Meet Your Neighbour: Butter Gallery
Butter Gallery in Collingwood Downtown is a bright, spacious 2,500 square foot contemporary art gallery, representing Canadian artists from coast to coast with the majority from Ontario. You can enjoy a wide variety of paintings in various genres including landscape, impressionist, abstract, still life, figurative and wildlife. The gallery also carries sculpture in metal, glass and clay as well as handcrafted jewellery.
Gallery co-owners Andrea Rinaldo and Suzanne Steeves opened the gallery in August of 2016. The original gallery was across the street in a much smaller space. After some initial success, Andrea and Suzanne decided to move into the current location.
The gallery is constantly evolving to showcase the work of the various artists that they represent. “Once you sell a piece, you can’t just replace it, you have to re-hang the wall and sometimes that means redoing the adjacent walls as well. The process is a constant curation.” explains Andrea.
The gallery offers several shows a year that feature either a solo artist or group of artists brought together by a common theme. “Clients are welcome to take art home on approval and as part of our service we can superimpose work into a photograph of your space.” offers Suzanne.
Andrea grew up in the arts and Suzanne always had a passion for the arts and enjoyed a successful career in broadcasting. The pair met each other through volunteering with the BMFA (Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts). “As soon as we met, we were finishing each other’s sentences. We sat down to have a chat at Espresso Post and over lemonade we decided to open a gallery. Thirty-five hours later, we had secured our first gallery space” remembers Andrea. “The more we talked, the more we found we had in common…growing up just blocks away from each other in Don Mills, going to the same primary and secondary schools a few years apart. It was such a coincidence and a little bit bizarre at the same time.” added Suzanne.
Fun facts: Andrea and Suzanne met each other through volunteering with the BMFA (Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts). Andrea started the Collingwood Art & Music Crawl and Suzanne was part of the team that started the Creemore Festival of the Arts.
New work arrives weekly at the gallery and can be seen on Instagram or by checking out the Discover tab on the website. If you can’t visit in person, Andrea and Suzanne are happy to do a Facetime call or provide a video of the work you’re interested in. The gallery ships worldwide and also has a private delivery service that covers Ontario and Quebec.
The next time you’re looking to refresh your space with some original artwork, or just want to make your day a bit brighter with some art appreciation, check out Butter Gallery.
Butter Gallery is open seven days a week from 11AM-4PM and is located at 126 Hurontario Street in Collingwood Downtown. You can visit their website buttergallery.ca/ or follow them on Facebook or Instagram @buttergallery151