News in Brief: An Indigenous Art Park Is Coming Soon, and More

Launches on the Horizon

An Indigenous Art Park is gearing up to open in Edmonton in September. “The park is the result of collaboration between the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, the Métis Nation of Alberta, Indigenous community members, the Edmonton Arts Council and the city,” reports the Edmonton Journal. Among the artists creating public artworks for ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ are Mary Anne Barkhouse, Amy Malbeuf, Tiffany Shaw-Collinge, Duane Linklater, Jerry Whitehead and Marianne Nicholson. Plans for the park have been in the works since at least 2013. (Edmonton Journal, Public Art Edmonton)

The inaugural Prairie Art Book Fair is en route. From September 7 to 9, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art will present the inaugural Prairie Art Book Fair. Programming includes collaborative hole-punch drawing with Winnipeg-born artist Micah Lexier; a talk connecting DIY tattooing and artist multiples by Maxine Proctor; and a workshop with key presenter Jeff Khonsary on alternative book-fair models, looking at the economics and social space of the book-fair model itself. (press release)

Art Centres Hatching, and on the Move

Art Metropole is moving into MOCA Toronto. For 45 years, Art Metropole has provided a home in Toronto for artist multiples and printed matter. Now, Art Metropole itself is finding a new home at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. The two-year residency, as it’s billed, will be “part pop-up project, part bookstore, part programming centre,” says a press release. Art Metropole’s relocation to the MOCA building at 158 Sterling Road will debut September 22 during the opening events for the museum. (press release)

A former military building is becoming a public art gallery in Ontario. The Small Arms Inspection Building (SAIB) at 1352 Lakeshore Road East in Mississauga is “a historic, multi-purpose building that presents a wide range of arts and cultural programs,” says a release. A public gallery component in the 1940s building opens to the public on September 8 with “forward motion,” a show featuring large-scale installations by Christina Battle, Patrick Cruz, Melissa General and Ed Pien, among other artists. (press release)

Vancouver’s Fazakas Gallery is opening a new project space, Tanúyap. The project space, says a release, is located downstairs from Fazakas at 688 East Hastings and “will show rotating solo and group exhibitions by Fazakas artists, as well as host special guest exhibitions by visiting galleries from across North America. Named in consultation with a Squamish speaker, Tanúyap is a Squamish word meaning ‘welcome everyone.’” The inaugural exhibition at Tanúyap is “Eye Candy” by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook, opening September 13. Other shows are upcoming by Carlos Colin, Mark Preston and Couzyn Van Heuvelen. (gallery website)

Wil Aballe Art Projects is on the move in Vancouver. On September 13, the gallery will open its latest show “Myths” at a new space at 1129 East Hastings. The new gallery is part of a PortLiving development, and the new show features sculpture and other work from Amy Brenner, Zoe Kreye, Maegan Hill-Carroll, Elise Rasmussen and Evann Siebens. (press release)

Awards and Honours

Haema Sivanesan has been awarded a US$50,000 Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Currently curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Sivanesan was chosen by the Warhol Foundation because her “exploration of the influence of 1960s Engaged Buddhism on artistic practice is especially timely in this moment of widespread artistic involvement with social, cultural, and political issues. Her investigation into efforts to reduce suffering in the world promises to carve out new territory in contemporary art scholarship,” said the foundation in a release. The funding will support research convening in October 2019, in partnership with the University of Victoria, toward the development of an exhibition titled “In the Present Moment: Buddhism, Contemporary Art and Social Practice.” (press release)

Larissa Fassler has been shortlisted for Ireland’s biggest art prize. The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) Belfast has announced the 13 artists shortlisted for the MAC International 2018 Ulster Bank Prize, and Berlin-based Canadian Larissa Fassler is on it. MAC International is the largest arts prize in Ireland at £20,000. The winner will be awarded at the prize’s exhibition preview on November 8. (e-flux)

