The New Mar-Ho?

Floor Two in the Marshall Building is getting crowded! Step of the elevator and directly in front of your face is Catherine Davidson’s gallery, and around the corner from that is Gallery 218. Down the hall and to the right is a space Stella hears is going to be the new gallery space for the Wisconsin Visual Artists organization (formerly Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors), the oldest non-profit in the state dedicated to visual artists based in this state. We’re wondering if this place will represent only artists in the southeast chapter, or will it house the works of WVA’s other chapters? Rumors are rumors. We’re just asking.

Whatever, a furtive look into the area reveals a large area set behind double glass doors. When we visited in early March, the concrete floor was newly stained and two royal blue chairs were in place. It’s said it will be open for the coming Gallery Night & Day.

So Mar-Ho allegedly is the place to be, at least from the standpoint of having a wealth of grazing possibilities. Floor five is alive with the Portrait Gallery and their additional new space directly across the hall, and floor one is home to Grava Gallery and the adjacent Elaine Erickson Gallery, whose owner chirped “the more the merrier.” Of course, it’s only merry if dealers are actually selling art, and what they sell (quality anyone?) should be the primary concern of anyone and everyone seeking something other than the banal.

The aforementioned Catherine Davidson also has an office on floor five, with walls painted a great shade of “eggplant” that will do for my purposes.

The front entry to the Marshall Building could use a face-lift, as could the lobby which is awash with sandwich boards hyping what’s where. As is, it’s like stepping into a rummage-0-rama. This can be fixed however.

Lurking behind various other doors in Mar-Ho are attorneys, masseuse types, party planners, a female detective, the Shepherd Express, and who knows what? Should you desire, Jings serves great Chinese eats, and a reasonably priced cup of joe is available (with cigarettes!) in the wee space on the first floor. Everyone is harping about the big increase in Third Ward parking meter fees, which seems like a duh! move in these problematical times, but then again, perhaps the powers that be figure that anyone shopping in the Third Ward has plenty of change to spare and they are happy to take it.