Rachel Gilmore, Centretown News
Brendan A. de Montigny, owner of PDA Projects, helped organize a pop-up art show last week at Studio B in the Glebe.Deirdre Sokolowski is no stranger to community organizing. After hosting multiple craft shows in and around Centretown, the local artist decided to branch out with a gallery event to feature emerging artists.
To her surprise, galleries didn’t seem quite as excited about the idea.
When requesting a quote from a local gallery for the five-hour event she was told it would cost her $10,000.
“I just found it very discouraging and I almost didn’t put on a show,” she said.
While Sokolowski eventually found a gallery that would only charge her a couple hundred dollars for the evening, she still depended on crowd funding to make the event happen.
Sokolowski’s story isn’t uncommon.
Galleries have a reputation for being inaccessible. Between a perceived elitism and the prohibitive costs, emerging artists are being forced to find alternative ways of showcasing their art. That’s where the idea of a “pop-up gallery” comes in.
Doubling as a DIY gallery, cafés, sandwich shops and other non-traditional spaces are starting to showcase local art. Local artists have turned to these sorts of locations to get their art seen as pop-ups provide a more accessible option than many galleries.
Benjamin Woodyard is an artist who works at Pressed, a sandwich shop on Gladstone Avenue. His workplace is one of several Centretown spaces, like the Manx and Oz Kafe, that showcase local art. Woodyard organizes events at the shop to showcase new work.
“It also allows me to show a lot of emerging artists that wouldn’t otherwise get shown,” says Woodyard.
As an artist, Woodyard says he prefers these kinds of community-oriented, accessible spaces.
“I haven’t even approached other kinds of galleries. I’ve just gone where I feel more comfortable going,” he says.
The community element that pop-ups offer is sometimes missing from highbrow gallery spaces, according to Woodyard. Sokolowski was directly confronted with this issue when trying to put together her gallery event.
“If you don’t have credentials, or have a resume already made up of artistic achievements – especially if you haven’t been to arts school – I find it’s really hard to find a venue that will take you seriously,” she says.
That elitist mentality is another reason why accessible DIY spaces are becoming more common, according to Woodyard.
While artists such as Sokolowski may be feeling discomfort around galleries, not all of these seemingly exclusive venues are ignoring the pleas for greater accessibility.
Brendan A. de Montigny is the director and owner of PDA Projects on Elgin Street, an art gallery that, according to their website “favours inclusion over exclusivity.”
He says he constantly struggles with the balance between art as a business and art for art’s sake.
“I love showing art. And I have to have that balance between emerging (an) emerging (artist), and emerging someone that is already sort of playing both fields,” he says.
Galleries are businesses and, as a result, need money. That’s something that galleries have increasingly struggled with since the 2008 recession, according to de Montigny.
“I actually have no ill (will) towards any gallery in Ottawa. If you’re existing and surviving, you’re already doing something right,” he says.
De Montigny’s gallery not only exists, but uses its existence to combat the exclusive reputation of his industry. He focuses on inclusivity for women and people of colour.
“I think we’re starting to sort of crack that glass ceiling a little bit,” he says.
De Montigny says he does this by speaking with his artists and keeping a close eye on the community. He even collaborates with artists to put together showcases in pop-up venues.
While de Montigny acknowledges that there is an issue with elitism in galleries, he paints a hopeful picture for the future.
“(We’re) coming out of an era in Canada where culture was not on the main menu. It was off the menu completely,” says de Montigny.
However, between developments at the NAC and Arts Court as well as the increase in galleries and pop-ups, culture is fighting its way back to Ottawa’s menu, according to de Montigny.That can only be good news for struggling, emerging artists.
According to de Montigny, Ottawa is no longer the town that fun forgot. It is inching its way towards becoming the town that fun remembers.