Clockwise from top left: Christi Belcourt; Julian Forrest, Perceptual Disorders, 2013. Courtesy Peter Robertson Gallery; Leslie Reid Calumet: In Time, 2006. Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay; Leslie Reid, Llewellyn I 59°04'N; 134°05'W, 2014.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Quebec’s Council of Arts and Letters (QALC) has announced, to widespread upset, that they will cut their budget by $2.5 million. Hélène David, minister of culture and communications, insisted that the cuts will not affect artists, but are instead focused on administrative streamlining. However, numerous arts organizations have taken issue with these claims.
Toronto city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has recommended a motion, seconded by Mayor John Tory, to hold a Toronto Biennale of Art in 2017. The motion suggests that, “Toronto will benefit culturally and economically by becoming an important destination in the global arts market.”
Painter Julian Forrest has been awarded the 2015 Eldon and Anne Foote Visual Arts Prize, worth $10,000, from Edmonton Community Foundation in partnership with the Edmonton Arts Council and Visual Arts Alberta Association. Artists Blair Brennan and Jill Stanton were shortlisted for the award.
Metis artist Christi Belcourt has partnered with Italian fashion house Valentino on their 2016 resort collection. Building on her Water Song painting in the National Gallery of Canada’s collection, Belcourt collaborated on a series of floral-patterned fabrics for the luxury designer brand.
Artist Leslie Reid has been awarded the inaugural Print Fellowship Award, given by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and Open Studio. The fellowship will run throughout 2015–16, and Reid will work at Open Studio on a series of etchings and diptychs as a part of her ongoing project Mapping the Cold War.
