Sask. art gallery expresses compassion post vandalism

On July 5, a new art installation was installed in the PAVED Arts and AKA Artist-Run window gallery. The next day, staff returned to find the window gallery shattered for the third time since its initial installation in 2022.

PAVED Arts Executive Director, Travis Cole and Artistic Director, David LaRiviere met with 650CKOM to share more about what the window gallery means to the community.

“People really want this to exist, they think that it enhances the street and the cultural life of the city. These maybe seem like small things to some people but to artists, they loom quite large,” shared Lariviere.

Crowds gathered to admire the Life Itself installation created by Odette Nicholson. (Submitted)

The replacement of the window is estimated to cost more than a thousand dollars for the publicly funded business. Cole and Lariviere shared that to get glass meant to withstand rocks or bullets would cost them close to ten thousand dollars.

Both Cole and Lariviere, although upset, shared a message of empathy to the person who smashed their window.

“I do have some information about what actually happened, and it does seem like somebody was just having a bad day,” said Cole.

“Where we’re coming from is we have a great deal of compassion for people who are undergoing a fair degree of strife in this time… So when events like this happen, there is a part of us that as much as this is very difficult and it’s hard on the artists, we understand there is also a larger social problem that our society needs to deal with,” said  Lariviere.

Although many windows have been broken in the Riversdale area, Cole expressed that vandalism is a problem all over the city.

“I feel like with the sort of level of desperation and frustration that’s happening at a street level, these types of things happen on the regular,” said Cole.

“I would be hesitant to say it’s only happening in Riversdale, I spend a lot of time in different neighborhoods in the city and I’ve been sort of noticing this increase in damage on properties,” Cole expressed.

The artist, Odette Nicholson, noted on the PAVED Arts website that the Life Itself installation was dedicated to her son.

“The 30-year project literally began with the 1985 conception of my firstborn child and as life would have it, is dedicated to my 38-year-old son Oliver, who passed away April 2024.”

A description of the work shares what the piece was meant to be.

“Life Itself the video is installed in the PAVED Arts Gallery foyer accompanied by three of the installation’s collaged calendar panels presented in the gallery window and the QR code video makes the video available – like life 24/7, to all passers by.”

Anyone looking to help cover the cost of a new window can find their donation site here. Supporters who donate 50 dollars or more will be offered complimentary memberships from PAVED Arts and AKA Artist-Run.