The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is trying out some new initiatives this year. Their season is starting earlier, there are more classes and special events than ever, and some of them will be in new locations. The gallery has reversed the order of its exhibitions, expanded its social media reach and now has a website at https://www.schoolhouseartgallery.ca/
“The website is big news, and we really hope people will check it out. David Ellingson has helped put it together. There’s a lot of different aspects to it. You can look at old shows, and see what’s coming up. There’ll be a place where current events are being announced, which is very important because there’s more current events this year than there have been. We’re trying to expand the borders of the art gallery, push out the walls and make it accessible and approachable for everybody in the community,” explained Gerri Davis, who joined the board this year.
Christann Kennedy, another new Director and also the gallery’s education coordinator, added, “Classes will run from the end of April and through May, and the exhibition season will run June, July, August into the beginning of September. Then we’ll have another six week session of classes from mid September until probably the end of October, at which point the building gets a little bit too chilly.”
“We’re really looking forward to occupying the building more in the shoulder season and hopefully generating some opportunity for people to come together, practice art making and just enjoy each other in community.”
“We’ve got two events coming forward this month that are quite exciting.”
Gerri Davis: “Our first event: a very talented woman from Salt Spring Island is coming up to give a ‘loosening up your brush’ demo. She teaches in Italy every year, and she teaches on Salt Spring. She’s got gallery connections in Vancouver and Salt Spring. She’s going to give a slide presentation on the great masters who have influenced her, and what she has gotten out of the way they work.”
Cortes Currents: “Her name is Mel Williamson. She’s said to have a flair for starting with abstract shapes and very quickly bringing them together to create a realistic image.”
Geri Davis: ”The art event is called ‘Free Up Your Brush.’ It’s going to be at Manson’s Hall Pioneer Room on April 20th from 2 to 4 PM. It’s for all artists and would be artists on Cortes. There is a suggested $5 donation, but if you can’t afford it just come anyway.” ‘
“On the 28th of April, with David Ellingson is coming to do a photography presentation called ‘Process and Practice.’ He’ll be in Manson’s Hall from 2 to 4 PM. This event will combine creative and practical topics in a two part presentation with lots of time for Q& As. David will discuss taking photographic pictures and his creative process for developing an exhibition project. He will also present a short seminar on a much discussed concern of many artists today, how to document artwork successfully using a mobile phone. He’ll also have a slideshow.”
“These two events are in Manson’s and this is a first for the art gallery. There will be art social events out of the gallery during the off season because it is too cold here. There’s also a much larger population in Manson’s and it’s an opportunity for people to come to something that’s free, enjoyable and to learn something.”
Christann Kennedy: “Manson’s Hall has space. We’re looking at things that might run through either the Pioneer Room, elsewhere in the hall or maybe even at Linnaea.”
Gerri Davis: “Hollyhock has also offered their space up when it’s off season for them. So we’ll see how that goes.”
Cortes Currents: What will be happening in the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery.
Gerri Davis: “In May we’re hoping to have a round table discussion about how to market your art. That will hopefully be led by Christann and another soon to be announced speaker.”
“These are the kind of events we’re hoping to present on an ongoing basis. For the summer we won’t be doing any, because the art shows will be taking up a lot of time, and Christann is going to tell you about her art school.”
Christann Kennedy: “We had a few classes in the fall called community life drawing. They’re basically life drawing sessions where all of the participants take turns as a model.”
“We’re going to be running that weekly, probably starting at the end of April. I’m thinking it’s going to be Saturday at noon, but we’ll have to get confirmation about that to make sure that works with all the stakeholders. For now, let’s say there’ll be Saturday at noon for two and a half hours.”
“Bring your own materials. I’ll be hosting them. I have teaching experience, so if anybody wants pointers that’ll be available. But really it’s a practice session for anybody who likes to draw the human figure. We’ll start with some short poses, and then move up to longer poses in traditional art school fashion. If participation is robust, we’ll hire a model, but if it’s just three, four, five people, we’ll take turns.”
Gerri Davis: “There may be somebody out there that would just love to model for a community life. Please get in touch. We’d love to have that. That would be a real bonus.”
