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He stays busy doing this, that, the other
By Krista Goerte
Published June 7, 2009
CLARKSVILLE – Larry Algaier doesn’t quite have the hang of retired life.
Serving as the City of Clarksville code enforcement officer in addition to owning an art gallery on the Square in Clarksville, restoring his circa 1867 home in English and still finding time to exercise his artistic gene, he stays busy more often than not.
Since moving to the Clarksville area five years ago, Algaier has been wading hip deep in community activities. He has served on multiple city boards, including the Main Street board, the tourism board, the Chamber of Commerce board and a city ordinance task force board.
He credits – or jokingly accuses – eight-year Clarksville Mayor Ann Rushing with getting him involved in the community.
“It’s like any small town, anybody that is willing to give of their time and help with things, they become part of it,” he said.
With a fire department and code compliance background, Algaier originally applied for the position of Clarksville city manager when it was vacated at the beginning of the year. When the council hired Wayne Dial for the job, they asked Algaier to apply for the position of code enforcement officer after receiving a grant for a full-time position.
He took the job, and said he has enjoyed it for the past five months. He said he is pleased with the positive reaction from the citizens of Clarksville as he has gone about cleaning up the city. Algaier’s efforts with the community, even before taking on the role of code enforcement officer, have not gone unnoticed.
“The chamber of commerce last year at their banquet in October actually gave me Citizen of the Year, and one of the reasons I took the code enforcement job was so I don’t have to worry about receiving that again,” he joked.
Although the code enforcement officer position takes a good portion of his time, Algaier still makes room for his art gallery, Square Corner Artwork, on the Clarksville Square.
Algaier’s original plan was to build his studio at his home, but decided the building on the Square would make a good investment. Knowing the city’s Main Street grant was on its way to becoming a reality factored into his decision to buy the building.
“I knew that (the grant) was going to enhance Clarksville, and I felt this building was a good investment regardless,” he said.
The building was in poor repair when he made the purchase in 2005. Algaier and a local carpenter, along with a couple more strong backs from the community, spent about 2 ½ years repairing the roof, ceilings, floors and windows, especially on the second floor, to make the building stable and usable again. The building was finally ready for use in February 2008.
The building is about 100 feet deep, which allows Algaier to have the gallery space in front and his art studio in back. After major repairs, he decided to turn the second floor into a community room. Algaier replaced the plumbing and electricity, and installed a stage area complete with sound system, ceiling fans, a chandelier and seating for 70 people.
“I just kind of restored that space up there, and let the community use it for different events,” he said. “I could have just fixed the roof and called it good, but that wouldn’t have been good for the building. I needed to repair the ceiling, the walls and the floor, and once I got into it, it wasn’t that much more to make a space that we could use.”
The biggest reason for the purchase of the downtown building, however, was to make room for a studio.
And what a studio it is.
His studio space is a direct reflection of his years as an artist, dating back to his college years in Kansas at Kansas City Community College, followed by Kansas State University and Kansas City Art Institute.
Algaier dabbles in many different artistic mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpting, clay and pottery pieces and metal sculpture. His studio features sections for different types of art. On first glance, the studio looks crowded and unorganized, but Algaier said there is a method to his madness.
“I know it looks like quite a mess, but that’s how art studios tend to be,” he said.
Along with the mix of slab rollers, potter’s wheel, kiln and forges and anvils for metal working, he even has a section for woodworking.
“Really I don’t do anything to speak of in wood... but you tend to have to be a bit of a carpenter to do any kind of artwork, it seems like,” he said.
Algaier’s workshop is the product of pieces he has collected since 1970.
“Most artists find one thing they are good at and they focus on that,” Algaier said. “I find a lot of things that I enjoy doing, so I don’t know that I’m really that good at any one of them, but I do what I enjoy and have a passion for doing. If I see a particular medium or technique that fascinates me, then I’ll work with it and focus on it.
“I’ve probably got more unfinished pieces back here than finished pieces,” he said. “I’ll get started on something, then for whatever reason something will come along and grab my interest and I’ll just put whatever I was working on aside and go to something new. I’ll do one or two pieces of something new, then move on to something else.”
The museum features pieces by Algaier and other local artists. Paintings, drawings and clay and pottery work all are available at the gallery, which is open most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Open all day on Saturdays, Algaier usually can be found in his studio from early morning to late evening.
His love of art started at a young age, and the artist said he made it professionally for some time.
“I worked for about six years as the typical starving artist, doing fairs and shows all over the midwest until 1979,” he said.
He moved on to work for a petroleum company in the Panhandle, then moved to English when he took early retirement in 2000.
“I came home and said ‘I got early retirement; where do you want to live?’” Algaier said. “Ruth said ‘close to Momma,’ and I said, ‘as long as it’s in Texas.’ That pretty much meant we were coming to the Clarksville area.”
Another project for Algaier for the past two years has been the Clarksville Fine Arts Festival. The second festival took place this past weekend. Algaier said the turnout was good — 1,000 spectators and 28 artists showed up for the event held on the Square.
“Word is getting out about the artists,” he said. “We’ve got a really nice show here; we are focused mainly on fine art, we’re not really letting any crafts in — it’s not going to be a bazaar-type garage sale situation.”
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