Curtis Zondag and Laura Murphy are new partners — both in life and in business.
The couple, who met last New Year’s Eve, have opened a gallery together in Fort Langley, and they’re hoping to give visitors a fresh way to look at original art.
The Fort Langley Studio, which opened on June 29, currently features work by 10 Lower Mainland artists.
But come back in a month and you probably won’t recognize the place.
The plan is to rotate artists and their work in and out of the gallery on a regular basis. Some pieces might be there for a week, others for a month, said Zondag, while offering a brief tour of the business at the corner of Glover Road and 96 Avenue.
A few of the artists whose work is among the first to be featured in the new studio-gallery are already well established, while others are just entering the scene.
But the great thing about the The Fort Langley Studio’s concept, said Zondag, is that regardless of the number of years of experience or how well known the artists are, their work will hang together.
Pieces by established local artists, including Fort Langley Artist Group member, Susan Galick, mingle with others by emerging new faces, fresh out of Emily Carr, on a custom designed display system, hand-built from wind-fallen cedar trees on Gambier Island.
Because an artist is unknown and might not be able to get into a more established gallery, that doesn’t mean their work isn’t worthy of display, said Zondag.
“I like the idea of taking anything we think will sell.”
Having a continually changing range of pieces on display presented its own set of challenges.
Where, for example, were they going to find enough artists to keep the rotation going?
The Internet, of course.
“We threw an ad on Craigslist to test the waters,” said Zondag. “We knew we might get great things or we might get garbage.
“We got great things.”
The pieces on display now range from florals to figures, still life, landscapes and contemporary abstracts.
One corner holds a number of rather unconventional three-dimensional pieces by Emilian Pop Kitz a Romanian-born artist who now lives in Port Coquitlam,
He creates sculptures and wall hangings using everything from wood, nails, staples, chicken wire, paint and fabric.
“There’s a story behind every piece,” said Zondag.
“He just loves texture,” added Murphy.
“Colour and texture is what we told the artists we wanted.”
Both Murphy, 28, and Zondag, 32, are themselves creatively inclined — she’s a visual artist, he’s a musician — and both possess an entrepreneurial spirit, so the idea of opening an art gallery together wasn’t so far-fetched.
But the plan for this particular business venture came to them in a bit of a roundabout fashion.
While they were busking in Fort Langley in the spring, the couple got chatting with the building’s owner. With a chocolate shop established on the building’s south side, the landlord wanted an artsy tenant and suggested the couple might want to open a music store and offer lessons, said Zondag.
But a bit of quick calculation into how much it would cost to build walls and soundproof the space quickly quashed that idea.
Still, a seed was planted and when the pair got home that evening, it continued to germinate.
“We went home and brainstormed,” said Murphy. “We both love art and selling and meeting people.”
The business plan is relatively straight forward. The artists will rent wall space from the couple and pay them a commission on any sales.
Keeping the price of the art manageable is key.
It’s easer to walk out with a piece that’s under $400 than one that is $5,000, after all, said Zondag.
“It’s a great space for artists to test the market.”
One idea the couple has to keep the gallery viable during the slower winter months, when foot traffic dwindles, is to continue to use the front half of the space to display art, while blocking off the back for artists to use as studio space to either work themselves or offer lessons.
Artists can also book events during which only their art will hang.
“We wanted to stretch the business in as many ways as possible,” said Murphy. “To not just make it, but be successful.”
The Fort Langley Studio will be open Tuesday to Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. It is located at 101-9103 Glover Rd.