Discover art and meet its maker online

ART lovers are learning to browse, appreciate and collect in a new way, outside of an exhibition space’s traditional four walls.

Many galleries across the country are shifting their collections or shows online, including local business, Gallery on Sturt.

Currently presenting Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling, or POD Design’s visual works within Intricate, the art space’s owner, Leigh Tweedie said she’s already had enthusiastic online buyers.

“We have a lot of loyal customers who were waiting for this exhibition to open. We pride ourselves on this wide customer base, and at this time, we’re relying on that,” she said.

“We’ve generated some sales from Instagram. We have quite an extensive website, but most people go for Instagram, so we’ve been posting regularly.”

Showcasing the collection mostly through still images thus far, Mrs Tweedie said videos are in production with insight from O’Shannessy-Dowling. These will also be picked up by Art Almanac.

“Moving online is essential in this time, but even when the gallery was open to people, they couldn’t always meet the artist, so we can swing this to our advantage.

“Everyone can see and listen to the artist in the videos. Pauline is the one who’s done this lovely work and knows, from the heart, what it’s about,” she said.

“Everybody’s isolating and doing the right thing, but hopefully they’ll still keep buying Pauline’s work because it is very uplifting and happy.”

Haddon painter Stella Clarke encourages people to embrace the new virtual art world, to discover and support artists who may be quieter right now, but are still creating and selling work throughout the pandemic.

“A lot of galleries are trying to sell online. Many are continuing…asking people to engage with and appreciate the work, even if they’re not going to buy it,” she said.

“We’re so lucky with online connectivity and platforms, so spend time browsing people’s websites. In some ways, it can be a nicer way to engage.”

Visit facebook.com/Galleryonsturt421, @galleryonsturt421 on Instagram, or accentframing.com.au/gallery-on-sturt/current-exhibition.

While their doors are closed, the Tweedies are completing custom framing and fine art printing projects for their Accent Framing business.