Small canvas, big talent: Square Foot art show returns to Westland Gallery

It’s the biggest event of the year for a Wortley Village art gallery soon to display hundreds of works by established and emerging artists.

The highly anticipated Square Foot Show opens Dec. 6 and features almost 500 works of art, all of which are one foot (30 centimetres) by one foot and a maximum five inches (13 cm) deep.

The only requirement is that artists must stringently follow the dimensions, said Al Stewart, owner of the Westland Gallery.

“If it’s a quarter inch over, it gets rejected,” he said.

Around 250 artists, mostly from London and a two-hour radius, have submitted 470 pieces that range from “photographs to landscape oil paintings, acrylic and mixed media and sculptural work.

“It’s floor to ceiling. It’s pretty overwhelming when you walk in to look at it,” Stewart said.

One of his favourite aspects of the show is it allows emerging artists to display their work next to established artists.

“It has been fun over the years to watch an emerging artist put their piece in a show, sell their piece and then come back five years later and say, ‘I am an artist full-time now because I sold my piece in the Square Foot Show and it gave me confidence to become an artist,’” Stewart said.

Some of the more well-known artists who have submitted works include the late London landscape painter Eric Atkinson, as well as Sheila Davis, Lisa Johnson and Beth Stewart (no relation to Al Stewart).

The show is  a good venue for those beginning to start their art collection, Al Stewart said.

“It’s a good place for people who are getting into the art market to be able to find something by someone somewhat more established and at a reasonable price,” he said.

Beth Stewart, a teacher and part-time artist, said she has submitted work to the show for the last seven years of the show’s 11-year history.

“I love the square format because that’s how I typically work,” she said. “And I love the size, which is a big attraction to me.”

The size of the art makes it “very affordable and very collectible for people,” Beth Stewart said.

“The prices are really great on the pieces,” she said. “But because of the size, you can actually build a wall display. Year after year people can come back and add another piece to their collection.

“It’s a chance to get a really nice collection of work by London artists without breaking the bank.”