Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Fine Grind Cafe

37 James. St.
St. Catharines
(next to the St. Catharines & Area Arts Council)
finegrindcafe@gmail.com
905 348 3214
Rob MacNinch, Proprietor

Strega Cafe and Market

19 King Street
Downtown St. Catharines
Ontario, Canada
Tel: 905-984-5872

http://www.strega.ca

Ready for 2007

Art Under Glass is ready for 2007. We have just joined the St. Catharines & Area Arts Council. With two strong locations ready, we anticipate lots of exposure for artists in our community in a way that is easy, accessible, and we believe, truly unique.

Art Under Glass works as a gallery for artists who would like to see their work out in the public field of view. Rather than hang pictures on a wall once a month and fix the holes every time, founder Laurie Boese realized how simple it would be to place drawings and photos and watercolours "under the glass" tabletops in various cafes in town. The artist would be freed from the expenses of framing the work for a show, and the cafe owners would benefit from the new traffic generated by visitors coming to see the art. In Toronto many restaurants are booked for months and years with artists willing to put their work where people will go to see it. Maybe they'll be catching up to our innovations once they catch a whiff.

The project started 2 years ago when Kelly Gillard asked Laurie to see if he could arrange artists to show their work at the Strega Cafe and Market on King Street. Laurie had no interest in damaging the murals on the walls, nor in re-mixing various colours of paint to cover the holes in the murals every time an artist moved their work. Having coffee one day, he noticed a menu tucked under the glass table top and the concept was born.

A call went out for a group show. At least 2 artists requested a month for a solo show and the journey began. Several artists have been welcomed back, and have been very happy with both sales and publicity. The Brock Press, The Pelham News and the Niagara Pulse have been very helpful in alerting the community about the shows. Listen to CFBU 103.7 fm in Niagara to hear Elizabeth Chitty from The St. Catharines & Area Arts Council tell you about the Arts going on locally.

For more information, please contact:

Laurie Boese
Artist Extraordinaire
www.niagara.com/~elbows
elbows@niagara.com
artistsagainstacronyms@hotmail.com
h 905 641 0451
c 905 246 2787

Or leave a message by using the comments button on this page.