The Rossland Art Gallery reopened to the public on Wednesday, July 8 after being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Moving forward, the gallery will showcase artwork from a different group of Kootenay artists each month.
Art gallery curator Fletcher Quince said Buck Walker from Winlaw, George Koochin from Castlegar and Antoine Marcheterre are the first artists featured in the gallery from July 8 to August 8.
“This is about creating an understanding of the artists that are out here in the Kootenays, demonstrating what they’re creating and demonstrating that to people across the world,” said Fletcher.
“Rossland gets so much international traffic and we have painters with artwork in the National Gallery of Art, sculptors winning award competitions and Kootenay artists travelling around the world to showcase their artwork.”
Every month, one or two pieces of artwork will be kept from every featured artist to help continue to promote them on the world stage.
Painters, sculptors and potters are some of the artists that are being featured at the gallery.
The facility will also help to provide Kootenay artists with more work in the future, according to Fletcher.
“It’s a 2000-square-foot facility with a 14-foot vault, so its got storage for a lot of art,” said Fletcher.
“The more we build the brand, the easier it will be for visitors in the space to find a carver to work on the timber framing, metal railings or other artwork in their house.”
Artwork showcased in the gallery will be for sale to the public. The gallery will be open 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday.
The art gallery has been operating in Rossland for around 10 years.
