Montreal non-profit Espace VERRE completes $3 million renovation

Situated in a former firehouse, Espace Verre has not expanded but improved their nonprofit artist space.

Earlier this month, Quebec’s only accredited glass art school took the wraps off a major renovation that has spruced up this 26-year-old institution in downtown Montreal. Growing out of an artist collective that was founded in 1983 by glassblower Ronald Labelle and sculptor Francois Houdé, Espace VERRE has occupied this former firehouse since 1986. The renovation, completed in October 2009, was a welcome renewal.

“Except for the gallery and boutique, the whole space is not really bigger,” says Espace VERRE spokesperson Catherine Piazzon. “It is now better organized and more healthy.”

The $3 million renovation, paid for through federal, provincial and municipal funding, concentrated on upgrading the facility’s health and safety systems, as well as improving the interior architecture. A new work by artist Pierre Fournier adorns the former firehouse’s tall tower.

A new sculpture by Pierre Fournier adorns this former firehouse building's tall tower, once used to dry hoses.

Espace VERRE has a three-tiered mission to teach glass through a degree program and offer classes to the general public, to promote art through a gallery and boutique, and to provide support for artists who need a facility in which to work with glass.

The newly renovated Espace VERRE is featuring a group exhibition entited “The Human” which includes work by Claire Beaulieu, Marie-Hélène Beaulieu, Catherine Benoit, Nadine Busque, Sébastien Duchange, Diane Ferland, Carole Frève, Jean-Marie Giguère, Cédric Ginart, Karina Guévin, Tanya Lyons, Élisabeth Marier, Christina Mayr, Gilles Payette, Carole Pilon, Stephen Pon and Donald Robertson. This exhibition will continue until January 15th 2010.

The Calgary, Alberta-based art and design collaborative known as Bee Kingdom during a visit to the Espace VERRE hotshop.

The not-so-new but vastly improved Espace VERRE will be a primary site for the 2010 Glass Art Association of Canada conference, which will move to Montreal as part of the year-long celebration of glass which is known as 2010, City of Glass.

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