Theodore Magnus

“Exhibitions need not only take place in galleries, need not only involve displaying objects. Art can appear where we expect it least.”

– Hans Ulrich

I found it really interesting to see some examples of past exhibitions from students who had previously taken this course. It was interesting to read about the first batch of shows in Curating Sackville as well as seeing some more recent ones in class. For some strange reason I never registered that the exhibitions were happening during the last round of shows, even though my work was in one of them, it just didn’t click in my mind. I found myself disappointed that I had missed them. I have decided that I’m going to make an concerted effort to be more present and be aware of events and shows happening in my community after reading about these ones and realizing how many I missed. 

This weeks reading got me thinking about the ways in which exhibitions take place in spaces outside of the gallery and artist centers. I tried to think of some currently happening in Sackville to link this reading to my reality and could only think of three that weren’t retail spaces. 

1. Tiny Art Gallery 

Though Gallery is in the title of this example I feel as though it doesn’t count as it’s outside of an institutional influence like traditional galleries. Brought to Sackville by Kamaya Lindquist and Denise Garzon this project is a small box wooden box with a class door set up on a post just outside of the waterfowl park hiking trails. Inside are three white walls with shelves and easels and miniatures of gallery visitors viewing the work. This miniature gallery invites community members to contribute to the art displayed within. The gallery operates one a take one leave one system which creates an ever changing exhibition of works.

2. Zine Library 

Within the Purdy Crawford Centre for the Arts’ lobby there is a small wooden white cabinet with two glass doors. Within it are a small collection of zines made by artists, many of which have passed through the art program at Mount Allison.

3. Cabinet Gallery

This is a project started by Teagan Stewart ran by her and her partner out of their apartment. It offers local artists a one day residency to create a body of work to exhibit within a large wooden cabinet that they inherited with the apartment. This project was made with the goal of encouraging artists to work more collaboratively.

Sources: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/little-free-art-gallery-sackville-1.6094327