O'er the Holidays We Go

Hooray for holidays. I really needed some time off. The gallery and Arts Council office are closed until January 11. However, I have a few meetings and proposals to manage before then, so I'm not really on holidays the whole time. A solid two weeks is still fabulous. I look forward to getting to know my kids again, spending some time in the studio, and eating all the amazing food that my wonderful friends have gifted us. LF makes the most amazing chocolate-nut item, DPJ makes almond roca, MC makes salsa, LF2 makes peach jam, JA makes ginger shortbread... oh I have the best friends in the world!

New Gallery Hours

Gallery hours will be changing come January 2010. Beginning with our first open day on Saturday, January 23, hours will be 11am to 4pm. This will make our volunteer host shifts 2.5 hours in length instead of two hours. There will be only two shifts per day rather than three. One staff person has had their hours cut from 12 to 10 hours per week. We have been randomly tracking attendance between 10am and 11am, and the numbers have shown us that fewer than 5% of our daily visitors arrive between 10am and 11am. Therefore, looking for places to cut, this seemed a reasonable action.

All Through the Shopping

For many people, Christmas is about shopping and buying presents for all their loved ones. I almost got sucked in this year, as I browsed the Zellers toy section looking for a Barbie radio. Nothing. I thought, "hmm, where might I find such a thing?" but then quickly caught myself and vowed not to add to the carbon output of Canada by traveling from store to store looking for a plastic toy.

That said, I am running around town promoting the Affordable Art Fair at the gallery. 120 original works by local artists, all under $200. Each of these items holds a tremendous amount of energy, wild flowing artistic energy that continues to ooze out of the work for many many years. The same can't be said for that plastic Barbie radio. I realized that shopping can be a wonderful addition to the Christmas season because you can delight in finding the perfect personal gift for the people closest to you. The art of giving has its own energy. Done well, it makes everyone feel joyful. It's only the stress of line-ups, hot malls, traffic jams and cranky clerks or shoppers that spoils it. This is the best reason to come to the gallery and do your shopping there. We're much more relaxed. The Affordable Art Fair runs until Dec. 12.