What started as a casual meeting of artists under a bridge has now developed into one of the city’s more unconventional art exhibitions – the Bay Street Bridge Art Gathering.
On Saturday, a group of artists occupied a piece of land beneath the Point Ellice Bridge, also known as the Bay Street Bridge.
Ricky Long, co-organizer of the event, said it is always a surprise what comes to the event since there is no registration or entry fee and no suggestions are needed from those wishing to exhibit.
“There are people here who are very well-trained artists and hang their beautiful little flower (paintings), but there are also the more avant-garde ones.”
The offerings, which included a wide range of canvas art, prints, postcards, sculptures and photographs, also included an unusual collection of Jesus sculptures – including one mounted on a tennis racket that doubled as a candlestick.
There were also live performances. One artist performed a sound artwork that consisted mostly of speaker feedback and screaming.
Performance artist John G. Boehme systematically and silently threw rolled up newspapers against a nearby bridge pillar.
Long said that not all artwork is meant to be pleasant or easy to understand. “Some are loud and annoying – but that’s good because you’ll remember them.”
Soma Morse, another organizer of the event, said the best thing about the event was that it was multidisciplinary and a “combination of things you wouldn’t necessarily see together.”
“There are trained artists, there are people who are just starting out, there are people who have no training and have been doing (art) for years. It’s just a great combination,” she said.
The first “Under the Bridge” meeting was an organic, almost spontaneous gathering between collage colleagues who wanted to showcase their art as COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed.
“We just did it. We had about six or seven strings and hung our collages,” Long said.
Long did not intend for it to be more than a one-time event, although the event took place on May 8, 2021, World Collage Day.
But that day, a young man came by and shyly asked if he could join in and show his art, too, Long said.
“He pulled out this big book with collages and drawings of all kinds. It was incredible.”
This made Long realize that Victoria needed more places where people could simply express their creative side.
The meeting developed into a regular art exhibition that takes place twice a summer and grows with each edition.
Long, who has been an artist for many years, said he has always been intimidated by the highbrow mainstream art world.
But that pressure doesn’t exist when the art exhibition takes place under a bridge, he said. “We can make art. We don’t have to be perfect.”
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