There’s excitement afoot inside the shared space of ALC Art & Oddities Parlour and Ex Mortis Books. On this particular day, an entity dubbed Victor has knocked over a candelabra.
Veronica Vandersteenen, the owner of Ex Mortis, suspects that the alleged spirit might be an attachment to one of the cabinet cards that line the display case tables by the window.
Whatever the case, it has filled the Pickering shop with storytelling — perfect for the ears of the steampunk deer, Diego, who oversees the gallery from his shoulder mount.
The burgundy-haired, bespectacled proprietor shares ghost stories and then shares her passion for horror, the darkly macabre and all things uncanny with such zest, knowing she’s found a kindred spirit in the school cafeteria of life.
She grew up in Markham but went to high school in Toronto. She admitted to having a sense of the metropolitan lifestyle but found herself drawn to the allure of the libraries in York Region.
“I would be injected into these other worlds and my imagination started to expand and get bigger and bigger and bigger,” she recalled. “A ravine was near my house, so I used to go there. I would take those big ideas and then pretend that I was in a setting.”
Thus began her foray into the “goth kid” or “alt kid” worlds, richly influenced by pop culture like grunge music, Invader Zim, The Munsters and The Addams Family. Television provided that cultural echo through the miracle of syndication.
Horror, the genre itself, has allowed her to build a community through her curated collection.
“Everyone has had an uncanny experience and sometimes people are afraid to lean into those experiences because they don’t want to ask questions. They don’t want to ask, ‘What is out there?’” the 41-year-old said. “If you can conquer your fear of not being afraid of the other, then I think this is a celebrated community and a space you can feel comfortable dipping your toe in.”
The gallery is evenly spaced out with vitrines and curio finds. Tucked in the back, by a steep ladder to an alcove — like a crow’s nest overseeing the shop — is a settee and bookshelves: the brick-and-mortar home of Ex Mortis Books.
Customers more accustomed to Ex Mortis’ online presence have nothing to fear, as Vandersteenen will continue to participate in markets, shows and expos such as the Oddities and Curiosities Expo, which travelled through Toronto in June.
Her partner Isaac Sherry also helps curate the content, injecting a bit of his affinity for science fiction to influence the bookshelves. Vandersteenen recently acquired a large collection of books from the estate of former academic critic Tim Riddle of Waterville, Ohio.
“We’re always open to donations,” she admitted. “We buy collections. We usually lean towards the paranormal, occult, esoteric horror — anything otherworldly — but not just limited to fiction.”
That includes psychology, philosophy, art, architecture and even children’s horror. It fills the gap of weird, second-hand bookstores in the Greater Toronto Area — one that is not fully sated by The Monkey’s Paw and Little Ghosts Books in Toronto.
Veronica Vandersteenen, left, and Amalia Comello have united in their passions for the uncanny and macabre at Ex Mortis Books and ALC Art & Oddities Parlour.
A coven of support
Amalia Comello and her mom Laura officially opened the shop on June 6 and are open Fridays to Sundays.
The mother-daughter duo bonded through the macabre and art, travelling to art galleries together. And their parlours name reflects that bond: ALC stands for Amalia-Laura-Comello.
“We’ve always loved art,” the 21-year-old OCAD student said. “Thankfully, she brought me to so many places.”
Instilled in the younger Comello was a love of the darkly humorous, a la Addams Family. But it’s also their desire to have a space for artists outside of the mainstream or who don’t fit into the “normal” art realm.
“It’s what we would’ve naturally fallen into,” Amalia said.
Before the duo started the gallery, they would avoid getting too close to the artists, but now, with them helping to promote their work, they’ve begun to get to know them.
“We should always support the artists that are close to home and the artists that we don’t see in major art galleries,” Amalia Comello said. “This is an amalgamation of all of that joy in finding an artist close to home.”
Comello is an artist as well, using mixed media as her medium, which is why having an art gallery is good. It allows her to study many different types of art.
“I’m constantly thinking on my feet. I have to be like, ‘How can we market this? How can we push it — this piece, that style, the other thing?’”
The ALC Art & Oddities Parlour, as well as Ex Mortis Books, will have a hard launch on a most appropriate day: November 1, a.k.a. Día de Muertos.