Shannon Merrifield inside 116 Prince William Street, where Spicer Merrifield Gallery will open next month. (Photo: Nienke Izurieta, Submitted)
A Saint John artist and entrepreneur are teaming up to open a new art gallery in the city’s uptown next month.
Artist, gallerist and curator Shannon Merrifield and entrepreneur and jeweller Gary Spicer of Spicer Fine Jewellers will be opening the Spicer Merrifield Gallery at 116 Prince William Street. The gallery will specialize in fine art, crafts and jewellery.
Their partnership started when Merrifield was looking for a new location for her previous art gallery, Buckland Merrifield, which had been located on Canterbury Street. She had done business with Spicer before and knew he owned 116 Prince William Street.
“I knew that he had owned this building and at my previous location on Canterbury Street I knew there was going to be significant construction that was going to happen there in this upcoming year,” said Merrifield. “From my experience, construction and walk-by traffic, it directly affects sales. I didn’t know if I wanted to be in that position again. So I started to look at other locations. As much as I enjoyed my time in that building, I also wanted to keep my eye open for other opportunities.”
Merrifield reached out to Spicer to inquire about the historic building, which many years ago was Saint John City Hall, but the conversation soon became about more than just renting space.
“We actually decided to discuss more than just me renting the space, but a collaboration and potential partnership. We do similar things in many ways. We have a clientele that recognizes us for what it is that we do, and we thought we should discuss whether or not our brands were cohesive,” said Merrifield.
“The more we got together to discuss things the more we realized there was a synergy between both of our brands within this building that could be a knock-out.”
116 Prince William Street, also known as the Old City Hall building, where the Spicer Merrifield Gallery will open next month. Image: Shannon Merrifield, (Photo: Submitted)
Spicer Merrifield will carry lots of the fine arts and crafts by artists customers of the Buckland Merrifield gallery have come to love and expect. It will also carry ceramics, pottery, woodwork and sculpture. The gallery will also carry a variety of jewellry by Spicer and other local artists.
Merrifield said they will also have increased capacity to offer custom jewellry, too.
“We’ve worked with artists and craftspeople in the past, but this is going to be on a whole other level where people can come in and we have the ability and the knowledgable and trained staff that will know how to professionally custom-build a beautiful piece of jewelry for them,” she said. “Whether it be for an engagement ring or for an anniversary, or take mom’s old jewels and put it into something else.”
With Covid-19 changing the way many people shops, Spicer Merrifield will also have a strong online presence. The gallery will have a full online store.
“Our web page is going to be very different from what I had previously. We’re going to change it so there is an online presence for people to purchase work online. Previously, I was unable to do that. But also, I think that the way the world is now, people want to be able to push on a button and see the selection that we have,” said Merrifield. “We’re going to have every single mug, every pair of earrings, everything we have in the gallery we’re going to have live online for people to purchase.”
They will also be hosting virtual exhibitions through their website, too. The first one will be taking place at the end of August.
“The first exhibition that we’re having we’re going to be able to place it on our webpage so people will have a virtual exhibition of the entire show,” said Merrifield. “We will have it not only in-house, but we’ll have it online as well.”
Merrifield hopes the Spicer Merrifield Gallery will be a place for people to enjoy arts and culture in uptown Saint John.
“I think that the fact we’re in the Old City Hall is significant, too, because I feel that although it’s not a public building anymore, we’re turning it back to that,” she says.
“Where people can actually see the grandeur of these incredible buildings, the craftsmanship that went into building them and having it so the public can enjoy it is great . . . It’s giving it back to the community a little bit. It’s a space where they can go in, they can enjoy, they can shop and it can part of their cultural dialogue. ”
Spicer Merrifield Gallery will open in early August 2020. The exact opening date will be announced on its Facebook page.
This story was originally published in Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