Christann Kennedy: “That’d be fantastic if there’s someone who wanted to do that, but in the absence of someone wanting to do that, we’re still going to do it. It’s a really fun way to just practice your life drawing in a supportive environment with other people who like to draw.”
“Anyone is welcome, whether they have drawn before or not. You’ve just got to bring your own materials. So bring pencils or crayons or whatever you like to draw with and some paper. It’d be helpful to bring a board as well. It’s good to have some kind of a hard surface.”
“Gerri has facilitated getting us some beautiful drawing donkeys. They’re brand new to us. They’ve just been sanded and finished and have fantastic hinges on them. We can demo how that was used.”
Gerri Davis: “Ron Wolda generously donated clear fir for us to build these with, which was a huge benefit because we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”
Cortes Currents: How many are there?
Gerri Davis: “There’s 13. We also have tables. Some people prefer to draw on tables, but if you’ve never drawn with a drawing horse, you should try it because it’s just wonderful. You straddle it, put your board in front of you and you’ve got total freedom.”
Christann Kennedy: “We’re starting to look for other teachers on Cortes who would like to teach art classes here at the gallery. There’ll be a submission process, much like there is a submission process for our exhibitions. And come fall, we’re hoping to schedule some new teachers to have the opportunity to teach.”
“Some may want to do a weekly class for a month. Some may want to do a two or three day workshop. We’re interested in any class that advances art practice.”
“There’ll be more information coming forward about how to submit an application and all that stuff. We’re just working out those details right now, but that will be coming.”
Cortes Currents: What does it cost to attend these classes?
Gerri Davis: “The art social events are all free. We would appreciate donations because we do have to pay for the space, but if you can’t afford it, come anyway. It’s not restricted to membership. It’s open for everyone to come and try out your skills or learn something new or just enjoy a talk.”
Christann Kennedy: “For community life drawing, $10 per session is what we’re asking as a suggested donation. That’s basically to pay for the heat of the space, light, upkeep of the space and to have someone here to man it so that we can run a class. That’s really inexpensive and if anybody’s got financial barriers, just, let us know because we can be very flexible about that sort of thing. We really want participation.”
“When we have new teachers coming forward who are going to teach, they’ll be able to tell us what they need and those are details that we can work out on an as case basis.”
Cortes Currents: What can you tell me about this year’s exhibitions?
Christann Kennedy: “The big piece that’s new is opening the season with the member show. So that’s the one where everyone who’s a member of the gallery can bring one or two pieces of artwork and have it included in that group show. It doesn’t have to be a painting or a picture. We can can accommodate sculptural things, photography, pretty much you name it really as long as it’s a physical object that you can leave behind.” (Laughter)
“Performance art probably won’t work out too well. We would be delighted to include anything else in the show. We hope that it’ll get the season rolling with a bang.”
Cortes Currents: What can you tell me about the other exhibitions?
Christann Kennedy: “We have just had our selection committee for the exhibitions for this year. We will be having six shows. As soon as we’ve got confirmation back from all of those artists that they are good with the dates that we’re wanting to show them, then we’ll be able to give a full accounting of who, what, and when.”
“The shows will be two weeks long as they have been traditionally. We’ll be having openings every second Friday night as we have traditionally. For now, we can say we’re going to have a really nice exhibition season.”
Cortes Currents: I understand the gallery will be using social media more to inform the public about events.
“We have a Facebook page and we’re going to have Instagram. We’re all on quite a learning curve, we’re getting organized with all of the social media and communications aspects of the modern world. This is quite new for the gallery as well but we’re hoping to be able to get the word out about all these things that we’re planning for the season. There’ll be lots of information forthcoming about all that.”
Links of Interest
- The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery website
- Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery Facebook page
- Birthing of the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery – Cortes Currents
- Falling Boundaries: A photographic art series by David Ellingsen – Cortes Currents
- Articles about the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery on Folk U and Cortes Currents
Top image credit: Flowers in vase painting used in Mel Williamson’s poster – submitted photo
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