Reader Rock Garden is a designated provincial historic site in downtown Calgary. It features the Reader Rock cafe, a study room and other facilities which are at the centre of a beautiful garden, dissected by meandering paths and streams.
In the house is a newly-opened gallery which houses a rapidly-growing and diversifying eclectic collection of visual art. Stunning photographs, fibre and glass art, mixed media and pottery... some quirky, even insider art, some traditional works are sometimes wall-hung, or framed by shabby chic, wooden doors and window frames. Across the other side of the small gallery are shelves and tables with assorted 'antiques' ( I feel I have to put that in quote marks as I am English and used to truly ancient antiques) and relicts from past lives in Canada and elsewhere.
Artists represented here are all local and range from the aspiring to very well-established.
I am very pleased to have some of my work nestled alongside the strange: tree-climbing bears depicted on ??repurposed?? dried fungal growths or the stunning: digitally printed images by Harry Palmer for example.
This is a venue that is going to settle down into a very special niche and I am extremely fortunate to have been asked to show my work here. It is a gallery to go to especially when you are looking for something quirky or of a particular style; I can imagine this place becoming a mecca for interior designers or film/advertising agency photographers who are looking for props. So let's see how my work does there.
I don't know how/why things happen the way they do, but it certainly gives a satisfying feeling when things fall into a comfortable place without being asked to do so... this is far more satisfying than pushing, pushing, pushing to make things work.
This gallery is not trying to be a high end fine arts store. It already has its own personality: One that registers well with its eco-environment: It sits well in my mind.
More details about The Reader Rock Garden - read on or click here:-
"This historic garden is a tribute to one man's passion for plants and beauty. William Roland Reader was the Superintendent for The City of Calgary Parks 1913-1942 who transformed a bare hillside into an internationally-acclaimed garden.
During the turn of the century it was common for horticulturalists to collect alpine plants on their travels and create gardens as living artifacts of their journeys. Reader actively engaged in this practice and for 30 years the Garden trialled over 4000 different plant species, making it one of the few significant gardens in western Canada. Reader used the Garden as a showplace to educate people about the gardening potential of the prairie/foothills region of Alberta, particularly Calgary.
Lovingly rehabilitated according to Reader's original plans, the garden blooms from mid-March to mid-November. "
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