Utility recently moved out of the downtown core on Blowers to their new location, the former Quinpool shop of Pro Skates. By all accounts, they’re as busy as ever, offering piercing and custom tattoo work, headed by multiple Best of Halifax-winner Andy Ferrier. And watch for special events: for Sailor Jerry’s birthday they offered walk-ins […]
Utility Gallery Tattoos and Piercing
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Tattoo Artist
Once again in 2011, Amber Thorpe helped bring us the Maritime Tattoo Festival, the fifth annual, as a matter of fact. As if she wasn’t busy enough, her store—Adept Tattoos on Quinpool Road—is a place with a constant buzz from the sound of needles burrowing into flesh. Thorpe has a whack of experience under her […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Proskates, Utliity and Moksha Yoga: Shoptalk Facts and Rumours
This we know is a fact, as has been reported in Shoptalk: Pretty Things Boutique (5685 Cunard Street, 492-8329) is moving into the Pro Girl space at 5240 Blowers Street, while the ProSkates empire, including Pro Girl, prepares to move into new digs on Quinpool Road. The ProSkates move was prompted by the news that […]
Posted inArts + Music
It’s the Pit: Meris Mosher’s graffiti belt buckles
Meris Mosher When The Pit, the graffiti wall on Lower Water and Morris streets, was recently demolished, a cultural history was destroyed too. Over the years, layers and layers of (technically “legal”) street art built up like icing on a cake, undocumented and often unnoticed. But Meris Mosher was watching. Since 2007, the NSCAD grad, […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Tattoo / Piercing Joint
Despite the enduring popularity of the tattoo parlour and art gallery—new shows go up on its walls regularly—they still take walk-ins when they can fit them in. They’re also seeing their piercing service grow, with brand new jewellery available to fill that nipple piercing you’ve been craving, which can be done by one of the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Magical Nomi Chi
Nomi Chi is intently sketching an animal skull on a wall between several of her paintings when I arrive to meet her at Utility Gallery. I’m hesitant to disturb her, waiting several minutes before she finally takes a step back from the drawing. It’s a display of the sort of commitment that’s been necessary to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
New Owners of Utility
Former owner of Utility Gallery (5224 Blowers, 420-1348) Stuart Rae has sold the business to the people who spend most of their time there, tattoo and visual artist Lydia Klenck, manager and gallery curator Ami Goto and Best of Halifax-winning tattoo artist Andy Ferrier.
Posted inLifestyle
Hot Summer Guide: Visual arts events
Will Gorlitz: nowhere if not here Through August 23 Guelph-based artist Will Gorlitz begins a painting by looking for the telling detail. “When determining the actual subjects I wish to paint, a crucial consideration is that the subjects present some acutely visual feature,” he explains in an email. “Commonly, this involves the tactile materiality of […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Tattoo Artist
Maybe you’re looking for a sleeve, an ornate web of images covering your entire arm. Perhaps it’s a Japanese styled piece: flowers, dragons, demons or a geisha. Or the Americana stuff, Christian icons, anchors, eagles, tall ships. Andy Ferrier can do it all, and more, with a skill and precision that keeps people coming to […]