An idea for creating a public art gallery is gaining political traction at city hall.
City of Powell River mayor Dave Formosa spoke to the creation of a public space above the city’s new library at council’s committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, June 14.
“It’s something that I’ve been hearing about for years,” said Formosa after the meeting.
The idea was featured prominently in the recent Powell River Dreams art exhibition where local artists presented their visions for a future Powell River.
Local artist Autumn Skye Morrison’s vision was to create a public art gallery in the vacant space next to the Canada Post office at the corner of Joyce Avenue and Alberni Street.
“A public art gallery would provide a much-needed space where artists could apply to exhibit and where the public could see new monthly exhibits,” said Morrison.
Formosa said former city councillor and arts portfolio holder Debbie Dee raised the issue during her time in local government and council has had residents enquire about it on a fairly regular basis.
“I’ve definitely been harping on the need of a public art space for quite some time,” said councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, current arts portfolio holder. “The fact is we now have a large space available to us above the library.”
The space being considered for the gallery is on the second floor of the library building and is currently used by the management of Crossroads Village Shopping Centre as a boardroom.
Until the second-floor boardroom space was identified, it was always thought the best location for such a space would be at Powell River Recreation Complex. Powell River visual artist Meghan Hildebrand went so far as to advocate for that idea last September in a Peak viewpoint.
The issue though, according to Formosa, has been around how the city could make staffing a gallery space viable. He would like to see the gallery operate in a way similar to local private collective galleries Artique and Kaleidoscope. At those galleries, member artists take turns with staffing and fielding questions about the artwork.
Leishman said she will be bringing the idea to the arts community to see what level of support it has. She added that the boardroom space would be great for a gallery and would still be functional for the city to hold receptions.
