Features
This Artist Gives a Hoot!
BY REBECCA KENDALL
What's an aspiring artist to do when she can't find space to show her work? For fifth-year fine art student Brittany Anderson, the answer was clear: start your own gallery.
With funding through the Summer Company program, a provincial initiative that provides hands-on business experience and financial support to young entrepreneurs, Anderson opened hoot!, a gallery space she shares with established potter Goldie Sherman and her dog, Ting. Located in downtown Guelph at 80 Norfolk St., hoot! opened July 1, and the venture has been a rewarding one for Anderson, who returned to U of G this month to complete her final semester.
“I'm trying to get a start in the art world, and I'm a firm believer that you must make your own opportunities,” she says.
To build a reputation and gain confidence as professionals, artists need venues to show their work, says Anderson, but locally this is a challenge for many up-and-coming artists. Although some opportunities for shows in restaurants and similar venues exist, the number of local artists wanting to show their work far outweighs the number of available locations, she says.
Hoot! has been a temporary solution to this problem for some. A show in July featured the work of four Guelph undergraduates, including Anderson. In August, the gallery showcased the work of fourth-year U of G student Tori Drost.
The current show, “Half-Pint,” slated to run Sept. 13 to Oct. 6, brings together the work of more than 20 local artists, including Guelph students Rachelle Kelly, Aislinn Thomas and James Gardner. The opening reception is Sept. 13 at 7 p.m.
“‘Half-Pint' is unique because all the pieces are smaller than one square foot,” says Anderson. “The show also lends itself to being affordable for art buyers.”
The gallery's final exhibition will run Oct. 8 to 31. It's called “Loyalty to Royalty?” and will showcase the work of U of G students Myles Calvert and Carol Tinga.
As an artist, Anderson has honed her skills, but as a business person, it's been an uphill challenge.
“All I've ever done is art, so it's been a learning process. I'd never taken a business course, and I've had to learn about things like bookkeeping and marketing from the ground up.”
She adds that she's looking at ways of forming a co-op to allow artists to work together to garner show space and public visibility.
“Art is a tough arena to work in. There are definitely more artists in Guelph than art buyers. It's been hard to push myself to make a go of this, but it's been rewarding — not monetarily but in terms of building leadership and organizational skills and learning what I'm capable of accomplishing.”