On the cusp of its 10th anniversary, Madrona GalleryB次元官网网址檚 owner recalled starting as a local gallery that might not be here today if COVID-19 had come along during its first two years.
The downtown store, which is accessible from View Street and Trounce Alley, is currently hanging a wall-sized Ted Harrison, Glorious Lone Land, a five-foot by seven-foot piece from 1990 that recently sold to another dealer.
Their new exhibition will feature guest pieces from MadronaB次元官网网址檚 stable of artists, Meghan Hildebrand, Nicholas Bott, Clayton Anderson, Sean Yelland, and others. It is also showing historic and post-war works by E. J. Hughes, Takao Tanabe, Harrison, and members of the Group of Seven.
It didnB次元官网网址檛 start that way, but Madrona owner Michael Warren has become a savvy art dealer who has overseen the sales of seminal works by Canadian greats including Hughes, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Tik-Tak, Pauta Saila and Kenojuak Ashevak.
| Ted Harrison's Glorious Lone Land, 1990, a five-foot by seven-foot painting hanging in Madrona Gallery ahead of the store's 10th anniversary. (Madrona Gallery/Ted Harrison) |
But those types of sales are not what Warren and his partner Theresa McFarland made when they started the gallery in June of 2010.
B次元官网网址淚n a lot of ways it feels like just yesterday we were opening the gallery and learning how to swim,B次元官网网址� Warren said. B次元官网网址淏ut weB次元官网网址檝e done a lot. The business has grown, going from a local focus with a local footprint to sourcing work nationally and internationally.B次元官网网址�
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About 13 years ago, Warren was an employee a few metres down View Street in the West End Gallery when he was poached and took an offer to work in a Whistler gallery. ThatB次元官网网址檚 when the art history major and McFarland, an historian, hatched plans to open their own space on View. He was there for two years before they opened Madrona.
What stands out about Madrona, especially right now with a series of Hughes pieces on the wall, is how they mix classics and contemporaries, often West Coast but not always.
B次元官网网址淲e try to connect the dots in terms of the story of Canadian art, which is always changing, but itB次元官网网址檚 great for us to show works like [Ted Harrison], past artists that influence other artists who are still alive,B次元官网网址� Warren said. B次元官网网址淭ake Clayton Anderson, and then check this out next to a Hughes, and all of a sudden youB次元官网网址檝e got this really interesting collection.B次元官网网址�
Still, they continue to deal in everything, which means encouraging local emerging artists to build their career, to having a rare Thomson piece which will eventually sell in the millions.
The classics donB次元官网网址檛 always sell right away, and thatB次元官网网址檚 okay, he said. Having pieces from a seminal artist come through the gallery can be a way to balance and contextualize a buyerB次元官网网址檚 comfort level.
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B次元官网网址淏uyers can sometimes be anxious, not matter what level youB次元官网网址檙e spending at, you want to make sure youB次元官网网址檙e informed and comfortable with the decision,B次元官网网址� Warren said.
The gallery is soon to say goodbye to the Harrison piece, Glorious Lone Land. Warren believes it is likely HarrisonB次元官网网址檚 biggest work.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a really rare important piece of Ted Harrison,B次元官网网址� Warren said. B次元官网网址淗e is probably the most important artist of the Yukon. We spotted this in an auction in Toronto, and really wanted to bring it back to Victoria. People around here want the best of HarrisonB次元官网网址檚 work.B次元官网网址�
Things are going well now but it wasnB次元官网网址檛 always easy.
B次元官网网址淭he first two years [McFarland] worked and that allowed me to put all my time, energy and money into the gallery,B次元官网网址� Warren said. B次元官网网址淲e wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have survived without her working. I basically didnB次元官网网址檛 pay myself for those couple of years.B次元官网网址�
Looking back, a COVID-19 pandemic would have been disastrous, he said. In surviving, that time allowed them to build a stable of artists and to become the gallery they are.
B次元官网网址淭here were times when we were new, there were artists or people that we thought were a going to be a good fit for the market and, even though the works were great, it just didnB次元官网网址檛 have a commercial market here,B次元官网网址� Warren said. B次元官网网址淪ometimes you fail, and then you learn and adapt to a new level of knowledge, and try to do better the next time.B次元官网网址�
