For the first time in over two years, municipal art galleries are inviting people to downtown Chatham to hop between storefronts to look at art and speak with local artists.
The Thames Art Gallery and ARTspace have organized a Spring Mini-Art Crawl for March 25 from 6 pm to 9 pm Along with the two galleries, the Art and Heirloom Shoppe, William Street Café and The Co. will be welcoming visitors during the evening.
The last mini art crawl was held in January 2020.
“We have had art crawls in the past where everybody gathers in one spot and then we travel from venue to venue and we have a band and different things going on,” Phil Vanderwall, Thames Art Gallery curator, said.
“With COVID, we’re a bit uncertain about that, so we’re doing a mini-crawl where all of the different venues are open at the same time.”
Vanderwall said everyone will be issued a passport to be stamped at all five locations. Passports can be picked up at any of the venues the night of the event. There will be a draw for $100 at 8:30 pm at the Thames Art Gallery open to those who have all five stamps.
Local artist Michaela Lucio will be at ARTspace to speak about her exhibit, A Small Good Thing. The King Street West gallery also has a community initiative called We Are Family in the window display, which features family photos submitted by the public.
Down the street is the Art and Heirloom Shoppe, which hosts works of 51 area artists. The site is currently featuring an exhibit from fiber artist Jodie Edwards Wright and an International Women’s Day Exhibit called Women in Power.
The Co., at 208 Queen St., will be featuring its resident artist Iain Rice, a photographer from Chatham-Kent. He specializes in fine art photography and digital art.
Photographer Michael M. Garland will be speaking at William Street Café about his exhibition called Portraits of Trees in Chatham-Kent. The café will also be serving “spring-themed” food and beverages.
The Thames Art Gallery will host “conversational talks and tours” related to the current exhibit featuring international artists called I’ll Be Your Mirror. All of the artists feature their parents in their work.
Vanderwall said they are planning on having another summer art crawl this year.