In what may well be the (welcomed) cultural antithesis of the pub crawl, a slew of downtown art galleries and studios will be opening their doors on December 12th from 10am to 7pm for a holiday gallery crawl they’re calling Winter Wander.

Expect mulled wine, eggnog, cookies and a variety of winter-themed activities as you make your way in and out of Eastern Edge Gallery (3pm – 5pm), A1C Gallery (5pm – 7pm), the Leyton Gallery of Fine Art (11am – 5pm), St. Michael’s Printshop (10am – 5pm) and Wonderbolt Circus (1pm – 3pm), plus artists Christine Koch (11am – 5:30pm), June Walker Wilson (1pm – 3pm) and Will Gill‘s studios (12pm – 2pm).

While the irregular hours of each gallery/studio’s open doors does seem a little confusing, I’m sure there must be some way to time it right. Time’s not my forte, but if you manage to figure it out, let me know — I definitely want to maximize my access to that mulled wine.

mmmmmm mulled wine…

[photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/satbir/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

The IWFF held their showings of two “Art Films” at A1C last night. Of course, we were there, admiring artistic wares in a U-Haul outside and squeezing the filmmakers for some commentary – all for you.

The Name of the Artist, short a film by Kristina Campbell, primed the audience with some startling art stats: Women make up 3% of the artists with work at The Met, while 85% of nude portraits there are of female bodies. Campbell’s project takes the viewer on a tour of an installation at UVic that gives substance to this inequality.

If Campbell’s film was a call to see more women in art, the following screening of Pretend Not To See Me was a great answer. Katherine Knight’s hour long documentary juxtaposes the surreal artwork of Collete Urban with her down-to-earth lifestyle on the west coast. I later caught up with both the director and the artist at The Crow’s Nest …

After being buzzed by the provocative import “MY STICKER CANDY PUSSY LOVER“, only just previously having our old wounds exposed and hearts broken by the domestic “Salt Concentrates“, we can be excused for overlooking the fundamentals at our underdog / underground favourite: A1C Gallery.

The quality of the art and the awesome parties at A1C show the gallery’s drive, but the AGM as a function seems like dull necessity. A cold procedural gathering in contrast to the emotional speedball we all just went through down on Baird’s cove as a result of the last two exhibits.

Hardly!

Such a congregation will be a rare look into the minds that shape downtown visual art – a testament to the high-density creativity in this postal code that gives A1C its namesake. New and experienced artists’ vectors are revealed as you find yourself drawing connections between the people and their work.

The gallery’s annual general meeting will be held tonight (Saturday) at 7pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend and listen. Members of the gallery  will vote on issues facing the space. A reception will follow at 8. If you can’t make the meeting itself, you owe it to yourself to go grab a drink while getting Michael Flaherty‘s take on the Grey Islands, or Will Gill’s stories about his time in Vermont.

From October 16th to 30th, A1C Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of four short films by Toronto artist Allyson Mitchell titled MY STICKER CANDY PUSSY LOVER.

Stop into A1C on Saturday, October 17 for the opening reception.

Travel writer Steve English recently named A1C Gallery “the leading contemporary-art space in St. John’s.” Though some might disagree, I happen to think he’s onto something and am excited to see what’s in store with this upcoming exhibition of short films.

About Allyson Mitchell:

Allyson Mitchell’s filmmaking was borne of the spirit of DIY riot grrrl activisms and draws on queer activist strategies, anti-oppression troublemaking and an investment in the far-reaching power of local collaborations. Through participation in community-based film festivals and artist co-ops in Toronto, she has produced twenty-two films and videos since 1996. For nearly ten years, Mitchell has frequently collaborated on film and performance with fellow artist Christina Zeidler as Freeshow Seymour. A retrospective of their collective work recently toured film festivals and performance spaces internationally. Until their retirement in 2004, Mitchell also performed actively with the fat performance troupe Pretty Porky and Pissed Off, which was founded in 1997.

[image via]

It was standing room only at A1C Gallery Friday night for the Rolling Parlour Cabaret, a music and dance collaboration between Susie Burpee and Christine Fellows.

