In September 1984, Canadian Art launched with a cover story on Winnipeg painter Wanda Koop. Since then, it has grown to be come Canada’s most widely read art magazine. Who would have thought such success and longevity?
Starting out, the magazine picked a hard niche to fill: a coffee-table magazine with top-notch production values that would bridge the widest range of art being made across Canada. Was the Canadian market big enough to support such a venture? Sometimes we wondered, especially when recession hit in the early 1990s.
But we came through the challenges, thanks to our faithful readers and contributors and the work of early editors such as Susan Walker, Jocelyn Laurence and Sarah Milroy—and thanks, too, to our committed advertisers from one end of the country to the other who knew that they were representing remarkable Canadian art that would stand the test of time.
Since those early days, we’ve grown as an organization and moved firmly into the digital world of the 21st century with our website and tablet editions.
So to celebrate our 30th anniversary, we’ve pulled together a variety of resources for our readers—both old and new—to enjoy.
First, we’ve assembled a collection of our covers to tell the story of Canadian Art in images—and the designs of art directors Ken Rodmell, Georges Haroutiun, James Ireland, John Ormsby and Barbara Solowan. To enjoy all the covers, check out the booklet embedded below, sponsored by Chubb Insurance, or download it as a PDF to your own device. Or head over to our past issues page and browse online that way.
Second, we’ve posted all 30 years of our cover stories online, as well as tables of contents for each issue that we hope will be a helpful resource to researchers and art historians. You can access these cover stories by clicking on each cover in our e-booklet or by visiting our past issues page anytime and clicking through our tables of contents and covers there.
Third, we have hosted special programs to commemorate our 30th on the evolution of Canadian art writing featuring past editor (and current-day critic) Sarah Milroy in conversation with fellow critics Gabrielle Moser and Sky Goodden, as well as myself. The panel took place September 20, and to watch, just click on the video window below:
Fourth, we have headed to Art Toronto—which is celebrating its own 15th year—with another special panel related to recent changes in the art scene. In particular, the October 25 panel hosted by associate editor David Balzer looked at how a “curatorial” sensibility is now present at art fairs across the world. Click on the window below to see artist Thrush Holmes, curator and collector Stefan Hancherow, and writer and specialist at Artsy Elena Soboleva discuss the benefits and challenges of working in a millennial art market.
We are so grateful to have enjoyed the support of the Canadian Art community for 30 years, and we look forward to many more!
Richard Rhodes
Editor, Canadian Art
Download the 30th Anniversary booklet (6.4mb) or view it online at https://canadianart.ca/microsites/cover-stories/30th-anniversary-booklet.pdf.
