{"id":45793,"date":"2020-09-03T13:48:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T17:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=45793"},"modified":"2020-09-03T19:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T23:46:02","slug":"propeller-turns-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=45793","title":{"rendered":"Propeller Art Gallery turns 25"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interview with Frances Patella (FP), Partnerships Chair & Artscape Liaison<\/strong> in the occasion of PAG 25 by Emese Krunak-Hajagos (EKH)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frances Patella at 20\/20, March 24, 2016. Photo: Meghan O\u2019Callaghan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember visiting the newly opened Propeller Gallery on\nSpadina one sunny Saturday afternoon in 1996. The light from the window made\nthe place hot and it was so small that the attendant sat halfway out in the\nhallway. Through its 25 years the gallery came a long way in terms of location,\nmembership and artistic improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Late 90s members L-R: (first row) Alberto E. Martorana, Carlos G. Navia, Orna Gang, Pearl Van Geest, (second row) Yeche Gagnon, Maja Kulenovic, Marija Barac-Jandric and Solomon Thurman. Courtesy of Propeller Art GalleryEKH: What was your original vision of the gallery in 1996? Do you think you fulfilled it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: What was your original vision of the gallery in 1996? Do you think you fulfilled it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: I was not one of the originals, but the vision was to\nhave a space to show your work and have support from other artists of the\ngroup.  I think that vision has been\nfulfilled and then some!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: The first sentence in your mission statement: Artists empowering Artists emphasizes an active artists\u2019 community where members exchange ideas and help each other grow artistically. Please explain the meaning of the mission statement and give some examples of how it is realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: “Artists empowering artists\u201d came out of a session\nwhere Propeller members were invited to set the stage for the next few years –\na bit of a polish to our brand, so to speak. \nWe realized that we had numerous members who had years of experience in\nthe arts and we wanted to share that experience in order to help \u201cpropel\u201d\nartists to succeed in their endeavours.  We wanted to give artists who didn\u2019t have\nexperience in gallery showings a place where they would be supported, from\ncuratorial selection, to hanging a show, to having a successful opening and\nshow. There were many members who had shown in commercial and public galleries\nand knew the challenges that come with those venues. We wanted a place where we\ndidn\u2019t have to conform to the commercial galleries visions of what was art that\nsells. But we also wanted to encourage artists to go out and have commercial\nrepresentation, especially once they got their feet wet at Propeller, which\nnumerous artists were able to do. We didn\u2019t want to limit what artists could do\nas numerous commercial galleries did have restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Pieter Bakker, Miru Kim, Heather Gentleman and Keijo Tapanainen at Heather Gentleman’s exhibition at the Queen Street West location. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Faye Mullen installation\n\/ Performance by Faye Mullen from the Im\/AGE: From \u201cBust\u201d to \u201cBoom\u201d to Zoom\u201d Exhibition,\nJanuary 21 \u2013 February 1, 2009. Photo: Joseph Muscat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: How do you select your members? What do you think is about the gallery that draws young artists to apply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: We have developed criteria to select members – basically\nwe look at the originality of the work, the technical aspects and the overall\nquality of a series of work. We have a group of members, different for every\nselection meeting, who view and vote. I think our approachability, our gallery\nspace, our paid Director and our members draw other artists to apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: How do the exhibitions get organized as you hardly ever have solo shows? How do you select the two artists for a dual show?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: We do have solo shows, however many artists choose to exhibit with one or two other artists, mainly for financial reasons, or more exposure to different people. The artist who signs up for a solo show has the option of inviting others to show with them. If it\u2019s a group show, the lead artist(s) would then submit a proposal for the selection members to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michelle Letarte: Malta & Gozo and Philip Hare XoXoX, November 5 – 16, 2014 (left) and Ross Winter: Through a Glass Darkly and Photo Works 3, May 7 -18, 2014 (right). Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: Could you please tell us more about your collaborations with other galleries and art organizations?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: We have had numerous collaborations and that comes about due to an artist member having the initiative to approach other galleries or venues, submitting a proposal and carrying it out.  