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"My name is Jay Hartman.
I grew up in a frameshop/gallery. Dad owned Williamsburg Gallery,
Frames and Things, and later Cricket Box. I'm not sure I was "taught"
how to frame any more than I was taught how to ride a bike. After
receiving a little bit of training framing has been second nature.
I still attend trade shows and stay aware of all the latest framing
and conservation techniques.
After dad closed down the galleries he built a mass production facility behind the house. I'm guessing I was around age 8 when my sister and I would team up to build upwards of 100 frames a day. In April, 2004, I opened my first
store on the corner of Frederica St and Byres Ave. Great Angles outgrew
that space very quickly. We were exhausted from searching for a new
location when we learned of a restoration project in Downtown Owensboro.
Terry Woodward of WaxWorks was restoring several of his buildings
and leasing out storefronts. One of these storefronts was directly
across the street from my granddads old hardware store. The rest of
the story is better told by the following Messenger Inquirer article.
" - Jay Hartman |
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"When Great Angles owner, Jay
Hartman, first learned about the project to restore the buildings on
the 400 block of 2nd street and turn them into an "Art District",
he knew that was where his gallery belonged.
The building, which has been used as a warehouse by Wax Works/Video Works, was in a horrible state of disrepair until owner Terry Woodward decided to make use of the storefront for retail space and the second floor for an office space. In fact Terry has begun a very aggressive remodel of several buildings on the block including the Coca Cola, Mitchell Monument, Barret Fisher, Hartman, and Wright Machine Buildings. He plans to rent the storefronts out to retail spaces that are geared toward the arts and entertainment and wants a restaurant to go in the Barret Fisher building. As the door header clearly indicates at Great Angles, the building was built by Coca Cola to house their bottling operation. Jay and Terry both agreed the space should remain as original as possible keeping the feeling first set by Coke. Unlike today, when you entered 400 2nd street you would enter a viewing area for the bottling plant. Today you can see the outline of a wall on the floor that seperated the viewing area from the bottling area.. What's most exciting to Jay Hartman is how he can look out the front window of Great Angles and gaze on the Hartman Building. Directly across the street is the building that housed his grandfather's hardware store. Jay remembers his early child hood in that hardware store, "Paw Paw had riding mowers in the front window. I remember sitting on those things and pretending I was driving down 2nd street." |