By Paul Gessell

These days, if you’re walking past Gallery 3 on Wellington Street, chances are you’ll see a few dreamy, large-scale paintings of float planes in the window.

These are the works of Sarah Hatton, a Chelsea artist who largely came to the attention of Ottawa art-lovers years ago through her annual exhibitions at Dale Smith Gallery. Alas, that gallery disappeared earlier this year and Hatton has signed on with dealer Pierre-Luc St. Laurent of Gallery 3 and Gallery St. Laurent-Hill on Dalhousie.

Hatton’s paintings at Gallery 3 are just one example of a major shake-up of the Ottawa art scene that followed the demise of Smith’s Beechwood gallery. Some of Smith’s other artists, including Julie Liger-Belair, Susan Szenes, Eryn O’Neill, and Genevieve Thauvette, also joined Pierre-Luc.

Patrick Mikhail Gallery in the south end of the city now represents two of Smith’s stars, Michele Provost and Jonathan Hobin — and Mikhail has big plans for marketing those two artists abroad. Mikhail is increasingly becoming a major player in the Ottawa art scene. (more…)