The Rockslide Studio & Gallery - A Hidden Cultural Treasure
I know it has been a bit since the last article and I had hoped to get this out a couple of weeks ago, but I ran out of time before we went on a winter escape vacation, I will hopefully get caught up over the next few days and have something else for all of you soon. In the meantime here is my article on the Rockslide Gallery, which I have had in progress since before Christmas!
For the last few years, I kept being told to make sure to check out the Rockslide Gallery when they had an open house. I would make a mental note and try to remember, but for whatever reason I kept missing the opportunities. I wasn’t too upset about it though, because I mean, I had been to lots of local galleries before and how different could it be? When I had more time and less kids, I used to go out to art galleries and art openings quite often, I would say that there are few evening events I enjoy more than an art opening. Part creative and visual, part social party. Really the perfect night out. Opportunities to do this more recently have been limited, so when just before Christmas, I found out that the Rockslide Gallery was having both an opening and a Christmas fair during the day, I knew I had to go and see what it was all about. Still, I’ll admit I didn’t have high expectations, especially for a Christmas Fair.
I arrived and stood in line in the rain while a couple of people were led into the building at a time. I guessed it was a small space and they needed to wait for some people to leave before they could let anyone else in. After about 20 minutes it was my turn and I was let into the lobby space. I should pause here and tell you about this building.
The building that I was waiting in front of, and that currently houses the Rockslide Studios and Gallery is now known simply as 780 Blanshard Street, but originally it was built as the BC Power Commission Building. The building was built just after the Second World War and is a beautiful modernist / art deco building, though it definitely leans towards the modernist utilitarian side, it does have some ornamental details that would fall more into the art deco side of things. I will again plug my trusty copy of Exploring Victoria’s Architecture for providing me some of the details here. Despite having walked by the building thousands of times while living in Victoria, I had never been in it. For most of the time, it had been just another example of the older stock of government buildings that we had in the city and apart from appreciating some of the almost proletarian paintings on the outside, I really had never thought more about it. That changed when in the midst of all of the controversy over the Northern Junk Buildings, the company that was doing that renovation, Reliance Properties, also decided to buy 780 Blanshard Street. There will be more about Reliance’s plans later, but back to my first time walking into the lobby.
Once in the lobby, we were stopped and given an introduction to the space and encouraged to pay our entrance donation, this was different I thought for a Christmas fair, but it turned out that this wasn’t just a scattering of tables with tea cozies in the basement. This was the first clue that this wasn’t really a gallery at all or should I say, it wasn’t just a gallery. Instead, we were told that we could explore the three levels of studios that that were open today and that in many, the artists would be there to talk to you about their work and if you see something you like, there would be pieces for sale. I still didn’t quite get it, but I paid my admission and set off heading to the uppermost floor first with the plan of working my way down. The building has some pretty dramatic stairs for an old government building and there was some art that had been painted in the stairwells as well. When I got to the top floor and saw that it still kind seemed like a government building with people walking in between offices I was intrigued and started for them. Once inside one, I saw an old office with paintings set out for sale, but the whole rest of the space set-up like a studio next to the big old windows, I got it. This wasn’t a gallery specifically, this was an entire office building of artist studios. The odd hours of the place started to make sense, the fact that there was really no time when you could just go in was because this place was primarily for artist creation, not showing and sales. I started moving between the different studio spaces, each one completely unique and because you were in their studio, very personal. I was blown away by the sense of creativity, but also just by the fact that the place exists, an entire large office building turned over to artists to make art in their community. Some of you will remember the article I wrote last year on what I still believe is getting closer and that is the large scale abandoning of office buildings downtown by large tenants, you can read the whole series here. One of the opportunities I think that this change creates, is significant space for artists. The Rockslide is a demonstration not just that you can fill an office building with artists, but that you can do it and still need more space. In writing this article, I connected with Logan Ford, an artist and one of the founders of the Rockslide Studios and Gallery.
