From the street, the building at 60 Principale North in Richmond still looks like it is the National Bank, so long as one ignores the “for sale” sign posted near the door. Inside, once you get past the still-functional ATM, the space has been transformed by artist Madeleine Lemire into a pop-up art gallery that is the focal point for some high hopes about the neighbourhood. Lemire said she was originally drawn to the community by the desire to get out of Montreal and by her surprise at the fact that Richmond has its own arts centre where she could set up a studio. It is only in the last three years or so that she has begun to see the community as a place where things are happening. “I see only good things to come,” she said. That optimism is something Laurent Frey, President of the Townships Trail and a member of several local citizens’ groups including Heritage Val-Saint-François, which focuses on the preservation and promotion of local heritage, said he wants to try to inspire in others through the gallery space. See full story in the Friday, Aug. 30 edition of The Outlet.
