Artists of New Edinburgh

View this email in your browser

What strikes you as beautiful?

Art pulls a community together. ... Art makes you feel differently. That's what artists are doing all the time, shifting and changing the way you see life.

― Lister Sinclair, Canadian playwright

We're sad that the New Edinburgh Studio Tour (NEST) is cancelled for a second consecutive year due to COVID concerns.

So, to keep the tradition active, Electric Street Gallery and NEST have teamed up for a special exhibit at the gallery, featuring past NEST participants and welcoming new neighbourhood artists!

NEST has been very important to us, your gallerists. When we arrived in Ottawa with very tenuous connections to the city, participation in NEST helped us broaden our social circle as well as rekindling our interest in art. So although the circumstances are unfortunate, we are pleased to be able to give back to a tradition that's been very important and valuable to us.

While our poster (which you may see around the neighbourhood) emphasizes our open hours, many of the pieces will be visible in our display windows and all of them may be purchased via the website 24/7.

That said, we do hope to achieve some modest community-building with this event, and we encourage you to visit this exhibit with a friend. The gallery interior is currently open to three vaccinated visitors at a time, and we welcome larger groups on our little lawn area!

New Edinburgh Yacht Club
Maurice Dionne
watercolour on paper; varnished and mounted on wood
16" x 12"; framed 17.5" x 13.5"

IN THIS ISSUE

About NEST

Sara Alex Mullen's Perspective

Artists in the Exhibit

Emerging Artists and Family Sundays

Upcoming Exhibits

About NEST

NEST is a fantastic way for me as an artist to meet people in my community and to share my passion for painting. I love having conversations about art and have met some really lovely people who were great about asking questions or giving me feedback. It was really the connection between viewer and artist that artists long for.

― Martha Nixon, NEST artist

The New Edinburgh Studio Tour ("NEST") began in 2016, when Sara Alex Mullen, who had just had her second child, was looking for a way to continue be a professional artist without taking her art to art fairs.

Aware of the trend toward neighbourhood studio tours in other creative neighbourhoods, she investigated what would be needed to develop a tour and through it, a local artistic community.

Too Cool
Sara Alex Mullen
oil on canvas, 30" x 30"

Sara contacted Phil Emond, the gallerist of Gordon Harrison Canadian Landscape Gallery and a neighbour. Phil and Gordon, obviously, are well-connected in the local arts scene! Phil offered his expertise in establishing a successful tour, and put Sara in touch with local artists Susan Ashbrook, Ariel Lyons, and Josée Robillard, who have been the executive board of the operation. In 2019 Irene Tobis, who had participated in the tour before cofounding the Electric Street Gallery, joined the board as well.

NEST ran for four successful seasons, from 2016 through 2019. Each year, about a dozen local studios, all within walking distance of Beechwood Street, participated, along with guest artists from the larger community. Support from various sponsors, notably Natalie Belovic's ReMAX Realty, enabled a professional and extensive publicity campaign. Participation grew, and attendance in 2019 was estimated at over 600 people.

Of course the 2020 tour was cancelled due to the pandemic. This spring, a decision as to whether to proceed with NEST had to be taken before vaccines were available, and it was deemed necessary to cancel again. Obviously this is a disappointing turn of events not only for participating artists, but also for our part of the city, as the event serves as a valuable way to tie the community together.

It occurred to your gallerists, a few weeks ago, that while we couldn't replace NEST, we were in a unique position to at least keep some of the energy of the event going. We contacted the board on May 28, and with their blessing we have been scrambling to pull together a smaller event in the spirit of NEST.

Necker Cubes
Josée Robillard
mixed media on fabric, 9" x 10"

Moroccan Beauty
Ariel Lyons
oil on canvas, 20" x 40"

Sara's Perspective

It's the art event that I have missed the most. Really hoping we're able to resume in 2022! Until then, I'm so thankful that Electric Street Gallery can feature our event and showcase our local artists!

- Sara Alex Mullen, NEST founder

"New Edinburgh Studio Tour started in 2016 when I had two kids under 3, was working full-time as a nurse practitioner, and wanted to participate in art shows, but that seemed overwhelming.

"I wanted to connect with my neighbours and fellow artists to build a vibrant local art community and I also wanted to devote more time to my art practice.

"We ran for four years before COVID, and each year it was a thrill to organize and participate in. Having people come into my studio for an intimate look, inspiring conversations, and sharing live demos, was priceless. Every year was more popular than the previous.

"It's the art event that I have missed the most. Really hoping we're able to resume in 2022! Until then, I'm so thankful that Electric Street Gallery can feature our event and showcase our local artists!"

