An anniversary exhibition celebrating 40 years of Connexion Artist Run Centre is going up at Charlotte Street Arts Centre.
Matt Carter
Connexion Artist Run Centre has been supporting contemporary artists and their work for 40 years. And like the artists the organization supports, its existence can be charted through several highs and lows.
For its first 20+ years the organization operated as Gallery Connexion, running artist studios and an exhibition space out of the rear of the Justice Building. In 2008, the spring freshet rose to a level that damaged the gallery space forcing the organization to establish a new home in the former Chestnut Canoe Factory on York Street.
Now operating as Connexion Artist Run Centre, the organization has been working out of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre for roughly a decade at this point.
Celebrating forty years of resilience and artist support, Connexion ARC will be hosting a number of anniversary events this year beginning with an archival exhibition at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre featuring a collection of event posters, newspaper clippings and photographs documenting Connexion’s first ten years.
In a statement accompanying this exhibition, Connexion ARC Executive Director Emily Blair writes, “To commemorate this incredible achievement, we have pulled material from Connexion’s archives to reflect on some of those individuals that made this possible. The images on display range from posters and photographs to news clippings and documents that are evidence of the breadth of Connexion’s programming as well as the organization’s role as a gathering place for arts institutions and organizations of Fredericton to meet and discuss issues concerning artists and arts workers. This archive exhibition represents a small sample of images from 1984 onwards, showcasing the first ten years of the organization.”
The exhibition can be viewed on the first floor of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Monday to Saturday 9-8 p.m.
In addition to the archival series, a number of special programming events will take place over the year starting with a performance by Montreal/Fredericton-based experimental sound trio Trajectories. The performance, which will include sets by Counting on Downstairs and Emily Kennedy, will take place April 19 at CSAC, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are one sale now.
