Has Harrisburg ever hosted an “artist-in-residence?”
I actually don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know this—it has one now.
Last month, children’s book illustrator and author Jonathan Bean moved into a brand new apartment on the third floor of 1320 N. 3rd St., smack-dab in the heart of Midtown.
The newly renovated residence had been designed specifically to provide both living and work space for an artist—and the 33-year-old Bean was first lucky tenant.
“I’m really excited about being here,” Bean said. “I enjoyed being in an area that is urban, but without the pressures that a big city like New York can exert.”
He knows what he’s talking about. A native of Fleetwood, Pa., Bean, after graduating from Messiah College, attended the School of Visual Arts in New York.
The Big Apple was a great place to meet publishers and get started in the business, he said. But the high cost of living and hectic pace of life made him desire a smaller place.
After seven years, he returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Reading. The move to Harrisburg came after his old college, professor, renowned local illustrator Stephen Fieser, told him that a new artist’s live/work space had just been developed.
“I had already thought of moving here from Reading, but then Steve told me this was opening up,” he said.
The artist in-residence concept had been thought up by Midtown Scholar Bookstore owner Eric Papenfuse.
Last fall, he bought the building from the West End Republican Club, which was using it mostly for storage for their facility next door.
After an extensive renovation to the circa-1880 storefront, The HodgePodgery took the ground floor for retail space. Papenfuse then set out providing something he believed was needed in the emerging Midtown arts district: affordable living space for an artist that can double as a studio.
“Our philosophy is to look at this not so much as a money-making investment in our community here,” said Papenfuse, who owns three other buildings just down the street. “The studio concept, instead of just another apartment building, seemed very attractive.”
In addition, the Susquehanna Art Museum is slated to move into the old Keystone/ Fulton Bank building just a half-block away.
“There is one more connection between here [Midtown Scholar] and SAM,” he said. “With SAM coming, we thought another arts space would be great.”
In fact, Bean’s studio is expected to become a part of the arts scene. Papenfuse said he plans to create curated exhibit space on the walls which Bean will open up during the monthly 3rd in The Burg arts event. There, visitors will be able to see for themselves what Harrisburg’s newest artist is up to.
Perhaps you’ll get a preview of the art for a new children’s book, “Building Our House,” which is due to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2013. That will be the second children’s book that Bean has both illustrated and written.
He also was the illustrator of “One Starry Night,” a Scholastic Press book by Laura Thompson that came out last October.
Both Bean and Papenfuse hope the new artist’s space will provide inspiration to other building owners in Harrisburg. Perhaps more landlords will see an opportunity to help make the city a better place.
It doesn’t take much, they said—just a place with good light and reasonable rent.
“It’d be great if other spaces opened up for the other artists who could form a community to feed each other’s skills and work,” said Bean.
Added Papenfuse: “Landlords have to come up with a number that will work for the artist. They have to realize this an investment in their community.”
