Crawlspace, Calgary
Front door of Carson Block, home of Crawlspace, 2025 (photo: Sage Deems)
The Canadian art landscape is ever-changing. Places + Spaces keeps you informed of established and up-and-coming exhibition venues across the country including museums, galleries, artist-run centres, and more. This month, we hear from Crawlspace in Calgary, who will be participating in the Canadian Art Hop from May 1 to 4.
What is the history and mandate of your gallery?
Group show, Discount High Fashion Shoes, 2024, installation view (photo: Morgan Black)
Crawlspace was started by nine students of Alberta University of the Arts in an attempt to preserve the group dynamic we had cultivated in our undergrad. We are May Jones, Nicole Miller, Lailey Newton, Marina Hardie, Sam Lloyd :^), Liam Naish, Morgan Black, Sage Deems, and Jessica Rimes. What started as a search for post-grad studios turned into a DIY gallery space when an ideal rental location came up on Kijiji. The building, set to be demolished in just six months, became the optimal blank canvas for our group to create a short term pop-up gallery and studio collective. Now, one year later, we have been able to stay due to a change in development plans and are hoping to stay for years to come.
What’s a highlight of the neighbourhood where the gallery is located?
Camryn Carnell, A Scrappy Sensibility, 2025, installation view (photo: Sage Deems)
Crawlspace is located in the heart of Inglewood, Calgary, which has had a major impact on our experience so far. We’re in the basement of a heritage building called Carson Block just down the street from the Esker Foundation. We are located right on 9th Avenue, which is packed full of amazing shops, restaurants, bars, and more. The neighborhood draws in lots of foot traffic, which means that even though we are in the basement, we have no trouble bringing in visitors.
What’s your favourite part of running an art gallery?
Liam Naish, Pink Job, 2024, performance documentation (photo: Morgan Black)
Calgary has a rich history of DIY art spaces and artist-run centres, so one of the best things about Crawlspace is that it really feels like we are joining that legacy. We’ve been fortunate enough to get to know some of the artists behind Avalanche, The Bows, Stride, and more orgs (new and old). Their advice and mentorship have been invaluable, making us all the more excited to continue solidifying and developing our own gallery.
How do you find out about new artists?
Frankie Elouise, Night Out, My Hair is Getting Longer, 2024, installation view (photo: Sage Deems)
Being recent alumni from Alberta University of the Arts and maintaining a strong connection with the institution has helped majorly in finding new talent. Two of our gallery team members currently work at the university, which means we are constantly exposed to artists in the earliest stages of their career. That being said, we are also excited to reach beyond our AUArts bubble and show artists from all over. We have an ongoing open call for submissions, so we are always getting new work sent to us that we have never seen before – which has been exciting!
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Lailey Newton, Untitled ((am I standing too close)), 2024, in the Crawlspace Studios, April 2025 (photo: Nicole Miller)
We would love to be Calgary’s next official artist-run centre, pay ourselves, and put together a publication of our story. Before we started Crawlspace we thought a project like this was just a pipe dream. It wasn’t until speaking to the founders of another DIY gallery space that we realized it was a possibility. We would love to share that motivation with others, along with what we’ve learned along the way.
What excites you about your upcoming exhibitions?
Group show, Our Permanent?Collection!?!, 2025, installation view (photo credit: Lailey Newton)
Crawlspace is approaching our first anniversary, which we will be celebrating with an exhibition showcasing the work of our gallery team and studio collective. We are looking forward to recognizing all the hard work we put into the space while taking the time to focus on our own art practices – which can sometimes get put on the backburner when working on the gallery side of things.