Here is a little bit of what he had to say about what Rockslide Gallery is:
Q. There seems to be quite a few entities contained within what is called the Rockslide Gallery. What is Rockslide Gallery? What falls under its umbrella?
A. Rockslide Studio & Gallery is the founding organization behind the 780 Blanshard arts hub. The building is now managed and operated by Vancouver Island Visual Arts Society (VIVAS). Rockslide is the anchor tenant, and it occupies just over 50% of the building. Other organizations in the building include the Ministry of Casual Living, Haus of Owl Creation Lab, Sweetpea Gallery, The Vault Gallery, Victoria Tool Library, and Studio J redux.
Q. How long has the gallery existed? At the current location? Previous locations?
A. Rockslide was founded in the spring of 2013. We’ve had 4 locations over the last decade on Gorge Rd E, Herald St, John st, and 780 Blanshard.
Q. How many artists currently have studio space in Rockslide?
A. Rockslide currently rents affordable studio space to over 70 artists between 2 locations, while 780 Blanshard itself has over 85 artists, 4 galleries, and 4 arts and culture related non-profit organizations.
It difficult to explain how powerful a place Rockslide is with words. As I walked through the building and spoke with some of the artists, there was a happiness to the place. You could tell that each artist felt free to make their space uniquely theirs and because of that had a definite pride and ownership of not just the art, but the building as well. It struck me how important a place this was. That said, as I follow the housing and development seen quite closely in Victoria, I knew that this building wouldn’t forever be the Rockslide. Logan confirmed what I had heard, that they had recently been given a two year extension to their lease. As I said at the beginning of the article, the property is currently owned by Reliance Properties. Reliance is the developer behind the Janion Building on Store Street and is working on the Northern Junk Building, which I have detailed many times on this site (my last article on it). I spoke with Juan Pereira, Senior Development Manager with Reliance about 780 Blanshard, Rockslide, and their future plans for the property. Here is a little of what he had to say:
Q. When did Reliance purchase 780 Blanshard?
A. September 2019
Q. What is the current plan for the building?
A. The project will use the heritage building with a tower that rises above it. The plan is currently for commercial in the heritage building and residential in the new portion above.
Q. How soon after the purchase did Reliance decide to pursue a community use rather than letting it sit vacant?
A. Initially we considered trying to lease with the existing office use, but as the building was obsolete and there was no traction in attracting tenants. The pandemic cemented the problem with attempting to lease it, so when we were approached by the gallery with their proposal, we preferred to see the space used and the artists were in need of space. So we made the building available at a discounted rate. We thought lets work together and make it happen for them. Now it’s become a really attractive destination and it’s successful and full. The gallery initially started as one floor and it is now nearly full.
Q. How are you working with Rockslide as you move forward with your application to redevelop?
A. We are not just saying to them that there is an approved development here, you need to find a new place. We are working with them and with council, to find a way for them to stay in the building for now and to help them find new space as we get closer to redevelopment. We supported the gallery in getting a grant from council so that they can stay for two more years. In the future we will work with them to find another location.
Reliance is the developer behind the Capital Iron project which spans from the harbour to Government Street that is currently in the proposal phase. You can watch a current fly-through video of that project here. This project has a significant art focus so there may be opportunities within this proposal. That said, I think that the future of Rockslide would be better suited to them being in an old office building and as I have said, I think we are going to see more and more of those available over the next few years. Still they have just under two more years in their current location. It would be great to see other developers take notice of what Reliance has done here and look to provide back to the community both with vacant spaces as their proposals come to fruition.
Whatever the outcome, it is clear to me that this institution needs to be here for the artists and for the cultural capital it provides the city. If you haven’t been to the Rockslide Gallery, keep your eyes open for art shows there. I will guarantee that you will be amazed by what you see here.
In closing, I asked Logan Ford how we can best support Rockslide, this is what he said:
“Come to our art openings and open houses, engage with our artists, and donate to VIVAS (wearevivas.org), which is aiming to acquire a commercial property in order to ensure that long-term affordable art spaces will always exist in Victoria.”