Images clockwise from left: Stephen Jarislowsky; the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Photo: Bruce Damonte; Ottawa Art Gallery director and CEO Alexandra Badzak with donors Brian and Susan Lahey.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
The Banff Centre has launched a new strategic direction and visual identity. The institution is updating its name to the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and highlights of the new direction include an new annual commission of an artwork by an emerging Indigenous visual artist for $20,000; a commissioning program for public artworks beginning in 2017; the development of new-media programs in digital storytelling, audio and video, gaming and virtual reality; and the introduction of training and summits based on recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City officially opens its new pavilion extension, designed by Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture, which was founded by starchitect Rem Koolhaas. The 15,000-square-metre extension, placed along the Grande Allée, houses Quebec art from 1960 to the present day, cost $103.4 million, and was named for its largest private donor, MNBAQ board chair Pierre Lassonde.
The Audain Art Museum in Whistler has announced that Montreal businessman and philanthropist Stephen Jarislowsky and his wife Gail have created a $2 million endowment to support the chief curator position at the museum. The curatorial position, currently held by Darrin Martens, will now be the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chief Curator. Martens has been with the Museum for just over a year, and was previously the director-curator of the Burnaby Art Gallery and the Nisga’a Museum.
The Ottawa Art Gallery has received two major gifts. On Thursday, the gallery announced that TD has donated $100,000 to the gallery’s capital campaign, which is raising funds for a large expansion slated to open in late 2017. The gift will also go towards the creation of an OAG Youth Council. Brian and Susan Lahey also donated $100,000 towards the capital campaign, and their contribution will fund the Brian and Susan Lahey Art Wall, which will be located in the front lobby of the new gallery’s Daly Avenue entrance.
Emerging artist Kelly Uyeda has won the 2016 Career Launcher Prize, an award from the 401 Richmond in Toronto that offers a recent graduate studio space within the building for a year, valued at over $17,000. Presented annually by Jane Zeidler, past recipients include Kristine Moran, Nikki Woolsey and Winnie Truong. Uyeda recently graduated from OCAD University.
