ELY, Minn. -- An abandoned mine might not seem the most likely place for an art center, but it makes perfect sense to the members of one of the Northland's more unusual organizations.
"We do not have a membership. We only have a board," said Anne Swenson, publisher of the Ely Echo and president of Ely Greenstone Public Art. You have to work to be on the board, she said.
There are compensations. The board meets in Swenson's kitchen. Food and wine are consumed.
Perhaps, it was during one of those meetings that the idea first emerged: The mine opened in 1888 and closed April 1, 1967, and produced more than 39 million tons of high-grade ore.
The complex of buildings on the surface is owned by the city of Ely, was partially renovated in 1995 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. But the city was using them for storage.
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Members of the Ely Greenstone board, which started in 1997 as an ad hoc committee for the city, thought they could put the buildings to better use. City officials were on board.
Ely Greenstone already has put on exhibits in one of the buildings, Miners' Dry. That's where the miners would remove their clothes, take showers and put on dry clothes. The clothes would be hoisted toward the rafters via pulleys and would be dry the next day.
This year, the group envisions staging smaller exhibits, such as one-artist shows, in the Shaft House, a smaller building with tin sides and roof where the miners would enter and depart from the mine shaft.
But the big plans involve a sturdy brick building called Captain's Dry, where captains the equivalent of foremen could dry off, which is in serious disrepair.
For this year, the group hopes to repair the roof of Captain's Dry and replace windows just to stabilize it. The city hopes to tear down an adjacent building, the Engine House, and use that area for a small parking lot. But the Minnesota Historical Society, which provided a previous grant, is balking.
"The state Historical Society is saying since we got that grant, we've got to do everything in our power to save that building," Langowski said.
Another pressing issue is security. Ely Greenstone has obtained estimates on providing security, and the board will vote in May on hiring a firm.
"Every time we have a project, the community opens their wallets and drops money on us," said board member Mike Sinesio, a sculptor and past president of the group.
