Corner Store has art covered
Warren Feeney talks to Hannah Watkinson and Kyla Kuzniarski about their plans for a new innercity space.
No one could have imagined it a year ago, but permanent artists’ studios and spaces are about to open in the central city.
The Corner Store at 314 Cashel St a two-storey building of 400 square metres with studio space upstairs for 14 artists and workshops and exhibition spaces on the ground floor.
Yet, its presence should not come as a complete surprise. After all, the visual arts never really left the city in 2011.
The moment it was cordoned off with restricted entry, signs and painted images appeared on cordoned fences. In 2012, this was followed by street art and temporary arts projects on vacant sites and, by 2013, The Physics Room had reopened in High Sand SCAPE Public Art’s programme returned to the central city.
The Corner Store has developed from temporary studios established six months ago at 22 Welles Stt. Identifying itself as the Welder Collective, Christchurch property developers Box112 made it available to an informal group of artists that included Hannah Watkinson, Kyla Kuzniarski (Kyla K), Jane Maloney, Lara-Kate Marshall and Joel Hart.
Kuzniarski recalls that it was established quickly. ‘‘Hannah wanted to move In Situ Photo Project [a dedicated photography space] from the BNZ building. I had been keen to work with Lara to run some art exhibitions in an industrial pop-up space and we were offered 22 Welles St for artists’ studios and exhibitions. Sam Rofe, James Stringer and Rob Farrell from Box112 let us in free for the summer.’’
Watkinson says the Welder Collective and studios were opportune for her as well. ‘‘It just happened that around the same time In Situ Photo Project was having some issues. I mentioned it to James Stringer and he said, ‘‘we have got the Welder’’.
‘‘Kyla had been talking about doing community exhibitions and In Situ still had some funding at that point, so I said, ‘we will pay to fit it out as it is. We can do that and if we can have exhibitions as well‘. That was the realisation of the Welder Collective.’’
Stringer says that Box112’s commitment was about the value that art and artists bring to the city. ‘‘It’s about investing in the neighbourhood in which you operate.
‘‘In a tangible way, artists help regenerate areas of the city that are lacking vibrancy or creativity. Art gives more reasons for people to visit a development and, if done successfully, will ensure an area of town becomes synonymous with creativity and culture. In an intangible way, art brings together different people from different communities and stimulates those seemingly small social interactions that make people feel more connected with one another and with the city itself.’’
For Kuzniarski, the Welder was also an outcome of her background in graphic design. ‘‘I worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for a few brands and companies. Then I got involved in doing my own group show at Fixate Gallery in New Brighton about three years ago.
‘‘I put seven pieces of art in that exhibition and sold out. I then had a lot of commissioned work coming out of that and couldn’t fit it all in, so I ended up leaving my day job. It has just been transformational.
‘‘We started working in Welles St sometime in September 2016 and offering artists a space to work. We had our first exhibition in October. I am passionate about running exhibitions because I know how life-changing that can be for an artist. Knowing that someone values and loves their art enough to buy it can encourage an artist, help them believe that they have something to offer the world.
‘‘Our opening exhibition was Unframed and we had 24 local artists. The brief was one piece of
A2 unframed art and we had a massive response – huge crowds through the door. We sold most of the works on the night with 200 to
300 there for the opening. It blew us away.
‘‘I have met lots of other artists over the last year and have felt that there isn’t really much, especially in the inner-city that has been offered to urban artists to exhibit in. Urban art is special. It is a real slice of what is happening in our culture right at this time. A lot of street and urban artists come in that probably wouldn’t be attracted to a traditional gallery space; stencil/graffiti artists who have been part of our exhibitions, alongside some illustrators and ‘fine arts’ artists.
‘‘The closing exhibition in February in Welles St is I Am We Are. It is encouraging artists to take a look at what has shaped them. Looking at your roots and where you are from individually then where you are from and the people that have helped you grow. We have 24 artists for the exhibition, including work by Tony Cribb, Porta, Uncle Harold and Georgette Thompson.
‘‘I want to continue to run exhibitions in the city, activating vacant spaces and areas that might need a bit of life brought into them, where people maybe haven’t gathered much. There are prime spaces to do that in the central city.’’
Watkinson has taken up the lease of The Corner Store at 314 Cashel St, tenanting the spaces to artists associated with Welles St. ‘‘Kyla and I had been talking about the Cashel St building for a couple of years. It is a 70s building, quite industrial and a permanent space.
‘‘There were originally two people working from Welles St permanently. There are now four, with about four more who come in and out during the week. They are all moving to the new space.
‘‘I started at the Welder with a couple of people doing very different things; a guy who made leather goods who would never have considered himself an artist and Jane Maloney who runs M/K Press. She does Risograph printing and design work – so very different. The Welder has grown out from there. The most important thing for me is that it has filled The Corner Store. I haven’t even advertised, but I am more interested in expanding a community than filling a space.
‘‘The upstairs studios are only accessible to the artists but downstairs will be more of a community space and they intend to offer plenty of events. There is lots of interest, especially because we are in the CBD. There are very few event spaces like that around.
‘‘It is a big commercial venture, but what I am really excited about is that I have the opportunity to prove that a business is possible. We need to set up a cafe. I have been saying by the end of next year, but it could be by this year, there is a chance that we will be breaking even. We have the lease for the next four years.’’
Springer says the commitment to Welles Stand The Corner Store artists’ studios represents new relationships. ‘‘We have invested considerably into Welles St, both in the form of capital, refurbishing character buildings and by giving artists and start-ups free studio and gallery spaces to seed new ideas and partnerships.
‘‘Together they have created a vibrant area that is bringing new opportunities and new businesses together in a way that traditional commerce could not.’’
❚ I Am We Are, the final exhibition at 22 Welles St, opens on February 23 and runs until February 28. The Corner Store opens at 314 Cashel St in the first week of March, with exhibitions to follow later that month.