ArtLAB at the University of Manitoba, designed by Patkau Architects / LM Architectural Group, has won a Governor General's Medal in Architecture.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Several emerging artists received recognition this week in Calgary and Vancouver. Painter Ambera Wellman won the $25,000 Joseph Plaskett Award, while Ashleigh Bartlett, Jason de Haan, Tyler Los-Jones and Amy Malbeuf won Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Awards, valued at $10,000 each. For more details, see our related news item.
In Ottawa, Nathalie Bondil, director and chief curator of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, was invested into the Order of Canada, recognizing her contributions to the promotion of the arts and culture as a museologist and administrator. “Under her leadership, the institution doubled its attendance figures and joined the exclusive ranks of museums that have welcomed one million visitors in a single year” noted the Order of Canada’s press materials. Elsewhere, the Globe and Mail noted that Bondil, in the MBAM’s latest annual report, decried declines in provincial government funding for culture.
A notable art-related Winnipeg project was honoured through the 2016 Governor General’s Medals in Architecture, which are awarded annually to outstanding buildings across Canada. “Each of the winning projects is a catalyst for change beyond its own site lines,” said jury member and McGill University professor Annmarie Adams. University of Manitoba ARTlab, designed by Patkau Architects / LM Architectural Group, joined 11 other buildings on the medal-winning list.
A new series of temporary public art projects launched this week in Vancouver on transit shelters and LED screens, with new works appearing monthly through October 2016. Themed on the “Coastal City,” the project will feature 15 artworks in total. The ones that went up this week were by Deanne Achong, Paul de Guzman, Amanda Arcuri and Elisa Yon, and Nicolas Sassoon.
In New Brunswick, the provincial government introduced legislation to amend the New Brunswick Arts Board Act. The move follows significant concern among New Brunswick artists about cuts to the arts board’s budget and its move to become more integrated with the provincial government’s Tourism, Heritage and Culture Department. The Sackville Tribute-Post reported that at the amendments came out of government consultations with “members of the [Arts] board, the Association acadienne des artistes professionnelles du Nouveau-Brunswick (association of professional Acadian artists of New Brunswick), ArtsLink NB and two professional artists.” Kathryn Hamer, president of ArtsLink NB, is quoted by the Tribute-Post as saying, “We are pleased to see that the proposed changes to the legislation maintain the fundamental principles of independent decision-making, adjudication by peer juries, and freedom of artistic expression.”
In Moncton, a project for helping better preserve Acadian cultural artifacts is moving forward, with Université de Moncton’s Acadian Museum and Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen receiving financial support through the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage for the reorganization of their respective collections’ storage. The Acadian Museum will focus on the textiles section of their artifact collection, while Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen will improve storage of its roughly 1,000 artworks relating to the modern and contemporary history of Acadian art.
