NICHE GALLERY: December 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

CALL FOR GALLERY VOLUNTEER STAFF

Niche gallery is searching for new volunteers for the 2010-2011 school year. As the current gallery team will be entering their fourth year in September, we felt it would be suitable to give younger students an opportunity to obtain a valuable learning experience. This experience could be helpful to both Art History and Art Studio majors.

If you or someone you know is interested in helping run niche gallery, please e-mail Bonnie Patton at bonnie.patton@uleth.ca, or Brenna Crabtree at b.crabtree@uleth.ca

It is our gallery team's sincere hope that a group of students - 3 to 5 students - will help next year so that the gallery will continue.

There aren't really any strict rules or qualifications needed to run niche gallery - just a sincere interest and enthusiasm, as well as reliability, will do just fine.

However...

...on that note we'd still like to make a recommendation that at least one gallery team member have a background in Museum Studies (i.e. - someone who has taken Intro. to Museum Studies and/or Critical Issues in Museum Studies). This way the whole 'behind-the-scenes' gallery procedures will be addressed, because it's easy to underestimate the amount of thought behind an exhibition when you're new to the exhibition process; there's really more to it than one might think.

With that said, here are some good reasons to volunteer to run niche gallery:

It's a great learning experience
It's fun and interesting to run a gallery
It will look awesome on your artist CV/Resume
You'll obtain a lot of knowledge and appreciation for gallery spaces

Positions needed t0 be filled for 2010-2011 are:

Director/Curator
Public Coordinator
Interviewer/Review Writer
Technician/Installation Assistant

We hope to receive some e-mails in the New Year - may the recruiting begin!

Sincerely,

the 2009-2010 niche gallery team

Opening of Tainted Danish

Tainted Danish is a group of anonymous members who collaborated to privately publish a collection of arbitrary works in a zine. Like Natalie Gravel's exhibition, Tainted Danish used the niche gallery as a starting point for their project. They provided a donation box at the front of the gallery with a suggested price of $5, and in the open gallery they left a stack of the zines in the open gallery for visitors to take.

The scenario was rather similar to that of a newspaper stand. It was neat to be able to watch people stopping to reach into the gallery and to watch their faces as they paused to read the zines. People shared things that amused them with each other, and every time they opened the zine again there would be something else to catch their attention. Also during the opening, the artists signed copies of the zine for visitors, and suggested that there could be monthly issues available in the gallery to take advantage of the long duration of their show.

Tainted Danish will be displaying at the niche gallery until January 13, 2010.

-review written by Bonnie Patton

"The niche gallery is set within the institution yet works outside the institution"

"The niche gallery is a place for anyone to show their work, whether it is a student, faculty member, or someone outside of the institution. The plexi-glass door also allows the viewer into the space as well, a space that is normally private. With niche gallery, the text panels are placed outside of the interior space because the gallery itself is art. When the niche gallery is between exhibitions, the space is still open. Although the space is empty, it is full. When another artist places his/her work in the space, it creates collaboration between the space and the artwork, between the artists and the viewers. Each piece has its place and remains separate, but also works together. There is a difference between inside and outside, but they co-exist"

-naomi sato, from her manifesto
"White Cube, Plexi-Glass Door"

gallery supporters

The gallery team would like to extend a special thanks to Professor Michael Campbell and U of L Art Gallery Administrator Fred Greene for their continuous support of the niche gallery project. As well we'd like to thank Professor David Miller for suggesting that we document the exhibitions on a website.

Also, thank you to the 2008-2009 U of L Art Society Executive for their decision to include the niche gallery in the group's agenda.

We also appreciate the collective interest and support of the U of L Art Department for encouraging students to continue to develop the existence of the niche gallery.

As the niche gallery is not-for-profit and has very limited funding from the Students' Union, if you would like to make a donation to the gallery, please contact us.