ParkerArtSalon expands to two new galleries and an online auction for COVID era
Gallery George, around the corner from the 1000 Parker Street hub, has helped the event weather the pandemic
At top, left to right: Essential Travel artworks showing in the auction include Proof of Concept by Brent Granby, Somewhere Between Now and Then by Niina Chebry, Untitled by David Wilson, and Glow by Victor Geortz. With tall windows and ceilings, Gallery George has become an accessible new venue for the Parker Street Studios artists.
ParkerArtSalon presents Essential Travel at the Pendulum Gallery from May 3 to 28, with bidding for its works running online from May 6 to 16 via Waddington’s. Best of Parker St. runs at Gallery George in two consecutive exhibitions, May 6 to 16 and May 20 to 30. Book appointments to view and see COVID protocols here.
IN THE PANDEMIC era, 1000 Parker Street studios are quieter than usual. Lockdown means people can’t gather in the halls or visit each other’s spaces. The 225-plus artists who work in its labyrinthine four stories of studios wear masks and keep more to themselves these days, reports resident painter Niina Chebry.
Still, its members still exchange news and ideas outside in the East Side warehouse’s courtyard. And a surprising amount of art is being produced—though art fans won’t see the results in quite the same way during the annual ParkerArtSalon.
Instead of crowding into the halls of the century-old former mattress factory to see the work hung salon-style on the walls, they’ll be able to view the art in two galleries and online. Not only will every one of this year’s participating 60-plus artists be showing work at Gallery George—the bright new facility Chebry and her colleagues managed to open in time for the Eastside Culture Crawl last year—but their creations will be featured at the downtown’s high-profile Pendulum Gallery and in a cross-country online auction via Waddington’s.
“It gives a sense of hope,” Chebry, organizer of the event that’s taken place since 2015. “There have been so many cancellations, and there are only so many galleries open in Vancouver. To bring this opportunity to exhibit both at the George and Pendulum gave a lot of artists hope.”
The George, set on the ground floor of a brand new structure amid the industrial district at 990 George Street between Venables and Parker, has been a godsend for Parker Street artists unable to invite crowds into their studios all year. Chebry, who got the idea for the ParkerArtSalon from a trip to Paris, had a similar brainwave when she saw the space being built.
“I changed my bike route, and I was passing this beautiful new building with a lot of space and tall ceilings and all windows, and every day I went past, I said, ‘This should be a gallery!’”
She could immediately see the pandemic-era potential for the artists of 1000 Parker Street, which sits less than a block away. Because the gallery space features so many windows, passersby can see the art from the street. And for anyone who wants to find out more, the artists can be there in minutes.
Chebry knew the key would be to get things up and running by November’s Eastside Culture Crawl, with only a few weeks of prep—a deadline only a team as tight as the one that’s mounted the salon for six years could pull off.
“In October we signed a short term lease, with two weeks to put up walls and lighting,” recalls Chebry. “It was this core group of artists from Parker that chipped in and painted and cleaned windows and put it together. It was just an experiment. I had no idea how long we could keep it going. And opening for the Culture Crawl was such a lucky thing; it gave us a platform right away.
“I’m certain I wouldn't have opened the gallery if I hadn’t been involved with ParkerArtSalon,” she adds.
With more people out and walking in the neighbourhood during COVID-19, Gallery George has continued to draw business far beyond the November event. March, Chebry reports, was its most successful month yet. And now the 2,000-square-foot space offers enough room to host part of the ParkerArtSalon, which normally takes place as a sort of Parisian vernissage on the third floor of the 1000 Parker Street building—a gathering that’s impossible in an era of third-wave social-distancing. The show, called Best of Parker St. will display one work by every participating artist, split over two shows in May.
“The artists will choose their best work to hang in the gallery. It’s like an appetizer to see what the artists’ work is like,” Chebry tells Stir. “There’s such a range: emerging, established, abstract, photography, mixed-media, realism, landscape… There's something for just about everyone. So a person going into the gallery can really get a sense of what's going on at Parker [studios].”
Parker Street Studios. Photo by Carylann
Originally, the ParkerArtSalon was partly an answer to the Crawl. The idea was hatched in late 2014 during one of Parker Street Studios’ unofficial Friday-night “wine-down” gatherings, Chebry recalls. “A friend, Cybele, [Ironside] and I were walking the halls on this dark, rainy December night and mentioned how we never get to see each other's work during the Crawl because we're stuck in our studios,” she says. “We clinked our wine glasses and I don't think we realized what we were doing!”
The now six-year-old tradition has always had a charity-fundraising element and, even amid the hardships of this year, the artists are continuing that aspect for 2021.
This year’s online auction will benefit Beedie Luminaries Scholarship, for students with potential who are facing financial adversity. (Fifty percent of sales go to the artists and the other half to the scholarship fund.) The auction and exhibit are called Essential Travel, hosted at the Pendulum Gallery for public viewing from now to May 28, with bidding taking place online across the country from May 6 to 16.
And in a final new element to the salon this year, Gallery George’s windows will play host to the hand-crafted dandelions of Saskatoon artist Monique Martin that are popping up across the country this year. On view during the salon in a collaboration with Crafted Vancouver, the bright yellow clumps of flowers are part of the installation Context is Everything (also sprouting at the Seymour Art Gallery and Italian Cultural Centre).
That installation, along with the two exhibits and auction, show that even without a "salon", 1000 Parker's creative ideas just can't be locked down--even when its physical space is.
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