Artist Aidan Stanley walks The Silver Line
Published Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
Two tiny signs are attached halfway up the otherwise non-descript, but enormous building in Mazzuca's Lane in Fredericton beside two white doorbells, at the top of a metal staircase across from Culture's. You might not spot the letters spelling "Floor Five Hundred," and, "The Silver Line" if you're not looking for them.
On Friday night a host of people came through the laneway looking for this door. Inside, the artist, Aidan Stanley, clad in a crisp white shirt, dark pants, and bare-feet, greeted guests while adding last-minute details to this space, to mark the first opening of Floor Five Hundred Gallery and The Silver Line metal studio.
Inside, there is another staircase, a narrow, angular, maze-like hallway that bends, into a wall covered with mirrors. Large hand-drawn lettering spells "Floor Five Hundred," above it, three artist bios in transparent vinyl in a perfect line on the wall facing the mirrors: Aidan Stanley's, Mike Milton's, and Erica Sullivan's.
"The Silver Line" is beside it and above that a line of Polaroids showing metal pieces. Inside an open doorway you can find the show titled, "Slash (an initial opening)."
A handmade branch wall divides this space, into workspace on the right, gallery on the left, comprised of one white, 15-foot long wall, on it stunning metal work from all three artists, creepily displayed on or around a straight line of plaster hands that reach out from the wall (I wanted to play off Halloween, said Stanley, who also likes sculpting.
When his mother, Seeley Cove potter Helen Stanley, saw the wall she said excitedly, "which ones are my hands? What jewelry am I holding?") In a small reception area, a half-wall with a beautiful custom-built wood display cabinet containing more work.
It's incredible, said Stanley, looking at the work, "that Mike is still a student in his third year (at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design) but his pieces are perfect."
The images in the hallway show a Mike Milton award winning pendant and tree piece from Erica Sullivan that Stanley says embodies the beautiful spirit of her work and along with Mike Milton's fit into his created space perfectly.
Stanley knew the work enough to know what to expect and knew he could depend on these two serious metalsmiths to show with him.
At 21, Stanley got an all-expenses paid trip to Toronto and took top prize in the Canadian competition leading to the international Bombay Sapphire martini glass competition. His entry went to Milan and competed internationally. Then Stanley graduated that year, in 2003, planted trees, skied, worked, but in his head, he said, he was still designing.
The problem was he didn't have all the things he needed practically to begin creating out in the woods where he wanted to be with his own studio.
Last fall he heard about a new program, The Advanced Studies Diploma, at NBCCD, focusing on entrepreneurship and studio work. He knew it was what he needed to go back into production, and get serious about making the designs formulating in his head a reality. This summer he had a solo show at Government House. Everything is focused on the future, helping other emerging artists make the transition from unbridled enthusiasm in school to making a living as a successful working artist in the world. He won top prize at The Atlantic Craft Trade show in Halifax this winter, out of 300 booth entries, but now wants to focus on gallery work and retail, instead of wholesale.
Aidan also managed the inventory of 30 artists for the New Brunswick Crafts Council this summer, and is now doing Collections Management for Ingrid Mueller Art Concepts, to enhance his current knowledge. His long-term goal is to create an artist centre, and now he has the knowledge to take it one step at a time.
His pieces tend to employ two design elements, bringing together inspirations from urban architecture and natural landscape: geometric shape and the simplicity of line.
His mind thrives on problem-solving, creating mechanisms with moving parts. The inspiration could be anything, including people moving in space or on a sidewalk.
"It's the moving that's important," said Stanley (who said he didn't have time to put on shoes on Friday night, when asked about the bare feet).
Floor Five Hundred Gallery is an urban miniature version of the artist centre he envisions having five or 10 years from now, where people can come to life-enhancing career-changing workshops like they do in Banff, Alberta; Haystack, Maine; or Halliburton, Ontario, and work with people who have a body of knowledge and are willing to share and grow, right here at home in the Maritimes.
In the beginning, when he was in school the first time, he wanted it all, all at once. Now he knows these baby steps will pay off and hopes others will rent in the space, collaborate and share energy, enthusiasm, and skills with one another. Now, he's walking the line.
Mounted show posters, and a timeline are attached to a wall in his studio looking out over Piper's Lane. Accomplishments are mounted or scratched off the timeline. Stanley knows where he's going and now has the knowledge, and is slowly focusing his dream into a clear reality, moving - in a specific focused direction - with intention.
"Having this show behind me helps me re-evaluate where I am and what I want to do. I have this experience I didn't have a year ago," said Stanley.
"Expect to see more body parts (for displays) in the future."
That, and a whole lot more.
The Silver Line is online at www.thesilverline.net. See the gallery by chance or appointment (506) 440-9712.
Karen Ruet is a freelance writer and photographer living in Fredericton. She teaches at The New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and runs The Gallery at NBCCD. She is one of the founding members of the local photography collective, SilverFish (2000).
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