By Patricia Balcom
Private art galleries, like other small businesses, have had to adjust during lockdown and subsequent re-opening. To find out how they have fared, I conducted interviews at three galleries, one at each vertex of what I will call “the Canvas Triangle”.
Galerie St-Laurent + Hill
293 Dalhousie Street, Suite 103
Open Tuesday to Saturday 11a.m. to 5p.m., with private appointments at 5 p.m.
This gallery was founded in 1977, and specializes in contemporary Canadian paintings, photographs and sculpture. I spoke mostly with Jody Surette, with owner Pierre Luc St-Laurent commenting from time to time.
Like all other non-essential businesses, during the lockdown the gallery was physically closed. However, it maintained an online presence with its website and social media. As Mr. Surette stated: “We did continue to see interest throughout that period of time and so I spent a fair bit of time organizing home trials, bringing work to clients’ homes.” He dropped works off on people’s porches or left them in their garages, and took advantage of the lockdown to catch up on paperwork in the office. According to Mr. Surette, “No records were smashed throughout the lockdown.” At this point Mr. St-Laurent commented: “Thank God the government was there to help.” The gallery has received assistance with both salaries and rent.
Business remained steady after the June re-opening, although at first people were reticent to visit the gallery in person. Since some people are still uncomfortable visiting a public venue they are still shopping from home. “It’s not a wild change but I do so a higher than previous amount of traffic coming from social media and from our online presence in general. “ Mr. Surette concluded.
The next exhibition, “LEAP”, featuring the paintings of Valerie Capewell, will open on September 3, and run until September 22.
Galerie Jean-Claude Bergeron (GCBC)
150 St. Patrick Street
Open Wednesday to Saturday 12 noon to 5:30 p.m.
Housed in a beautiful Victorian home called La Maison Rochon, GJCB was founded in 1992, and features Canadian artists ranging from Riopelle and Pellan and international artists like Miró and Moore to lesser known but talented artists. According to owner Jean-Claude Bergeron, during the lockdown sales remained the same. He noted that now there aren’t as many drop-in visitors as in the past, since there are no international tourists, but there are still clients Canadian clients, from Canada, especially from Quebec.
Like the Galerie St- Laurent + Hill, GJBC has maintained its sales thanks to its internet presence. In fact, Mr. Bergeron noticed that about 40% of his clients during the lockdown were not “regulars”, but rather new clients he hadn’t been in contact with before. He believes his business will change post-pandemic, because “civil servants are working from home so now people are buying from home.” Some clients tell him they go to his website once the children are in bed and they have time to view the works displayed. He noted: “That’s a way also of forgetting that big pandemic you know.” Because GJCB doesn’t have any employees and Mr. Bergeron owns the building they didn’t need any support from the government.
The next exhibition at the GJCB, “ON THE ROCK”, features the work of Ed Bartram, a Canadian artist known for his works featuring Georgian Bay. It will run from September 3 to October 4. There won’t be an official opening, “because we can’t serve bouchées and wine and all that” post-pandemic, as M. Bergeron explained.
In October there will be an exhibition of works by Michel Cheff, a former curator at the National Gallery whose works are inspired by nature in the Gatineau Valley.
Alpha Art Gallery
531 Sussex Drive
Open Wednesday to Sunday 11a.m. to 5p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This gallery is co-owned by Edith Betkowski and her husband the artist Dominik Sokolowski. I met with Mr. Sokolowski, who came down from his second-floor studio to greet me.
According to Mr. Sokolowski, the gallery lost sales after the pandemic struck because for corporations or individuals it was not “a good time to purchase art”. He noted that Alpha is a “very young gallery” (it opened five years ago), which represents mostly artists at the beginning of their careers, and added that sales are down because when there is an economic crisis people are more likely to purchase works by established artists.
Alpha benefited from government support during the lockdown. They rent their space from the NCC, which gave them 75% reduction in their rent. Mr. Sokolowski noted: “This helps a lot because without that probably the gallery would be closed.”
Since re-opening things have been “strange”. There are no American tourists this year, and even the number of Canadian tourists is down because “what do you do in Ottawa when there is no festivals?”
I asked about Alpha’s first post-pandemic vérnissage on August 6. He replied: “I was happy because we had like maybe 40, 50 during the night, [though] normally we have around 150.” He explained how the socializing surrounding vérnissages has changed. People may not want to have a glass of wine because they’d have to take off their masks, and now Alpha doesn’t take artists out to restaurants afterwards. “We are breaking the spontaneous fun, [the] pleasant moments” that a vérnissage should have.
The next show at the Alpha Gallery is a solo exhibition by Eric Robitaille, “Sky & Earth”, from September 10 to 27.
The owners and staff I met with are charming, knowledgeable people who love art, and I encourage you to visit their galleries in the Canvas Triangle.