East-end gallery features in-house artists

Until Aug. 29, Rothwell Gallery will showcase local artists – including east-enders John Alexander Day and Erika Deruaz – displaying favourite pieces and works with personal meaning, explains Rothwell manager Nicki Sleeth.

Seven artists are currently being featured at the gallery, she recounts, all of whom hail from the Ottawa area.

“We have about two to three (pieces) from each of the artists,” Sleeth continues, pointing to the range of mixed media, acrylic, watercolour and sculpture works focusing on everything from landscapes to farm scenes. “There’s quite a variety. It makes it more interesting.”

Though in-house artists maintain a constant presence at Rothwell throughout rotating exhibits, “I thought it would be nice to have the same opportunity for the in-house artists to display their work,” she says. “It puts them in the spotlight. Right now it’s just a bigger variety (of their pieces). It’s putting their names out there … it gives them a little more publicity.”

One in-house artist sharing a long history with Rothwell Gallery is Beacon Hill North painter Deruaz, who began showing at the east-end space more than two decades ago after then-owner Rehana Mufti noticed her watercolour work on a Christmas card.

After being invited to hang at Rothwell and staying with the space for several years, Deruaz eventually shifted her creative home base to a downtown gallery. When that space closed – and with Rothwell under new management – Deruaz brought her work back to the east end, eventually becoming an in-house artist.

“I wanted to be somewhere where I was represented again,” she explains. “When Cindy (Hauck, a former owner) agreed to take some of my work on, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Now continuing her tenure under Mufti – who returned to Rothwell late last year – Deruaz says having the permanent space is a huge boon beyond group showings or costly solo exhibits, raising her profile in the east-end community.

“Then people know my name in the area,” she suggests. “People get to see my work, and I’m kept in their minds. For me it’s an advantage to be represented somewhere all the time. Otherwise you have to depend on organizations (hosting exhibits).”

Currently hanging in Rothwell are examples of her work running the gamut of inspiration – from a Manhattan streetscape to bowl of apples – and include both her acrylic and watercolour pieces, Deruaz continues.

“I have a little bit of everything (there),” she adds, recounting her affinity for painting landscapes, still life and flowers. “We have more opportunities (with the in-house exhibit). Usually I have maybe five paintings there; now it’s seven or eight.”

For Deruaz, “the more work I have shown, the better,” she explains, especially as she continues to reinvent her style and attempt more “inventive” techniques. “It’s nice to have a place to show them.”

Allowing space for experimentation and branching out is also a key point of the exhibit from the gallery’s perspective, continues Sleeth, as well as a thank you for the consistent supply of “great work” from the in-house artists.

“We have good relationships with our artists,” she says. “We’re the only gallery in town that represents their work, so we understand it takes a commitment from them.”

For more information, please visit www.erikaderuaz.com or www.rothwellgallery.com