The opening of a new art gallery space marks an important change for the La Ronge Arts Council. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

milestone

New art gallery in La Ronge following three decades at Mistasinihk Place

Jan 11, 2025 | 8:00 AM

The La Ronge Arts Council has completed a new gallery space at the Alex Robertson Public Library.

“We noticed the La Ronge Arts Council was feeling unsupported and kind of unwelcomed in Mistasinihk Place pretty much for the last year,” said visual arts lead Deanna Belhumeur.

“Come September, I met with the building manager and he told me there was no room for storage of our boxes and things were in the way. Over the years, things changed where they couldn’t even help provide dollies or ladders or any kind of support due to occupational hazard safety issues potentially.”

There were no exhibits displayed in Mistasinihk Place between September and December 2024 while the arts council worked on a solution to the dilemma. The council had been using a space in Mistasinihk Place, which is a large government building located downtown La Ronge, since at least the early 1990s.

The arts council reached out to the library board and Town of La Ronge for permission to relocate and both were very supportive of the idea.

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In order to prepare the new space, the arts council launched a fundraising campaign to purchase new wall tracks and hooks. The new gallery takes up two and a half walls in the library and it cost the arts council approximately $4,000.

“We have plans for the future,” Belhumeur noted.

“We want to get display cases and benches for the public to sit on and do more activities. We are looking forward to being in a more public space.”

Those interested in viewing exhibits, which typically change on a monthly basis and includes three shows per year from the Saskatchewan Arts Council, can do so during business hours at the library. Belhumeur added the arts council and the library board are working on extended programming in the future.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s bright and big and vibrant. Being in the library is inspiring in its own way and it just seems like a rightful place to have an art gallery available to the public.”

The arts council is hosting a meet and greet at the library on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. Attendees will be able to get a look at the gallery, as well as its newest exhibit called Omentum by John Brady McDonald.

Any local artists interested in hosting an exhibit at the gallery are encouraged to reach out to the arts council.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com