A view of the vitrine and project space at Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain’s new space in Montreal.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa is working with Inuit communities to curate the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery, which is slated to open next summer. The gallery will aim to create “exhibitions that reflect the complexity of living in the far north.” Natan Obed, Canada’s national Inuit leader and president of ITK, the national representational organization for Inuit in Canada, underscored the importance of this curatorial approach, saying, “Historically Inuit were studied, and we were exhibits within the museums, our bones were taken. Now we get to a play a part in explaining ourselves, and our environment, our land, to the world.”
Tonight, Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain moves to a new space at 963 rue Rachel Est in Montreal, a change from the gallery’s previous location in the Belgo Building. The new space includes a vitrine exhibition space on the Plateau Mont-Royal, which will be illuminated at night, a dedicated video room and a gallery space with a 40-foot skylight designed by Pierre Mercier in 1975. The new space will be inaugurated with a group exhibition of work by the gallery’s 16 artists.
The Ontario Arts Council announced on Tuesday that it will be launching a new online grant application and management system in mid-December 2016. The online platform will remove steps of photocopying and postage. With the new system, the OAC has also grouped the various grants under four categories: Creating and Presenting; Building Audiences and Markets; Engaging Communities and Schools; Developing Careers and Arts Services.
The board of directors of Hamilton Artists Inc. has announced that Jessica Vellenga will begin as executive director of the organization on October 1. Before joining the Hamilton Artists Inc. Vellenga worked at the Yukon Arts Centre as the coordinator of community engagement for the visual arts for over seven years. She has worked at a mixture of commercial galleries, territorial galleries and artist-run centres for the 16 years, and holds a BFA from McMaster University.