We have shown as a selection of our members in art fairs, including Art Toronto, galleries outside Toronto, for example in Oakville, other venues, like the Metro Condo, the Theatre Centre, the Zoomer conference, restaurants among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zoomer at CNE, curated by Moses Znaimer (right), October 31 \u2013 November 1, 2009. Photo: Joseph Muscat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frances Patella and Gwen Tooth are installing Propeller\u2019s booth at Art Toronto, October, 2014. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: Propeller Gallery was a great place on Queen Street West (2001-2014) with many wonderful exhibitions. One of my best memories are of the annual Black and White Balls<\/em>. What are yours? What shows were the most outstanding at that location in your opinion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: I also loved the Black and White Balls<\/em>, initiated by former member Heather Gentleman, the dressing up, the fun. I also loved our annual Salon shows<\/em>, initiated by myself and Keijo Tapanainen. We had so many people attend the Salons<\/em> and B&W<\/em> that we spilled onto to the street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Queen Street West entrance with Salon 4, January, 2010. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black and White Ball, February 7, 2013. Photo: Fox Martindale <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also fond of the annual curated exhibitions – those\nwere the most outstanding as guest curators initiated numerous themes that were\nvery well received by the community. One example was the exhibition curated by\nMoses Znaimer where we had champagne in real champagne glasses (Moses later\ndonated the glasses to Propeller).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TAKE 5 SHOW (L-R): Lisa Johnson, W.W. Hung, Keijo Tapanainen, Pieter Bakker, Jim Bourke. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love Art show artists (L-R): Peter Barelkowski, Jane Murdoch Adams, Dan Dodds, Keijo Tapanainen, Pat Dumas-Hudecki, Frances Patella and Dominique Prevost. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: Abell Street wasn\u2019t the best location at first because of the ongoing construction on the street. What did you do in order to overcome that disadvantage and in spite of it run a successful gallery? I am sure the Off the Wall<\/em> auctions is one of your most successful events to draw interest to the Abell Street location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abell Street entrance, Off the Wall Gala, December 12, 2019. Photo: Xiaotong Cao<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abell Street location, installation view with the double rooms. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: We lost quite a few members when we moved to the Abell location as the street outside the gallery was closed and a bit of a mud pit. Thanks to Joseph Muscat, who was able to initiate a huge rent reduction from Artscape, (who had promised us a clear and open street) we were able to hang on until the construction was done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joseph Muscat at 20\/20, March 24, 2016. Photo: Meghan O\u2019Callaghan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then had a members\u2019 drive and encouraged numerous artists\nto join us.  Off the Wall<\/em> was\ninitiated by myself, after I attended a fundraiser organized by my daughter,\nSimone Collins, at Queens university. That initiative was called Cezanne\u2019s\nCloset<\/em> and students and teachers donated their work to the cause. Last year\nwas one of Propeller\u2019s most successful Off The Wall<\/em>, thanks to the hard\nwork of the OTW committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visitors at the Off the Wall Gala, December 12, 2019. Photo: Xiaotong Cao <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unmade \/ Group show curated Jill Price, June 26 – July 14, 2019. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salon 14, January 22 – February 2, 2020. Courtesy of Frances Patella <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EKH: Hopefully everything will go back to normal or the \u201cnew normal\u201d as the gallery reopens on August 5th. What are your future plans?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FP: We have had a couple of successful zoom openings and we have just opened to the public again. Propeller keeps going because there is a real need in the community as more commercial galleries close their doors. We are adding services to the membership, like the online openings and online store. New members bring new ideas and hopefully we will be able to keep going for another 25 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Installation view of Elizabeth Greisman, After The Fact is Emotion, August 26 \u2013 September 13. 2020. Courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Propeller Art Gallery, 30 Abell Street Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed \u2013 Sun 1 \u2013 5:30 pm. Social distancing will be observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

**For more information about the rich history of Propeller Art Gallery please visit: PAG 25 Living History at https:\/\/www.propellerartgallery.ca\/pag25-living-history.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Frances Patella by Emese Krunak-Hajagos<\/strong><\/p>\n

as Frances Patella<\/em> said in the interview: Propeller keeps going because there is a real need in the community<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emese-krunak-hajagos","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45793"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45821,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45793\/revisions\/45821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}