New NOTL Contemporary gallery to be home to modern multimedia art

Sunday’s Super Dope kick-off party at the newly dubbed NOTL Contemporary Gallery at Ironwood Cider House marks the start of a new age for Niagara-on-the-Lake’s art scene. 

Co-curators Marinko Jareb and Dillon Douglas promise a stunning event showcasing the work of more than 20 Niagara-based artists in the bright, modern 1,000 square foot gallery space on Lakeshore Road. 

On the gallery’s Intstagram page Douglas says the pair “want to revamp the landscape of what’s possible for culture in Niagara—and incarnate a vision of the cool that actually resonates with creators, collectors and the community in the area. We really hope to uppercut the psyches of the status quo and continue building a scene that embraces the avant-garde and contemporary.”

Jareb buzzes with anticipation talking about the grand opening celebration, which will also feature a violinist, circus performers, artisanal pizzas from Ryan Crawford, formerly of Ruffino’s and Barbea, and, of course, Ironwood providing the drinks. 

The St. Catharines-based artist and disc jockey has worked with Ironwood in the past. From his first day there he saw the gallery space, which opened when owner Richare Liu bought the business in 2021, as underutilized.

“The gallery here is very unique for this area,” says Jareb. “I approached Richard and Devon:(hospitality manager Ryback) to talk about what things could be here and they liked my ideas. They offered to give me the responsibility to take things over.”

Jareb immediately brought in Douglas, an artist and digital marketing professional with an MFA from Brock University who was part of the Pure Persona exhibit  in the same space in January, 

The pair sees the opportunity to curate the gallery as a way to nurture and advance an already established community of like-minded artists to take their work to the next level. 

“We want to develop an ecosystem to help foster the art community,” Jareb explains. “We want to help these artists grow their work, show them how to monetize and and show at other places. It’s about professional development, being a sounding board for each other, to inspire each other.”

Many of the artists involved in Super Dope were also part of February’s Prototype art and fashion show at the new Niagara Falls Exchange. Jareb says that set the blueprint for the type of multidisciplinary show on offer this weekend. 

Digital artists will include Kabarri, who specializes in 3D animation, Indigenous artist Mayhoose and Josiah Royal, who imbues his work with narratives, themes and lore.

Jareb himself will showcase his own digital art, which he describes as “born out of the European electronic music and 90s Toronto rave scenes, where multimedia was a part of what was going on. It wasn’t just a party where you listened to music, there were a lot of visual aspects including video projections.”

 Among the artists who will have some of their paintings in the opening exhibit are award-winning surrealist Emily Andrews of Niagara Falls, Jon Shaw, Courtney MacIsaac, Sanya Vasiljevic and Jamaican-born former CFL player Wayne Moore, whose multimedia creations often reflect the Black experience. 

Violinist Liam Calhoun, photographer Jamie Mattiazzo and painter/sculptor Linsday-Ann Chilcott are also part of Super Dope.

Of course, The NOTL Contemporary Gallery will have a life beyond Sunday, November 22. It will be open to visitors daily from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., except for Wednesdays, when it will close at 1 p.m.

“We’ll have an awesome day of music and art, a celebration to drum up interest,” Jareb says. “But then the real hard work begins. We want to court buyers and establish a true digital identity rather than just an Instagram page. We want to offer visitors to Niagara a real cool thing that they can indulge in while they are here.”

Tickets for Sunday’s Super Dope event, which runs from 4 to 8 p.m., are $30 and available at this website.