To find it, one traverses over the stepping stones in the lawn, through the gate, into the lush yard, to the back door and down the stairs. And there, covering the walls and standing on every flat surface, are works of art of every description.

She also taught in the now-defunct Home Economics college at the University of Saskatchewan, where she also achieved a Bachelor of Education degree. In addition, during her interior design career, she chose many works of art for display in her clients’ offices. Therefore, she was no stranger to selecting and displaying art. So, in late 2020, she began to look for proper lighting, had the basement painted, and asked Allan to cut down the bar-height counter in the basement kitchen. Voila. “We started calling artists to say we were ready to start the gallery,” Renee recalled. Needless to say, with the closure of many galleries and venues for art shows, that went well. Artists began bringing in work by November 2020. BackDoor Gallery subsequently opened in May 2021, with one of the first shows presented by the Prairie Sculptors’ Association, much of it held outdoors. “For the first two years, we featured artists every three weeks,” Renee said. Artists were welcome to invite people on a staggered time slot basis in accordance with COVID concerns. The Duddridges would allow four people into the indoor gallery, masked, at a maximum of two people per room until the pandemic began to wane.

The river’s edge house at 103 Saskatchewan Crescent, one learns with some astonishment, is not just the abode of Renee and Allan Duddridge. It is also the home of the appropriately named BackDoor Gallery SK. Its owners are long-time businesspeople and professionals known in the community. Allan is an architect; Renee was an interior designer and partner in the store Cradle and All. But near the end of 2020 came this new inspiration. The COVID pandemic had forced the partial or complete closure of galleries (along with many other public places) as well as the departure of the Duddridges’ basement tenant. In August of that first pandemic year, the couple hosted a big wedding in their backyard, because weddings, too, were difficult to hold. And after that big event, Renee was . . . well, bored. The idea of opening a gallery had occurred to her years before, and then . . . “I started realizing we could show the work here,” she said in an interview. “And so I said to Allan, let’s get this gallery started.” “We both are artists,” Allan added. “We both have a love of going to art galleries. We’ve been visiting our daughter in New York since 2015 and every time we go, we visit all of the art galleries we can get close to. “We love looking at all the varieties of art people can create. It’s amazing how many interpretations you can find in a community. “And Renee has been teaching art for years . . . and really wanted to support local emerging artists.” Renee, among her many stops along her career, taught art at Nutana Collegiate, where she encouraged and helped students show their works, such as at the Prairieland Exhibition art show.

Today, of course, restrictions have relaxed. The gallery shows an average of 50 artists at any given time, with almost every work available for purchase. Among them is Allan’s 99-year-old mother’s works; she has been an artist for 50 years. Paintings, quilts and other fabric art, sculpture and even books are on display. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, May through September

-Joanne Paulson