Cameron Kidd's "Disintegration," oil on canvas

Fitting in Between

Victoria’s party art shows grow up

After several years of short-run shows in private spaces (think theMAKE, The Feast and last year’s Abracadabra), fans of Victoria’s vibrant, up-and-coming visual arts scene have the opportunity to see their favourite local artists—folks like Brooke Semple, Liam Hanna-Lloyd and Ty Danylchuk—display their works in a month-long exhibition at Open Space.

“I think it’s what we’ve always wanted, we’ve just never been able to afford it,” says Nicholas Robins, curator of Us Ones In Between. “The great thing about working finally in the capital ‘A’ arts world is there’s funding, so the artists get paid this time. They don’t lose money and we don’t have to charge people at the door to come into our art show. It instantly changes the way it’s going to be experienced.”

Robins says he chose the eight local artists in the show based on their long-term connection with Victoria. They’re all accomplished artists who have stuck it out in Mile Zero when others have gone to places like Montreal or Toronto.

“Most of these artists have lived in other metropolises in Canada and said, ‘No, it’s not for me. I want to go back to Victoria,’” he says, adding that others, such as Eden Veaudry, are relative newcomers to Victoria but feel grounded on the Island.

“She utilizes Victoria and she embodies Victoria in a lot of ways,” he says. “We were roommates [in Montreal] and she always felt too pulled out of herself, too much outward stimuli. Here, she doesn’t have anything like that. She just has beautiful walks and quiet nights. For those artists who need that kind of inspiration—that quiet, slow pace and feel endlessly inspired without seeing anything that’s bigger than them—then this is the place.”

For someone like Cameron Kidd, who has been living and practicing his art in Victoria for a long time, it’s a great opportunity to shine a light on some of the city’s hardworking younger artists who are contributing to the art scene.

“I’m getting a bit older and I’m starting to see everyone that is sticking around and seeing what really is happening with those people,” he says. “There are a lot of people who are really working hard to make things happen in Victoria for everyone else and I just want to be part of that.”

Erik Volet, another longtime Victoria artist, echoes Kidd’s thoughts. “There has been a community building up over the last few years that makes it a really viable art scene,” he says. “I remember when there wasn’t really one, from my perspective at least. We’ve kind of built one together and it’s just started to happen, so I do feel it’s more vibrant lately.”

While the show is a bit of a departure from previous incarnations, Robins says there will still be special events during the exhibition’s run—such as an opening party and regular Tuesday evening presentations of things like drawing jams, panel discussions and even a film screening followed by movie karaoke—that will keep the energy level up.

“What’s happened in the past is at the chosen venue where we have these shows, for the week that it’s open, or the four days, or whatever, it becomes a hub and people go there: artists from out of town who are visiting, people want to go and hang out in the residual energy of it,” he says. “Now, we have a whole month to do so.”

Much of the work itself will help in this regard, too. Caitlin Gallupe will be creating her piece in the gallery during the month-long show, while Volet’s contribution is a large-scale, abstract drawing directly on Open Space’s wall.

“It’s developed from a series of drawing I’ve been doing in sketchbooks for the last couple of months that are mostly abstract tangles of form,” Volet explains. “I wanted to picture it at body-size, so that when someone is confronted by it, it’s a little bit bigger than their body, to feel it at that scale rather than just opening up a private sketchbook.”

While Robins sees the show as a step forward for this segment of Victoria’s visual-arts community, he also thinks it’s a logical step for the arts scene as a whole.

“Maybe there’s room for another group of younger artists who are active who want to do the party art shows,” he says. “Then they can do that and it will all kind of build and grow and change.” M

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Us Ones In Between
Opens 8pm Friday, July 3
To August 1
(Artist panel discussion 8pm Tuesday, July 7)
Open Space, 510 Fort
250-383-8833 • openspace.ca