Gallery owner aims to help local aspiring artists

After graduating from Southeast Missouri State University in 1985, Craig Thomas knew his career as an artist was in Cape Girardeau. His work ranges from murals to fine art to street painting. Thomas was a part of the group that painted the Mississippi River Tales mural along the floodwall downtown.

He opened Black Door Gallery with his wife, Elizabeth, to provide another display setting for aspiring artists, particularly local talent. The gallery, at 124 S. Spanish St., and is open 5 to 9 p.m. the first Friday of every month and by appointment.

Q: You're an alumnus of Southeast. How did you get started as an artist?

A: I guess I started in high school. I always enjoyed art, but in high school I started doing it a lot more. I just pursued it after high school and went to college. My minor was technical theater and my major was art.

Q: How did you get the Black Door Gallery up and running?

A: My wife and I wanted to do a gallery for years and something a little different from what was out there already. We wanted to allow local artists to have not so much censorship. That's not to say that everything we do is censored material; it's just every once and while there's something like that where the Arts Council wouldn't show it because it's controversial.

Q: What makes the Black Door Gallery so unique?

A: We try to take a little different angle, but we get along with all the other galleries and promote everybody. You know, we don't really have any specific agenda other than to promote art.

Q: You're adding some renovations to the gallery. How are those coming along?

A: Slow and steady. It's a constant battle between time and money at the same time. The upstairs is going to be a studio space, and there'll be a porch put on there. We put the dormer on it with the door, so eventually we'll put a porch out there with another set of stairs that aren't so winding as the spiral staircase -- the ones that are in [the gallery] now. We'll keep that, too, but there'll be a different way to get up there.

Q: What do you want people to take away from coming into the gallery?

A: Obviously a good experience and an enjoyable time. Hopefully they'll buy some of the artwork, especially since we're dealing with local artists. There are an awful lot of them, so for those that don't have another venue, we just want to show art, show the importance. We try to keep people interested in the local artists.

Q: What do you see for the future of the gallery?

A: In the future, we're doing more classes and workshops. I'll be doing a class probably this summer over portraits. I'm instructor for the Drawing Group. I'll probably do a plein-air workshop outside. There's going to be a couple of plein-air events in Cape in May. It's French meaning "open air," "all outside." That's when artists started to go outside and paint directly from what they saw. Before that, they always were inside. It's making kind of a comeback. It's very popular right now.

Q: I know you've painted some of the murals by the river about life on the Mississippi. How did that get started?

A: There was a mural group at the time headed by Tim Blattner, who is no longer in the area, but the goal was 10 murals in 10 years. We got close. But anyhow, that was one of the murals, and it's actually two and a half [Cape Girardeau] city blocks. It started from the concept that ‘This river wall would be a cool place to put a mural,' and then from there it took seven years. So then we had to come up with an idea. We had 24 panels and they all relate to Cape Girardeau's river history. We had a history committee who did a great job. Then the actual execution of the wall took a little over a year. It was a nationwide hunt for a muralist, and we picked Tom Melvin out of Chicago.

Q: What's it like painting such a large mural?

A: It was fun to work on the mural because there was a group of us, and normally a visual artist works by themselves -- or even doing murals, if they're not that big you might do it by yourself. That was the most interesting thing for me. You have to deal with the public and the weather. In that case we also had to deal with the trains because we were right in between the train tracks and the wall. So we had to deal with the corps of engineers and the railroad, which was probably the biggest headache.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

A: I always say I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but it's just something where you want to work on your marketing skills and business end. Of course, if you're into art you're going to pursue it, and you're going to practice it a lot.