When Chad and Lesa Van Meter got the keys to 3308 N Anthony Boulevard in 2019, they had a vision for the space. The Van Meters wanted to create a gathering place that would inspire and grow community. With a set vision and goal, they transformed the building, which had
formerly been a bank, and then offices for Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School, into The Garden.
In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Van Meters opened their event space,
The Garden, which features an indoor event space with garage doors that open to additional outdoor space and an urban garden.
![]()
A Night Market, hosted by The GardenLocated on the bustling North Anthony Corridor, The Garden neighbors a slew of locally owned businesses, like Sunbound Books, Firefly Coffee House, Old Crown, Wooden Nickel Records, Fae’s Cabinet and INRUSH Bicycles.
When it’s not booked for private events, The Garden hosts art exhibits and sprawling Night Markets, which feature live musicians, artisans vendors and food trucks.
Currently, Lesa Van Meter is prepping for their upcoming exhibition–
Really Bad Art. The show asks artists to submit their incomplete works, failed experiments, or pieces they’re just not happy with. Lesa says it’s an attempt at starting a conversation around the sometimes awkward and disappointing parts of the creative process.
At the gallery opening on January 30, Lesa will be asking artists to share why they’ve classified their submitted piece as “really bad art”, explain what went wrong or what they dislike, and hear feedback from the audience.
![]()
“Instead of being ultra serious about it, the goal is to have some levity with it saying, ‘Hey, you know what, I tried this thing. It looks terrible. Here's what I hate about it. Here's what I would do differently next time,’” Lesa says. “The irony is that often what the artist hates, a viewer loves.”
Input Fort Wayne sat down with Lesa Van Meter to learn more about her inspiration for the Really Bad Art exhibit, their venue’s beginning, and the urban garden at The Garden.
Input Fort Wayne: What was your inspiration for creating a space like The Garden?
Lesa Van Meter: Beginning in high school, I had an inner passion to someday create a space where artists of all mediums could gather to practice, be equipped, be enriched and ultimately showcase their art to the public. The Garden space has allowed me to express and live out some of those desires. It’s an honor to provide unique arts opportunities in our little neck of the woods. I am not from Fort Wayne originally. As a result of living in so many different states, I have grown to love culture and what we can learn from being educated about ones that are not our own. Ultimately I think it teaches us humility and we gain new tools to love others. It’s no mistake that The Garden brings together a diverse intersection of people. We are cultivating community, creating a collective expression of identity and belonging, increasing access to the arts, building appreciation of the diversity in Fort Wayne, and doing our part to help Fort Wayne be a vibrant place to create, grow, and thrive!
IFW: Can you tell us about the Really Bad Art exhibition?
LV: The Really Bad Art Show– that theme came out of a lifetime of working with artists. So many times artists are attempting something new, really trying to go after something that is an idea in their head and they're trying to translate it from brain power to real-world kind of stuff. Sometimes that goes smashingly and sometimes it just struggles to become a reality. I’m a photographer and my husband Chad is a musician, so we are absolutely among them in this struggle. We know that something that is a perpetual artist issue is second-guessing and not completely being satisfied with what they were able to accomplish. Sometimes they're too hard on themselves and the thing that they created other people actually really love.
![]()
A band performing inside The GardenThen, sometimes they're right. It just didn't work. I think so many times people come to a gallery looking for perfection, assuming they are to be like an art critic. The audiences that we engage with are everyday people who are not trained as art critics. And they’ve come to support creatives. The spirit in which they view our exhibits is very different from how someone else might approach artwork, like a collector.
I have attended art shows across the world and one of the things that I really love is connecting with artists and unpacking their creative process. What I've learned through a lot of those conversations is that a
lot of creative works get brushed to the side and never see the light of day. I’m yet to meet an artist who doesn't have a piece like this (or 20 of them) hiding in their basement. Maybe it’s something that they started or didn't finish – or did finish but hated. That reality is what we are acknowledging with this art exhibit. We are wanting to build community amidst the rubble. It's valuable to talk about that awkward and disappointing part of the creative process because so many things just get marked off as a failure and then disregarded. I want to bring those disregarded things out of the shadows. My hope is to give new artists and career artists alike some fresh hope – to realize they're not alone..
IFW: What mediums can we expect to see at the art show?
LV: The mediums are varied! I’m really excited about that fact. We had illustrators, painters, writers, fashion designers, photographers and sculptors submit applications.
IFW: Where did the inspiration for this show come from?
LV: Out of my head and heart. It's from having really vulnerable conversations with other artists. I have never seen anything like this, so I think it's kind of freaking some people out. They like the idea, but we're asking artists to be vulnerable with people they don’t even know. All artists have pieces they could show in this exhibit – it's just a matter of getting them to be bold enough to do it.
