Spotlight on Nipawin – 30 Businesses – 30 Days
From Carmen Drapeau, owner of Art on Main – Nipawin’s newest business, Art On Main is now open at 316 1st Avenue East, Downtown Nipawin. We have spent the past 18 months doing major renovations to our building, and have transformed the former glass/auto-body shop, into a Gallery & Arts retail space, a classroom for art instruction and an office for graphic design services.
The mission of Art On Main is to showcase the creativity found throughout the Nipawin region, to provide formal art instruction for interested students, to offer professional design services and to develop Art On Main as a socially and culturally inclusive amenity that serves the entire region.
The newly transformed Art On Main building has seen some pretty drastic changes – and received a whole lot of TLC throughout this process. We’ve learned a lot about the history of the “old glass shop” and have even spoken with previous owners, who have shared some of the interesting building history. The front part of the building is about 80 years old, with 2 newer buildings attached at the back. Pretty cool to think that tractors were once stored in the front of the building, which is now the gallery! Excavating inside of one back building, and excavating for drainage tile, we discovered an old house foundation.
We’ve kept many original parts of the building such as the inside ship-lap walls of the gallery, an old vehicle frame straightening floor anchor and the front garage door. Once we had completed the main renovations, and brought in work by local and area artists, we recently opened our doors on August 1st.
Getting to know Carmen Drapeau
Art On Main owner, Carmen Drapeau, holds a Bachelor of Design (Graphic Design) Degree from Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver BC. Carmen has been a freelance Designer since graduation in 1989, and she has been actively involved in Arts Administration throughout her career. She has served on various Arts Council Boards while living in BC and Alberta, and she has managed Art Centers in BC, Alberta and Manitoba. Carmen has served for many years as an Art Instructor/Artist in Residence in schools in both BC and Alberta, and she has delivered therapeutic art instruction at Outreach Centers for “at-risk” youth.
Carmen also served previously as a Welcoming Communities Ambassador and a Social Inclusion Coordinator, both of which reinforced her commitment to ensuring that all services provided at Art On Main celebrate the creativity, ingenuity and diversity found throughout all cultures. She has long viewed art as a tool that can be used to help anyone to express themselves in a positive way, and as a means of discovering one’s own Identity. She looks forward to welcoming everyone to Art On Main!
You can follow Carmen Drapeau and Art on Main by liking her Facebook page Art On Main, Nipawin Saskatchewan
