The Show Must Go On: A Check-In with the SMU Art Gallery
Written by Daniel MacGregor
Thumbnail Photo by the SMU Art Gallery of art by Frankie Macaulay
Photo by SMU Art Gallery – Art by Frankie Macaulay
Some people believe that all we need to survive is air and food, but art is just as important - if not more important. With the pandemic hitting the world like a bag of hammers, the usual festivities and artistic affairs that populate Halifax have been postponed indefinitely. However, even though it seems the art world has come to a standstill, creative types still need an avenue to share their artistic abilities. This article will dive into the Saint Mary's Art Gallery, including what it has been doing during the pandemic and its plans for the future. The gallery’s exact location is within the Loyola building, across from the main entrance of the residence tower and before the doors that lead to the Loyola academic section of the building.
An interview with Pam Corell, Assistant Curator of the gallery, provided significant insight into the state of the gallery during the pandemic. Pam said that the closure of the university gallery was not unique, as most galleries had to initially close due to the pandemic. However, being located within the university prevented the gallery from opening when other galleries could reopen safely. Therefore, the university gallery has been closed to the public since March of 2020. Furthermore, to reduce costs due to the pandemic, the university cut its funding to the gallery. This resulted in two employees being immediately laid off. Along with this, the former director retired, leaving Pam as the only employee running the gallery.
These unfortunate layoffs have not stopped the gallery from doing whatever it can to support artists. Pam stated that the pandemic had fuelled the gallery and the artistic community, in general, to think differently and answer the question "what does a gallery do if it has no walls?"
Usually, the gallery would be open to all visitors as it cycles through various exhibitions by both local artists and international artists. Despite its in-person closures, the gallery has not reached a complete standstill, launching a program known as "SMU Art Gallery at Home!". The two main projects supported by the gallery under the SMU Art Gallery at Home label are the Art Prompt Series and the Window Studio Project Series.
In response to the pandemic, the gallery has enacted the two projects previously mentioned. Pam stated that the Art Prompt Series is run by Liuba González de Armas, the Halifax Young Curator (a position funded by Saint Mary's, Dalhousie, and Mount Saint Vincent). The Window Studio Project is funded by the Canada Council of Arts, which funds the gallery to support local artists and give them large spaces to practice and demonstrate their talents. Pam described how the purpose of the project is to "give artists the ability to run with stuff”, to which she added “and man, do they run with it". The art of Frankie Macaulay is still on display as a part of the Window Studio Project Series. The next display, by Claudia Legg, has been postponed due to the Nova Scotia provincial lockdown.
Photo by SMU Art Gallery – Art by Tania Willard
The Art Prompt Series has been ongoing since December 2020 and is a way to encourage people to create works of art through social media engagement. Approximately every two weeks, a different artist will share a new prompt for an art-based project on social media. Local artist Emily Davidson created the prompt released May 7th on the gallery’s social media accounts, which revolves around four questions: "Only an egg can be an egg. (true or false?)", "What else looks like an egg?", "What else feels like an egg?", and "What else can do what an egg does?". After the reader has reflected on these questions, they are encouraged to create art similar to an egg. How one goes about making this faux-egg is entirely up to them. You could make this piece of art out of bottle caps, you could finely sketch it on the most advanced digital drawing tablet, or you could create some lovely glued together macaroni art.
The Window Studio Project Series is a two-part series, with the gallery currently being in the second part of the project. The overall goal is to allow local artists to safely use the gallery to set up art displays that can be viewed at a distance through the art gallery's windows (hence the name). The first part of the series was an artistic environment crafted by artist Michell Wiebe (often donning his character Steve Wheels) between November 2020 and January 2021. The second part of the series featured local artist Frankie Macaulay, who transformed used cardboard boxes into varying shapes on the walls of the gallery. Pictures of the exhibit can be found on the gallery’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
When asked about student and community engagement, Pam stated that the online medium makes it hard to gauge student engagement. However, there has been significant social media engagement with the gallery, and in a way, the new medium has allowed the gallery to reach out to a broader audience than before.
As for the gallery's future, Pam noted that full-size exhibitions are planned three years in advance, which left everyone in the art community scrambling to re-schedule and prepare new exhibits when the pandemic hit. The gallery is also limited because the university is constructing a new building near the gallery’s main entrance, constraining access to the gallery and creating a large amount of noise pollution. However, the university gallery is already planning exhibitions for when reopening is possible, focusing on the hard-hit local artists for the next several years. One exhibition planned for the future is by artist Lou Sheppard.
Pam's final remark on the current situation was that the "art community as a whole is always up for a challenge, and everyone should look for things virtually to safely show their support.”
As tricky as the pandemic has been for the entire world, the Saint Mary's Art Gallery has done everything in its power to continue to support the local art community, despite its doors being closed. Currently, it is hosting two pandemic-safe projects, and as soon as the dust settles, it will once again be the artistic hub of the university.