Open Studio Night: Friday, August 13

Gallery Hop (+ Open Studio) Report

Courtenay Bay from Causeway, mixed media on canvas, 12x36 in.Friday night's Gallery Hop was brilliant. Just brilliant. The high attendance (hundreds and hundreds of people!) was the result of some great online promoting by Uptown Saint John, snazzy Valentine's Day-themed invitations, and a mild February night. I started up at the Saint John Arts Centre at 4 p.m., giving an artist's talk for my show, Port City - had a great little group of listeners as people were already beginning to make their art-hopping rounds. I made it back down to my place by 5 p.m., switched on some twinkle lights and put out my open studio sign. I had planned to work on the painting (above) throughout the night, but only managed to make a few strokes every hour. The crowds of Saint John folks didn't stop coming until after 8 p.m. I love this city. 

I stopped into a few of the uptown galleries on Saturday morning to see their new shows that opened the night before. If anyone missed the big Hop, I highly recommend checking out Jeneca Klausen's jewelry and Cliff Turner's new work at Handworks... really good stuff.

Courtenay Bay from Causeway (detail)

Gallery Hop and JG Open Studio!

Best thing about Saint John?

Gallery Hops. And guess what. There's one next week.

On Friday, February 12th, brave the winter cold and visit the great art galleries in the uptown area. The Hop gets hopping around 4 p.m. and lasts through the early evening. The Saint John Arts Centre is part of the tour - open from 4-6 p.m. that night - and this is another opportunity to catch my show, Port City, on display in the Canada Games Room.

Coinciding with the Gallery Hop night, I'll be having my first Open Studio event of the year! My space at 122 Germain Street will be open from 5-8 p.m that evening. I'll be there working on my latest piece and will have some of my ongoing projects out on display. Plus this is a chance for the public to check out the big Bean Books/Jones Gallery transformation!