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May 7, 2009
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIFE DRAWING IN CHARLOTTETOWN
The Great George Street Gallery was the first location for weekly life drawing sessions. Later sessions were held in each of the relocations that like the Queen Street Fish Market did not always reflect the name of the insItution. The Gallery In The Guild was for a time used for weekly drawing sessions but this was later moved to the upstairs hall of the Guild building.Other events and exhibitions continued to make this location unstable for weekly drawing. Paula Price was involved with booking of models at that time. Dispite some of the problems with the use of the Guild Hall, it was wheelchair accessible and we have never since had a location that did provide easy access to artists with mobility handicaps.
It wasn't until the mid 1990's that the life class moved to Marshall Studio on King Street. The new location was shared with a pottery group and was next door to City Cinema. Irvin Marshall was giving art instruction to students from UPEI at the time. One of the most notable artists to meet with us on Wednesday night sessions was Elizabeth Hutchison who has since won a scholarship to study at a New York College and now has her MFA in Drawing. She was just one of many fine painters and printmakers who dedicated those hours per week to drawing. Those of us not so well gifted learned much from just watching such people work. Unfortunatly it became necessary to move again when both the main tenants of the studio could not afford the rent.
"Rose of the Island"
by Karl MacKeeman, ANSCAD
drypoint orginal plate
In the exhibit in the Holguin City Gallery she was listed as a floral subject. She was indeed a beautiful flower.
After a search for another location we settled on the Art Loft at 102 Queen Street on the second floor. This was bringing us back again in the neighbourhood of the Arts Guild. It was a smaller space but well equipped with a model stand, a changing room , lights and a sound system and we had brought the sketch horses from the other studio with us. Merlin Gallant used the location as a photo studio and we found that it made a good exhibition space as well. Our exhibition there was called "Life At The Loft: An Exhibition of Figure Drawing" and the opening was well attended The Art Loft changed hands and Cheryl Wilson, another local photographer and part-time sketcher took over the rent of the space. Art lessons and exhibitions helped the space to full-time use but as the century neared it's end we were looking once more for a new location. The proprietor of Kier Gallery at 132 Richmond Street kindly donated his gallery space for our use on Wednesday nights to that this has been the location of our figure drawing session at the dawn of the 21st Century. Thanks to the support of Kier Kenny we were able to embark on a "Life Study" sessions every 2nd Saturday at 1300 hrs. to 1730 for the purpose of colour work in oils, acrylic, watercolour and pastel. Also detailed charcoal, conte, graphite and colour pencil could be made taking more time than was permitted on Wednesday night sessions. There was a lot of dedication back then. We had all hoped that "Life" could continue.
Life did eventually come to an an end! The present Guild charged a rent that was unaffordable with the other expenses. Attendance in the last years was up and down and not consistant enough to leave funds for properly paying the models. So life at last came to an end without a suitable base. It was something that brought the visual artists in the community together. In other cities it would have been the role of the local arts guild, University, art school or public gallery, but here in this town we had to do it ourselves. Let's hope life can continue in the future.
Posted by kier at May 7, 2009 9:36 AM