Soft Launch

It takes a lot of drive to open a new contemporary commercial art space in Canada at almost any time, let alone during a pandemic. But Emily Falencki is doing it with the Blue Building Gallery, and a roster of very strong artists: Duke & Battersby, Lucie Chan, Ursula Johnson, Sarah Maloney, Lucy Pullen and Sheilah ReStack. All of these artists have some kind of connection to NSCAD, as does Falencki herself—though works by these particular artists haven’t been brought into constellation quite like this before in physical space. What also impresses me about this building initiative, and makes me hope it will succeed, is that only part of it is a commercial gallery—a substantial portion is also allotted to the well-regarded nonprofit Wonder’neath Art Society, which in lieu of its regular community open studio is offering free art kits right now. Also in the same building are individual art studio spaces for rent, as well as an archival darkroom. But no darkroom hours for me (also a former NSCAD-er) right now, though! I will be watching from Toronto, social-distancing-home-office style, for Insta pics of the promising solo shows planned in the months to come: these start with Ursula Johnson’s on April 15, followed by Duke and Battersby in early fall, Lucy Pullen in later fall, and Sheilah ReStack in early 2022. —Leah Sandals, content editor