why White Water ?
In 1974, Gill and I relocated the family from London Ontario to North Bay. The move was so that, after five years as education curator at the London Public Library and Art Museum, I could return to studio-based teaching. Canadore College hired me to teach a fine art component in several of their certificate programs. Once settled in North Bay, Gill & I continued with our art making at home but, after a couple of years, I decided that I needed dedicated studio space. There wasn’t much available at a rate I could afford until I spoke with Daphne Mayne. The floor above Mayne Travel was vacant. Daphne was sympathetic to my interest and the rent was reasonable. In part, this may have been because the third floor housed a marshal-arts studio and vibration from their activity had collapsed the ceiling across the back half of the second floor. In effect, half of the available square footage was covered in debris. The damage wasn’t structural, but the pile of plaster, tin and lath was impressive. The front part of the second floor had been walled off and rented as a clothing store. It was carpeted and equipped with changing cubicles. I worked in this good space for a short while but decided that it would make good exhibition space so the rear space cleaned up as a studio for me.
With the experience of working in a public gallery and also of putting together the London-based Pie in the Sky group that exhibited in Toronto, I gathered a small group of artists who would have an interest in showing their work in an alternate gallery space, and whose professional credibility would permit the group to incorporate and apply for sustaining funds from the Arts Council. That founding group comprised Jane Agnew (ceramics), Mike DeMoree (photography), Dennis Geden (painting and printmaking), Jane Perry (textiles), Gill Maycock (batik and drawing) and me. After a few meetings, Mike decided not to continue with the project. The remaining group of five elected to pool our resources, pay the rent and keep things afloat until we could apply to the Ontario Arts Council for support. After operating for the best part of a year, Peeter Sepp and Walter Sunahara of the arts council visited us and recognized that a town of 50,000+ without a public gallery was a community in need. We were successful with our application for funds and incorporated as the White Water Gallery.
During that first year, we scheduled the founding group for solo shows and invited others to join us. I cannot recall who else exhibited in the first year, but I do recall a lot of good will in that our self-funded budget did not provide for artist fees. Photographer Ford Colyer joined us along with artist Mike Couchie and, later, potter Keith Campbell. Some time after that, we expanded our audience by co-opting poet Ken Stange and the gallery programme became more than just exhibitions. Perhaps more importantly, we were able to pay full artist fees which allowed us to invite significant emerging artists such as Suzie Lake, Barbara Astman and Carl Beam to show their work to a North Bay audience.
I remained as president or board member for the first seven years and Gill was a board member for the same period. However, following the system-wide purge of community college arts and humanities instructors, I was laid off from Canadore College. In 1983 we relocated the family to Nova Scotia where I completed an MA and then taught full-time at NSCAD University until retirement in 2013.
Gill and I were sad to leave North Bay and are amazed that something we started with our friends over forty years ago is still serving what we expected would be a relatively short-lived role as the community’s public gallery. It says something about the commitment and energy of past and current board members and employees that the White Water Gallery – a name dreamed up by Dennis Geden – remains a vibrant and vital part of the community.
With the experience of working in a public gallery and also of putting together the London-based Pie in the Sky group that exhibited in Toronto, I gathered a small group of artists who would have an interest in showing their work in an alternate gallery space, and whose professional credibility would permit the group to incorporate and apply for sustaining funds from the Arts Council. That founding group comprised Jane Agnew (ceramics), Mike DeMoree (photography), Dennis Geden (painting and printmaking), Jane Perry (textiles), Gill Maycock (batik and drawing) and me. After a few meetings, Mike decided not to continue with the project. The remaining group of five elected to pool our resources, pay the rent and keep things afloat until we could apply to the Ontario Arts Council for support. After operating for the best part of a year, Peeter Sepp and Walter Sunahara of the arts council visited us and recognized that a town of 50,000+ without a public gallery was a community in need. We were successful with our application for funds and incorporated as the White Water Gallery.
During that first year, we scheduled the founding group for solo shows and invited others to join us. I cannot recall who else exhibited in the first year, but I do recall a lot of good will in that our self-funded budget did not provide for artist fees. Photographer Ford Colyer joined us along with artist Mike Couchie and, later, potter Keith Campbell. Some time after that, we expanded our audience by co-opting poet Ken Stange and the gallery programme became more than just exhibitions. Perhaps more importantly, we were able to pay full artist fees which allowed us to invite significant emerging artists such as Suzie Lake, Barbara Astman and Carl Beam to show their work to a North Bay audience.
I remained as president or board member for the first seven years and Gill was a board member for the same period. However, following the system-wide purge of community college arts and humanities instructors, I was laid off from Canadore College. In 1983 we relocated the family to Nova Scotia where I completed an MA and then taught full-time at NSCAD University until retirement in 2013.
Gill and I were sad to leave North Bay and are amazed that something we started with our friends over forty years ago is still serving what we expected would be a relatively short-lived role as the community’s public gallery. It says something about the commitment and energy of past and current board members and employees that the White Water Gallery – a name dreamed up by Dennis Geden – remains a vibrant and vital part of the community.
Written for WWG Forty Year Anniversary exhibition (2017) and updated for this website July 2020