Shifting Positions

John G. Hampton is the new director of programs at Regina’s Mackenzie Art Gallery. Hampton is currently executive director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba and adjunct curator at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. The new position will oversee all of the gallery’s curatorial and education initiatives. Hampton, who was raised in Regina, and holds Master of Visual Studies in Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto and a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Regina, will be joining the gallery on October 1. (press release)

Steve Bellamy is the new CEO of Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown. Currently dean of the Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts, Bellamy also previously served as associate dean of Creative and Performing Arts and professor of music production in Humber’s music degree program. He has also worked as a recording engineer and music producer, and at McGill University, the University of Hartford and the Banff Centre. The large, five-decade-old Confederation Centre comprises a provincial theatre, music venue and art gallery for Prince Edward Island. (press release)

Alyssa Fearon is the new curator at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. Currently the curator of Nuit Blanche Toronto’s inaugural Scarborough zone, Alyssa Fearon has held positions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Independent Curators International and the City of Toronto. Fearon holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business and an MA in art history from York University. She is also a Young Cultural Innovators Salzburg Fellow. (press release)

André Plante is the new vice president academic and provost at Alberta College of Art and Design. Plante arrives after serving as associate vice president, corporate planning, facilities and sustainability at Sheridan College, as well as, prior to that, dean of academic planning and development at Sheridan. The appointment was made effective August 15 during “the transition from a college to university with a new name and brand to be revealed January 2019,” says a release, which also indicates that “Plante will oversee ACAD’s academic and student affairs, integrated planning and provide academic leadership to the Schools of Craft + Emerging Media, Critical + Creative Studies, Communication Design, and Visual Art.” (press release)

Sara Knelman is the new director of Corkin Gallery in Toronto. Knelman is formerly curator of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and talks programmer at the Photographers’ Gallery, London. She has taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), Ryerson University and University of Toronto, as well as written for Aperture, Frieze and Canadian Art, among other publications. Knelman began her career at Corkin Gallery many years ago, and will now lead all of the gallery’s departments. She holds a PhD and MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a BA in English literature from McGill University. (press release)

Calgary’s Stride Gallery has a new assistant director and a new director. In September, Conrad Marion, formerly archive coordinator, will become the new assistant director. Areum Kim, formerly assistant director, is now gallery director. Marion is a BFA graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design, while Kim holds a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and also works on visual art projects for Sled Island Festival. (gallery website)

Canadian Artists Abroad

Lin + Lam are slated to participate in the 2018 Busan Biennale. The American-Canadian duo—comprised of Lana Lin and H. Lan Thao Lam—joins 65 participants from 34 countries. The exhibition will take place at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan and the former Bank of Korea in Busan. The biennale, themed on “Divided We Stand,” runs September 8 to November 11. (e-flux)

Steven Shearer will soon debut new work in New York. The Vancouver artist’s exhibition “The Late Follower” opens September 13 at Eva Presenhuber. It is Shearer’s fifth exhibition at the gallery, and this particular show “presents paintings and drawings, most of which depict archetypes of artists in studios with their muses.… In many cases, the psychology of the subject appears to be reflected onto their interior surroundings, comparable to a Symbolist approach,” says a release. (press release)

Kim Dorland is opening his first solo show at Beers London. The exhibition, “Terror Management Theory,” opening August 31, promises to offer “a modern-day reimagining of the concept of the Memento Mori,” says a release. (press release)

David Zwirner’s podcast features Stan Douglas, Marcel Dzama and (yes) Will Butler. New York dealer David Zwirner is bringing out the CanCon in his gallery’s new podcast. The most recent edition features Winnipeg-born artist Marcel Dzama in conversation with Arcade Fire member and Montrealer Will Butler. An earlier edition also has Vancouver artist Stan Douglas in conversation with composer Jason Moran about “collaboration and the obsessive power of good music—touching on Netflix, Kendrick Lamar, and what it’s like to play with Miles Davis.” (press release)