1. Finally made it into the Made in the Maritimes Artisan Boutique this past week and it's even more awesome in real life than online. There are lots of excellent items here not only from Nova Scotia but from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick as well. It's so nice to hear that in the short time they've been open they're already shipping across Canada.
Bravo to the owners for raising the profile of all their suppliers! This can only be good for all the other galleries, markets and venues of locally made products around the province as more people find out that Atlantic Canada is a hotbed of fantastic handmade stuff; and as more Halifax area shoppers who might normally just shop at malls get turned on to locally made items. A rising tide floats all boats!
I want one of everything in there, and especially loved the bright bud vases by Rachel DeConde and all the jewelry by New Brunswick's Clairvoyant Art Glass - I treated myself to one of their pendants at the NSDCC Christmas Show a few years back and wear it all the time. It has really good vibes! It was also great to see Carol Smeraldo's beautiful raku pieces looking lovely in the window, and more of her work in the temporary "Brainstorm" art show. This was a fundraiser for the Nova Scotia Mental Health Foundation put on by a group of artists in another part of the mall.
2. Sunnyside Mall - speaking of good vibes! I'd never gone here before checking out the store and show listed above. Normally I feel a bit of a soul crushing sensation in malls, but when I went in this one I actually felt uplifted. I noticed things I wasn't expecting like Turbine Fashion with its excellent locally made clothing designed by Lisa Drader Murphy and Limoncello which had a fun window display of cool Nova Scotian sock monkeys. I didn't have time to look around more but recognized signs for other local businesses like Freak Lunchbox and Pete's Frootique.
What is going on, I wondered. So I googled it when I got home and yes, Sunnyside Mall is keen on small local businesses. Bravo! Here's a blog post by Made in the Maritimes describing why they located here, and a Retailer Insider article about the mall's reinvention into a social destination that favours Nova Scotia based independent shops and restaurants. And here's an article about it from last May's Chronicle Herald. For example, I had no idea that Statement, a popular local furniture boutique that used to be on Agricola Street had moved out there.
Not sure who owns this wonderful mall... I just did a quick check and nope, it isn't Crombie REIT. Last year I wrote this blog post suggesting that Park Lane Mall in downtown Halifax, which was for sale, could be turned into a sort of Indie Shopping Mall, though I had no idea this was happening at Sunnyside Mall. Nice. Maybe my clairvoyant art glass pendant has increased my clairvoyance. I hope Sunnyside Mall is a smash hit and inspires a reinvention of malls all over the world into centres of local shopping. Why? Here are some reasons for supporting local businesses.
3. Dart Gallery's Jim Henson Tribute group show: "No Strings Attached". Great show! Tomorrow (Tuesday June 2nd) is the last day to see it! It's a quick drive from Bedford to downtown Dartmouth with no toll bridges in the way so that made for fun art crawl. Dart has another call out for a group show, "Versus" which sounds like a lot of fun, deadline is August 5th and the concept is described on their submissions page. Speaking of art shows, the Art Zone Gallery in downtown Halifax has an opening this Wednesday June 3rd from 6 - 8pm for their Urban Construct group show, as well as the lovely pastels of Rae Smith.
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