The latest art movement isn't on canvas; it's on the road.

Jonas Hair, co-owner of the new Progressive Galleries in downtown Lancaster, says the high cost of living is driving artists out of New York and Philadelphia into smaller, peripheral cities like Lancaster and Harrisburg.

"It's amazing how many great artists are just picking up and leaving New York right now," Hair said. "They're hopping on a train to try and find somewhere to live that's near New York ... and a lot of them are settling here.

"Lancaster has always been a destination for the arts, and Harrisburg is becoming one ... but the artistic population of both cities right now is just exploding," he said. "And I think that, if I had to peer into my crystal ball, this is a change that's going to have a profound effect on central Pennsylvania."

Hair and business partner Walter Diehl are preparing for a First Friday (March 6) launch of Progressive Galleries at 323 N. Queen St. The 2,000-square-foot space on the first floor of the Keppel Building will show art in a variety of media from local, national and international artists.

Hanging a shingle
Hair, a Harrisburg native, followed the travel bug after high school and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which saw him stationed in such exotic locales as Italy and Ecuador. After completing his terms of service, Hair enrolled at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where he took an interest in the business side of the arts, including marketing and public relations.

"My original intention after college was to come back home for a little bit before moving on to, say, getting an office job in New York, but what I found when I came back was that Harrisburg had transformed," Hair said. "A lot of really interesting, innovative artists were moving in, and the arts scene in central Pennsylvania was changing fast."

In 2007, Hair began hosting one-night arts events in Harrisburg to showcase the work of local artists. Those events became so popular that Hair, who had become president of operations at Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, decided to join up with curator Walter Diehl and expand into a small space at White Rose Business Center in York. Diehl serves on the Art Association of Harrisburg board of directors and last year curated an exhibit of Haitian art at St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Harrisburg.

Hair said he wants the Lancaster gallery to be a home base for his arts endeavors.

"This is a flagship gallery and gives us a base of operations with constant exhibits," he said. "It's a great place to settle into, and a place where we can oversee what's going on with our Harrisburg events, say, or with new initiatives in York.

"Our goal has always been to link our efforts happening in Lancaster, Harrisburg and York," he said. "By opening Progressive Galleries in downtown Lancaster ... it gives us a place to set out a shingle."

Why here, why now
Hair said his vision for the space is to showcase the "skill, talent and strength of the artists we work with every day."

"Our aim is to put forward a place that draws quality artists, everyone from painters doing edgy, modern pieces to, say, photographers capturing beautiful, softer moments. We want to be a gallery ... that gives incredibly talented artists a home, and celebrates their hard work and creativity."

Much of Progressive's business to date has come word-of-mouth and through social-networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Hair acknowledged that opening a gallery in a sour economy does present some unique challenges, but he's confident in his product and where he has chosen to market it.

"This is a professional-grade art gallery, but luckily central Pennsylvania is a place that is incredibly art-conscious," Hair said. "Some of it, I'm sure, has to do with our area's German heritage, but other parts of it, I think, have to do with our location."

Opening Progressive Galleries in, say, Lancaster County, Nebraska, or Lancaster, S.C., would be a far more terrifying business prospect, he said, because those cities aren't close to art buyers in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

"As more and more artists move here, our area is seen more and more as an arts destination," Hair said. "Buyers are attracted not just by our region's tourism, but also by some of the incredible art that's being produced here.

"That's one of the reasons why we think that now is the perfect time to open up a gallery like ours," he said. "We can guarantee the strength of our work, and we can put it in the hands of purchasers ... which is exactly what a successful gallery is supposed to do, no matter where it's decided to set up shop."

Progressive Galleries, 323 N. Queen St., will open its doors at 11 a.m. Friday. For more information, call 295-2440 or visit www.progressivegalleries.com.