![]()
A mural on the exterior of The Garden. IFW: You mentioned there’s a vulnerable conversation to be had, can you tell us more about that?
LV: During the creative process (with everyone from career artists to middle schoolers who are just getting their feet wet) there’s this fear of ‘What if it doesn't work?’ We're just trying to reframe that fear and say, ‘That's actually part of the process.’
If you're not trying something new, then you won't have any failures and that's not really a win. It doesn't matter if you’re 85 or 13.
This exhibit is not about making fun of people saying, ‘Oh my gosh, that's so bad!’ That's not the idea. And it’s not about making light of artists’ struggles. The idea is to have open and raw community conversation about the creative process. Artists have a tendency to self-isolate, especially if what they're trying to create doesn’t turn out the way that they were hoping. They kind of retract. We're trying to pull artists out of the dark shadows by saying, ‘No, grab that nasty piece from your basement. You are not alone. This is a hard process. This is a necessary part of the creative process and you're okay.’ That's the ultimate message.
IFW: The Garden opened in 2020. What was it like to open a business during the COVID-19 pandemic?
LV: We got the keys to the building in June of 2019. Then, ironically, we had our grand opening for our public venue in the midst of the 2020 pandemic. It was really quiet for that first year and was a bizarre process going through, adjusting to every week's government mandates (just like every other business and citizen). We were conservative about how we rolled events out and it took us a long time to get to the point where we were actually able to do what we opened our doors to do. It was a huge blessing to so many people, businesses and individuals in the community to have our space during 2020 because it has both indoor and outdoor areas. We have garage doors that can be opened, so we had rentals all of the time during 2020. We learned a lot of flexibility in how to run our venue and events.
![]()
Visitors at the market stop to enjoy live music
IFW: The Garden was formerly a bank and an office for Holy Cross Lutheran Church & School. Does it have any unique features related to its past?
LV: Absolutely. During the renovation process, we were able to maintain the integrity of the original bank vault door as well as the “Open” and “Closed” signs which are over the current back patio (formerly the bank drive-through). We also have a handmade backlit stained glass art piece on display in the main entrance which was in the building when Holy Cross utilized the building as an office.
IFW: The Garden is known for its Night Markets. Can you tell us about that?
LV: Night Markets are one of my favorite public events that we host. They are really fun outdoor summer markets on the third Wednesday of every month, from May through September. We create platforms for as many artists as we can so we can do our part to support the creative economy. We have live music– everything from local to international performers.
We have artisan vendors out in the parking lot who are all Indiana and Midwest homegrown makers. We invite local food trucks. Inside our gallery, we have an art show opening. Scattered throughout our property we also have some kids’ activities like games, sidewalk chalk and more. It’s a beautiful way to linger under the stars with food and drink in hand while shopping and enjoying great music with friends.
IFW: What might people be surprised to learn about The Garden?
LV: We have an urban garden on the south side of our venue that is operated completely by volunteers and donations. Everything we grow is donated to Just Neighbors or to individuals who are in need around the area. There is also a non-perishable food pantry in the North Anthony Center which we help maintain. Anyone who goes to the pantry is also welcome to pick some fresh veggies from our garden.
Cameron Ruhl from Phyllie Farms provided us with counsel, seeds, labor and one of our gorgeous raised beds. What we planted is considered a walk-around garden, which means that you can pick vegetables right off the vine and eat them. You don't have to do any kind of food prep, so if somebody doesn't have access to a stove or cooking materials, they can easily eat our raw, healthy produce.
IFW: What inspired your urban garden?
LV: Poor landscaping from the 60’s! As we were ripping out all the old bushes, we realized how nutrient-rich the soil was. While we were in the renovation process, we had a large number of people coming by the garden in need of assistance. We quickly realized how prominent the need was for free food (and for fresh produce), especially in the ‘05, so it was just kind of a natural thing.
We started planting in 2020 as an experiment to see how it would work. It took off like gangbusters. It grows really well on that side of the building and so it's gotten bigger every year. Jamie Howard is our Urban Garden Volunteer Coordinator and we owe him a lot of gratitude for his labor of love.
![]()
The Garden boasts both indoor and outdoor spaceIFW: The North Antony strip is home to quite a few notable local businesses. What is it like to own a business in that area?
LV: It’s great.
Everybody who has started a shop here – INRUSH Bicycles, Wooden Nickel, Firefly Coffee House, Sunbound Books, The Health Food Shoppe, Old Crown and more – is very passionate about small business and community-minded. There's a lot of camaraderie. It's uniquely wonderful.
When any one of us is hosting an event, the others try to see what we can do to help support that event. We’re a team. It's very interactive. We hang posters for each other when community-wide events are coming up and I haven't experienced anything like that in another business area. It's really grassroots. Everyone looks out for each other and it's a beautiful thing.
To learn more about The Garden or the Really Bad Art exhibit,
click here.