The Real Social Responsibility

A wise man said "Be the change you want to see in the world". For much of my life I thought contributing to the greater good required dramatic, revolutionary actions, that would be heard far and wide.

But I find of late that my approach is a more quiet one, namely to start with the circle around me, whether it be a fellow shopper in the grocery store or a curious woman peeping in the gallery window or an old friend on the other end of the phone line. And I make my mark with a kind smile, a cup of tea or a deep breath to calm us all.

A year of stories have been whispered in my ear on the gallery couch. Strangers, friends, artists, clients. I was thinking tonight about what that is worth. It gives me much peace that my little corner of the world has cast its little stone into the ocean of life, creating little ripples whose effects I may never know.

Image: Origins, Pamela Dodds. 10"x14" linocut. Currently showing at tinku gallery

MediaStyle interview with tinku gallery

Communications wunderkind Ian Capstick was in town recently and invited me for an interview to talk about how I use different types of communication tools to promote the gallery and our artists. When I do interviews like these it's a great way for me to stop and reflect on what I'm doing and see things with a fresh set of eyes.

Thank you Ian for giving me the spotlight for a few minutes!

MediaStyle.ca interview with Amrita Chandra of TinkU Gallery from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

NOLA

Greetings from New Orleans, where I spent the week attending a conference for my "other job". I didn't get a chance to visit many art galleries other than peering in through the windows of a few spots on Royal Street in the French Quarter. Being in a tourist district, the art I saw was generally mediocre, other than one gallery called Ammo which has a show on right now by Rajko Radovanovic.

The best art experience of the week was actually a conversation I had over drinks with two art teachers from Huntsville, Alabama. They teach at Bob Jones, a high school that has been recognized as having the best arts program in the United States. They were curious about my approach with tinku gallery and I mentioned the series of stories about artists I wrote for my recent Nissan competition. They agreed that much of good teaching is storytelling, and talked about how their students responded when abstract concepts were broken down into something more personal.

I only got a little taste of this city but it feels so mystical and rich and mysterious. Hot humid evening strolls in neighbourhoods with weeping willows, music seeping out of run down bars, lamp lit streets. A perfect breeding for art, music, literature.

Meeting Heather Gold

I was at our opening on Friday night, when I noticed a group of cyclists stop, look a little closer at the gallery, then park their bikes and come in. Turns out it was Heather Gold, a performing artist/stand up comic/activist/too-many-other-roles-to-list, visiting from New York. Heather and I had connected on Twitter and lo and behold when she came into town she came by the gallery and we spent the next afternoon having lunch at a lovely new patisserie on Queen West.

We talked about everything from whether her art would have an audience in Toronto (tough to say), how San Francisco was liberal in terms of expression but not necessarily in terms of equality (very important distinction!), being gay in India, and balancing public vs. private in an age of increasingly open communications.

Heather has forged many new paths, whether it be as an activist for gay marriage or an early integrator of new media + performing art. She's someone I'm looking forward to getting to know more and watching to see what she does with her art and her life. You can find out more about Heather at www.heathergold.com

Beyond the Traditional Print opens Fri July 10th

Join us for the opening reception of Beyond the Traditional Print, featuring 3 printmakers from Toronto's Open Studio. Geneviève Jodouin (screen printing), Astrid Ho (monotype), and Pamela Dodds (linocut) illustrate contemporary practices of traditional printmaking methods.

The show opens Friday July 10th 6-9 pm and continues till July 31st.

Image: Long Distance Call, Geneviève Jodouin. Screen print, 15" x 22"

Women Artists

I was in the bookstore the other day, in the Art History section, and picked up a book called Women Artists by Margaret Barlow. There are so many names in there that are completely unfamiliar to me, and it struck me how odd it is that in 2009 we still need to have a book devoted to this subject. Imagine how funny it would seem to publish a book called Male Artists.

What is the reason for the lack of awareness of female artists? Director Pamela Tanner Boll explores this subject in the film Who Does She Think She Is?, a film which I have yet to see but is on my must-watch list. The trailer quotes a man saying that art schools have a student body that is 70% female, yet in the gallery system, about 70% of the exhibitions are of male artists.

At my gallery, I never considered a person's gender when selecting their work for a show, and as it happens, I have an almost equal split of male/female artists in my roster.

I want to hear from you - do you feel that it is harder for a female artist to be taken seriously? What are the barriers? What can we do to change the system, either as institutions or galleries or audiences?