By Tyler Wright
Kalorama’s Kapi Art space has found a new home after suffering thousands of dollars worth of damage in August when a stolen Audi ploughed through the front of its gallery.
Kapi Art Space’s managing director Heather Bradbury decided to move into a smaller space on 7 Olinda-Monbulk Road in Olinda for three months after visiting the space with a friend a couple of weeks ago.
“I rang them up and said ‘I’m interested’… and straightaway, within ten minutes, they said, ‘yes, that’s fine, you can come in on Friday,” Heather said.
“That was Monday… that’s just changed my world.”
The new space will hold Heather’s art along with a couple of other artists, and will promote the classes held in Kalorama, including Pain and Pinot nights and masterclass workshops in photo realistic painting.
“The crazy thing is I’ve even got signage that was sitting at the back; I did double up, I don’t know why, when we first opened…so I can put some signs up that are just sitting there,” she said.
“I feel like there’s been a higher power looking after us.”
Friends and community members gathered last weekend to help Heather move tools from the Kalorama gallery and clean the new space in Olinda, with the support not going unnoticed.
“Even just walking down the street [in Olinda] and chatting to other business owners and people walking along, all I have to mention is ‘I own Kapi Art Space’ and they all go ‘oh my goodness, I’ve been thinking of you, I hope you’re okay.
“They’ve been so lovely and supportive, and everyone’s been bending over backwards to say,’ what can I do to help?’
“We live in such a wonderful, supportive community. And I take the opportunity to thank everyone for all of that; it’s been incredible.”
While the gallery in Kalorama is looking much the same as it did the day after the crash, classes have been able to run out of the site’s back rooms.
And depending on sales, Heather hopes to continue spreading the Kapi Art Space love to Olinda.
“We’re dreaming about more things all the time, so this will be a great space to continue to dream and help the community,” she said.
“The bottom line for me is supporting artists, but also supporting the community to use creativity and training in this case to help with their mental health, so we’ll continue to open the space up so that the community is there for people to experience that.”
