Fire means Columbia’s Orr Street Studios to partially open for First Friday art walk

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A hub of Columbia's Arts District, Orr Street Studios, remained closed Friday after a fire during the early morning last Sunday.

While the majority of the studio is closed to the public, the side patio will be open for August's first Friday art walk event on August 2. Here, they will be hosting Missouri musician, Molly Healy, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The studio hopes to fully participate in September's first Friday event, but they are still unsure if they will be able to be open to the public by then.

The First Friday free art crawl event is hosted by the North Village Arts District and features over 30 local companies and art studios on the first Friday of each month.

Unfortunately, Orr Street Studios did have to postpone the opening of its August exhibit of pieces from award-winning Columbia native, Frank Stack.

According to a press release from the Columbia Fire Department, crews were able to extinguish the fire in under five minutes.

From a post on Orr Street Studios Facebook page, the fire caused considerable damage to the building, destroying art supplies, artwork and leaving the studio exposed to the elements. Part of the studio is also without power.

 "Things like sketchbooks that were, you know, the historical archives of artists ideas, that's all lost," said co-president of Orr Street Artists Guild, Anne Jacobson. "You can't put a price tag on something like that,"

Orr Street Studio says that seven artists are unable to use their studios and that major reconstruction began immediately. A Go Fund Me page was set up to help pay for the damage and lost business.

According to Jacobson, the main focus now is to evaluate the damage and clean up the area.

"They are going to have to tear everything out along that East wall because there's smoke damage all the way down," Jacobson said.

The cause of the fire is still unknown and is under investigation.