It has been six years since Dino Consalvo started dreaming of building his own gallery in Newcastle.
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His dream has finally come true: Straitjacket Gallery, at 222 Denison Street, Hamilton, will open on Saturday, July 9.
The expansive two-storey building will make an instant impact on Newcastle's commercial gallery scene. With a four-metre ceiling, two distinct display galleries, and a versatile garden space, it will be able to accommodate large works, installations and sculptures.
Consalvo and then-architecture student Sam Trembath have been on the project since day one, six years ago. In the past two years, they have begun the hard work in earnest.
The attention to detail is outstanding. There is a pressed iron ceiling (obtained from Bathurst) in the main gallery space, intricate tiling and zinc shelves in the powder room and toilets, and attention to detail in the timberwork and timber staircase.
Standing in the space a month ago, when walls were finished but much detail remained to be complete, Consalvo tells me: "It will be a nice place to be in ... nothing is overwhelming. You can fit in big pieces. You can hang off the steel beams. It fits big sculptures."
To call it a labour of love is almost an understatement.
"I put everything into it," Consalvo says. "Because I believe in it. I welded all the steel, all the timberwork. I've had fantastic help. Artists and builders and tradies - when they come in here, they've all been really enthusiastic."
Trembath's architecture lecturer, John Roberts, was a frequent visitor. "He comes here once a week, on a Wednesday morning," Consalvo says. "He arrives with banana bread and says, 'what can I do?'.
"We're just swapping time with each other."
Consalvo's life partner, artist and curator Ahn Wells, has also been a significant contributor to the project. She was the person who convinced Consalvo the building should become more than his working studio, and include a gallery.
The evolution of that concept appears in the second storey, which Consalvo added.
Upstairs features studios for both Wells and Consalvo, and includes a pottery wheel, clay trap, oil painting trap and kiln for ceramics. There's also a change room. And, most importantly, a feature room ("This is where you come to buy a painting," Consalvo says with hint of humour, pointing to the bare white wall where potential buyers can sit on a comfortable sofa and observe a work hung for their showing. "If you come in this room, you're not getting out until you buy something.")
Inspiration
Consalvo's dream began long ago.
"I had my first show in Newcastle when I was 16, in 1972," he says. "I remember going to Sydney with my sister, who was older, with her friends, and going into galleries there. They were just beautiful. And it reflected the artwork. And I just wanted to re-create that '70s feel ... a different way."
Consalvo could not have chosen a better location. Brunker Road in Adamstown, which leads to the Nine Ways intersection near Straitjacket, is bursting with new apartment dwellers and energy. Nine Ways feels like it's ready for renewal, with sprouts of galleries and food appearing.
Consalvo sees Newcastle as the "Berlin of Australia" with a vibrant scene of artists and galleries.
It's about creativity. It's about life, really. The thing that holds you back the most is your own self. So when you're standing in front of a blank canvas, you gotta get out of that straitjacket to do the work. It's about other things in life.
- Dino Consalvo on why he called his new gallery Straitjacket
"This gallery is not for us," he says. "We are trying to create something for everybody. The thing about this place [gallery] - you can't buy [rent] the space. We're trying to do something different. We're trying to bring other work in. That's why we have two spaces, so we'll always be able to show a Newcastle artist and someone from somewhere else."
And the Straitjacket name, Consalvo says: "It's about creativity. It's about life, really. The thing that holds you back the most is your own self. So when you're standing in front of a blank canvas, you gotta get out of that straitjacket to do the work. It's about other things in life."
First exhibitions
The gallery will open with charcoal drawings by Dean Beletich in gallery one, an installation by Kara Wood in gallery two, and works by Olivia Parsonage.
The gallery will be open from 11am to 5pm on the first day, Saturday, July 9.
