INTERVIEW: Artiques owner Amanda McIntyre

Lene Trunjer-Petersen
The Silhouette

When I heard about the new gallery, Artiques (artiquesgallery.ca), down at King Street East and Wellington Street, I was curious. Artiques is unique in that the owner, Amanda McIntyre, displays a unique combination of antique furniture alongside its selection of fine art.

I went down to talk to her about this idea of furniture and art. When I arrived, I immediately decided that the selection is absolutely worth seeing. “It is definitely something unique, and something Hamilton does not have, and we like being different,” McIntyre said. She also explained that some of the interesting things about having furniture in a gallery. “The way that you are able to display it and almost stage it makes it almost more tangible for the viewer to see,” she said.

McIntyre herself is an artist, and she has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from York University, as well as a diploma in interior decorating. So her areas of expertise are directly related to the nature of this exhibit. Her opening the gallery is effectively a career dream come true. “I have always loved art and that has always been what my passion has been about,” she says.

She also emphasizes another reason for opening the gallery, which was to cultivate the relationship between artists and their communities. “It is such an important connection that you need to have between the artist and the community,” she said, “and we were very lucky to be able to display art from various artists from across Ontario, and make it accessible for local people.”

Before Artiques’ grand opening on Nov. 16, McIntyre reviewed 500 portfolios from artists. “We wanted talented, unique artists, who also had an interesting CV and work in general,” she said. “All their artwork is of unique quality. We like it to be different, just as well as we want a degree of elegance and authenticity in our furniture.”

“We have antique furniture from the 18th- and 19th-century,” says McIntyre. “There will also be custom-made greeting cards, prints and images made by the artists in a wide price range. Lots of unique things you would not be able to find anywhere else.”