THUNDER BAY - Established and emerging artists say a new art gallery will not only benefit the local arts scene, but enhance the cultural identity of the city of Thunder Bay.
Last Monday, officials with the Thunder Bay Art Gallery gave a presentation to Thunder Bay city council on the proposed new gallery on the waterfront. The cost of the new gallery recently increased from $25 million to $33 million.
For artists and visual art students at the Lakehead University Visual Arts Program 8th Annual Open House held last Friday, the new gallery is an investment in the future of Thunder Bay.
“It’s an investment in culture and identity,” said Kasia Piech, a sessional instructor in the visual arts program at Lakehead University. “It’s the culture of Thunder Bay that is being represented through the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, all the artisans, all the artists in the community past, present, and future will be displayed at that gallery. Is that not worth investing in?”
Piech added that she would like to see a gallery with additional space and amenities, such as a café and lecture rooms, as well as an opportunity to display more of the permanent collection housed at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
The proposed new gallery, designed by the Vancouver-based architecture firm, Patkau Architects, will be 40,000 square feet, while the current gallery is 16,000 square feet.
Blake Evans, president of the Visual Arts Network at Lakehead University, agrees that a new, expanded art gallery would provide a larger space for more fluid shows and more storage.
While Evans believes the current gallery is doing a good job, he said a more centralized location for the gallery, such as the proposed site on the waterfront, would draw more people to the gallery.
“I think the art gallery is doing a great job and I really love how they have different shows and it pulls in different age groups and different crowds,” he said. “But I think the location of away from the central active places where the arts community is located is just too far away.”
Gayle Buzzi, an artist and graduate of the Lakehead visual arts program, agrees that the location of the current gallery is too separate from the community at large.
“Where it is right now, you don’t get foot traffic,” she said. “It’s a destination location, whereas if it was at the waterfront you would get a lot of tourists stopping by and it would create a lot more awareness of Thunder Bay art.”
In order to cover the $33 million price tag, the art gallery will be seeking funding from the federal and provincial government, fundraising, and recently asked the city to contribute $5 million towards the new building.
Buzzi said fundraising will be important for a project like this, because something like a new art gallery is not always an easy sell to the general public.
“I think to take it all out of taxpayers pay is not going to go over well with the city because not everyone in the city is an artists and not everyone understands it or appreciates it in the same way,” she said. “So if they can find a way to fundraise most of it or half of it, that would be reasonable.”
Evans added that he thinks it is a worthwhile investment for the city of Thunder Bay to make because the work being done by local artists needs to be put out there for the public to enjoy, and it may lead to the discovery of even more talent out there waiting to be seen.
“I think this city has a very unique art community and it needs to be shown a lot more,” he said. “If that gallery space is a new thing, it might attract attention of some other local artists who may not know about the local gallery.”
A report by city administration on the new art gallery will be presented to Thunder Bay city council by the end of February 2017.
