FFPTBO at Artspace

By: Kat Murphy

Welcome back and thank you for reading!

For those who have not participated in First Friday before, it is a way for the Peterborough/Nogojiwanog community to celebrate the arts. It’s a self-guided experience that takes people through various galleries, shops, and more. For many years now this has been a core part of our arts community and a way to make or strengthen friendships and connection.

Artspace has frequently been one of the sites open during First Friday, and the evening hours provide a chance for people who cannot typically visit due to work or other commitments during the day to see the art on exhibition.

Back in October, there was a lot for visitors to experience and learn about. For starters, we wanted to use the opportunity to refresh our marketing materials and welcome/welcome back community members. Part of this was advertising the Maker Space and letting people know about everything we have going on (including Crossing Paths - a walking tour project created by Peg Town in honour of Artspace's 50th year anniversary).

In October, First Friday also served as the opening day of Exchange, an exhibition organized and curated by Artspace volunteers Alice Pelot and Lindsay Short. This exhibition represented the mediums of painting, drawing, collage and sculpture, and showed the works artists James Matheson, Timothy Laurin, Marion Langford, Luka Stojanovic, Emma Moore, Lindsay Hill and Alice Pelot.

Art galleries and artist-run-centres cannot operate without the generous support of volunteers. We were thrilled to see their work on display and I hope that you had the chance to see it.

For November’s First Friday, our final exhibition of the year, “From the Ground Up: Artists in Practice for 50 years”, was on view for guests, making it an excellent opportunity to view the work outside of our regular operating hours. We also had a fundraising print sale, title “Space/Art”. As you may have seen, one of our main goals for our 50th Anniversary year was to raise $50,000 to support the work we are doing now, and into the future. Three local artists, and board members, worked together to organize Space/Art. Read more about this fundraising effort below:

“Tim Laurin, Anne Pasek, and Aaron Robitaille—are Artspace board members working under the collective moniker ‘space/art’ for the project. The work has been created through a variety of processes: relief wood cuts and risograph. The prints are affordably priced at $50, $30, and $10 each.

“The space/art collective came together in an effort to raise funds for Artspace’s ongoing operations and to reflect on the 50-year history of the organization,” said Anne Pasek. “Peterborough is fortunate to have an artist-run centre that helps artists make and exhibit new work. We hope our print-making initiative allows art appreciators to enjoy an affordable addition to their art collection while supporting this important pillar of the local arts community. Everyone deserves to connect with art, and everyone deserves to make art.”

In addition to purchasing art, visitors will have the opportunity to pull a print of themselves. Using the presses and tools available in Artspace’s Maker Space, folks are invited to pull a print that can be framed or used as a holiday card.”

If you are interested in purchasing a print, they can be found in the shop on our website. You can also purchase one in-person at Artspace. We greatly appreciate all the support and help reaching our fundraising goals.

During December, we had a holiday market hosted by Tim Laurin in Gallery One. There were 20 artists selling their work on December 6th and 7th. Did you buy anything during it?

We appreciate and value the relationships we have with local artists and vendors. Thank you to Tim Laurin for renting the gallery and hosting such a fantastic market, thank you to all the people who participated in it, and thank you to all the visitors that came by.

Have you attended a First Friday event before? If not, I recommend you come out in the new year! It’s a great opportunity to visit Artspace outside of our regular operating hours, and we’ve almost always got something else special on the go.