Hello Stride Supporters, Firstly, we would like to apologize for the delay in sending this update. Stride staff and board have been working hard to rescue what we can and plan for the future. In the early morning of June 21, Stride Gallery was inundated by floodwater from the Elbow River breaching its banks. Due to safety concerns and restricted access, staff and volunteers were unable to enter the space until June 25. At that time, we learned the lower level of Stride took on over 3 feet of water. The upper level including the office and Main Space were mostly untouched. The first couple of days of recovery were spent removing Stride’s exhibition and publication archive, publication library, exhibition equipment and tools, as well as Mona Sharma’s artwork from the Project Room. In the days following, we undertook the restoration of Mona Sharma’s artwork as well as the various archive collections from the past 27 years. The next stage was the removal of remaining silt-saturated water and shortly thereafter, stripping the drywall, plywood and studs to bring the walls to the original concrete. At this time, thanks to help of many volunteers, we have salvaged a large portion of Mona’s artwork. The exhibition archive was culled in order to save the vital components and teams of volunteers cleaned the remaining materials. This is an ongoing process. The Stride Art Gallery Association would like to extend its gratitude to the many people and organizations that have assisted and continue to assist with the recovery efforts. Stride would like to thank cSPACE for leaping to the rescue. Hours before beginning the initial cleanup, the team at cSPACE offered their arts incubator space, the King Edward School (KES) as a temporary home. We were able, with a team of volunteers, to move Stride’s possessions to the school. Once relocated to KES, Stride received consultation from The Glenbow Museum’s conservation team on how to best handle our wet archive files, slides, texts, tapes, CDs and the artwork that was damaged in the Project Room. The Alberta College of Art + Design also came forward and offered their facilities for the restoration of artwork and the exhibition archive. As a result, Stride was able to restore a large portion of Mona Sharma’s artwork. Staff and the Board of Directors are in awe and extremely grateful to the many volunteers who donated their time, expertise, personal vehicles and sweat to save Stride. Stride recently learned that our building is to undergo a 3- to 6-month restoration due to the damage caused by flooding. The building owner’s insurer has hired a contractor to oversee the process. Stride is unable to occupy the space during this time. We are currently seeking temporary office and exhibition space in an effort to maintain our programming commitments. As a result, Stride will be postponing some programming for the fall of 2013. Programming in our offsite +15 Window space at the EPCOR Centre will continue as usual and we are doing our best to launch the 2012-2013 Catalogue for the early fall. Please watch and your e-mail and check the website for ongoing updates. If you would like to volunteer with our ongoing recovery efforts, please e-mail Amanda Hu, Stride’s Assistant Director at [email protected]. If you wish to make a financial contribution to the organization, please visit the Opportunities section of the Stride website. Thank you for your support and understanding. We look forward to sunnier skies. Larissa Tiggelers Gallery Director Amanda Hu Assistant Director on behalf of the Board of Directors /THE STRIDE ART GALLERY ASSOCIATION [email protected]
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 06:11:21 +0000
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