New gallery for the arts precinct
Creative venture finds a home in Guyton St spot
The growing Guyton St arts precinct will soon have another artistic attraction when Talula Hodder and Eli Lamont open ET Gallery this month.
Next door to Sue Cooke, Artist, and downstairs from Inferno Design, ET Gallery is another in the list of creative ventures finding a home in Guyton St.
The gallery idea came about when Talula and Eli needed a space away from home for the creation and display of their art. With Talula going on maternity leave soon, it would be a good time to start the gallery.
“If we’re going to have a space away from the house where we do art, we should try and make it profitable, and it would be cool to do more with books and things,” says Talula.
She has already written and illustrated a children’s book, with another on the way. She and Eli have also started producing colouring books.
“There will be a studio out the back, and we’ll have the gallery, and we’ll sell coffee as well.” That’s take-away coffee, using the Volcano blend of beans roasted in O¯ hakune. Talula is a barista.
“I’m very lucky: I’ve had so much support from Les, my boss at Mint Cafe´ . “
Talula and Eli take over the lease on June 8. Owner Sue Cooke saw the value in having another art space in the building.
Eli works upstairs at Inferno, a handy distance to help out at lunchtime.
“The other reason we wanted to open up there is because it’s such a creative area — if you want to see a gallery, it’s a good spot to go see one,” says Talula. “It will be mostly our own work but we want to open it up to other artists. We’ve got a few people who are interested.”
Eli says they produce a lot of paintings and digital prints.
“We want to get some [printed] T-shirts in there as well,” he says. “Affordable things.”
He says as well as books and colouring books, they’d like to produce comics later.
“We want to make it a childfriendly gallery,” says Talula. “It’s a rare thing to be able to take your kids to a gallery. I was thinking of having an art corner for kids, and maybe they can have a small display area for their art, so they can feel included.”
“It’s nice to have a place that’s approachable for people,” says Eli. The coffee is part of that as an added attraction.