While I can’t show you any of their spellbinding performance (Burpee moves with a nervous, staccato energy while Fellows accompanies with sincere, melancholic melodies, together shaping a compelling glimpse into an unusually lovable character), you’re more than welcome to check out last night’s reaction from the crowd:

The Rolling Parlour Cabaret happens again tonight, 9:30pm at the A1C Gallery as part of the 19th annual Festival of New Dance.

From A1C Gallery:

A1C Gallery is looking for an experienced and hard-working individual to fill the part-time position of Gallery Coordinator. The Gallery Coordinator will work closely with the Board of Directors to manage the administrative and logistical aspects of A1C Gallery. Responsibilities will include:

• Planning and organizing exhibitions and events
• Communicating with exhibiting artists
• Maintaining an accurate account of financial transactions
• Promotion and publicity
• Contributing to grant proposals and reports
• Researching avenues for funding
• Installing exhibitions
• Managing the office

The successful applicant will have:

• Post-secondary education in the arts, or equivalent work experience
• Knowledge of contemporary art practice and the visual arts sector
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience with Photoshop, Microsoft Office, HTML and other software

Previous experience in arts administration and event coordination are highly desirable. Applicants must be flexible as this position will include work on evenings and weekends.

This is a part-time six-month position for 20hrs/week at $15/hr.

Please apply to:

Attn: Kym Greeley

Hiring Committee

A1C Gallery

8 Baird’s Cove

St. John’s NL

A1C 6M9

Or: a1c@nl.rogers.com

The deadline for applications is July 10, 2009 and the job starts in August.

Looks like an ideal way for an artist to eke out a living while having most of your time to yourself to work on your art. Granted, $200 a week (give-or-take after taxes) probably isn’t quite enough to live off of on its own, but offset that with the odd shift at somewhere like Hava Java or Folly and you’re laughing.

A1C is the downtown St. John’s postal code, where it’s believed there is the largest concentration of artists per capita than any other postal code in Canada. Quite fittingly, it’s also the name of the artist run gallery in the area.

Going Postal: Responding to Canada’s Most Artistic Postal Code is a unique fundraising project that celebrates our position as Canada’s most artistic area. A1C Gallery is welcoming all artists to submit “a single work in any medium that in some way considers the geographic, social, political or architectural nature of downtown St John’s.”

All work will be presented in the A1C exhibition space beginning May 16th, and remain on display until June 6th. All work will be available for sale through silent auction on the night of the reception. Artists may request up to 50% of any sales. Please consider submitting work that would be appropriate in scale and price to the silent auction format.

To submit, download and fill out this form then bring it along with your artwork to A1C between noon and 6pm either today, tomorrow, or Wednesday. If you need a little more time, send a message along to a1c (at) nl (dot) rogers (dot) com and they should be able to accommodate.

In case you haven’t heard, Signal is having a launch party!

It’s all happening Friday, May 1st, at A1C Gallery.

Hope to see you there!

Signal, the St. John’s blog, has been diligently working behind the scenes for the last four months to develop a top notch blogging presence in this city.

We’ve worked hard, and now it’s time to play hard!

To celebrate the launch of our new site design, and to let the anyone in the city who doesn’t already know it that we’re here, we’re throwing a party!

Join us Friday, May 1st at A1C Gallery, 8 Baird’s Cove (across from the Court House on Water Street) for DJs, dancing, food, booze and crazy live-blogging.

Wanna dance? DJ’s Leo van Ulden and Herman Collider at your service.

Care for a bite? Delicious food like sushi, Thai spring rolls and more are free for the munching.

Thirsty? The gallery bar’s open and your first drink’s on us. That’s right: the FIRST FIFTY party people to walk through the door will get a free vodka or rum drink.

The blog will be in full view all night and we’ll be posting the sites and sounds of the party as it all happens!

It all gets underway at 6pm, so why not stop in for a drink and a bite after work?

And it’ll be going strong until at least 11pm, maybe even later, so it’s the perfect platform to dive off of and into the rest of your Friday night adventures.

Stay tuned to the blog and check out our Facebook Event and Fan Page for more details as they arrive.

We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and we can’t wait to have you join us!

See you soon!

:::The Signal Team:::