New director of Mainframe Studios in Des Moines embraces role of 'champion' for artists

Before Julia Franklin became executive director of Mainframe Studios in Des Moines, believed to be the largest nonprofit art studio in the nation, she had a studio there.

Studio No. 321, with a window.

The artist and educator, who departed from her role as a community investment specialist at the nonprofit Bravo Greater Des Moines, said having a studio was “transformational.”

“It has brought me interesting commissioned art pieces," Franklin said at her studio in an interview with the Des Moines Register. "It's brought me conversations with strangers I'll never get to have again. It's given me a way to exhibit my art and think about it in different ways. It's helped me tell stories. But I want that for every artist.”

Franklin assumed her new role at Mainframe, at 900 Keosauqua Way, on Dec. 1. The nonprofit is home to 220 artists and creatives, including organizations, according to its website. It provides affordable studio spaces and hosts artist-led workshops and events open to the public.

It’s an amenity even larger cities don’t have, Mainframe founder Justin Mandelbaum said.

Which means Mainframe’s existence solidifies the city’s reputation as a supporter for the arts. Already, Des Moines Performing Arts, the Pappajohn Sculpture Park and the Des Moines Metro Opera — a few examples of Mandelbaum cites — have provided the Des Moines community with world-class cultural experiences.

Mainframe Studios acts as the “missing link” for local artists, he said.

It provides a permanent workspace for artists who serve creatives in our community today and for generations to come thanks to its financially self-sustaining model.

“Having a robust arts community and robust art scene is a key to making the city a desirable place not only for people who live here, but our visitors and for attracting talent as well,” he said.

Artists working out of their homes are an untapped economic asset to the city, Mandelbaum would tell donors.

The nonprofit arts and culture sector generated $309.9 million in economic activity in Greater Des Moines in 2022, according to the Americans for the Arts study, Arts & Economic Prosperity 6.

Franklin’s first several weeks will be all about meeting people: Mainframe Studios stakeholders and artists, and getting to know each artist’s work and goals.

Mainframe already meets the goals of some artists, such as having affordable spaces where they can do their work, program manager Katelyn Stessman said. Other artists use Mainframe to help elevate their work and reach.

“Being a Mainframe artist is an honor to a lot of them,” she said. “We have 100 people on our waitlist to get a studio.”

Stessman said that having a studio at Mainframe changed the trajectory of the B. Well Foundation, where she is a cofounder. By having an address and operating in a respected space, funders took the organization seriously.

It's a space where artists can learn from each other and collaborate, she said, in addition to being a community resource where families can turn to for activities, teachers can bring their students to learn about careers in the arts, and businesses can conduct workshops for team-building experiences — all programming powered by Stessman.

About Julia Franklin's own art, some of it tied to her father

In recent years, Franklin’s work has appeared in spaces such as the Oskaloosa Art Center and the Iowa City bookstore, Prairie Lights, according to her website.

Some of her most important work pertains to her father.

Franklin received a box that contained her father’s possessions courtesy of a cousin she hadn’t seen in more than two decades. She previously didn’t have anything of her father’s, who died by suicide when she was 16. Franklin had been using found objects in her career, but this time, the objects were personal.

Franklin re-created her childhood home — in some respects — and laid out the clues to what was going on in her home that she didn’t see as a 16-year-old in the 2019 installation, "Picking Up the Pieces." Franklin’s artwork allowed people to explore her home, and if they wanted, try to solve the mystery of who her father was.

“It was a way for me to reframe his life, to kind of make peace with what I've seen as a lot of shame about his suicide, because once he died we didn't speak about him ever again at all,” Franklin said. “It's sealed up and silent and just the hurt that was there, finally taking in and dealing with something really serious and the effects of that loss (and) at least having some maturity to approach it from a very different way.”

Another important work, one that continued her exploration into her father’s death, was her play “Keeping Up Appearances.” A reading was done for it.

“In some ways, good art is when you're vulnerable, when you can share that you don't have it figured out and that you're trying to process something and start a conversation and that's what that show did,” she said.

As Franklin steps into her new role, here are nine things to know about Mainframe Studio’s new executive director.

A career in the arts wasn’t in Julia Franklin's plan

Franklin attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, for her bachelor’s degree. She was pre-med, though she’d always considered herself creative and crafty. While she found pre-med interesting, she wasn’t challenged. In her sophomore year, as part of her general education, she enrolled in a 2D design class that she fell in love with.

