By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After many years calling the Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) home, the Burlington Potters’ Guild and the Burlington Hooking Craft Guild (BHCG) have moved to a new location.
Both guilds have relocated to Studio717 at 717 Centre Road, in the north end of Waterdown.
Mary Helen Ostner of the Hooking Craft Guild said the move was “bittersweet” after the guild had been housed at the AGB since 1975.
“It was a very long process for our guild to just come to terms with the fact that we needed to look for a different location,” Ostner said. “We needed storage space, and the AGB was limiting that and wanted us to remove our stuff. They wanted to use it for other things and expand their programming, so our access to the actual space we used was being curtailed.”
Despite the split, Ostner said that the Hooking Guild had a very good relationship with the AGB, saying that they “served us well.”
Monika Schaefer, who has been a member of the Burlington Potters’ Guild for nearly 30 years, said that her guild has “outgrown” the AGB.
“We were given less and less access to the studio,” Schaefer said. “Sometimes it was down to just a few hours a week for our members. That’s kind of hard for them if they’re trying to produce something, to have such limited access. Equipment was limited to us as well. We couldn’t offer classes and workshops that we wanted to put on without going through the AGB and having them take the money from it. So we wanted to run our own thing.”
Schaefer said that the AGB’s plan to tear down and rebuild the current gallery also factored into their decision.
“I know just from living out here that a new house takes two years plus to build,” Schaefer said. “I can’t imagine what a 77,000 square foot building will take to build. It’ll take probably that long to tear it down, and who knows how long to put up the new one. So during that time, we’re out of space completely.”
According to Ostner, the Latow Photographers Guild has also temporarily moved from the AGB to the basement of a church on Plains Road.
“The weavers, the sculptors, wood carvers, and the fine arts guilds are still [at the AGB],” Ostner said.
Despite the change of location, both guilds have kept Burlington in their names, though the potters’ guild has rebranded as the Burlington Area Potters’ Guild (BAPG).
“We had been looking for a long time in Burlington,” Schaefer said. “We looked at industrial units mostly because that was the lower end of the price range that we could find, and it was still way more money than they wanted up in Waterdown. So eventually we just decided that we’re going to make it Waterdown even though we’re both Burlington guilds.”
The new building previously housed a daycare, which has since moved into the neighbouring Catholic school.
Schaefer said that she wants to rent out leftover space to other art groups and envisions Studio717 as a hub for local artists.
“We also hope to rent out the hallway space to fine arts members and run solo exhibits every month or so,” Schaefer said. “It’s nice and wide, and it’ll be a really nice gallery kind of space for them. There’s apparently a shortage of gallery wall space available for solo shows and such, so hopefully the two will mesh.”
Schaefer said that members can now “play” while classes are in session, which was impossible at the AGB.
“When there isn’t a class in session, they can move over and work in the learning studio as well,” Schaefer said. “So they have lots of space. We have a kiln room, we have a glaze kitchen, we’re going to hopefully have a little retail shop as well in there.”
Schaefer said that the guilds also no longer have to worry about being out of the building by a certain time.
“Seven days a week from 8:30 in the morning till 10:30 at night we can be in there playing,” Schaefer said.
Ostner said a full-sized commercial kitchen will also be available to rent, along with a multi-purpose room available for events and meetings.
Members of both guilds have completed their orientation and are now working in the studio. Schaefer said that classes have started and are going very well.
“Everyone seems very impressed with the space,” Schaefer said.
To learn more about the BAPG and the BHCG, click here and here, respectively.
