Gallery 842 was an art gallery located at 842 4th Avenue between 2009 and 2014. When it opened in the Spring of 2009, Gallery 842 was a volunteer driven organization with a mission to create a public space for art to enhance the cultural landscape of downtown Huntington. The idea for the gallery was initiated by Lynn Clercx, a Huntington realtor and wife of Byron Clercx who was the chair of the Department of Art & Design at Marshall University. Liza Caldwell, a Huntington business person donated. Community members worked together to transform the space into a gallery. Gallery 842 became a vibrant spot for Huntington residents to come together over art.
In the Summer of 2009, Gallery 842 was struggling under the weight of operating a volunteer run, full-time art space. The MU Art & Design Department had exhibition needs beyond what the Birke Art Gallery could accommodate and was struggling to find extra space. Representatives of the Marshall Art & Design Department proposed a town-n-gown partnership with Gallery 842. In exchange for providing organizational support, the MU Art & Design Department would utilize the space to exhibit the work of students and faculty. It was hoped that sharing Gallery 842 with local artists would help to demystify the academic side of the arts. This partnership helped keep Gallery 842 afloat and brought much needed additional exhibition space to the Art & Design Department and bound the university and community more closely.
In the Fall of 2009, Marshall University struck up a deal to take over operations at Gallery 842. From this time forward, Gallery 842 became an official satellite gallery for the MU Art & Design Department. Every year through the Spring of 2014, a full program of exhibitions ran simultaneously at the Birke Art Gallery and Gallery 842.
In the Spring of 2014, Gallery 842 held its last exhibition. The School of Art & Design would move from its location in Smith Hall on Marshall’s Huntington campus to its new home in the Visual Arts Center that Fall. Since the Visual Arts Center housed its own gallery space on the first floor of the building, the School of Art & Design would have an in-house, downtown art gallery.
