Cumberland, once a thriving coal town, has transformed with the times to become an innovative cultural centre.
Providing a vibrant addition to the milieu is the Corre Alice Gallery in the old Frelone building at 2781 Dunsmuir.
The next show, The Funeral of Empire, opens on May 18 at 7 p.m.
Frelone’s, painted dark blue with red trim, is a landmark in downtown Cumberland. Louis Frelone, part of a thriving Italian community, operated it as a grocery store until 1959. Since then the location has served as an accountant’s office, theatre, acupuncture clinic, health food store, motorcycle repair shop and venue for music lessons.
Current owner Corre Alice has reconfigured the 1935 structure into two galleries and a studio. Last summer she painted the fence turquoise and invited passersby to grab a brush and add some colour making it a real community project. Later this year she’s planning a haiku competition and will paint the winning poem on an outside wall.
“Creating some public art is a fun way to engage the community,” says Alice. “Lots of kids and older folks joined in when I was painting the fence.”
But the real artistic activity takes place inside the four walls.
The main gallery is an ever-changing display of Alice’s work and exhibits by other artists. Initially, feeling shy, Alice constructed a solid wall to separate her studio from the gallery. But it wasn’t long until she modified that to two offset walls making it possible to peek into her work space.
Alice is a small woman who paints large; a quiet person who loves colour.
A full-time painter, her chosen medium is oil with a bit of mixed media thrown in.
“I like oils because they’re greasy,” she explains. “It’s thick and you can play with it. But you have to stop at some point and let it dry so I might be working on four paintings at once.”
Alice paints in a variety of genres including figurative, representational and abstract and describes her overall style as abstract expressionism. She calls her artistic endeavors “a process of searching through paint.” In her artist’s statement she says, “I explore the relationship between the emotional and the intellectual and respond intuitively with distinctly personal marks.”
A painting usually originates with an idea or visual concept rather than a plan.
“When you get to that place where everything flows it is so wonderful,” says Alice. “But when you’re not in that place it’s a real disconnect and challenge. After many years I’m getting used to the cycle. It’s such a high when you’re in that place it carries you through the hard times.”
Born and raised on the Lower Mainland, Alice was drawn to art at an early age. In fact, her mother says at age three, Alice preferred using blank sheets of paper to create her own images to colouring books.
Alice eventually moved to Pender Island where she raised her three sons and had her own studio/gallery. Primarily a self-taught artist, she finally got around to studying art at the Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria College of Art, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and in Durham, New Hampshire after her children were grown.
Alice has participated in many group shows and, as well as her Cumberland gallery, her work is exhibited in Edmonton, Victoria and Nelson galleries and available through the art rental program of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
After 20 years on Pender Island, Alice decided it was time to move. She thought about the Kootenays and stayed for a while in Victoria but decided she wasn’t a city person. In her journal she described the type of place she wanted to live. She found it – Frelone’s - while dog sitting in Merville.
Alice bought the building in Sept. 2010 and opened the Corre Alice Gallery that Dec. The only criteria for exhibits are no classic West Coast art. “I love it,” says Alice. “But you see it in so many galleries, I want something different here.”
Earlier this year the gallery featured its first group show with 41 artists celebrating International Woman’s Day with music, performances, dance, spoken word and, of course, art.
Another group show will be held in September.
“The theme relates to the Occupy Movement, environmental issues and the Mayan Calendar,” explains Alice. The gallery space has also been rented for a Rotary fundraiser and parties and Alice occasionally holds painting workshops there.
On May 18 the Inner Island Surrealist Group presents Funeral of the Empire, a collective exhibition of collaborative and individual works. Sharing the space will be Wheelies and Other Examples of What We Have Become featuring sculptural works by Jeff Hartbower.
The opening includes a spontaneous artistic creation of a noise collage. During closing night May 30 at 7 p.m. the Surrealist Group launches Ron Salolsky’s new book, Scratching the Tiger’s Belly along with a performance by Sonarchy, a surrealist-inspired sound collage trio.
Other than openings, the gallery is “open often” Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If the door’s locked, Alice suggests calling over the fence to see if she’s working in the garden.
To confirm the gallery will be open at a certain time, contact Alice at 250-400-4099 or correalice@yahoo.ca. For more info about Alice or the gallery visit www.correalice.com.