Kent Monkman in his Toronto studio, February 2017. Photo: Byron Chan.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Artist Kent Monkman, who is of Cree descent, will be the National Grand Marshall for Toronto Pride 2017. As National Grand Marshall, Monkman will lead the parade and act as an ambassador. Monkman will be joined by Youth Ambassador Kiley May, a Two-Spirit artist and actor who is a Hotinonshón:ni Mohawk and Cayuga storyteller. As Pride explains, “These positions are in recognition of their leadership and achievements in human-rights issues. We selected these individuals and groups based on their contribution to fighting discrimination and inequality; violence, torture and abuse; and criminalization of LGBTQ+ people, identities, and activities on a national and/or international level.”
Denise Ryner has been appointed the new director/curator of Or Gallery in Vancouver, beginning September 5. Ryner comes to the position from Berlin, where she is currently visiting research associate in the department of visual arts and film at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. She has previously worked at institutions including Art Metropole in Toronto, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Toronto, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the SFU Galleries in Vancouver. Ryner studied art history at University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.
The Vancouver Art Gallery announced on Wednesday that writer and curator Tarah Hogue will be the institution’s first senior curatorial fellow focused on Indigenous art. The position, which “was initiated to bring diverse perspectives to the Gallery’s curatorial team, and to examine and re-contextualize the colonial legacy of the institution,” will begin in the fall. Hogue comes to the VAG from Vancouver’s grunt gallery, where she has worked as curator since 2014. She studied art history at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia, and was the Audain Aboriginal curatorial fellow at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
The National Gallery of Canada has received a $2-million donation in celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial. Gifted by Fred and Elizabeth Fountain of Halifax, $500,000 of the donation will be put toward the gallery’s outreach programming. The remaining money will go toward the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, a not-for-profit registered charity that supports the gallery. In recognition of the gift, the garden court of the Canadian and Indigenous Galleries will be named in honour of the Fountains.
A number of Indigenous cultural leaders will be recognized on June 19 by the Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. A variety of honours, including the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Decorations (Civil Division), the Polar Medal and the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers will be given out at the event. Recipients include filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril; Hovak Johnston and Marjorie Tahbone, creators of the Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project; and writer and actor Julie Pellissier-Lush.
Mireille Eagan, curator of the Rooms in St. John’s, won the Critical Eye Award at the Excellence in Visual Arts Awards on May 26 for her profile of painter Kym Greeley, which was published by Canadian Art. The Critical Eye Award “celebrates the best piece of critical writing about an NL artist in any print or online publication worldwide.” Also recognized at the Excellence in Visual Arts Awards: April White won the Emerging Artist Award 2017, while Anne Manuel was awarded the Kippy Goins Award (which “thanks an individual or organization whose efforts have helped to sustain and build the visual arts sector”).
