Building Reimagined: From Poultry Plant to Art Gallery

Good News

Famous French artist, Edgar Degas, once said, “ Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” When one thinks of art, one may not think of Flatonia as being seen as the next up and coming art scene for Fayette County, but artist Harry Siter hopes to change that when he bought the building at 117 West 7th Street, a processing plant.

“I’m an artisan and do a wide range of creative endeavors so the property I was looking for had to check a few boxes,” said Siter, who has a wood mill and a foundry where he temper wood products and cast a wide variety of metals mostly bronze and aluminum and also a fabrication studio for metal. Siter started his wide array of skills in the early 1990s in California by studying sculpture, ceramic sculpture, and furniture design.

“The best building I could imagine we found in Flatonia with enough space to open a gallery showroom,” continued Siter. “I walked into the building department to ask about a property I liked in Flatonia and they told me to talk with Flatonia’s Chamber of Com-merce Executive Director Beverly Ponder. She showed me the building and I was smitten.”

The building, which was constructed sometime between 1922 and 1928, was none other than once a processing plant for Southern Produce Company, and evidence of the name can still be seen painted on the side of the building. In addition to dressing and packing poultry, eggs were candled and packed for shipping. Southern Produce Company would be in operation until about 1970 and from then on the building had only been used for storage.

The building was certainly in rough shape, but beauty, like art, was in the eye of the beholder, and it only took the right artisan to see its potential. “It was in rough shape but I worked as a foreman for a construction company and an architectural firm, so I figured it didn’t scare me too bad but boy was I surprised,” said Siter. “It had a fire that melted a column and dropped the ceiling and roof five feet which cracked it in half and made it have a waterfall coming in for 20 years.”

Siter’s surprises didn’t end there. He soon found another challenge. “We had pecan trees growing out of the roof. The debris piled up to eight feet high in places from the walls and ceilings rotting and falling in. It took me one month with a Kubota tractor and a dump trailer to empty the debris. I took 35,000 pounds of steel coils from the ceilings in the refrigeration building to the recycling facility in La Grange.”

No matter the shape of the building Siter just knew once he got to Flatonia that it was the right place for him. “Being originally from a small town in Ohio, I related to the friendly people, the relaxed down-home straight forward no-nonsense attitude and it was what I was looking for,” said Siter. And to still keep part of the history of the building, Siter decided to keep the original name and only switch out the word Company with Gallery.

Southern Produce Gallery will host a variety of shows starting with an art fair which will be held between March 15-19. On its opening day March 15, the gallery will be open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The hours after opening day will be 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The art fair will showcase local and outof- state galleries and artists. Siter hopes to expand to international galleries and a grand art fair. For now, two galleries are joining his first art fair, Ken Kelleher fine art from Turlock, California, and The Main Gallery from Smithville. The opening in March is timed with the Spring Antiques Fair soon to start up in Round Top, partly because Kelleher fine art will also be in the Red Barn Show. Siter wants everyone to see the future of Flatonia’s art scene.

There will also be a long list of artists showing their work: Brian Nadurak, Douglas Schneider, Victoria Reynolds, Allan Farrow, David Meeker, Sophia Bednarz, and Terry and John Ehler to name a few.

After the art fair the gallery will be open Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and by appointment. Siter added, “My art studio is connected to the gallery and if people show up and I’m there I can open the gallery. The gallery will continuously change its layout to have a wide range of retail sales, furnishings, apparel, and local crafts. It can also be used to host special events,” said Siter.

To see more of Siter’s work and to keep up with the Southern Produce Gallery visit, www.studioharrysiter.com and follow Siter on Instagram at @southernproducegallery.