltoe, Sista Otis, Jeff Haas Quartet, Seth Bernard and Daisy Mae, and Michael Jerome Brown, it's building a loyal following. Curths predicts the area will be the city's new trendy district, appealing to a younger-thinking, hipper crowd that is ripe for the kind of alternative art he has to offer. He's so sure, in fact, that he's expanding the gallery from its original 900 square feet to more than 2,500 square feet and broadening its offerings to include film, with an accent on retro sci fi, horror, film noir, comedy and action. The remodeled gallery will boast a large stage, a house sound system, lighting, and film projection equipment. "We've got a pretty wacky plan with the films," he said, adding that they'll be supplemented by old toy, cigarette and car commercials and original vintage-style spots promoting local businesses. "It will be very entertaining and kind of nostalgic, even though I hate that word. It'll be very different. We just want to make it more of a social event." An urban art collector and former recording engineer, Curths came to Traverse City because of a woman eight years ago and never left. Although he found a job as general manager of a recording studio, "people just thought we should open a gallery because we had so much art hanging around," he said. "I didn't think the town was ready." But a few years ago, after learning about a woman who sold vintage furniture in a warehouse the National Cherry Festival also uses for storage, Curths decided to approach her about hanging some of his work. Instead he learned the space was up for grabs. In a kind of "aha!" moment, "I just kind of woke up in the middle of the night and thought, 'Why don't I just take it?'" he said. Without so much as a business plan, he gutted and rebuilt the space and stocked it with art from all over the country. Now the gallery represents about 35 artists, 30 percent of them local, he said. It also hosts monthly shows like "The Feral Housewife" by northern Michigan collage artist Mary Beth Acosta and "Threeways to Fun," which opens Oct. 28 and features well-known national artist Tom d. Curths said the artists' work is reflective of the kind of urban art that's spreading around the country by way of the younger generation and city-sophisticate transplants like himself. "Traverse City as a whole hasn't been exposed because it really isn't an urban area. As much as people complain, it's still Mayberry," he said. "But Traverse City is being infiltrated with people that are well traveled and have traveled in other parts of the country." They're some of the same people who are attracted to alternative music, like the kind played on Northwestern Michigan College's WNMC, said station manager Eric Hines. Together, he and Curths have been working to present regional and national acts heavy on alternate folk, alt country and jazz. "I think the area needs a venue in the sort of niche he's looking to fill," said Hines, who promotes the events to the station's 5,000 or so listeners in exchange for the gallery's booking them. "Someplace that's between a bar and the high cultural scene. Someplace that's interested in getting new things on stage and that can afford to experiment a little bit. "Our listeners tend to be pretty tolerant, curious and willing to give it a shot, so its a pretty good match," he added. Besides broadcasting live from the gallery at last-Sunday-of-the-month brunches, Hines tapes the concerts and plans to run them "where appropriate in our schedule." The concerts are smoke- and alcohol-free, although listeners can buy soft drinks and snacks and, when a planned brew pub goes in next door, have a beer on tap at intermission. Curths said the goal is to bring in musicians who won't be playing two or three other venues in the region on the same tour and to give them a dedicated forum. "We're trying to create a scene for adults that are serious about listening to music," he said. The new performance art space adjacent to the gallery is expected to be up and running in the next few weeks, although films won't begin until spring, Curths said. Meanwhile, the gallery will be open Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., Sundays and Mondays from noon to 5 p.m., and other times by appointment. "It's finally happening for us here," he said. "Every town's got to have its funky little district. We're trying to clean it up and make it a walkable community where people will actually park and (then) walk and ride their bike. We're just trying to make something happen in town that hasn't happened before."
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