Old police station débuts as gallery
Out with the old, in with the new, as the saying goes.
It’s been a long and good run for the numerous artists who have made their home and exhibit space at the VASA Studio Gallery on Perron Street. Now that the Visual Arts Studio Association has finalized plans to open up its home base in the Hemingway Centre come June 1, everyone is counting down the days until the old Perron Street location shuts its doors forever.
“Isn’t that sad?” pondered Pat Wagensveld, the president of the organization’s board.
With one last exhibit to go, VASA is sending the site off with an interesting bang. The current show features the ever-growing array of its non-resident artists, this time with several names that have just been added to the roster.
While Peg McPherson has been a recognizable name on the scene for some time now the majority here are unfamiliar presences: Marjorie Goddard, Royce Johnson, Carroll Charest and Paula Beauregard, who is also notable because VASA has few, if any, other photographers on its roster.
There was one other new name that popped up at the gallery on Thursday. Karin-Ann Bosma has her own studio space there, thus making her ineligible for the non-resident exhibit.
This show wasn’t technically a part of the ArtWalk but the spot still achieved a fair crowd on a rainy Thursday evening.
The Hemingway Centre location had its soft opening at the same time and visitors were happy to walk the short distance from the core of the displays around St. Anne and Perron Streets. Wagensveld said that attendance was steady all evening, giving many their first chance to see the space and get a better sense of VASA’s plans. After an organizational meeting on the weekend, the two remaining studio spots will be decided and then the house will be full up with 21 resident artists in the former police station.
The president admits that these are exciting times.
“We’re just absolutely high on the whole concept of moving all under one roof and being together,” she said. “The energy will be intensified.”
The non-resident show runs until the end of the month. VASA Studio Gallery is located at 11 Perron St. VASA’s Hemingway Centre spot is located at 25 Sir Winston Churchill Avenue.
This new site will be open for all of this season’s ArtWalk events but will hold its grand opening during Alberta Culture Days at the end of September. For more info, call 780-460-5990 or visit www.vasa.ca.
Last November David Bowering held a solo show of his diverse photographs from a four-month tour of Afghanistan at the Art Gallery of St. Albert. That tripartite exhibit featured just as many action shots of soldiers as portraits of the people of Kabul and the astounding views of that country’s landscape. There was something for everyone.
Bowering, however, was left wanting more. He’s planning a return for a longer duration, and this time, he wants to make a documentary on life inside the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne CAB Medevac units serving in Afghanistan. He will be covering them from deployment to the return home.
In order to do so, he needs to build up a substantial war chest of sponsorships. The amount is so large that it forced him to undertake something he would normally avoid: an online fundraiser.
“I wasn’t going to do it this time,” he confessed. “I do fundraisers for other people all the time. I constantly donate prints but I had this weird feeling about doing it for myself.”
He decided that it might be the easiest and quickest way to come up with all or part of the $75,000 that he needs to cover his expenses, including equipment, travel and insurance.
The fundraiser runs until July 1. At the same time, he’s also looking for major corporate sponsors. Because of the nature of his project, he is ineligible for national grants.
“I can’t apply for most of the Canadian grant money because my topic isn’t Canadian, or I don’t have enough Canadian content,” he said.
He added that the medevac teams look after all nationalities of the forces in Afghanistan.
During his Afghanistan Through My Lens art show in November, one of the most dramatic pictures was of Giles Duley, the British photographer who stepped on an improvised explosive device and lost three of his limbs last February.
Anyone who is interested in the fundraiser can check out the extensive galleries on his four websites. Prints are $225 each, including shipping costs. This, Bowering says, is one-third of the price of his gallery prints. Three-for-two deals are available as well.
As an added incentive, those who make purchases will have their names added to the credits of the documentary.
Bowering’s websites can all be found through the Facebook event page at “MEDEVAC Through My Lens Online Fundraiser.”
