Archive » Arts and Entertainment

How Artists in the Alton Mill Arts Centre are staying in business

May 13, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

For those of us who did not know until today what is Patreon, this is the right moment to explain it: it is a subscription-based membership platform, like so many other subscription formats coming into effect, like Netflix and Craven. Primarily designed for the arts community, Patreon is a way for an artist to get a stable income stream that their supporters are paying them, in exchange for value in teaching and commentary.

CJ Shelton was the lady artist to explain this to us. She has worked long and hard to set up her studio and students, including those who would like to begin learning from her, on a Patreon platform.

Before anything else is noted, it should be said that the contact to any artist website using the Patreon subscription format looks like this, in Ms. Shelton’s case, for example: www.patreon.com/dancingmoondesigns as opposed to going directly to the artist’s website.

The Alton Mill Arts Centre has been variously shut down and allowed to open during all of the months since March, 2020. Unfortunately located in the northern end of Peel, the restrictions to the whole of Peel have been in force even when businesses in nearby Dufferin were open.

“I’m on the Covid committee here at the Mill,” Ms. Shelton commented. “We four simply, rather than making decisions amongst so many of us, we try to determine what the government edicts are. It’s been frustrating with the constant on and off. 

“When you’re running classes, you have to plan the dates and classes; you have lead time. Our shows are closed. Because everyone has to have their slots, when we’re closed, those dates get bumped.”

For the time being, survival is online.

“That’s why I’ve had to plan things online,” she said. ”My studio is too small to have distance classes, except when Jeremy and Jordan [Grant, co-owners of the Mill] allowed me to use the Falls gallery for classes. Even then, we had to shunt things around to accommodate other needs for the space.”

She continued, “Something like art is difficult to translate to online. The challenge for me is to learn and adapt because teaching online is very different from in person – that transition has led to the Artist’s Circle.”

Each artist will handle it in their own way but for a small fee per month, which could run in tiers, a variety of levels of instruction can be delivered. A drawing tutorial might not be live but exclusively accessible.

As Ms. Shelton put it, “In a pdf and photos, I have three level of tiers: $9, $29 and $49 per month. This is a long-term thing and that’s why I’ve taken my time doing this. Rather than having e-commerce on my own site, that would be expensive and difficult. That’s what Patreon can do for us.”

The agreement with Patreon only takes a very small percentage of every fee, as it is set up to benefit artists.

Kim, another artist at the Mill, is also taking advantage of the Patreon system. Kim owns and runs the Hive Encaustic Studio, offering “classes, techniques, inspiration and everything you need to learn how to paint with encaustics.”

She is also selling tools and materials on her website at www.edgeofgrey.ca

There are more aspects to teaching art online than how to collect payment for effort and we discussed this further with CJ Shelton; “A lot of our visitors aren’t local. Five of my clients are in Toronto. So many people from Toronto have discovered the Alton Mill during the pandemic because they drove to the country and found it.
Also: “This is great for parents who home school, as a replacement for the art classes they may be missing. I have a couple of clients who are elderly too and can’t get out. They can be computer savvy and this provides an outlet for them.”

She remarked, “I am very future focussed on this. That’s why I took my time to get it done because I wanted to get it right.”

Social media necessarily plays a part in online endeavours, as Ms. Shelton observed, yet, she is not a huge fan, saying, “Technology has its place but it’s how we’re using [it] that’s wrong. We can’t stop the fear but we cannot contribute to it. What I would envision for myself is a hybrid model between online and in-person. This is a pendulum, swinging wildly back and forth. When it comes to the middle, we will go back to in-person. I look forward to a balance between the best of online [and being together]. I keep doing that thing of consistency and I long for that human interaction.”

Anne-Marie Warburton, owner of Gallery Gemma, that purveyor of fine jewellery, is still very active, very available for curbside pick-up with her lines ready for viewing online at www.gallerygemma.com

Noodle Gallery with its highly eclectic assortment of art and artifacts “makes it easy to shop and browse their website:” www.noodlegallery.com Emily Perrin is the current featured artist.

YogaGurl has a shopping site for hand-silkscreened clothing, beeswax candles, plus a lot more, as well as her mentorship and yoga program. She has so much available: for all her information, contact her at www.yogagurl.com

That dazzling collection of hand-crafted clothing and accessories called The Rare Threads Gallery is available to browse online, if not actually to purchase, on Instagram @rare.threads or visit their website to purchase a gift card: www.rarethreads.ca

Notwithstanding the pandemic, most of the studios at the Mill are rented by artists who work full or part time. As soon as the ban is lifted, be sure to grab your mask and go for a socially-distance visit.

Said CJ Shelton: “Morale is good here at the Mill, considering how many of us are still here. I couldn’t imagine not having my studio. My ambition is a hybrid model of online and in studio. Of course, we haven’t got to that yet. I’m hoping to get back to my studio and painting again after spending so much time at my computer and online.”

She told the Citizen, “I’m very proud of the fact that I’m 10 years at the mill. And that I’ve survived this pandemic.”

Readers Comments (0)