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Biz, art mix at new Port Moody gallery

A strip of heritage buildings along Clarke Street in Port Moody is ground zero for artistic endeavours, helping the city achieve its moniker of the City of the Arts.
melissa
Gallery manager and sustainability consultant Melissa Chaun, who also writes a column for The Tri-City News, with some of the paintings on display in Silk Gallery at 2419 Clarke St., Port Moody.

A strip of heritage buildings along Clarke Street in Port Moody is ground zero for artistic endeavours, helping the city achieve its moniker of the City of the Arts.

At Gallery Bistro at 2411 Clarke St., Rainer and Helen Daniels have been serving up brunch, lunch and dinner along with evening concerts, jazz jam sessions and gallery art shows. Next door, the newest entry to the artistic block, Silk Gallery, at 2419 Clarke St., is melding local art with the business of urban design and planning.

The gallery was recently opened in the 1906-era building by Gaetan Royer, CEO of CityState Consulting Services, who wanted to combine his passions for art and design and who believes art is oxygen for the soul.

Silk Gallery manager Melissa Chaun, who is also a sustainability planner for CityState and writes a column in The Tri-City News, said she strongly supports the sentiment, having grown up in an art-filled home and amassing her own collection when she attained adulthood. 

“We’re actually all creative. It’s an integral part of our being,” Chaun said.

The effort to create a space that is both a gallery and an office has clearly paid off. 

The 100-year-old building that was once a butcher shop and most recently a book store is now a high-ceilinged, white-walled salon filled with paintings, photographs and sculptures by B.C. artists.

Lit by large windows that peek out onto the Evergreen Extension, the gallery is open and airy as well as a good place to view paintings by artists such as Jean Duguay, a recent Federation of Canadian Artists award winner.

The desk used by CityState staff, including gallery attendant Daniel Broderick, is a beautifully polished slab of Douglas fir and guests are welcomed with the offer of a cup of tea.

So far the gallery appears to have drawn a following with more than 100 visitors signing the guest book.

• Art lovers can visit Silk Gallery daily, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com

@dstrandbergTC