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Kelly Gross is gallery director of  The Art Association of Jacksonville's David Strawn Art Gallery.

Kelly Gross hangs a print for an art show at The Art Association of Jacksonville's David Strawn Art Gallery.

There’s a reason Kelly Gross has been the gallery director of The Art Association of Jacksonville's David Strawn Art Gallery for 31 years.

“Honestly, I just love the art,” Gross said. “Every artist has something I like. I have a huge art collection because of this job.” 

Gross was born in Big Rapids, Michigan, and moved with her parents to the Murrayville area when she was young. Her father worked for Illinois Power Co. and her mother was a registered nurse who worked at the old Norris Hospital. 

Gross attended Lincoln Land Community College, attained a business administration degree with an art minor from Illinois College, and earned a master’s degree in business from Sangamon State University.

“I didn’t have any prior experience but I did have an art background, I was always interested in art through my education,” Gross said. “But I didn’t think I could make a living doing it, so that’s why I got a business degree in addition to art.” 

Gross got the opportunity to combine that business and art education when she was hired in September 1991 by a Strawn gallery committee headed by Lois Freeman, a professor at MacMurray College who was active in the community. Gross often brought her infant son to work with her at the Strawn job, which has always been a part-time position.

Gross enjoys many aspects of the gallery director’s job, especially the opportunity she gets to meet new artists. 

“I love going to art fairs where I see artists’ work and then I draw from the people that are there. I talk to them and see if they are possibly interested in coming to the Strawn,” Gross said. “We get together every year to look at prospective artists and then a committee and I choose what we are going to show for the next gallery season.”

She has some general guidelines for artists.

“When I look at art work I don’t look at prices, I look at medium and quality of work and whether I think they will show well in the Jacksonville area,” Gross said. “Sometimes the artists don’t care if they sell a lot. Then I have other artists that are upset if they don’t sell. Some of the artists come from big cities and they have very high prices.”

Gross also has an affinity for preparing the artists’ work for display and said the process of “hanging” a show gets her own creative juices flowing. 

“When the artists bring in their work I ask them to put the pieces against the wall so I can see them all,” Gross said. “I then sort the art. Sometimes it’s the color, sometimes it’s the movement, sometimes it’s subject.

“Sometimes artists come in with their work and they want it hung a certain way, but the board only allows me to hang the work. I will talk to them about their work but I don’t always see their work like they do. But once I hang it they are very pleased. I just have that ability to see it differently than they do.”

Gross’s favorite medium is blown glass, and she tries to display those pieces on pedestals in front of windows so the back-lighting can bring out the best in the glass. She also isn’t shy about trying to get more blown glass art for display at the Strawn.

“I wrote Dale Chihuly, who is a well-known glass artist from the West Coast, and invited him to the Strawn,”Gross said. “He’s very famous but I didn’t hear back from him. Maybe he will see this story and come. I would love to have his work here.”

The Strawn Mansion that houses the art gallery has been continuously hosting art shows since 1915. Gross said the beautiful, historic building is a good space in which to display art and it only requires the occasional replacement of well-hidden hanging boards that protect the structure’s walls from the nails that must be driven to mount artwork. 

Gross recently hung a 52-piece show by St. Louis painter Allen Kriegshauser, whose “plein air,” or open-air, location paintings are on display through May 29. The previous show, by local artist Allison Pratt, was well-attended and Gross hopes the current show also will do well.

The COVID-19 pandemic led Gross to shut down the gallery for several months. When the Strawn reopened, she gave artists the option of postponing their scheduled shows or opting for a show that might be sparsely attended with guests wearing masks. Most artists chose to postpone their shows during the pandemic, Gross said.

The Art Association of Jacksonville is a private, non-profit membership organization that raises funds for the gallery through events such as the Beaux Arts Ball and the annual Lawn Party. The gallery is free and open to the public. The association also hosts art classes for adults and children at the gallery. Details are available at strawnartgallery.org.

“Jacksonville is very supportive of the artists and their work,” Gross said. “We have artists come here and they are so pleased that we have more than 100 people at a gallery opening.”

Gross does photography and has had a show of her own at the Strawn, but running the gallery “is my creative outlet right now.”

“I do enjoy it," she said. "I don’t think I will ever get tired of it.”