Joe Bembridge came to Victoria to open Gallery Merrick in April of 2022 after operating his Nanaimo gallery for four years.
“It was always my five-year plan to come to Victoria where I am continuing in my promotion of new artists,” Bembridge said. “I’ve been successful at launching some amazing new talent. We’ve had quite a few come to us for their first gallery show and then place them in other galleries.”
“We hang them next to more established artists and literally boost their credibility. It’s a great system.”
It’s a system that has its roots in believing in and supporting talented individuals in what can be a very tough market.
Gallery Merrick’s name is a testimony to Bembridge’s passionate belief in supporting artists.
“Merrick was a friend back in Alberta. We grew up together and she was a talented young artist who passed away far too young. She never realized her full potential, but I named the gallery after her because her name literally meant fame. It’s what I wish for all the talented artists we feature here… sort of in her name,” Bembridge said.
Bembridge said that the Canadian art scene is very challenging for new artists, and he tries to help them along.
“I have a mentoring program where I take in one to three artists every year. I give them insights into their work, explain how to approach galleries, and basically help them to introduce work that can sometimes be a little adventurist and offbeat.”
That approach is currently on display at Gallery Merrick as it features ‘West Coast Works’ throughout July, a collection of art by Kathy Bradshaw, Charlie Easton, Julie King, Chrissy Nickerson, and Gabrielle Strong. The artists all bring unique interpretations of the Canadian experience.
“These artists have all reinterpreted the Canadian experience and particularly the West Coast in amazing ways,” Bembridge said. “I know that people will be amazed at the work. It’s the West Coast, done our way.”
Strong’s work is inspired by her seven years at sea, travelling to more than 70 countries. She has said that she is forever inspired by moody coastal skies.
Bradshaw seeks to translate landscape as a form of escape and personal growth. She said that she seeks to capture “inner landscapes” and express her emotional responses to the subject at hand.
For his part, Charlie Easton comes from a family of British artists. He moved to Canada in 2006 and immediately fell in love with the same scenery that inspired many of the Group of Seven. His oils and acrylics have been shown around the world.
Julie King maintains that it’s her love of nature, daily walks in the forest and her ability to quiet the noise of modern life that helps her to create her “landed abstracts”.
“They offer just enough to suggest a sense of place without being tied to a specific location,” she said.
Finally, Nickerson’s interpretations of the mountains, trees, and skies of his Rocky Mountain home have been met with enthusiasm.
“I paint for the sake of art, for the celebration of colour and for my own joy. Colour and bold brushwork allow me to build vivid landscape representations like rich tapestries,” Nickerson said.
June’s exhibition featured Jennifer DeGroot, whose impressionist and post-impressionist inspired works that explored human connection in a bold way were picked up by other galleries and offered a one-month residency by the Pouch Cove Foundation.
Information regarding Gallery Merrick and upcoming shows can be found at gallerymerrick.com.
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