Participants in the Gallery Show

Putting art at the heart of a community enhances our lives by stirring hard-to-articulate feelings and inspiring us to look beyond what we believe to be possible and imagine a more vibrant, exciting future. It also reminds us that we're all creative beings — and that whether we're making art or music, telling stories or ... sharing in the experience, we're all connected.

- Suzanne Gerber

As you can see, we have so many participants - 27 at last count - that it's impractical to mention all of them! Among the participants in our exhibit are some old favourites, including Maureen Tracey, Beth Stikeman, Pat Carbonneau, Elisabeth Arbuckle, and Martha Nixon.

Winter Sunset Maureen Tracey, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 15"
Peace in the Fields #2 Beth Stikeman, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 14" x 14"
Sunday Afternoon (detail) Pat Carbonneau, acrylic on canvas, 24" x 20"
Mountain View (detail) Elisabeth Arbuckle, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"
In Vino Veritas (detail) Martha Nixon, acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

Some particularly notable newcomers include Susan Snelgrove, who offers a sensitive portrayal of a Young Ibis, our good friend Carole Bernstein who produces elegant flower photography, and Jacqueline Hunter who offers up a striking portrayal in acrylics of a fresh green apple.

Young White Ibis Susan Snelgrove, oil on canvas, 12" x 9", 18" x 15" with frame
Black Eyed Susan Bud (detail) Carole Bernstein, photo mounted on board, 8" x 10"
Success Jacqueline Hunter, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24"

Emerging Artists and Family Sundays

Every child is an artist.
The problem is staying an artist when you grow up.

- Pablo Picasso

This summer we offered an intensive internship to high school student Lilia Aurelson, who is enrolled in the art program at Canterbury High School. Lillia, who comes highly recommended by the school, has contributed a couple of fascinating surrealist pieces, one a watercolour, the other a "digital painting", both finished as prints on cradleboard with wax varnish during the internship.

Listen
watercolour print, mounted on cradle board, wax varnished; 6" x 6"
Lilia Aurelson

We also wanted to encourage the creativity of even younger artists. We do have some devoted fans in the under 12 set, and we accepted contributions from two of them, Apolline Cader and Simone Barré Riopelle.

We, your gallerists, and many of our customers, are not as young as we once were. So we are normally limiting attendance in the Gallery to vaccinated persons. But given the community nature of the exhibit it seems a shame to exclude children.

So we're inviting families with young children in on Sunday the 12th and Sunday the 19th, by appointment. Contact us if you're interested.

Temple,Pine,Snails,Seagull (detail) Apolline Cader (age 4), acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
Galaxy (detail) Simone Barré Rioppelle (age 10), acrylic on canvas, 4" x 6"

Other Exhibits

September 23 - October 13: "Autumn Colours" Autumn themed art; turning trees and harvest bounty.

October 14 - November 3: "Unbridled: Art of the Horse" Featuring the amazing wild horse photography of Sandy Sharkey.

Holiday season this year, our theme will be "Music". We'll interpret this broadly. Songbird themed art is included.

Submissions are welcome on the upcoming themes. See our submissions page.

Get to Know Your Neighbourhood Gallery!

A friendly neighbourhood business, we welcome visitors who love art. Please stop by and get acquainted! We offer a fine walking destination, just a few meters off the Rideau Pathway, and are very close to Beechwood Village.

Looking is free! Chatting optional at no extra charge!

We now can admit up to three vaccinated visitors inside at a time. A single well-behaved leashed dog may also visit. Masks (for the humans) remain required. Sorry, we can't allow children under 12 into the gallery at this time.

Even the best photographs of art don't do them full justice!

We encourage you to come by and look to get the full impact of these marvelous artworks.

We're located just off the Rideau Pathway, so wander by on your urban hike, visit the geese, take in the summer scenery, and have a peek at our display windows while you're in the neighbourhood!

We change our displays frequently to keep the gallery windows fresh and interesting for passers-by.

While we're happy to welcome visitors again, curbside pickup and local delivery (within the city limits) remain available. We also can ship many of our pieces within North America.

We and our artists greatly appreciate
you shopping locally!

Autumn hours, starting September 9
noon - 5 PM Thursday - Saturday
or by appointment

299 Crichton Street
or shop online. 24/7/365.

Telephone inquiries welcome at 613 748 - 2008.

Or contact us via email using this form.

SUBSCRIBE!

If you're reading this via email from the gallery, you're already subscribed!

If you're seeing this newsletter via a web link or in an email forwarded from a friend, and you enjoy it, we encourage you to subscribe, using this form .

You can see past newsletters here .

galerie electric street gallery