Perhaps no other gallery in Newcastle represents a changing city as much as Straitjacket, which celebrates its second birthday on July 9.
Built with passion by artist Dino Consalvo, it's modern in touch and feel, with a courtyard oozing life and warmth, and two inside galleries that allow art to be shown on a suitable scale.
Run by Consalvo and his life partner, and fellow artist, Ahn Wells, in spirit it was meant to serve the needs of artists, and the public - particularly by inviting community members to enjoy art without pretension, without pressure to buy, to judge.
In the two years since opening the gallery has hosted 53 solo shows and four group exhibitions, with an estimated 10,000 visitors coming through the door. The owners admit the gallery itself is not paying its own way, but in the same breath they are quick to say that was never the main intention.
Exhibition opening days run from 11am to 5pm, with the artists present.
"You can talk to artists, see the work," Consalvo says. "There's a constant flow. That's what we're for. We're here for the art. That's what we're trying to do. Trying to create the atmosphere for the art and the artists. And it's working."
"People come in and say they enjoy the shows, and love the space," Wells says. "And some come in just to see Alfie [their resident Burmese cat]".
The gallery is located on Denison Street, near the Nine Ways intersection in Broadmeadow.
"We're trying to take away the intimidation of going into a gallery," Consalvo says. "Make it more real. We greet everybody. We offer them something. And let them look at the art."
The gallery's extras include Artist Talks at 1pm on Saturdays during Meet the Artist sessions by the exhibiting artists, and an artists' lunch, usually on a Sunday afternoon two weeks after a show has finished, where Consalvo cooks a meal to be enjoyed with robust discussion with exhibiting artists and buyers of their artwork.
The artists' lunches have become an event in themselves. The guests are the artists, two weeks after their exhibition, and people who have bought works in the show. Consalvo is the chef for the day.
"My mother was a chef," Consalvo says. "Navia Consalvo worked at the [Giuseppe Risicato's] Unicorn restaurant on Hunter street back in the '70s.
"My mum had me on the chair in front of her while she was cooking. From whenever I could stand up... I was always around food. It was great."
Art is always top of mind when talking with Wells and Consalvo. We've already talked about ASW gallery, Michael Reid's recently announced pop-up art space coming to Newcastle, new works by Rachel Milne, so comparing food and art is not out of line.
"Cooking is like painting, it's an amazing thing," Consalvo says. " You get those dishes you make and you go, 'Did I make that?'
"The thing my mother taught me: you never disguise the food you're cooking, you enhance it. And it's like painting, you can't fake a painting. You fake a painting and it never works. Fake food, it never works."
Straitjacket represents 12 artists - Kara Wood, Olivia Parsonage, Lydia Miller, Peter Lankas, Graham Wilson, Michelle Brodie, Liam Power, Benjamin Gallagher, Michelle Teear, Malcolm Sands, Paul Maher and Lezlie Tilley.
In the coming 12 months, shows are booked for Isabel Gomez, Lezlie Fitzsimmons, Dean Beletich, Zachery Craig, Susan Ryman and Brett Piva.
Straitjacket's 2025 calendar also includes John Turier and Nicola Hensel, Michael Bell and Claire Martin, Braddon Snape and James Drinkwater (they will show collaborative work for the first time).
Both Wells and Consalvo are practising artists, with their own studio spaces on the first floor of the gallery. Consalvo also has a busy framing business.
The gallery also has an online stockroom with over 50 paintings for sale.
