Eda Brown at the Paris Crew Gallery (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
Ontario artist Eda Brown’s gallery show at the Paris Crew Gallery, her first-ever in-person show, reflects the shifting role of in-person gallery shows, and online art galleries and social media in the post-pandemic art industry.
Brown says she has painted all her life but became a full-time painter two years ago. Due to the pandemic, she couldn’t display her art through traditional gallery shows, so she started showcasing and selling her art on the online gallery she runs with her sister and niece, ARTWRK.
“The online part was a little bit easier in terms of you don’t have to face people and you don’t have to face rejection and that kind of thing,” said Brown, adding she sold an estimated 85 percent of her work.
Online platforms, galleries and social media are become crucial and impactful tools to help artists build their name and brand and to connect with collectors and other artists.
Eda Brown painting ‘Both Sides Now’ (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
“If you’re an artist, and you’re not participating in social media, it’s going to be a tough ride, really tough right unless you’re already established,” she said. “Artists come in all different shapes and sizes – two-dimensional art like for paintings and photography, lends itself very well to online I believe, it depends on what your medium is.”
It was through Brown’s online website and art that Paris Crew Gallery’s owner, Jennifer Irving learned about her work and extended an invitation for a physical gallery show in Saint John. Her paintings were part of the ‘Landscapes’ Fall Exhibition Series at Paris Crew Gallery, alongside art by Jennifer Irving and Natasha Lehman.
“Jennifer was looking at our site and I was on there; she said, ‘oh who is this?’, she said, with her niece Alyssa giving Irving her contact information, which led to Brown and Irving talking about and planning a show at Paris Crew Gallery.
Eda Brown’s artwork at the ‘Landscapes’ Fall Exhibition Series at Paris Crew Gallery (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
“It’s all about getting an opportunity and when you receive the opportunity, you take it,” said Brown. “Right now with the pandemic, we don’t know where it’s going to go in the next few months, but eventually, it will even out and people do need to see the artwork, especially larger pieces – you have to see and feel the size of it, to be able to imagine sharing your house with it.”
Brown says she will probably pursue a hybrid model of selling her artwork online and doing gallery shows when she can and would love to do more shows in Saint John in the future.
“If a collector is out there looking for work or paintings or anything for their home or work or whatever they’re purchasing or acquiring their artwork, it’s important to have a place to go after,” she said. “Any channel that you can open up to allow a collector to see your work is, to me, important.”
This story was originally published on Huddle.Today – an Acadia Broadcasting Limited content partner.
