When you go to the mall, you expect to see chains like Hot Topic, Foot Locker, Old Navy. You expect a food court with pizza slices, soft pretzels, and chicken sandwiches. You expect kiosks with cell phone covers or framed pictures of athletes and Taylor Swift.
But here in Bloomington, if you walk through Target into College Mall, and then turn left, you'll see a place that sells local art. It's big: 6 galleries. It's called Pillar Arts, and it's an outgrowth of the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington. They run this shop in the mall, and they also recently took over By Hand Gallery, the long-running shop in Fountain Square, downtown, when its founders decided it was time to move on. Carol Rhodes, the president of Pillar Arts, and vice-president Henry Leck give us a tour of the space and tell us about how it’s going in the mall.