NAESS HISTORY (formerly known as Fringe Gallery)

Sidsel Bradley nurtures Edmonton artists with basement-dwelling Naess Gallery

There's one thing that nearly all artists have in common: we all go through days of deep doubt - doubt that for some sinks into debilitating despair. Maybe those long hours spent alone in a studio lend themselves to self-examination, or perhaps arrogance is not a quality that any creative person can afford, since it signals that an artist has reached the limits of his development. "To succeed to enjoy lasting good fortune, one must have a different temperament from mine," Vincent Van Gogh once wrote to his brother Theo. "I shall never do what I could have done...But, having these dizzy spells so often, I can never be more than fourth- or fifth-rate."

It was the lifelong care, support and love that Theo offered his brother that gave Van Gogh the means, the strength and the will to continue. It is the Theos of this world who make art happen; they may be great donors like Francis Winspear, family doctors who decorate their offices with genuine art or the local café owners who make room for shows. These are the people who stand quietly behind the papers of art history books making sure that art continues. For two decades, Edmonton's Sidsel Bradley, a businesswoman, artist and curator of the Naess Gallery has been one of our local Theos. In her discreet and unassuming way, she has encouraged and supported a whole generation of artists.

In 1985, when Bradley first opened The Paint Spot, the first thing she looked for was a location that had a good space in which to display art. "it was the perfect space for what I wanted," she says "it had a little room in the front so the first thing you saw when you walked in was art on the walls." Then, when her business moved to its current location, she realized that she had found the ideal room for a whole art gallery. "There was this wonderful basement. "It was a mess; it was partially burned. Beams were swaying and rotting away- they'd been in the water for several years. The peeling wallpaper had birds and oriental designs-it had been a Chinese restaurant. It was an oasis for me!"

Bradley immediately set to work, tearing down the wallpaper and wading through disconnected plumbing pipes that she had dug out of the floors. "It was a fantastic world," she says. "It was a happening." Looking at the space with an artist's eye, Bradley saw the potential for a show. She painted the walls pure white while another artist raked the mounds of dug-up dirt on the floor. That was the show that opened the gallery.

Ever since that unusual exhibition, Bradley's basement had been one of Edmonton's most loved experimental art galleries. There is no complicated and intimidating application process here; Bradley simply invites artists to show. Sometimes artists come in to buy supplies and Bradley surprises them by asking, "So when are you booking a show?"

Yet there is no shortage of applicants; the gallery is filled for the next two years and Bradley must refuse about half the artists who approach her. Despite this competitive atmosphere, Bradley's criteria have nothing to do with profit. "I select artists who want to show their own uniqueness with no commercial restrictions," she says. "The artists that are easy to say no to are good commercial artists; their work has a public appeal which is not a criterion."

Once an artist gets a show, they are free to transform the space in whichever way they please. Bradley happily invites them to pile earth on the floor, cover the lights or even line the walls with garbage bags (as one enterprising artists has done). "There is a comfort level here," Bradley says. "Artists can be experimental and casual; we don't require framed painting, pinned on the walls is fine. Not much of this is high profit art and The Paint Spot must continue to pay taxes on a prime location. "It's too precious to let go," she explains.

As Bradley speaks about her gallery, the tone of her voice says much more than any words of explanation possible could. She quite simply loves art. "We have such a wonderful pool of local artist here," she says. "I think it's absolutely unique...The benefit for me is that the gallery encourages great artists to carry on working.

Excerpt from: Vue Weekly Magazine December 21-27, 2003.