Christopher Lacroix's Sometimes It's Hard to Tell Where It's Coming From (2017) won him the Lind Prize this week.
Emerging Artists
The winner of the 2018 Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize has been announced. The prize win, announced at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver on Friday, goes to Christopher Lacroix from the University of British Columbia for his 2-panel HD video and digital vinyl print Sometimes It’s Hard to Tell Where It’s Coming From. Lacroix receives $5,000 toward producing a new project that will be featured at an exhibition at the Polygon in 2019. Honourable mentions went to Matthew Wong from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Ramey Newell from the University of British Columbia. The prize is awarded annually to an artist currently enrolled in a BFA or MFA program in British Columbia and working in mediums of film, photography or video. The work of all finalists is on view at the Polygon Gallery until October 7.
A new Inuit art mural has been mounted in Winnipeg. “The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Inuit Art Centre isn’t set to open until 2020 but there is already some artwork on display in downtown Winnipeg,” CBC Manitoba reports. “A mural by Winnipeg-based Inuit artist Kailey Sheppard was unveiled Friday on the covered pedestrian walkway adjacent to the construction site at the corner of Memorial Boulevard and St. Mary Avenue. ‘They actually created this project specifically for me and that was very exciting because I’ve never done anything like this before, especially on this scale,’ said Sheppard.” (CBC Manitoba)
Institutional Views
Museum London is opening a new $3.5 million expansion called Centre at the Forks. According to CBC, which got to preview the space before the official September 30 opening, “The 370-square-metre space boasts bench seating for films, performances and public meetings. It also has a fully equipped kitchen, a large activity space and a panoramic view of the heart of the city, the forks of the Thames River.” CBC adds, “the plan is to use the Centre at the Forks as the focal point for developing the Indigenous Legacies Project, part of Museum London’s commitment to the recommendations made on public education by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” This legacies project is managed by Summer Bressette. (CBC London)
A new museum dedicated to abstract art has opened in Toronto. Called the Modern, the non-profit museum recently opened with a show of work by Montreal artist Françoise Sullivan. The facility is 3,500 square feet of exhibition space located at 68 Abell Street near Queen West. The gallery is led by Ben Woolfitt, formerly owner of Woolfitt’s Art Supplies store in the same neighbourhood. (The Modern)
Biennale Updates
The Vancouver Biennale has opened its latest project: surprising sculptures in local hotel rooms. “Hyperrealist installation Curious Imaginings is on display in a wing of the 105-year-old Patricia Hotel in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood,” CBC Vancouver reports. “Part of the Vancouver Biennale, some of the shocking yet fascinating sculptures of hybrid animals by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini include a humanoid beaver, a half-human/half-orangutan mother and a family of humanesque pigs.” The biennale opened in June with a chain-link mosque by Saudi Arabian artist Ajlan Gharem which garnered international attention. (CBC Vancouver)
Stan Douglas and Jon Rafman are to be featured at the next Sharjah Biennial. Both Canadian artists are part of an exhibition titled “Making New Time,” curated by Omar Kholeif. The biennial is open to the public from March 7 to June 10, 2019, in the United Arab Emirates (e-flux)
Market News
Calgary commercial dealer Masters Gallery is welcoming some (very) young collectors. The gallery is officially working with the Calgary Board of Education on free school tours. Begun last year, the program “allows elementary school students to come to Masters Gallery and experience art and a historical art lesson at no cost to the school. To date, the gallery has welcomed over 600 students through Young Masters.” The program is due to take place over five years, with Masters Gallery contributing $25,000 to offset costs. (emailed press release)
Calgary’s Herringer Kiss Gallery is moving to a new, larger location. After 10 years in its current location on 11th Avenue, Herringer Kiss is heading to a “70% larger” location in Sunalta. The new address is 1615 10 Avenue S.W., close to an LRT station and parking. The grand opening is October 4 from 5 to 8 p.m., with a group show of new gallery artists. (press release)
The Art Basel Miami list is out, and some Canadians are on it. As usual, Montreal blue-chip dealer Landau Fine Art is in the Galleries section. Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga is being featured in a solo Positions booth by Paris dealer Jerome Poggi. Vancouver artist Elizabeth McIntosh will be included in an all-women painting booth brought by New York’s Canada gallery. (press release)
Canadian galleries are also at some notable fairs this week. Toronto dealers are well-represented at Expo Chicago: Daniel Faria Gallery exhibits work by Kristine Moran and Douglas Coupland, Division Gallery is showing Tammi Campbell, Wanda Koop, Chloe Wise and others, and Georgia Scherman Projects highlights work by Suzy Lake. And: Christopher Cutts Gallery and Art Mûr both have booths through the end of the month at Positions Berlin, part of Berlin Art Week.
See: Admission Fees
Average admission fees at heritage institutions in Canada have risen 30 per cent since 2011. That’s a finding from a Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions published earlier this year and recently summarized by Hill Strategies. The survey found that 50 per cent of heritage institutions charge an admission fee, a percentage that has stayed steady for some years. Also: “Government revenues accounted for exactly one-half of the operating revenues of heritage organizations in 2015 (50%)” and “Between 2011 and 2015, earned revenues increased by 38%, private sector revenues by 16%, and government revenues by 15%.”
(Department of Canadian Heritage, Hill Strategies)
The Museum in Kitchener is going back to 2003 pricing for its 15th anniversary weekend. Admission will be $7 per person this Saturday and Sunday. Usually, it is $14. (emailed press release)
Shifting Positions
Lisa Baldissera is the new director of Griffin Art Projects in North Vancouver. “She succeeds Lee Plested, the director since GAP was founded in 2015,” the Vancouver Sun reports. “Plested will remain with the organization to coordinate the Griffin Residency Program. Baldissera is a former chief curator at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon and is completing her doctorate at Goldsmiths in London on Emily Carr.” Baldissera also recently worked at Contemporary Calgary. (Vancouver Sun)
Tyler Russell will be the next executive director of the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna. Russell was recently executive director and curator at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. (Galleries West)
