Fredericton’s Gallery 78, dedicated to showcasing some of the best art created in the Atlantic provinces is celebrating 40 years in operation with an exhibit that traces their history.
Four rooms are stocked with Maritime works of art, each displaying pieces by artists from each decade that the gallery has been running.
“We have a really large building and so we thought how are we going to present this properly?” Germaine Pataki-Theriault, Gallery 78’s Managing Director said.
“Given that we have four decades and four large exhibition spaces we thought: why don’t we do one per decade?”
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“The idea here is to show people this is really good art, it’s New Brunswick, it’s Atlantic Canadian art,” she explained.
Gallery 78 is located on Queen street in a Victorian style home worthy of a gallery itself.
The site has been the gallery’s home since 1989 but before that it was Pataki-Theriault’s mother Inge who founded the gallery in its original home a few blocks away.
“Our gallery started at 78 Brunswick street which was our residence and therefore the name Gallery 78,” Inge explained.
“It was Bruno Bobak’s idea, a friend of ours and well known artist.”
Bobak and many other local and regional artists’ work remains on display and for purchase throughout the gallery.
Including only Atlantic Canadian works and providing collectors and art lovers the opportunity to buy what graces the walls are what the gallery owners say sets them apart from the much larger Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which sits just across the street.
“To give artists the opportunity to show their works, sell their works, and for us as collectors to be able to purchase,” explained Inge of her initial reasons for opening the gallery.
The 40th anniversary exhibit runs until October 30.
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