Category: Spare Room Gallery

ART GALLERY vs VISUAL ARTS SPACE

Decision making began very early on in this process. In fact, probably about half way through the first meeting, we were trying to agree on the text for a Facebook post. That was after we’d settled on first steps, and after we’d selected Facebook for the group’s first public messaging. There we sat, stalled on the wording of the very first sentence.

Trying to craft a post about starting an art gallery in the front room at 113 Broad Street, we were divided on the term “art gallery”: “Elitist”, “not just paintings”, “hoity-toity”, etc. We soon agreed on “visual arts space”, a broad umbrella-like term that refers to a dozen different artistic practices:

The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, film making and architecture… Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.

from Unbound Visual Arts

The gallery (as yet unnamed) will showcase and celebrate the wide variety of artistic traditions practiced in this area. We hope the working group will reflect the rich diversity of people who live here. We invite interested individuals from all communities, including newcomers, First Nations and Métis, new residents, expats from other provinces, and longtime area residents of all ages and backgrounds, to join us.

Let’s get this going! Email Randy at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.

~ Debbie M.

Do you have some free time and a soft spot for the visual arts? If so, help us establish this gallery space at 113 Broad Street for the artists and arts enthusiasts of Cut Knife and surrounding area. Email Randy at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.
More: 1- The Spare Room and 2- What Kind of Art Gallery?

DIFFERENT TYPES… (WHO KNEW?)

If you didn’t know, and to be honest, a few of us at that first meeting didn’t, there are different types of art galleries. Listed below are the two main types with very brief descriptions of the differences between them.

COMMERCIAL: These include private galleries, co-operative galleries, vanity galleries, and more. Commercial galleries are businesses set up specifically to sell art. Some of these galleries offer additional services like rentals, home decor, or gift shops. Artists for these venues are selected to suit a particular clientele, or to make a splash in the art world, but always to be profitable for the gallery through sales.

PUBLIC: These galleries are usually established at the municipal level in the public’s interest. They tend to showcase and celebrate local, regional, and / or under-represented artists and creators. Public galleries operate as not-for-profits and may receive funding through granting organizations, donations, and / or memberships.

This gallery will be set up as a non-profit division of the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum. It will have its own funding and Advisory Committee. The gallery will seek submissions from artists within an approx. 80 kilometer radius.

First things first, though…

Do you have some free time and a soft spot for the visual arts? If so, help us establish this gallery space for the artists and arts enthusiasts of Cut Knife and surrounding area. Email Randy at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.

SHOUTOUT to Aleah Anseth (Fragment Media / Alte Studios) who insisted the first step in this process would be to find enough artists willing to exhibit in a new space. Thank you for your Facebook post in Cut Knife Events. You were right!

~ Debbie M.

At 113 Broad Street, the relatively “new” home of the Cut Knife Library and the Museum’s Admin. & Archives Centre (MAAC), is a small room to the right of the front entry way. In early planning stages, this street-facing room was to be an office rental however, that idea was impractical. The Library’s Used Book Sale has occupied it most recently but is now winding down. Currently, an initiative has begun that hopes to transform that ‘spare’ room into a gallery / visual arts space.

The Board of Trustees of the CMMM passed a motion at their November meeting to support the development of an art gallery that would have its own advisory committee and its own funding but would operate as a division of the Museum and share its corporate infrastructure. The Town of Cut Knife has also expressed its support for the creation of an art gallery in the building. An informal poll of Cut Knife and area artists and creators via Facebook produced a very positive reaction and has prompted the working group to begin planning next steps.

With that in mind, keep your eye on the Museum’s blog and Facebook page for updates, for next steps and, of course, for calls for volunteers, donors, and artists.

Interested in being a part of the gallery working group? Have questions? Email Randy Strelioff at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.

~ Debbie M.