Fonds MS-3-35 - Eyelevel Gallery fonds

Letter from Mary Kenny to Roger Savage Minutes of a meeting of the Eye Level Gallery Board of Directors Letter from Julia Schmitt Healy to Ron Shuebrook List of first directors of Eye Level Gallery Society Minutes of a meeting of the Eye Level Gallery Board of Directors Contact sheet of images taken during Garry Conway's exhibition, Igellporphigell Photograph of Catherine Thorpe and Elizabeth Goluch Photograph of Eye Level Gallery Directory Garry Conway Photograph of Eye Level Gallery staff Photograph of Eye Level Gallery staff Minutes of a board meeting Minutes from the board of directors' second meeting Correspondence to Julia Healy from Royce Porter Minutes from June 26, 1975 board meeting David Haigh's resignation letter to Roger Savage Coordinator's job description Letter to the board of Eye Level Gallery from Marina Stewart Board of directors meeting minutes Meeting minutes from the Eyelevel Gallery Board of Directors Minutes of a meeting of the Eye Level Gallery Board of Directors General meeting announcement Minutes of a board of directors meeting General membership meeting memo Meeting minutes from March 20, 1975 Resignation of David Haigh Minutes of the board's meeting from May 28, 1975 Minutes from a June 26, 1975 board meeting at Eye Level Gallery Resignation letter from Julia Schmitt Healy Membership meeting of the Eye Level Gallery held on July 24, 1975 Letter to the Joseph Howe Festival Minutes from a Board meeting held on September 25, 1975 Minutes from a Board meeting held on August 28, 1975 Letter regarding resignation of a board member Minutes from a general members meeting held on October 16, 1975 Notes from a board meeting held on October 30, 1975 Minutes from a board meeting held on November 27, 1975 Notes of a meeting regarding Eye Level Gallery membership held on December 11, 1975 Memo the general members of Eye Level Gallery Agenda for an Eye Level Gallery meeting Suggestions for the operations and events at Eye Level Gallery by Karl MacKeeman List of proposed exhibitions to the selection committee Agenda for board meeting held on December 18, 1975 Minutes from an Eye Level Gallery core meeting held on December 18, 1975 Recommendations to the board of directors Museum Assistance Programmes : [report] Information regarding the format of exhibition proposals at Eye Level Gallery Letter from Ron Savage requesting Items to be added to a meeting agenda Resignation letters from Sue Beaver and Ron Shuebrook Minutes from a general membership meeting held on January 29, 1976 Report to the members of Eye Level Gallery
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Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Eyelevel Gallery fonds

General material designation

  • Multiple media

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MS-3-35

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1968-2019 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

9.8 m of textual records

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1974-)

Administrative history

Eyelevel Gallery (ELG) was founded in 1974 by a group of artists formerly associated with Inventions Gallery. Inventions was established on West Street in 1972 by a group of local female artists. The Gallery moved to 1812 Granville Street shortly after opening and was destroyed by a fire in 1974. When the gallery moved due to the fire, members decided to extend membership to male artists and change the gallery’s name.

Eyelevel Gallery has always been located in Halifax, predominately in the downtown core, but it has moved locations ten times since 1974. The gallery was briefly located at Pier One Theatre at 2158 Upper Water Street, but was forced to move to 5785 West Street before the first exhibition, Peggy's Cove Syndrome. In late 1975, the gallery moved to the second floor of the Marble Building at 1672 Barrington Street. It moved to the Green Lantern Building on Barrington Street ca. 1978 and moved to Gottingen Street in 1986. In 1993, it returned to Barrington Street in the third floor of the Marble Building, where it remained until 2000. The gallery moved back to the Green Lantern Building (in the ground floor) until 2004, when it moved to 2128 Gottingen Street. It stayed in this location until 2007. The gallery moved to another location across the street and then moved to 2159 Gottingen Street in 2011. In December 2013, the gallery moved to 5663 Cornwallis Street and dedicated its program to projects outside the formal gallery.

Since its founding, Eyelevel Gallery has been an organization run by artists for artists. The gallery has offered an alternative space for contemporary art, provided exhibition space for local, national, and international artists, featured the works of emerging and established artists, offered workshops, provided a venue for theatre, music, and dance performances, sponsored visiting artists, and later housed a resource centre. The gallery has always operated as a non-profit organization committed to the “presentation, development and promotion of contemporary art” (Eyelevel Gallery “Mission”). Eyelevel Gallery has also made an effort to display innovative, not necessarily saleable, work that stretches artistic boundaries and challenges the status quo. In addition, its commitment to contemporary art in general helped the development of two other now independent arts organizations: Live Art Dance and the Centre for Art Tapes. As with other arts organizations, understaffing and inadequate funding have been ongoing problems for Eyelevel Gallery. Although the gallery receives funding from a number of sources, including membership fees and grants from the Canada Council and the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture, fluctuating funding levels have sometimes led to program or operational changes.

Eyelevel Gallery is managed by a board of directors, a number of committees, and a gallery director. Although the organization, responsibilities, and sometimes even titles of these groups have changed overtime, the board of directors has always maintained the ultimate authority within the administrative structure. Committees oversee the various responsibilities of the board including finance, membership, staff, curatorial space, and fundraising. The gallery director is responsible to the board and carries out their actions and policies, creates and circulates press releases and proposals, and manages the day-to-day activities of the gallery.

Directors of Eyelvel Gallery include Julia Schmitt Healy (1974-1975), David Sayer (1975), Susan Beaver (1975-1976), Garry Conway (1976-1977), Marina Stewart (1977-?), Michael Fernandes (?-1982), David Craig (1982-1986), Melodie Calvert (1986-?), Catherine Phoenix (1988-1992), Ann Verrall (1988-1990), Susan Bustin (1992-1994), Andrea Ward (1994-1995), Moritz Gaede (1996-1999), Melissa Kuntz (1999-?), David Diviney (1999-2002), Svava Juliusson (200-?), Jennifer Dorner (2002-200-?), Christine Kellner (2004), Svava Juluisson (2004-2005), Eryn Foster (2006-2009), Michael McCormick (May 2009- August 2013), and Katie Belcher (August 2013-).

Custodial history

The materials were donated to Dalhousie University Archives in two 2004 accessions and an accession in 2005, 2007, and 2008. Prior to that, the materials were in the custody of Eyelevel Gallery. Additional accession 2008-004 and 2011-035 are not described in this finding aid.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of documents created and collected by Eyelevel Gallery that reflect all aspects of the gallery’s management. The fonds includes artist files, slides, administrative files, publicity files (including press releases), correspondence, publications, financial documents, contracts, minutes of board of directors meetings, photographs, fundraising files and membership lists, audio and videocassettes, CDs, DVDs, books, and programmes, catalogues, posters, reviews, guest books, and miscellaneous files regarding exhibitions and events. Some digital records in this collection have been migrated from CD's.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Arrangement has been imposed by the processing archivist, using the original order of the materials whenever possible. Fonds contains twelve series, some of which are divided into sub-series. See series-level descriptions for more information about the arrangement of the fonds.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Membership lists (files 8, 10-14) and Records of the Eyelevel Director Hiring Committee (file 12) in the Personnel series are closed. All other materials are open for research.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.

Finding aids

Associated materials

See also the Centre for Art Tapes fonds (MS-3-46) for related materials. The Centre for Art Tapes has had a notable involvement with Eyelevel Gallery. Eyelevel Gallery also maintains the Inventions Library and Archives at its office.

Related materials

Accruals

Further accruals are expected.

General note

Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Eyelevel Gallery fonds, MS-3-35, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

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