Interview with Traditions Art Gallery

In the mid-nineties, weavers Sharon Harras, Carol Serediak, and Cheryl Wolfenberg, disillusioned with the rigors of selling at craft shows, founded Traditions Handcraft Gallery in Saskatchewan. Embodying history and skill, the name "Traditions" was chosen to reflect the essence of the crafts. Their journey, filled with joy in a familial street setting, led to retirement after 15 years, passing the baton to Thomas and Marnie Archer in 2012. Under their stewardship, the gallery evolved, welcoming new artisans and fostering a local shopping experience. In 2016, Kathleen and Jeff Coleclough took the reins, promising to uphold the legacy, expand artist collaboration, and champion Saskatchewan craftsmanship for years to come. In honour of World Art Day, REM interviewed Kathleen of Traditions Art Gallery.

How did you become a part of Regina’s Art community?

We bought the gallery from a friend of ours in 2016. We were actually artists in the gallery before, and our friends said “How would you feel about buying a gallery?” and sometimes we don’t think things through, so now we own a gallery! We make the leather horses, and do leather work. Jeff practises blacksmithing and then also general art like painting. We live outside Regina, my dad was in the airforce so I grew up in Moose Jaw, and Jeff is from Ontario. I did go to art school for commercial sign writing and graphic arts.

How did Traditions start?

It was started by three weavers, in June of 1995. They got together and started the gallery, and it’s been open for 29 years now. It’s been Traditions since then, I looked it up because I knew they picked it for a reason. Basically the idea was that traditions are things that crafters use over time and traditional practises, and I thought it was an appropriate name and I like it too, it fits. We didn’t even change the logo, we were actually involved when the previous owners had it, doing some of the displays stand so it was a seamless thing when we took on all the traditions of Traditions.

What do you find most important about what Traditions provides to the community?

I think the fact that the mandate of the store, as far as I know, forever has been 100% Saskatchewan art. It supports the local art community by providing a place for artists to sell things.

What role does art have in Regina’s community?

I think art is important to everyone. You just feel better when you look at something that’s pretty. If you do art, it’s a sense of relaxing and accomplishment. It’s a sense of doing something, it’s like gardening. You can buy your tomato for $3 or spend $200 growing your own, but they always taste so much better. It’s having that tangible touch.

What has been an inspiring moment since opening the gallery?

What we find inspiring is our regulars that are international. They come to Regina once a year for work or to do something, and this is a stop. We have become a bit of a tourist stop, we’ve got our ad in the hotels, but we do have regulars that will call and ask for things to be sent to places like Vancouver, ship something to Australia, just various things. I think it’s just the fact that we have regulars that are from outside the community that come here seeking us. We’ve had people tell us that they come to Regina to come to us, and that is cool.

What is your favourite part of being located in the Cathedral area?

The community. All of the shop owners, it’s like a little village inside a city, and we have fantastic neighbours. If people come in looking for something, and we don’t carry it but one of the other local shops do, we will send them there, and it works the same way where shops send people to us.

What is your favourite part of Traditions?

My favourite thing is the thing I’m not suppose to do, and that is take everything home. It’s hard, there is probably a representation of every single artist in the store in our house.

How many artists do you have?

Some of them are a family, like Parsons-Dietrich is a husband, wife and their son. So if you add up every single individual, we are probably sitting at 95. Some do cards, and small things, while pottery we have about 22 artists but it takes up a lot of real estate, and everyone lives in Saskatchewan. It’s not only artists that have been born here, they have to physically been living in the province, and they don’t have to be born here.

What is the future of Traditions?

29 years and ticking. Just keep it going as long as it can go. We may retire but there are plans to pass it on.

What do you want Regina to know about Traditions?

That we carry Saskatchewan fine crafted art, and we’ve been here since 1995, and we will be here for anything that you are looking for.

How do you find your artists?

Most of them find us, we did inherit some artists that stayed with the gallery. Some come in, and it is consignment, so they set their own prices, and basically we try to get things that aren’t the same. We try not to have too much duplication, each of the potters have their different style, and that’s the point. Your not coming in and looking at the same thing over and over again.