For Julie Walsh, it all began on a walk through the Exchange District in 1998 when she stumbled upon an art studio, where a painter was working on a massive canvas.
“I immediately felt this rush of energy of when something’s really true and really resonates with my soul,” she recounts. “I was quite moved by it.”
That energy rush proved to be the catalyst for Walsh – then an interior designer – to begin her journey in the art world that would lead her to the Soul Gallery, located on Albert Street not far from where she first encountered that artist at work.
The gallery’s beginnings can be traced back over a decade to Walsh’s home in Riverview. She transformed some 2000 square feet into a place to showcase the artists and sculptors that she was connecting with, and also a place to sell pieces to interior design clients.
“We had been quite successful operating the gallery,” Walsh says, reflecting on the early years, “but I felt like I needed to expand. It wasn’t the full expression of me and the gallery. I felt there would be more, and as an entrepreneur, I wanted my artists to be seen more broadly.”
Again, the push to expand to the gallery’s current location came from a metaphysical feeling, something that Walsh relies on a lot in her work as a curator. “If we’re listening and if we’re taking the risk to follow what we’re hearing, the universe does provide. Things start to fall into place.”
Today, roughly thirty artists from around Manitoba and across Canada call the Soul Gallery home in one form or another. Each artist works closely with Walsh and her patrons to deliver works that are suited for the needs of the gallery’s clientele. This is not to say that Walsh is directing artists on what to paint and how to go about their craft but rather communicating openly about what she’s hearing to artists, who then take that as a kind of prompt in the work that gets produced.
“I’m always listening to my patrons, my clients for what they’re searching for,” says Walsh of her curatorial process, “and my great delight is when I can find that. Generally, my artists have really been grateful for my input as a designer because I know space and I sense what will sell versus not.”
The designer’s sensibilities come out not only in the curation of the pieces on display at the gallery, but also in their layout, which Walsh shifts every couple of weeks to keep things vital. She also has planned events and exhibitions a year in advance, including an exhibition called The Island Lake Paintings: Treaty Five by Winnipeg artist Tim Schouten.
“I just think for our city and our province, this will draw a lot attention and traffic to the gallery just because of its subject matter,” comments Walsh.
The Soul Gallery is open from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. Art fans can learn more about upcoming exhibits and the artists that showcase there at the gallery’s website.