Enriched Bread Artists (EBA) is a not-for-profit collective of visual artists working in a range of media and techniques. The collective was originally formed in 1992 by graduates of the University of Ottawa looking for studio space and an artistic community beyond university. EBA members have changed over time and today EBA artists come from all over the world.
The group’s name refers to the former bread factory where the co-operatively run studios are located. Designed by Sydney Comber, a dairy and bakery specialist, the Standard Bread bakery was built in 1924. It was founded by Cecil Morrison and Dick Lamothe. Designated a heritage site by the City of Ottawa in 2020, the building is one of the few remaining light-industrial buildings left in Ottawa. When the bakery opened in 1924, it was adorned with a plaque with the Latin proverb: Audaces Fortuna Juvat, meaning Fortune Favours the Bold, which can still be seen near the entrance.
The Enriched Bread Artists’ studios are now home to contemporary artists and their studios continuing to sustain the Ottawa art’s scene. The building’s past as a place to produce bread, and its present as a place to produce art, is of interest. Art, like bread, sustains and stimulates society.
During Doors Open Ottawa, we will be highlighting the historical features of the building and its current use. At the end of October, EBA artists will present their annual “Open Studio”, a time when studios will be open to the public to share their work and vision with the Ottawa community, and beyond.
2021 marks the 29th anniversary of Enriched Bread Artists.
Visit EBA and other Virtual Doors Open sites in Ottawa and Ontario.
City of Ottawa Doors Open will be available to the public from Friday, June 4 to Friday, June 11: ottawa.ca/doorsopen
Doors Open Ontario will be available online for the entire year: www.doorsopenontario.on.ca
Normally, EBA is full of art and artists, but over the last year of lock-downs EBA is mostly empty. This 360-tour is of that empty building; day and night, lights going on and off, doors opening and closing; creative energy waiting.
Time and Space
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/do2021events/
For a look inside Artists Studios revisit our virtual Open Studio for 2020. A 360 tour of Enriched Bread Artist studios
Reality Revisited
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/os2020events/
EBA may look deserted from the outside but some members are using the time to continue their work or experiment with new ideas. Here are a few snippets from inside.
Maren Kathleen Elliott
Bin Experiment for sleep codes & coordinates (2021)
As my creative practice becomes more embodied I seek new paths of expression while navigating the vulnerability of using my physical being, my one and only meat sack, as a vessel for creativity. In this instance some leftover bins from cleaning up the gallery space provided a spontaneous invitation for me to experiment with isolating the arms… An experience in half-hiding that opened up the door to a kind of storytelling reminiscent of puppetry.
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/do2021events/Bin Experiment.mp4
Patricia Kenny
Bound to Unravel
A conversation with my daughter in the studio.
https://vimeo.com/534566548
Svetlana Swinimer
Planet #2, from the series The Metamorphosis of the Planets
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/do2021events/Planet 2.mp4
Gayle Kells
A Transition in White
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/do2021events/A Transition in White.mp4
Joyce Westrop
Mic drop from the kitchen, 2021
Contact kitchen shelf liner on gallery wall. 10 ft radius
The first mic drop in history was at the beginning of the 14th century when Giotto sent a hand-drawn circle to audition for a Papal commission. Then from the early-60s male artists were experimenting with AbEx, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Land Art, Arte Povera, Op Art and Pop Art. Large with a lot of bravado. Women artists of the same time period were fighting to get out of their kitchens. These ladies are an inspiration to me.
https://www.enrichedbreadartists.com/do2021events/Circle.mp4