The human brain has two halves, each responsible for different tasks. The left half is logical and problem-solving, good with conceptual thinking and staying organized. The right is creative, artistic and visual. Though it’s not a perfect metaphor, this division of labor helps explains the newly split storefront of the former Anderson Creative studio in downtown Canton. While Anderson Creative remains the artistic workspace of Kevin Anderson, the north storefront has reopened as a gallery called Translations, operated by Anderson’s partner, Craig Joseph. Translations will host monthly art exhibitions open to the public, while Anderson’s workspace next door will become both public and private. “The front part will be a permanent showroom where [Anderson] can display his furniture, fabrications and works in progress, like any big public sculptures or installations. People can see how that works,” said Joseph. “The back two-thirds, hidden from view, is his workshop.” The goal has been to accomplish more by using the business partners’ talents to their fullest. Before the split, said Joseph, “Kevin and I had been working on everything under the roof together. We felt like having our hands in both places was starting to split our energies.” Taking stock of the gallery’s development, “Kevin wanted to focus on his own artistic pursuits over there, and during the past few years we discovered that I really have a knack for the curatorial, conceptual part of the business,” Joseph said. “Kevin wanted the space so that the work didn’t take away from his personal artistic pursuits. We decided it would let us focus a little more. I’m still on hand to help Kevin with the things I’m good at, like marketing and promotion, and he’s on hand to help me with what he’s good at, which is the artistic side.” The name, Translations, was chosen because of what Joseph believes is the purpose of the gallery: to encourage vastly different groups to communicate with one another. “The new name is to delineate the two spaces, yes, but even when we were still one gallery we’d seen it as our mission to facilitate conversations between populations that need a translator — between visual artists and performing artists, between artists and community, between nonprofits that have partnered with us on various projects,” he said. “We kind of see ourselves as ambassadors operating between disparate populations.” One of the gallery’s most popular shows was called “Blind Date,” in which visual artists received anonymous pieces of writing from authors and used the prose to inspire a work of original art. To that end, Joseph said, one of Translations’s first objectives is to bridge the gap between local artists and area businesses. “One of the first areas we’re pushing into informally is that we have had offices or businesses come to us to do corporate art purchases,” he said. “Before we’d always done art for individuals, for home art collectors. Now we’re offering more formal consultations for businesses, offices and public spaces that want to purchase or rent collections, or even commission artists to do larger-scale works for their spaces. We can be the go-between with corporations or institutions and artists, or to even help offices and companies, ask them, ‘What is your personal company aesthetic, and can we help you find that art?’” The February exhibition at Translations is titled “Revisionist Histories, America ReTold,” a solo show by illustrator Chad Hansen. “He works in ink and paint, and over the past couple of years he has been working on a body of work that incorporates symbology from American history, mythology, folklore and legend, which basically retells American history, if you will. He puts his own spin on some of the American myths, like democracy, capitalism, a God-destined country — it’s a visual representation of its history,” Joseph said. The gallery will be set up to resemble a log cabin, an homage to iconic figures like Abraham Lincoln who figure into Hansen’s mythology. The show opens on First Friday, Feb. 3, from 6 to 10 p.m. and runs through the 25th. Hansen will present an artist talkback session at the gallery on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. Later this year, Translations will dedicate a rare two months of its gallery space to “Stirring the Fire,” a national traveling exhibit of photography by Phil Borges, the official photographer for the United Nations. The show opens May 6 and will run through May 26. “It’s all images of women around the world in Third World countries who have overcome [hardship]. We’re coming from a women’s rights perspective. Some of these women have survived sexual trafficking, tribal violence, genocide. It’s about their stories of overcoming that to fabricate a new life for themselves,” said Joseph. “The exhibit will have the images along with their stories and is intended to raise awareness of different missions and organizations around the country and world that work to stop some of these things.” Translations is open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.translationsart.com or www.andersoncreativestudio.com.