Measuring Impact

We may never know the impact that an exhibition has on a young person. In my years at the gallery, I only strive to ensure that everyone feels welcome there - all ages, all areas of interest, all economic abilities. One just hopes that the education and exposure provided to our visitors makes for a better community overall. I got a tiny bit of evidence of that last night. My daughter, who will be turning 11 later this month, was working with plasticene. She sculpted a crooked tree, and said "Look, I made a crooked tree like in the gallery." Wonderful, I replied. Then the explanation came. "It's a birch, you can tell by the white bark. These branches swoop down and will grow along the ground. All sorts of creatures can live here, because there are so many nooks and crannies." And then, she played. Just pure imaginative play for about an hour, sculpting blue and purple cats that climb trees and lounge on the branches with their plasticene tails hanging down. Of course I pride myself in raising two kids that can play imaginatively for hours on end, but knowing this scenario was rooted in the exhibition, I felt a certain sense of accomplishment, that I had impacted a young life with a spectacular colourful show about some crazy crooked trees in Saskatchewan.

Those Crooked Trees

Dr. Bill Remphreys gave a wonderful scientific presentation tonight on the crooked trees that are the subject of the current exhibition. How fascinating that someone was so intrigued by this little forest (which is actually one organism) that they would spend a dozen years studying it. It was great to sit there surrounded by Ken Dalgarno's bold, textured paintings with a scientist giving the other side of our brains something to chew on.

3:58pm

It's official. As of 3:58pm, the washrooms are finished. We are having a glass of wine to toast surviving the renos. Bless Delores Mori for being the unofficial project manager for the entire month of May. She must have felt like she lived here and it was her own bathroom. There will be a string of violin players using the facilities tonight, but then tomorrow night is the official opening.

New toity and new gadget

With the addition of a couple of snazzy doorknobs, the bathrooms are finished. The exhibition "The Crooked Trees of Alticane" opens tomorrow night, and so I'm just relieved that we will in fact have a washroom to officially open at that time. Yes, I saw the word "relieved" and just left it there. It felt strange to get back into the swing of things here at installation time. We all moved a bit slower than usual, and had to ask ourselves "gee, what am I missing here?" We have a video presentation of the artist in a five-minute talk on the show. Very soon we will have the equipment to feature an audio tour as well. Exciting times!

The Long Road to Toilets

Methinks I predicted things a little too early. This morning brought a happenstance meeting with the contractor, and our new date of completion for the washrooms is May 31. Apparently the tile guy is a perfectionist (which we don't usually mind around here) and is therefore taking another full week to finish his part of the job. Looks like the June 3 opening reception truly will be the unveiling of the bathrooms. Do I hear $100 to cut the ribbon and have the first visit?

Bathroom Musings

My e-grammar needs work, but I've just started a Twitter account as SAGAcurator, so that people can follow the mysterious inner workings of the gallery. For instance, the floor and wall tile on one bathroom is complete - it looks fantastic despite being a week behind schedule. For those of you who are concerned about tearing out bathrooms in this historic building, rest assured. The design is very classic, not trendy, a little retro, with good quality hardware and fixtures. The various floor, tile, plumbing, drywall and electrical contractors have been coming and going, popping in and out in between six or seven other jobs. Bless them, they wander into the main gallery and say "gee, nice room. This used to be the library, ya know." Does this mean I can mark another visitor on the tally sheet? The smell of glue sent me fleeing last Friday, but I'll be back in the office Tuesday in preparation for the amalgamation meeting on Wednesday the 25th. I think we'll still be using the "Court-a-potty" but maybe by Friday we'll have one functioning toity. Ah, the joys of renovations.

CAGE conference

I have just returned from the Canadian Art Gallery Educators conference in Calgary. It was fantastic, not just because the case studies were inspiring and the tours of other facilities were wonderful, but because the other attendees were just an amazing group of people! There were only about 15 of us, but from big and small galleries all over Canada; Halifax, McMichael, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Burnaby... and then me - from little ol' Salmon Arm. The others were specifically educators, titled Program Managers and the like, there representing a larger staff at their home gallery. Still, I felt very welcomed and encouraged by this professional development organization. At the AGM, there was discussion on how to further extend the learning from each other, and whether symposia were the way to go (given lower attendance due to shrinking budgets all over the arts sector). But ultimately we decided that the networking and the sheer fun of getting together, talking, sharing, touring and getting inspired is worth the trip.