When cats and art come together

St. Vital

When Barbara Best’s husband brought in a pregnant cat from the lane behind her shop, she might not have realized how significant that encounter was at the time.

After bringing Layla in, they looked on Facebook to see if anyone had reported her missing, and they saw lots of posts, stretching back months, about her being spotted in people’s yards, and being fed, in her St. Vital neighbourhood.

Rescue Siamese had seen these posts, and the organization helped the family as they fostered Layla, who subsequently had four kittens — Freyr, Sif, Loki and Thor — which were named in honour of Best’s Icelandic roots. Best has is also working with K9 Advocacy moving forward.

As time went on, Best decided she wanted to tweak her business — Lizzy B’s Needle Art Supplies & Custom Picture Framing (39 St. Anne’s Rd.) — and give it a feline twist, adapting it into a cat art gallery.

In essence, it’ll be like a cat café minus the coffee, where folks will be able to pay to come and spend time with the cats and hopefully fall in love with one of them and adopt them, which would be a win-win for all.

“It’s been an absolute joy having them here,” said Best, who has had to make some temporary structural adaptations to her business to keep her new-found feline friends enclosed and safe.

“People are stopping in to say ‘hi’ to the cats. I have the space, so I thought, ‘why not use it?’”

This latest development, inadvertently, fuses Best’s love of cats with her passion for supporting local artists at her gallery.

“My gallery supports local and emerging artists, and I figure people can come out and enjoy the artwork and play with the cats at the same time,” Best said.

“Visitors will be given a treat for the cats. There can be eight visitors at a time, and for $10 (before tax), they’ll be able to spend up to 50 minutes with the cats.”

Best emphasized that her cat population will likely fluctuate, and that her current crop of feline friends might have been adopted by the time visitors arrive.

The admission fee Best will be charging will be used towards associated costs, such as rent, utilities, and insurance for the cats.

As the project progresses, Best will need to make a number of renovations, and she’s launched a crowdfunding campaign to help enable the process.

“This has brought me so much. It’s brought me more joy than anything I’ve ever done in my working life. And because it’s so joyful, I feel it’s important to help more cats find loving homes. Helping save their lives brings me more joy than anything I can imagine,” said Best, whose other hats include actor and writer. She also has a radio show on 93.7 CJNU.

Go online at www.lizzyb.ca for more information.