Intro

0:00

my name is heidi bergstrom i am the

0:02

president of exchanges gallery and

0:04

studios

0:05

uh this is my third year of being

0:07

president but i have been a member here

0:09

since 1999 when i first moved to

0:11

victoria

About Xchanges

0:13

so exchanges was founded in 1967.

0:16

during a time the late 60s early 70s was

0:19

when

0:20

many groups were starting to form

0:22

collectives and

0:23

artists run centers and the arts council

0:26

was formed at that time and

0:27

open space so these groups really

0:30

started to found

0:31

found the art scene here in victoria

0:34

exchanges is comprised of many different

0:36

artists from

0:37

many different media and walks of life

0:40

there’s an open door policy at exchanges

0:43

where we attract people from

0:45

all kinds of places so that’s a very

0:47

exciting community to be in

0:49

many times emerging artists come to

0:51

exchanges and this is their first

0:53

introduction to the broader art scene

0:55

especially after school

0:57

so exchanges has always been an

1:00

important

1:01

place in victoria we are funded through

1:04

the bc government

1:05

the gaming grant we are funded through

1:07

the crd

1:08

public arts program so they fund the

1:11

operation of the gallery we do a lot of

1:13

fundraising on our own

1:14

and of course we have members we have

1:16

over 128 members right now

1:18

and so those are comprised of artists

1:20

who are here in the studios and artists

1:22

who are out at their own studios

1:24

and in the community even as far away as

1:27

rhode island

1:28

and manitoba california all over

1:32

when the pandemic hit we had to stop all

1:35

of our life drawing programs

1:37

and all of our other programs that took

1:38

place here in the gallery and we we put

1:40

them all online

1:42

when we did that we were really stepping

1:45

out we didn’t really know what we were

1:46

doing in terms of how’s the community

1:48

going to respond

1:49

a lot of people said no no you can’t do

1:51

this it’s it’s you know nobody wants to

1:53

do life drawing online

1:54

well in fact it was the opposite we had

1:56

many people coming out who

1:58

sent us emails saying thank you i

2:00

haven’t been to life drawing for 10

2:02

20 30 years and suddenly they were back

2:05

at it and they were connecting with

2:07

people online

2:08

we had since may between may and august

2:11

we had

2:12

over 450 people participating in online

2:15

life drawing we also were able to hire

2:17

models from outside the city as well

2:20

we had models coming from california

2:22

from new york

2:23

um la all over the place and so it was

2:26

really exciting for us to be involved in

2:27

that we’re going to continue as well

2:29

when we get our in-person life drawing

2:32

going again

2:33

we will also include the online

2:34

community as we did in september

2:36

so that hybrid model of online and

2:39

in-person at the same time is really

2:41

important because

2:42

in fact we are all part of one community

2:45

and so

2:46

we teach people that um it’s all one

2:49

room

2:50

whether it’s online or in person we’re

2:52

all in the same room together and they

2:53

share the work at the end

2:54

and that kind of thing as well so it’s

2:56

very exciting and we also had our first

2:58

digital exhibition

2:59

online um our members show this show

3:02

actually had a digital

3:04

incarnation and we also had a covid show

3:06

so covid life

3:08

drawing during um the time of covet when

3:11

so that was very exciting we had over 68

3:13

people show up for the virtual opening

3:14

for that one

3:16

and literally hundreds of pieces of art

3:18

online right now that you can see

3:20

through our art gallery online

Bill Bartlett

3:24

hi welcome my name is bill bartlett

3:27

please come on into the studio

3:29

um i will say that i like to tell people

3:32

that there’s

3:33

viewer discretion as you’ll see from

3:35

looking around it’s all about the human

3:37

form

3:38

but you’re certainly welcome i’ve been

3:41

a studio member of exchanges now for

3:44

since 2014 but my involvement goes back

3:48

from

3:48

the early 70s when exchanges were still

3:51

at

3:52

signal hill and i got involved in

3:55

life drawing and i think the thing

3:58

about exchanges that’s really important

4:01

to me

4:01

is the people and the work that we do

4:05

and here in the studios there’s that

4:07

relationship between

4:08

your other studio mates um you know

4:11

exchanging ideas no pun intended uh

4:14

just the idea that we’re here and

4:18

we’re here for the same reason

Richard Waterman

4:23

hi i’m richard watchman and this is

4:26

my studio uh it’s a little crowded but

4:30

you’re welcome to

4:31

to come in um i’ve been part of

4:34

exchanges

4:35

for decades it’s i really value it as a

4:39

community affordable space but also

4:41

there’s other artists around to

4:43

gain ideas from get feedback from it so

4:45

it’s it’s a real positive thing

4:47

most of my work involves the viewer

4:50

physically

4:51

interacting with them so

4:54

masks masks open and and clothes and

4:59

viewers are in charge of of what happens

5:02

these ones are recent landscapes those

5:04

things don’t move um

5:06

but these ones these big ones do so the

5:10

viewer can

5:11

and reposition what’s going on with them

5:14

and and this collaboration with making

5:17

the painting

5:18

with the model and then there’s

5:20

collaboration between viewer and

5:22

artists in in seeing it hi my name is

Shannon Holmes

5:26

shannon holmes and i’m a new member with

5:29

the exchanges art gallery and i’ve also

5:31

just joined as a board member

5:33

for their marketing and communications

5:36

and

5:37

i’m really excited about being a member

5:39

because i think

5:40

exchanges is a hidden gem it has a

5:42

wonderful rich history

5:44

and it has a long long history in the

5:47

community

5:48

and i think you should come down and see

Gregory Varano

5:50

the show hi

5:51

i’m gregory varano i am a member of the

5:54

crossgrain photo society

5:56

and a member of exchanges

6:00

and a new member to the board of

6:01

exchanges but let me take you into

6:03

crossgrain

6:04

it’s victoria’s only wet dark room that

6:07

i know of

6:08

where you can print and process

6:11

traditional

6:12

film let’s have a walk in

6:17

this is our wet room facilities with two

6:20

enlargers

6:21

a sink with all traditional chemistry

6:24

and this is where you can come in and

6:26

process your film

6:28

the old fashioned way through tanks

6:31

reels and print them

6:35

traditional way too through analog

Susan Nonen

6:38

printing

6:40

so we do accept new members so you can

6:42

always

6:43

check us out on the exchange’s website

6:46

cross grains photo society

6:49

hello welcome to my studio

6:52

mine and chantals and this is my chaotic

6:56

work

6:56

over here um

7:00

my name is susan nonen by the way and

7:03

i am an oil painter i work in linen

7:07

i’m the picture i’m working on right now

7:10

i’m not sure if i’m ever gonna work on

7:12

it again

7:12

i’m at that point i already scrubbed it

7:16

and this was my before work this is all

7:18

exchanges work

7:20

um that i’ve done since i’ve been at

7:22

exchanges

7:23

and it’s it’s very dynamic place to work

7:26

and and being in the middle of the city

7:30

has just been

7:32

fantastic i think we’re good for

7:35

the city and the city being here is good

7:37

for us

7:39

so endless exchanges is wonderful you

7:42

get to be

7:43

completely who you are as long as you’re

7:45

willing to cooperate

7:47

cooperate it’s it’s an artist

7:49

cooperative

7:50

and so it’s essential that everybody

7:53

does everything

7:54

takes command everybody feels everybody

7:57

feels from the heart

7:58

here it’s really wonderful that’s it i’m

8:10

done

8:22

you

No results found