The long-hoped-for news about museums reopening finally came in, and the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (EAGM) is now getting ready to welcome visitors once again.
Three summer students, hired by the EAGM with the help of a grant that director-curator Amber Andersen received from Canada Summer Jobs, are helping the EAGM's staff to get everything ready for the big day. Justin Hertes, Jack McGeough and Hunter Perkins are finishing with renovations inside the building and curating the first exhibit that is slated for July 20.
That’s when the doors will open to the public as well after all COVID-19 related safety measures are put in place.
“We’ve just been using the opportunity of not being open to the public to paint. (Summer students) are also working on rearranging the collection and doing other stuff that we can’t do when we are open to the public,” explained Karly Garnier, who is the EAGM’s education, outreach and programming co-ordinator.
The EAGM had to reschedule the shows they would have had due to COVID-19, and they decided to re-open with an exhibit based on their permanent collection.
The seasonal North West Mounted Police Museum won’t open this year.
“Unfortunately, art is fine, people know not to touch art, and all of our pieces will be put behind glass. But the artifacts in the museum, if they are touched, a lot of them can’t be cleaned,” explained Garnier. “And just the nature of our museum, it’s very congested in there. So in the interest of public safety and safety of our collection, it is going to be closed.”
She added that they hope to be able to open it again to the public next year. But for now, they will just have a few pieces from the museum displayed in the foyer.
The collection that will be presented to the public in July will also be featured online on their social media for people who can’t come or prefer to view it from the comfort of their homes.
The gallery is also preparing new entertainment for the community. Four artists, Belinda Harrow, Monique Martin, Zoe Schneider and Regan Lanning, stepped forward to help the EAGM put together a fun and art-centred activity for the Estevan community and summer tourists, named the Inside Out exhibition.
“We are partnering with Woodlawn on that,” said Garnier. “We are going to have four pieces of art from these artists and they will be popping up in Woodlawn … It’s going to be an art scavenger hunt. We are going to post hints when these pieces are down in Woodlawn. We encourage people to find them, take a selfie and send it to us and be entered to win a prize… And we are also going to highlight other cultural spots around town.”
All artists already had or will have their exhibition at the EAGM, and Inside Out will give the community a little taste of their art. More details about the exhibition/game will be published on the EAGM’s social networks. If the initiative goes well, they may expand it and place art indoors come fall to continue the art game throughout the year.
“It’s just something to get art out into the community since we can’t have much going on here,” said Garnier.
The two new regularly scheduled shows will open on August 28.
The EAGM is currently running the Isolation Summer Camp and family art classes that started on June 15 as virtual art programs, and Garnier said they won’t move any of that programming to an in-person format this summer.
The camp is for five to 12-year-olds, and it will go until the end of August. Parents can engage their kids in activities weekly. Garnier makes projects every week and parents can pick up premade art kits. Each kit costs $5 and includes all one needs to start creating.
“It has all of the instructions, all of the supplies. You can grab it, it’s contactless pickup. You can sign up for one kit a week, two, three kits, whatever you want. Every week there are up to three projects that kids can do,” said Garnier.
Earlier the EAGM received a grant through the Community Initiatives Fund for their in-person summer camp, but the fund allowed them to adapt and to use the money for the different format.
The Family Art program is geared toward toddlers. Parents are offered to pick up one kit a week which costs $2. Both programs will continue until the end of summer. People can register every week by sending Garnier an email. She said they will keep going with contactless pickup for now.
Another initiative they are planning for and that will start in July is Art for Seniors.
“We are going to be offering art cards with postage, so people can come and pick them up. We’ll post them weekly, it’s a kind of an inspiration project idea that if you want to do it, you can, but you don’t have to. You come, pick up the card, write a message. We’ll have the postage and the address on it and send it to a senior home in the community.”
The EAGM’s biggest fundraiser, the Rafferty Rumble, was cancelled due to COVID-19, and the board now is discussing what else can be done to engage and entertain the public and also raise some money to keep the gallery and art in the community going. But a lot of things are still up in the air on both fundraising and programming sides.
“We are sticking to what we have planned out right now, trying to pop up and do as much out into the community or get stuff out to people and then we’ll re-evaluate and see where we are going from there.”
In the meantime, the EAGM’s staff keeps working, so with any questions, people can call the gallery during their work hours.
