Since the closure of the Seeds gallery in 2014, NSCAD students have been without a venue to exhibit and sell their work in a commercial setting. Taking inspiration from the model and mandate of Seeds, Fallow Gallery is a not-for-profit retail space for NSCAD students, alumni, and friends work out of a humble snack vending machine. It is student run as a way of fostering the community within the university and offering relevant commercial experience to students. The project has been supported by the Anna Leonowens gallery and now exists in the Granville Mall between the Anna, the Khyber, and the Art Bar.
We have received generous grants from both the Awesome Foundation Halifax (http://awesomehalifax.com/) and Halifax Soup (http://www.halifaxsoup.ca/). Combined, we have received $1,200 from these organizations, which allowed us to move forward in purchasing the vending machine.
In agriculture, to let your fields lay fallow means to have idle crop land. Unlike crop rotation, which allows farmers to keep their fields in continual production, fields left fallow are often a result of poor planning, unusually harsh environmental conditions, and/or a crop that fatigues the soil more than others. The term “fallow” speaks to NSCAD’s current state. This is a critical period for the school. We’re in the midst of emerging from total upheaval: the threat of merging with a larger institution, crushing debt, and cutbacks, to which Seeds fell victim of.
In the absence of Seeds, there is a growing interest to fill the hole left by it. These ventures prove to NSCAD administration how much the student body needs Seeds, and that there is a huge demand for opportunities for students and alumni. This project two-fold. It’s a piece in and of itself, but it’s commercial success is important as it supports the very artists that have been negatively impacted by the closure of Seeds.