“I realized all the problems that we were given had multiple right answers, unlike the science area, which felt very black and white,” Franklin said. She went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in studio art and later, a master’s degree in sculpture and ceramics at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Franklin held pop-up dinner parties in Historic Valley Junction

In 2019 at the OL Guild, a gallery space at 201 Fourth St. from Olson Larsen Galleries, passersby might have noticed guests gathering inside a space transformed — on Franklin’s part — to look like a 1970s dining room. There, she held pop-up dinner parties made up of friends and strangers, who signed up for the experience and brought a dish to share. This immersive installation, “Illuminated,” revealed much: insights into the foods people brought and how it connected to their personal history to strangers having interesting conversations. Franklin photographed her dinner parties before, during and after, avoiding immediate cleanup to capture the experience. “I'm really interested in documenting time and experience,” she said.

Franklin wants people outside of Iowa to know how vibrant the art scene here is

Franklin was a 2018 Iowa Artist Fellow with the Iowa Arts Council. As part of a series of interviews with fellows, she was asked what she would change about the artistic field in Iowa. She said she was unsure whether people outside of Iowa know how "vibrant" and "diverse" the art scene is. That sentiment hasn’t changed five years later, though Franklin said organizations in Iowa are working to change that perception. As executive director at Mainframe, Franklin believes she can be part of that change. “I think there's some artists doing some really great things individually,” she said. “I think there's some cool collaborations happening that people might know locally, but how do you get the story to catch fire and take off so there’s that attention being drawn?”

Franklin collects old things, some discarded or broken

Much of Franklin’s body of work involves worn, found objects. She collects things that have history, that are discarded or broken. And she “redeems” them, in some way, she said. “I've realized ultimately, that's what we all want, right?” Franklin said. “If you're broken or you feel overlooked, you just want someone to recognize your value.”

She sees artists as ‘creative problem solvers’

Part of her job, she said, is ensuring artists are seen as “creative problem solvers,” not tools. “They come at the world in a different way,” Franklin said. “And I think about so many of the issues that cities are trying to deal with. Ask an artist, ‘How would you solve that?’ Embed them in the beginning for that.” Franklin’s former role in Bravo Greater Des Moines, an organization that has relationships with city officials, and her connections in other sectors could prove valuable in her vision of artists as creative problem solvers. For example, the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Operation Downtown, which provides services to make downtown clean and welcoming, are thinking creatively about how to involve artists into activating spaces, she said, such as the skywalk system — which is poised to become a space for public art, pop-up shops and installations per a new downtown master plan.

Franklin was born and raised in Texas

Franklin was born in Wichita Falls, a city in northern Texas. She moved to Iowa over two decades ago for her then-new job as a professor of art at Graceland University in Lamoni.

Executive director? More like ‘connector’

Franklin knows of resources that are available for artists to help them. How can she get them connected to those? How does she get people interested in Mainframe connected to the nonprofit? She wants to learn the goals of artists at Mainframe and determine how the nonprofit can help them develop.

She is thinking about accessibility, helping people feel welcome

Visitors to Mainframe should step into the building and experience the same vibrant energy its exterior mural creates. When they step inside, they should be able to find what they're interested in, something a directory could assist with, Franklin said. “I want this to be a place where you have sort of interest in the arts that you can walk in and find art that represents you that is of interest, and I think there's definitely that,” Franklin said. “But how do you make people feel welcome and feel like they belong here?” She wants people who might not label themselves as an artist or creator to feel that Mainframe Studios speaks to them. People should feel they can step inside the creative workspace and learn something. Franklin isn’t interested in working alone in shaping Mainframe’s direction. She wants to work with artists, involve them from the start and be informed by them.

With new job, Franklin can be a champion for the arts 'on a bigger scale'

In Franklin’s new role, she has the chance to help create new programming, support artists, bring new people into the building and to connect children in schools with Mainframe experiences so they can see that being creative can be a career, she explained. That attracted her to the role, in addition to working with Mainframe staff to help their work flourish. “I’ve been such an advocate and champion for artists as a teacher and even for arts organizations I champion. This was just a way to do that on a bigger scale," she said. "And then I had the skills already there to make that be possible. I felt ready.”

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at PBarraza@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

Where you can get help: Resources for suicide prevention

If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, call 211 to connect to people with social services resources, including mental health counseling. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800-273-TALK (8255), is answered by someone at a crisis center closest to your location. Other resources are available online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org. You can also visit the Iowa Department of Public Health website, https://yourlifeiowa.org/, which has information and resources regarding mental health, gambling and alcohol and drug abuse. The program also has 24-hour help available by calling 855-581-8111 or texting 855-895-8398.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 9 things to know about new director of Mainframe Studios in Des Moines