CC: How did Propeller come together?

Propeller: The original cluster, it was a group of OCAD grads in 1996 that got together and put on a show under the name Propellor, (names originators) and those were the ones that I can recall. And very quickly spread the word among colleagues and students to look for an actual physical space to operate out of.

It was in July/August of ’96 when we actually had out first official group exhibition in what was the gallery. And we had roughly 15 to 20 members.

CC: What was the influence of other galleries?

Propeller: I think to a certain extent we didn’t really know what we were doing. (laughs). I think it was very much a learning curve and there wasn’t anything exactly like what we became.

CC: Toronto, in the 90’s, didn’t have many opportunities for emerging artists…

Unlike Toronto today, now, there weren’t as many options for emerging artists, today there are and that’s great. But in 95 we were trying to create an opportunity for ourselves.

CC: Do you know where the name Propeller came from?

Propeller: Um, no, (laughs). Rumour has it that Propeller was meant to propel these artists forward.

CC: How do you deal with submission Feedback?

Propeller: One of the things that is difficult when you make submissions, and we all make submissions, you have no idea why you are accepted or rejected, and that’s what I liked about Propeller is that we gave them some idea of where they were in terms of what we’re doing.

We conduct these portfolio reviews, where we invite gallery directors to review members portfolios and give feedback. Once again, because some of our members may still be looking for a commercial galleries. These portfolio reviews raise money for Propeller and are good guiding mechanisms for emerging artists.

CC: What about selling the work?

Propeller: The core initial group of artists who started the gallery were making art in accessible genre for selling. There wasn’t so much video, installation art, it was easy to be sold.

Again, we don’t splash it in your face, we encourage sales because artists have to make money from their work and they need to move inventory and some of the funds from the sales come back to the collective so everyone is benefiting.

CC: What’s difficult about running the gallery?

Propeller: We do approximately 48 shows a year, just as far as exhibition slots. Let’s just say roughly we have about almost 70 shows a year, on the smaller side.

I think our two week exhibition periods are definitely something that’s quite hard on our members. Sneeze and it’s over. Just about the time somebody knows you’re there, you’re not.

I think it’s like any organization where there’s high volunteerism you want to make sure that everybody has a part to play and there’s a lot that goes into that.

The other thing I found that was a bit of a challenge was the turnover rate. The attrition of people coming in and understanding what the galleries objectives were and trying to maintain a consistency in outlook for the space.

CC: What keeps you going?

Propeller: There’s so much that gets done in the gallery, because the members are so engaged. And they really believe in the gallery, more than I pay my fees and I have my show. Each member is so invested in the gallery.

It is Propeller so it is meant as a stepping stone into another area of the art world.

If they are moving on, we’ve done our job. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. Helping them move into another area.