Who We Are
We’re not gatekeepers. We don’t know who the next Picasso or Georgia O’Keefe is. We’ve never asked for submissions or CVs. You want a studio? You want to have a go at it? Come on in. Show us what you got. Make some good stuff. That’s how it started. We still don’t require submissions or CVs, but now we’re all full up, so if you want in, you’ll have to get on our waiting list. Every now and again, for various reasons, someone leaves and a space becomes available, but over half of the spaces here are occupied by their original artist/tenant. And it’s not just the affordable thing keeping folks here (at least that’s what they tell us).
As previously mentioned the place began with the idea of affordable studios being the top of the list. A work place first and foremost. But we do have a little gallery and we do have shows, either hosted by eleven20 or by artists here. Please check out our upcoming events. And please get on our mailing list to hear about upcoming events at eleven20 and events that the artist’s from eleven20 are participating in around the Lehigh Valley, the USA, and the world.
Rules? We’ve heard it’s been said that eleven20 is “that place with no rules”. We’ve got stacks of rules. Binders full of rules. But the No.1 rule is “We’re all adults” so the rest of the rules just don’t really come up.
About The Building
On a hill and spanning the width of the block the first floor of 1120 Butler St opens up onto Butler St while the larger downstairs is level with Elm St. Originally built as a car dealership, the showroom was on Butler while the parts and service department were in back, accessed via the two overhead doors that open onto Elm.
Over the years the building has been host to various light industrial commercial enterprises from the Pollack Brush Company, manufacturer of paint brushes, to Circle Systems, the most recent occupant. Circle Systems contracted with high schools and colleges to repair and restore athletic equipment of all types. They were busted by the FBI for fraud; bribing athletic directors and coaches, double billing schools etc., and the building sat vacant and decaying for a number of years.
Eleven20 founders Bert Furnari and siblings Clint and Mary Newton purchased the building at the tail end of 2016. Renovations began in 2017, the notion of genuinely affordable studios always staying in the forefront.
The partners did all of the work themselves, floor to ceiling, contracting out only when absolutely necessary (replacing giant sprinkler system valves, digging up the sidewalk and street to reconnect sewer lines etc). Materials were acquired by any means other than retail whenever possible. Lighting from an auction of the contents of a lighting distributor in north Jersey. Flooring from a juice bottling facility in south Jersey that used plywood half sheets to protect bins of juice concentrate from getting punctured by forklifts. Drywall and air conditioners from another auction, this time out near Reading, of a facility that made construction site trailers. Craigslist this. Facebook Marketplace that. And so on.
The upstairs studios were completed and occupied in late 2019, and we had our celebratory first Open House in November of that year. Downstairs construction began almost immediately thereafter, was completed (mostly) during the Covid pandemic and the remaining 14 studios quickly filled up.
