Introducing the 2010-2011 gallery team

The niche gallery team for the 2010-2011 academic year will consist of members Tyler Stewart, David Smith and Kaari Landry. It'll be exciting to see how these new individuals contribute their own unique visions for the gallery.

Special thanks to Bonnie Patton and Brenna Crabtree for being the back-bone of the gallery this past Spring semester 2010. The exhibitions wouldn't have been possible without their organization and dedication to the gallery. The Faculty + Staff Exhibition was a great way to end the school year. Excellent work, girls!

I'd like to send best wishes for another successful year at niche gallery! I hope that the 2010-2011 gallery team will enjoy the experience of running the gallery as much as our team did this year.

-Lisa Spinelli, former director

Faculty + Staff Exhibition

*photos courtesy of Bonnie Patton

Brianne Ippolito and Naznin Daya

Allie Kratz: From Bone to Bone

Jasmine Mutch: Obsessed

CALL FOR GALLERY VOLUNTEER STAFF

Niche gallery is searching for new volunteers for the 2010-2011 school year. As the current gallery team will be entering their fourth year in September, we felt it would be suitable to give younger students an opportunity to obtain a valuable learning experience. This experience could be helpful to both Art History and Art Studio majors.

If you or someone you know is interested in helping run niche gallery, please e-mail Bonnie Patton at bonnie.patton@uleth.ca, or Brenna Crabtree at b.crabtree@uleth.ca

It is our gallery team's sincere hope that a group of students - 3 to 5 students - will help next year so that the gallery will continue.

There aren't really any strict rules or qualifications needed to run niche gallery - just a sincere interest and enthusiasm, as well as reliability, will do just fine.

However...

...on that note we'd still like to make a recommendation that at least one gallery team member have a background in Museum Studies (i.e. - someone who has taken Intro. to Museum Studies and/or Critical Issues in Museum Studies). This way the whole 'behind-the-scenes' gallery procedures will be addressed, because it's easy to underestimate the amount of thought behind an exhibition when you're new to the exhibition process; there's really more to it than one might think.

With that said, here are some good reasons to volunteer to run niche gallery:

1. It's a great learning experience
2. It's fun and interesting to run a gallery
3. It will look awesome on your artist CV/Resume
4. You'll obtain a lot of knowledge and appreciation for gallery spaces

Positions needed t0 be filled for 2010-2011 are:

• Director/Curator
• Public Coordinator
• Interviewer/Review Writer
• Technician/Installation Assistant

We hope to receive some e-mails in the New Year - may the recruiting begin!

Sincerely,

the 2009-2010 niche gallery team

Opening of Tainted Danish

Tainted Danish is a group of anonymous members who collaborated to privately publish a collection of arbitrary works in a zine. Like Natalie Gravel's exhibition, Tainted Danish used the niche gallery as a starting point for their project. They provided a donation box at the front of the gallery with a suggested price of $5, and in the open gallery they left a stack of the zines in the open gallery for visitors to take.

The scenario was rather similar to that of a newspaper stand. It was neat to be able to watch people stopping to reach into the gallery and to watch their faces as they paused to read the zines. People shared things that amused them with each other, and every time they opened the zine again there would be something else to catch their attention. Also during the opening, the artists signed copies of the zine for visitors, and suggested that there could be monthly issues available in the gallery to take advantage of the long duration of their show.

Tainted Danish will be displaying at the niche gallery until January 13, 2010.

-review written by Bonnie Patton