Art House is gearing up to celebrate its sixth anniversary this month with plenty of live entertainment and evocative artwork. It’s a time for reflection and change for the staff at the Centretown art café.
Art House at magic hour. Photo: Geneviève Bétournay.
“Each anniversary is an opportunity for us to pause and think about what we’ve all personally had to endure to pursue our own transformations and desires for self-expression and how much the Art House has been a part of that,” Toni van Eeden, Art House Community and Events Manager, said in an email.
To celebrate, Art House is preparing a special exhibit vernissage this weekend showcasing staff artwork. Viewers can expect textile art, illustrated fairies, photography, collage, painted objects (like large-scale psychedelic fruit), drawings, and mixed media. The artists explore themes from relief and humour to the pandemic and an ever-changing world.
“As employers, we have had to adapt to an increasing type of burnout we are seeing,” van Eeden said. “This exhibition was an opportunity we wanted to give our staff to share some of what they’ve been processing, grieving, and feeling.”
Homemade chilli and danish, with cortado. Photo: Tamasha Nowaczek.
The anniversary celebrations will also include live entertainment this weekend. The cozy café on Somerset Street will feature music, poetry, and a drag performance. Among the performers is electronic/shoegaze artist Phasez.
“As well as a performance of his latest song, Phasez brings us his art through his cheeky off-beat humour with a canvas sporting a small image of his face and a large QR code leading us to his Spotify page,” van Eeden said. “He copies this onto mugs, a pillowcase, and stickers and magnets that seem to be multiplying daily in the space.”
Other performers at the event include Taymaz Valley , who will perform some poetry, and Tamasha Nowaczek, who will offer a spoken-word performance. As well, PARTYGIRL bring their electronic doom pop to the event with an original song, and Jawn Wooders will perform a sexy drag king performance as “Cocky Canadian”.
Art House will keep the anniversary celebrations going until Sunday. In addition to the vernissage, the café will host a birthday dance party with DJ Akeem Oh, a swing jazz night, and a queer speed-meeting event.
Fever Pitch Hot Jazz event. Photo: Curtis Perry.
The café is also rolling out new menu items, courtesy of chef Tamasha Nowaczek. Some of the latest additions include dips served with corn chips or garlic crostini, vegan soups made from scratch, and quinoa kale salad with homemade dressings. All of the new items are vegan and gluten-free. Customers can now also enjoy a selection of desserts from Almonte’s Sweet Cheeks Bakery.
Patrons can also look forward to recent events like Meet-up Mondays, literary workshops, costume parties, and queer events.
“We hope that this will also bring in new types of artists into the space and will encourage them to grow their art, whether it means an exhibition, hosting a workshop, or performing their music/writing,” van Eeden said.
They added that the art-based business takes pride in inclusion and diversity and showcasing all types of artwork, and part of the joy of running the business for six years has been seeing artist transformations over time: “Watching young jazz musicians new to the city find friendship at our cozy jazz shows and grow that into full-blown careers or find unique and lasting collaborators. Witnessing visual artists who were tentative about even showing anyone their work become regular clients and exhibitors.”
Homemade quinoa kale salad with raspberry vinaigrette. Photo: Tamasha Nowaczek.
Art House owner Geneviève Bétournay and their staff thank the community for helping the business survive throughout the pandemic.
“We are so humbled by their care, resilience, and fight. You are the warmth everyone feels when they walk in the creaky front door. Thank you for six years of loyalty, patience, and love.”
Art House hosts its special exhibit vernissage on February 9 from 7–10pm, with free admission. More information on other Art House events can be found on their events calendar.
