Square Lemon: Creating a Community Space for Ottawa Artists, Makers, and Vendors

Ottawa artists have long been looking for a shared space to help them create, sell their work and collaborate - Square Lemon is working to change that.

In 2019, local maker Helen Brady was talking to a few other vendors at a quiet Ottawa art market about the lack of communal space for creatives in the city to access equipment, work on projects, and collaborate with each other. They decided to do something about it. 

Over the next few months, Helen, Meg Hood, Mel C-P, Stephanie Lemay, and Monica Pereira brainstormed ideas to help support local craft and maker vendors. From there, Square Lemon was born: a co-crafting space for creatives to work on their projects, access tools they don’t have at home and get to know each other.

As Helen says, “After almost two years of being stuck at home, this space allows an artist, maker, or crafter to stretch their creative legs, and be somewhere else! Somewhere where they aren't worried about the pets/laundry/making dinner. Somewhere they can be their best creative selves.” 

As events continue to ramp back up and Covid restrictions lift, Square Lemon regularly hosts artist-run workshops at Stevenage Drive, the current site of the co-crafting space. They also host monthly craft markets at the Glebe Community Centre. 

The entirely volunteer-run association continues to grow, with the most recent market hosting over 40 vendors. So far, their workshops have included everything from glass painting with Moonstoned Alternative to Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Egg painting and pottery making. 

Ultimately, their goal is to strengthen the local creative community as a permanent co-crafting space for Ottawa creatives. And they want it to be accessible to everyone.

“The aim is to keep the cost affordable,” Helen says. “Our thought was to be the equivalent of a couple of Starbucks drinks a week, so we are charging $40 for 8 hours a month. There is a free one-hour taster session available for anyone who would like to try out the space.”

As part of their community commitment, they also launched “Lemon Aid,” an initiative that supports a different charity at each month’s market through silent auctions and fundraising.

Anyone interested in checking out their space can sign up through the registration forms on squarelemon.ca - no experience is required.

As Helen makes clear, “this is not just for the established or experienced crafter. This space is to encourage creativity for everyone. The space is well-equipped with basic through to advanced tools, and Lemons [volunteers] will be available to help, advise and, hopefully, inspire new crafters to achieve something amazing.”

All future workshops and events are posted on Square Lemon’s social media and website.