Longtime Jefferson City teacher Suzanne Luther doesn't plan to spend her retirement with nothing to do, and her latest project is a lesson in community beautification.
"I like the idea of blending art and service and business," Luther said of Four Quarters Art House, her new "social enterprise" venture. She added a fourth "quarter" to square off the description: "Community fits in there well."
Luther, who retired in December 2014 from Jefferson City Public Schools, where she worked at different times as an art teacher and gifted teacher, founded Four Quarters Art House as a way to support local artists as well as local charities while renovating old buildings in Jefferson City to turn a profit.
The first building on the punch list, a three-bedroom home at 725 W. High St., could be up and running as an apartment and bed and breakfast within the next year, she hopes, with 10 percent of its eventual profit going to local agencies that work to combat homelessness among young people.
"I can't wire, and I can't do plumbing. But I can do drywall, and I love to paint - and I love to tear stuff up," Luther said.
What she can't do herself she'll hire out to local contractors. That includes the building's aesthetic aspects, which will be a collaborative effort among a group of artists with ties to the area.
"We want the interior to be a creative experience - so functional is not our top priority. If it's a bed and breakfast, it doesn't really matter how convenient the kitchen appliances are," Luther said.
"I've always loved the art part of it. You're limited at home; you can't go over the top in your own house. I've always wanted to just go over the top."
She means "over the top" in a good way.
For example, she's enlisted the help of her sister and fellow artist Ladonna Walbolm to use her talent with mosaic art to beautify the bathroom as they gut and rebuild it. Local painter Jennifer Neff is on board, and the property will feature at least one mural.
"I'm looking for somebody now who has experience with topiaries, so maybe instead of just a basic front yard we have, like a 12-foot creature," Luther said.
And she's about to "introduce" the Four Quarters Art House mystery artist, an effort to engage the community and encourage a wide audience of supporters to contribute small individual donations to the effort.
"The mystery artist's productivity is going to be tied directly to the donations, and then once we have enough money to put the new roof on, the completed mural and artist will be revealed," Luther said.
In light of the callout for donations, she's quick to clarify what Four Quarters Art House is and is not - it is not a nonprofit. It is a community-oriented project that can be accomplished more quickly with some community investment. That's why she's asking for only $1 (four quarters) from each interested community member.
"The mission is to run a profitable business and also support artists. The artists that I have linked to right now do not reside in Jefferson City, but they're from Jefferson City. I think it helps to create that awareness of how much talent we have right here," Luther said. It's also to turn at least 10 percent of that profit to HALO, Common Ground, the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association and Campus Kin, all of which work to address the problem of homelessness among local youth.
"Homelessness among children is on the rise. I think there are programs in Jefferson City that are addressing that, and I think they're addressing it effectively and they need money," Luther said. "They do a good job of fundraising, but I think it would be nice for there to be a consistent stream that they could count on. And, I would like to develop a business that provides a consistent stream of funding to these effective resources."
Once the bed and breakfast is up and running under the Four Quarters Art House name, Luther will move on to the next building that needs her artistic attention and develop it for a new business suited to its location and zoning.
"At this point, I don't know if they'll all be in that area. What I would like to do is also renovate buildings that aren't necessarily ideal residential, and that's one of the ways that we would help the community," she said.
For more information and to follow the progress of Four Quarters Art House, visit fourquartersarthouse.com or the Four Quarters Art House Facebook page.