Gallery 101 relocating

By Maureen McEwan

Gallery 101 is on the move — yet again.

The art space is relocating in the new year from Little Italy back to the downtown core because the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has slated its current Young Street location for demolition.

The land is being expropriated so that the Queensway can be widened.

This is the sixth time Gallery 101 has moved since the 1980s.

Gallery 101, which opened in 1979, is a non-profit, artist-run centre that features a variety of Canadian artwork. The organization is supported by the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Gallery 101 issued a press release on Nov. 23 in which staff said the move from 51B Young St. comes with “a heavy heart” and “bittersweet feelings.”

The gallery moved to Young Street in 2014. It was a space that the staff had come to love, they said. The Little Italy location was a bright, accessible, and diverse industrial space that allowed Gallery 101 to engage with the community.

Platform Gallery and Studios and Soulard Multi Service — the gallery’s neighbours in the building — will also be relocating to other spaces.

“This is the nature of the current building climate that we live in,” the press release stated.

The gallery’s board of directors has decided on a new location at 280 Catherine St., not far from Bank Street and close to the Central Bus Station.

The new space covers two floors, and the gallery is planning to increase the number of staff from two to four.

The new location will also allow for more kinds of programming and a permanent workshop area, the statement said.

Gallery 101 will re-open March 1.