Jane Ash Poitras, Changing Seasons. Courtesy Canada House Gallery.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Today, Governor General of Canada David Johnston announced that a number of artists and arts workers have been appointed to the Order of Canada this year, including Cree artist Jane Ash Poitras, ‘Namgis artist and curator Gloria Cranmer Webster, Montreal gallerist René Blouin, art historian and curator Meredith Chilton and art critic and editor Meeka Walsh. A ceremony for the recipients will be held at a later date.
The Remai Modern in Saskatoon has officially announced an opening date of October 21, 2017. Construction began for the new building, which is designed by the firm KPMB and will replace the former Mendel Art Gallery, in 2013. The gallery will open with a show pulled from the collection, contemporary work and commissions, titled “Field Guide,” which will fill the building. The show doesn’t have a thematic focus, instead aiming to offer “a series of singular positions and coherent groupings of works that introduce Remai Modern’s program philosophy and direction, providing an open framework that invites consideration of a network of issues and questions impacting art and society today.” Read this feature on the gallery in the midst of construction from the Summer 2016 issue of Canadian Art.
The MacKenzie Art Gallery announced on Tuesday that an anonymous donor has gifted the gallery $1.6 million through the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, which acts as “bridge between donors and charities in southern Saskatchewan.” “This donation comes at pivotal moment in time for the Gallery as we explore and reimagine the model of a leading public art gallery in Canada,” said the gallery’s executive director and CEO Anthony Kiendl. “This gift will enable the Gallery to realize a number of plans and initiatives that will set the stage for the transformation of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.”
Yesterday, the Canadian Photography Institute, housed within the National Gallery of Canada, announced the five researchers who will be participating in the institute’s 2017 research fellowship. Art historian Michael Blum, conservation researcher Madalena S. Kozachuk, doctoral art-history student Sophie Guignard, researcher and lecturer Serge Allaire and researcher and senior lecturer Paul-Louis Roubert will be participating this year in the program, which provides full-time residency at the NGC and up to $10,000 per researcher for expenses and allowances.
