By Gilbert Bouchard

Downtown revitalization and the booming real estate market in Old Strathcona might make Edmonton’s business community happy, but it’s making life hard for the Edmonton Contemporary Artists Society.

Plummeting vacancy rates and the redevelopment of old warehouse stock into condominiums have made it next to impossible to find large, raw, centrally located space that’s both affordable and flexible enough to easily accommodate the 40-member group’s annual show, say ECAS members Russell Bingham and Ruby Mah.

“In the ‘70s and ‘80s, we had a warehouse district full of artists and now there’s virtually no artists left with space in the core,” says Mah.

“We’ve also rented space in the Arts Barns in the past, but after they refurbished that space it’s way too expensive and was redesigned to be theatre-specific,” says Bingham. “This town needs a good, affordable multi-use exhibition space.”

Luckily for the member-run exhibiting society, the new owner of the Great West Saddlery Building–architect Michael P. Kirwin of the Access Design Group–was willing to rent the whole second floor of his historic building for a 10th of the usual rental fee.

The 93-year-old warehouse was once the home of Latitude 53 and SNAP Galleries and hosts the core’s few remaining artist studios.

ECAS will be launching its month-long 12th annual exhibition tonight with a special opening night party. There’s going to be food, drinks and music by the Craig Giacobbo Trio.

ECAS’s concerns finding space have much to do with the unique mandate of the group. Bingham says the “fairly loose” group exists mainly as a member-only exhibition group.

“We do irregularly publish a newsletter and occasionally host lectures, but mainly we’re there to have our annual show,” he says. “What’s very unique is that the group members want to see their work in a comparative context. So, unlike a gallery that mounts a show with social, theoretical or political criteria as a theme, the quality of the work is the driving force of an ECAS exhibit.”

Bingham says ECAS represents artists working in myriad styles and esthetics, ranging from expressionist landscapes to abstracts to figure work to Bingham’s own photography oeuvre (he’s the group’s only photographer).

The group’s non-juried shows rely on members to self-select a limited array of their own work for final display.

“It’s a real learning experience for an artist to see their work in this context. Does it stand out of the group? Or does it get lost in the shuffle?” says Mah, adding that the composition of the group is changing with an influx of newer artists an a shift away from abstract work.

While artists who belong to ECAS are mainly from Edmonton, the group has several out-of-town members, including United Kingdom-based Anthony Caro, as well as artists living in the U.S. and a handful of other Canadian cities.

“I’ve been an ECAS member for three years now and do appreciate being able to see my work in the context of all this other strong artwork,” says sculptor Ryan McCourt.

“We’re all working together with this one goal in mind of producing the show above anything else.”