Artful windows

Dear lord, it was cold this week. Usually when this weather comes, I bundle up and camp out in the office. Phone interviews only, please.

But not this week. This week I was walking around town, shoulders hunched, hands shoved deep in my pockets and my coat wrapped tightly around me.

The cold wind was made all the more powerful by the cold, uninviting empty windows I passed along the way. How can a street so crowded with buildings seem so barren?

On a quick walk around the downtown area -- Main and Spanish streets -- I counted eight empty storefronts, nine if you separate the River Nicks building into its two corners.

I was wrote a story weeks ago about the Downtown Art Windows Program extending its deadline for artists to Jan. 4 because of the dull response at the beginning.

With the deadline come and gone and about six applicants submitted now, I wanted to see how many buildings would be affected by the program, which recruits area artists, pairs them with property owners who have a vacant, street-level window and allows the artist to display paintings, drawings or sculptures in the space for two-month periods starting in February.

If you have an empty wall in your home, you hang a picture. There are empty spaces along Broadway and Main, these people want to put pictures in them.

The program transforms a dark window into a brief clip of the artistic talent in this area. The goal is different for each organization -- the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri gets to promote community artists, Crisp Museum gets to promote student artists, Old Town Cape gets to draw positive attention to spaces available for businesses -- but the result remains the same: a prettier walk around town.