The colourful Eric Allen Montgomery is up to his old arts promotional tricks again.
Earlier this year, the Guelph artist/craftsperson curated an Ebar exhibition of visual art by the employees of Wyndham Art Supplies. Now, Montgomery is bringing over 30 fine crafts persons together for a two-day spring show of what he describes as highly imaginative and expertly crafted work.
This will be Montgomery’s third ACE (Art Craft Excellence) in Guelph, but he pulled off six other ACE showcases during his years as an arts promoter in British Columbia.
“My biggest purpose in bringing the ACE show to Guelph is to bring an awareness of fine craft to the community,” he said. “We have an incredible fine arts community here that gets a fair amount of play — the painters and sculptors. There’s lots of awareness there. And I’m trying to make people aware that Guelph has this incredible talent pool of craftsmen as well — potters, jewelers, glass artists, fashion designers.”
His life in the arts has taken him down a varied path — as a jeweler, glass studio practitioner, a worker in fine craft galleries across the land, and as a three-dimensional assemblage artist. He has won a number of awards and prizes for his own exploratory creations.
While the third edition of ACE will be highly varied, he said its main focus will be on jewelry and wearable art. Home furnishings and decorative wall art will also be on offer.
“Because of my background as a jeweler and a glass artist before I became a sculptor, that’s the world I know best,” he said. “I’m bringing some people into the show who I’ve known for 30 or more years. There’s history interwoven into this, which I’m really loving, and the act of bringing people together in this way.”
The event runs Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1 at Studio 404, 404 York Road, the home of Ross Davidson-Pilon's photographic studio in the St. Patrick’s Ward neighbourhood. Doors are open from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. both days.
A number of rooms in the building will feature a co-mingling of diverse items.
Artists from Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Manitoulin Island are involved, but local makers will make up the bulk of participants, including jeweler Sandra Noble Goss, furniture makers Era 66, and ceramic artist/potter Bunny Safari.
Montgomery is interested in all things finely crafted from glass, ceramics, textiles, precious metals and stones, and wood. He says all will have a place in the ACE Spring Show. There will be a “fun and funky” atmosphere of spring celebration in the spirit of the event, with the reemergence of spring fashions after the long winter being an overarching theme. Admission and parking are free.
“It’s an exhibition, yes, but it’s very definitely a sale,” he said, adding that previous ACE shows were Christmas season events.
“404 is a fantastic venue,” he added. “It’s not a church basement or a gymnasium. It’s very much a gallery setting. I’m trying very hard to make sure that the work I have on hand and the people I’m representing are the best I can find, and the venue suits that.”
