Galerie SAW Gallery

Attended «A Certain Sort» party for Pride here. No whisky, no coke, horrible music, young student crowd. I would not recommend it.

Pretty terrible venue for film screenings. Flat seating and UNCOMFORTABLE chairs (like shitty Kindergarten plastic chairs) take away from the experience. Impossible to see subtitles. Staff in adjacent space use the screening room as a shortcut even if it means opening a door and letting lots of light in and then walking through a dark room with an event in progress. Gallery space is a distraction, since the projectors aren’t turned off and emit light. Bathrooms also look and smell like they haven’t been cleaned in ages.
Fine for a concert or a performance space, but the only advantage is that it’s cheap and you get what you pay for, which isn’t much.

Came here for a Unilocal Event which introduced me to this tiny Gallery.
The layout is great for events, there is a stage, a bar and some space for vendors and such!
The bathroom only has one little stall and the toilet paper is less than stellar, but hey, I have a little kids bladder, and have to use every bathroom I come across.
The weirdest part, of this whole location, which will hopefully change, is the art. The scary faces coming out of the wall, and the images of sodomy really didn’t tickle my fancy. Sort of off-​putting.

Interesting space that could work for events of 100 people or less. Bar space, dance space, stage — it’s cozy but with room to overflow into the gallery space.
One draw back: the bathrooms. Not great. However, you’re not there for the bathrooms, so no big deal.

I’ve been visiting this spot on the corner of Nicholas and Daly (int he Arts Court buildings) often this month well getting ready to host an event at their venue, Club SAW. I’ve totally taken a shining to it, and think it’s a great spot in the city for several reasons.
If you’re into art, but not into the pretentious feeling of it, this is a great place to start. The gallery exhibits really cool and sometimes controversial pieces, but it’s really accessible. The gallery itself is located in a basement and is pretty small, but very welcoming. The setup changes depending on the works being shown (I’ve seen video work, lighting art and sculptures over the past few months).
Club SAW is also a part of the space and is rented out as an event or music venue. It’s a small space but it’s attachment to the gallery makes it ideal for smaller gatherings (we fit about 120 people in both the club and gallery). There’s a bar, fridge and sink along with a DJ booth.
The staff were incredibly helpful when it came to planning my event and always got back to me, answering all my ridiculously nitpicking questions. On the day of the event they were gracious, helpful and kind and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
Ottawa is really lucky to have SAW, both in terms of access to art, and as a venue. I’ll absolutely be popping in as often as I can to check out the new work.

The SAW Gallery is a trendy little place in the basement attached to the Arts Court. Art is pinned to the walls, sitting on tables and is around in every available space.
I liked the informal feel here and then face that there were a couple of people working on things while we were there. There was a sketchbook open on the table, as if we were invited to contribute.
This gallery seems to cater to a lot of younger emerging artists.
There is a small bar here also, but when I asked questions, I didn’t really get any definitive answers. Perhaps the girl that I asked was just working on her art and didn’t actually work there, but she didn’t seem to care that I was really interested to know more about the gallery.

Squished next to SAW Gallery, is Club SAW. A music venue in the dark and cool basement of the Arts Court. There isn’t a lot of room to this space, but that can just feed into an interesting experience. Saddled up between the stage and the gallery is a bar with cheap booze.
Not all events in Club SAW are concerts. The space is also used for screenings of movies, such as Saturday Night Sinema’s monthly exploitation flicks (not anymore since they just bought the Mayfair). Plays, discussions, workshops and book launches are also held in this space.

i played this place, it was tiny and neat, more to come