You’ve heard of pop art, but have you heard of “pop-up” art? In the latter category, you’ve got the Chippewa Valley’s newest place to see local artwork: a pop-up establishment dubbed 'Phoenix Gallery' at 313 Madison St. The blink-and-you-might-miss-it art space is being used this month for two exhibits, the second of which, titled “Chimera,” opened on Thursday, Dec. 11 and runs through Saturday only. (Yes, this gallery is really temporary.)

This piece from Phillip-Schladweiler is part of the "Chimera" exhibit.

UWEC art and design students created the temporary gallery in a space donated for the month by Geoff Moeding Partners. Students from associate professor Jyl Kelley’s advanced photography class are responsible for the “Chimera” show; an earlier show, “Storytelling,” was staged last week by independent study student Andrew Hagen. According to Kelley, the students “transformed the space into a functional gallery environment where they can share their work publicly and learn to curate their own exhibitions.” The gallery provides the students with a valuable outside-the-classroom learning experience that brings them off campus and into the community, said Kelley, who added that there isn’t enough space on campus for this kind of exhibition. Over the previous two years, Commonweal Development donated a vacant Graham Avenue storefront for a similar project – the "Brickhouse Gallery."

"The Madison Street location is great because it is in downtown Eau Claire and it has enough wall space to display 2D and 3D artworks,” Kelley added. “Since this is a temporary space we are certainly looking for more spaces that might work for future Phoenix Gallery shows.” Like its mythical namesake, this Phoenix may rise again in future semesters – if it can find a place to land.