It’s been nearly two months since Handworks Gallery in Saint John, New Brunswick shut their doors. Like all non-essential businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic left the art gallery with no other option but to close to the public and seek out new methods for conducting their business. Now, with the province of New Brunswick entering the “Orange Phase” of their COVID-recovery plan and easing restrictions, Handworks Gallery is preparing to reopen with several new precautionary measures in place.
Following the March 16, 2020 recommendation from Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, that public places and businesses be closed, Handworks Gallery closed their King Street location.
“I felt my staff would be more secure, so I discussed with them a temporary layoff,” says Elizabeth Cook, who owns the gallery. Cook says that for the last two months she has also stopped drawing a salary from the gallery to ensure its survival beyond the pandemic. Cook began working from home. She made as few as possible trips into the gallery, and has had to find a work/life balance while sharing a home office space with her husband along with daycare duties of their 12-month-old daughter. “We even had her first birthday in isolation,” says Cook.
While the world of fine art hardly screams “full-contact sport” (quite the opposite), Cook says that some things just need to be experienced first hand and artwork is one of them. Although still able to conduct sales online, the change in their approach comes with some added challenges.
“So far it’s been demonstrating the beauty of the artworks I carry through a 2D medium. Pottery, woodwork, jewellery, and paintings, often these items need to be held, to see how the light catches as they turn. Falling in love with a piece of art tends to be in person,” explains Cook.
“I had to completely switch gears and put all of my focus on our online store. I want to make sure that Handworks is there, for my artists as representation, and for our patrons who are still at home celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, or are now realizing that their office for the next foreseeable future is their repurposed home office which is in need of some cheerful artwork.
“And then there are those who just really want to support local and make sure we see the other side of this. I’m grateful for everyone who’s taken a moment to take a glance at what we have to offer.”
Cook says that she’s found a silver lining amidst all these challenges, with local organizations and other businesses from Saint John providing a community of mutual support during the quarantine. “There’s been an enormous movement online across Canada for listings of small Canadian businesses, and we’ve seen a little bit of that interest. There’s a community growing on a national scale to support each other,” says Cook.
“Commercial Properties and Uptown Saint John have been sharing many posts by local businesses and we’ve all been sharing and promoting alike. Lordon, Feel Good Store, Tuck, Heartbreak Boutique… these are just some of the businesses who have been working hard to change the narrative of their businesses to suit the economic and social climate.”
With nearly all of the province’s COVID-19 cases having recovered and restrictions being lifted for retail operations and gatherings of 10 people or fewer (with social distancing), Handworks Gallery are preparing themselves with the proper measures when the time is appropriate.
Exactly what those measures are has yet to be clearly defined for many scenarios.
“My main focus for right now is ensuring we have the proper protocols in place so that everyone entering the store is safe,” says Cook.
“Sourcing the supplies we need, advised or required, has proven a bit challenging. I understand much of these supplies need to go to health workers first and I respect that. Sourcing masks and gloves, even commercial grade cleaners is very difficult.”
For Handworks Gallery, Cook suspects that the required safety measures will likely require social distancing stickers on the floor, a sanitization zone, mandatory mask-wearing, and a plexiglass window in front of the counter for conversing directly with the customers.
Cook says that she still feels hesitant about reopening. She also suspects that we may never see business go back to usual, and many precautions will remain in place until a vaccine becomes available.
“I do feel that it’s a touch too soon, but that also we’ve proven to be very careful. A slow staggered open is the best way to test and see if we have it under control. Otherwise we’re left waiting, potentially, 18 months for a vaccine that may, or may not, be available. Neither the economy nor our mental wellbeing can handle that.
“I think how we do things has been permanently affected. If we saw casual shopping and tourism get back to where they were, then we may see some semblance of what we were used to. I don’t expect to return to the trends we’ve seen in the past. With everything else in life, you adapt and you move forward.”
Handworks Gallery is located at 12 King Street in Saint John, New Brunswick. While preparations to reopen are being made they have not announced a specific date. In the meantime, the gallery purchases can be made online and they are prepared to ship anywhere in the world.