The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery has been holding exhibitions every summer for close to 25 years. Around 800 visitors come every season, and surprisingly enough, most of them are Cortes residents. Up until last fall, the gallery has operated under the auspices of the Whaletown Community Club, now it has become a non-profit.
“We finally decided that in order to qualify for student grants for summer work programs, we needed to be a non-profit,” explained board member Kristen Schofield-Sweet. “That created, of course, a situation where now we need to have an AGM and we have to elect a board.”
The gallery is also hiring a manager, who they hope to introduce at the AGM on Saturday, June 5, 2022.
That’s going to be an outdoor afternoon event under their new tent.
“Bring your own chair and picnic lunch,” said Schofield-Sweet. “In a typical artists gallery way, it’s probably not going to be formal sitting in rows. Although, obviously, we have to give things like financial reports, a status report on how the 2022 season is unfolding and elections.”
Preparations for the 2022 season are already underway. The inside of the gallery needs to be repainted. Someone needs to cut the grass. The exterior of the building needs upkeep.
While the Old Schoolhouse Gallery only runs exhibitions for two months, the artists who will be exhibiting need to be notified in advance. This is normally underway by April and May, and should be pretty much together by June.
There were three shows in 2021. Meinsje Vlaming and Hannes Grosse, both exhibited their work.
“And then of course we had our members show, which is a really special tradition on the island. We really encourage people, you want to get involved in the gallery, come to the members show. Even better, put something in. That is what visual artists have to do. At some point you have to hang yourself on the wall and give people a chance to look at what you’re thinking or feeling or how clear you are or how you’re choosing not to be.”
The 2022 season will open with a show by Jane Newman, on the week-end of July 1st-3rd.
David Ellingsen will be showing his new ‘Falling Boundaries’ series on the weekends of July 29th-31st and August 5th-7th.
The gallery is currently in the midst of negotiations for one or two more exhibitions.
“So we plan to go from the 1st of July through the end of August for our 2022 season,” said Schofield-Sweet. “We’ve gone back to that Friday, Saturday, Sunday format.”
She added, “We don’t know about COVID restrictions, but have a lovely tent [outside] and everybody seemed to be just fine with a kind of limited number of people in the gallery, whether or not we’re still wearing masks.”
“I’ve already mentioned that a really good way to be involved in the gallery is to participate in the members show and maybe the next valuable way to participate is to come to the openings, come to the artist’s talks. It’s a wonderful, energized, interesting community and discussion. People get involved. There’s lots to look at. There’s lots to talk about, and that energy across the years has become really quite special.”
Top image credit: The Old Schoolhouse gallery by Richard Trueman@ http://www.richardtrueman.com/
Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:
To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:
- Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – [email protected]
- Weekly Digest cortescurrents – [email protected]