One place I keep meaning to go visit is the outdoor art gallery at C.T. Gabbert Remodeling and Construction Company in the Warehouse District in downtown Peoria. Leslie Renken (who I follow on Twitter, but so far she hasn’t followed me back yet, sob!) wrote about it in the PJ Star last Monday and that story reminded me that I should take a trip there and check it out, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do today! To the MBIP Mobile!
Off we go into the wild blue yonder and I’m loving the cloudy day that’s hiding that rotten sunshine!
Here we are down in the Warehouse District in downtown Peoria at C.T. Gabbert Remodeling and Construction.company. I thought we’d take a look around inside before we take a look at the outside art gallery. But before we enter, check out the unplanned obligatory silhouette front door mirror shot. I love it when that happens!
I love this rock and wood-topped desk here in the front room!
Here’s a shot of the front showroom from the back of the room. The wooden floors are shiny and nice!
This place is huge, let’s go see what’s in this next room.
Look who I ran into over here, that’s the owner of C.T. Gabbert, Chuck Gabbert on the right and his son Joe on left. They’re both really nice guys and fun to chat with. Chuck started the business in 1978 here in Peoria and they’ve been in this building since 1987. Chuck started the outside art gallery about a year ago and we’ll check that out soon, but first let’s take a look around in here.
This is Cal, who wouldn’t look at the MBIP camera for a long time, but I finally got that bottom shot!
Cal’s not the only non-human in here, there’s an aquarium over here in the front room with exotic fish swimming around in it. Go fish!
Here’s a model of a kitchen that the Gabbert’s can construct for you, very nice!
This is a real state of the art shower over here you might want to think about it if yours is more of the Bates Motel variety.
There’s a conference room here in the back with color samples and over here is a room where they do the construction work.
This is Chuck’s office up front, you can tell they’re busy by his piled up desk and some of the artwork in the office is what’s hanging outside on the wall.
Chuck showed me this little interactive sculpture and said it was one of his favorite pieces of art in here. Speaking of art, let’s go outside and check out...
The outside art gallery here at C.T. Gabbert Remodeling and Construction! Here’s the outside wall where the art is hung. The art is outdoor vinyl prints done by Adams Outdoor Advertising. Let’s go take a look at them.
I played “Dueling Photographers” with this first piece of outdoor art and it was really a lot of fun. Yes, I’m easily amused.
Joe built these unique birdhouses from discarded material in the shop that sit in front of the art.
Pictures of Lily...Lily oh Lily! This photograph is by Michael McGarvey.
These old tires have been repurposed as colorful, round, hanging flower pots. I love it!
Bill Hardin who owned Hardin Signs painted this portrait of Teddy Roosevelt grinning a somewhat frightening grin.
This is a new addition to the outside wall, it’s a colorful painting of buildings by John Faginkrantz, who incorporated lots of Peoria logos into the painting.
I love this car that’s parked over in the corner of the parking lot! Joe painted it and there’s a flower garden growing in the trunk and a nice painting on the hood of the car.
This whole art gallery is wonderful and fun to visit and my favorite thing here is this little free library! You can leave a book or take one, I took this copy of The Berenstein Bears and The Eager Beavers because who doesn’t love an eager beaver? Plus it makes it easy to choose today’s song (keep on scrolling to see that)! Thanks to Chuck and Joe Gabbert for a fun afternoon at C.T. Gabbert Remodeling and Construction! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
C.T. Gabbert Remodeling and Construction
1323 SW Adams Street
Peoria
309-637-2110
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Related Posts: Artists At The Murray Center For The Arts, Making Art At The Art Garage and Hidden Gems—Gallery Romain.