Village Squire, 1977-05, Page 18Some artists live for their work. Bill Acres goes one better,
he lives with it.
A visit to the Acres' home, (a converted school house near
Gowanstown, north-west of Listowel) is an immersion in the
environment of an artist. Art. his own and the works of
others, nearly covers the walls. A large section of the school is
partitioned off as a work area. In the rest of the space, sketch
books, art periodicals and other art oriented materials. And
the whole place is dominated by the huge eyes and blue
face of his avourite work: Consumer.
Art may dominate his life, but it isn't his whole life. His
young son Henry, home from daycare because of illness on
the day of our visit, keeps him hopping. Then there's the
"'housework to be done and supper prepared for his wife who
keeps the family income up with her teaching job. He is, he
says, as he tends the fire in the cook stove, a house -person.
It isn't the way he'd like it of course. His idea would be to
make enough money from his art to support his family so his
wife didn't have to work. The goal could be a lot closer for him
than many artists although he jokes that he has to spend
$4000 to get $2000 in sales. "It's like farming," he says, "you
stay in it until you go broke."
The reason that things might be brighter in the future for
Bill Acres is because far from being the idealistic country
painter he might seem, he's much more hard-headed about
the business side of art than most of his colleagues.
Last year he and 10 other artists took a step that may if it is
successful, be repeated by other artists across Canada. Tired
of the struggle to get shows in the big city galleries and fed up
with paying 40 and 50 per cent commissions to the galleries
for what sales they did get, they decided to start up their own
gallery on a co-operative basis. They opened Gallery Chimera
in Elora, the popular centre for things artistic and crafty. The
11 take turns manning the gallery and pay a 10 per cent
commission on sales to offset the cost of running the place.
Bill, because he's the only artist who doesn't have a full-time
job, often picks up a few extra shifts.
The gallery has been in existence for a year now and the
hardest part, Bill says, is just staying in existence. Many
galleries close before people know they are open. Just
keeping the gallery open until people discover it, until a
regular list of clients is built up, is one of the major
accomplishments.
There have been problems, he admits. It's hard for artists
to get themselves into working with other people because
they're so used to working by themselves.
But the Gallery is having unexpected dividends in ways
other than seeing the work of the artists at a price they can
afford.
"A lot of people are excited about the co-operative idea,"
he says. The art world has taken an interest in showing the
work of the artists as a group with such places as the
Homestead Gallery in Paris, Harbourfront in Toronto and
even the Art Gallery of Ontario showing interest.
And besides selling and gaining recognition, the gallery is
also helping in another major area of concern for artists:
supplies. Art supplies have skyrocketed in cost in recent
years. Only by buying in volume can an artist keep the cost
reasonable. But as an individual, Bill says, buying that kind of
volume can be a problem. It means laying out a large
investment for materials he may not use for a long time.
Through the Gallery, however, the artists can buy
co-operatively, taking advantage of the discounts without
having to buy huge quantities themselves. They can also
share equipment. If one artist has a printing press, the others
can use it rather than having to each buy one.
The artists are also pushing each other's work. If one artist
is trying to arrange an exhibition at another gallery. He'll take
along a collection of slides showing the work of all the
members.
Yet another advantage of the Gallery, Bill says is that
working in the gallery puts the artist in direct contact with the
people. He gets a chance to see what people really want.
Sometimes, however, that isn't all that encouraging. In
fact, it can be depressing. The people of southwestern
Ontario, he says, just don't know anything about art. They
16, VILLAGE SQUIRE/MAY 1977.
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