The new Chelsea Art Alley archway welcomes visitors into the 24/7 outdoor gallery from its Main Street entrance. The custom metal arch, worked with flowers, musical notes, a butterfly, and a painter’s palette to reflect the many arts on display, was built and installed by Steinke Fenton Fabricators and sponsored by the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Destination Ann Arbor. Photo courtesy of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce.
A custom metal archway now rises over Chelsea’s main street gallery entrance, naming the corridor and inviting passersby to step in. The 24/7 outdoor gallery is tucked into the pedestrian alley between 105 and 107 Main Street.
The archway is the finishing touch that organizers promised at its installation earlier this summer. When the gallery opened during the season’s first Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights, the plan already called for a custom entrance marker, coordinated by the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce with support from Destination Ann Arbor.
Built By Hand
The work went to Steinke Fenton Fabricators, a family-owned metal shop in nearby Jackson that has been crafting custom metalwork since 1939. The shop built and installed the archway, and the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Destination Ann Arbor, sponsored it as a lasting investment in the downtown streetscape.
For Brenda Fineman, the studio owner who dreamed up the Alley and curates it, watching the archway go up was its own kind of milestone.
“When we opened in June, the Alley was a bit of a beautiful secret,” Fineman said. “Now it has a front door. That archway tells everyone walking down Main Street that this place is theirs to step into, any hour, any season. So many people gave this project their time and their belief, and the archway feels like the town signing its name to it.”
Gallery Voting
The Main Street Masterpiece vote, open since June, invites anyone to help decide which of the Alley’s 24 works earns a place of honor. There are no tickets and no admission. Visitors scan the QR code beside any piece and vote for their favorites, one vote per piece, per day, so a second visit is always worthwhile.
Chelsea has answered in numbers that have surprised even the organizers. The vote has now passed more than 1,750 ballots, and every one of the 24 works on display has drawn support. Voting stays open through July 23, with the winner announced July 25 at the Chelsea Sounds & Sights Festival. The top work earns an extra year on display in the Alley’s place of honor.
The whole design of the contest, Fineman has said, is to hand the decision to the community rather than a panel of judges, and the archway now makes that open invitation impossible to miss.
“Chelsea At Its Best”
For the Chamber, the archway shows what the Alley has been from the start: a project that no single person could have finished alone.
“A great downtown gives people a reason to slow down, and the Art Alley does exactly that,” said Terris Ahrens, Executive Director of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber and Destination Ann Arbor wanted to give it a lasting entrance, and Steinke Fenton built something that will welcome visitors for years. This is Chelsea at its best: neighbors and local businesses building something the whole community gets to enjoy.”
That spirit traces back to the Alley’s origins. The idea took hold after Fineman and her husband, Ben, wandered through a small art alley in Munising, up on Lake Superior, and thought someone should do the same in Chelsea. A grant through the City of Chelsea turned the thought into a plan, and a wide circle of partners turned the plan into a gallery: major grant funding from the Chelsea Downtown Development Authority, the cooperation of neighboring property owners Curtis Gough, owner and designer of La Jolla Fine Jewelry, and Bill Ballagh of State Farm, who opened the walls of their buildings for public use, and now the Chamber and Destination Ann Arbor’s archway marking the way in.
The Chelsea Art Alley is curated and maintained by Geek Brush Studio, the art studio, shop, and local art gallery Fineman runs directly behind it at 108 E. Middle Street. A Certified Bob Ross Instructor, Fineman built the studio around a deliberately unintimidating idea: that you don’t need talent to make art, just a little joy. The corridor out front also anchors the Art Alley Residency, a 283-square-foot storefront studio that regional artists can rent by the week or month.
“Come down and see it in person,” Fineman said. “The front door is open.”
114 North Main St Suite 10 Chelsea, MI 48118
