Art Gallery of Ontario staff installing Portrait of a Lady, Three Quarter Length, Holding an Orange Tree Flower, a newly acquired painting by an unknown European artist from the mid-18th century. Photo: AGO.
Few portraits of Black people by European artists survive from the 1700s. But the Art Gallery of Ontario has just acquired one of them—Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom. Now, the gallery is seeking information, both crowdsourced on social media and solicited from scholars, about who painted it and whom it depicts. (AGO, CBC News)
Thirteen young artists have been longlisted for the Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award. The nominees, announced yesterday, are Lacie Burning, Justin Carter, Garnet Dirksen, Noah Friebel, Sarah Jasmine Hodgson, Kaysha Jamieson, Olivia Johnston, Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, Delphine Lewis, Samantha Miller, Curtiss Randolph, Rachel Rozanski and Katherine Takpannie. All nominees are aged 30 and under; three winners will be announced on March 25, with each one receiving $10,000. (Canada Newswire)
Some art galleries and institutions are organizing events around Wet’suwet’en solidarity. Last week, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, in partnership with Urban Shaman, Ace Art Inc. and Video Pool, held a screening and panel about Wet’suwet’en Nation’s efforts to protect their traditional territory. Hamilton Artists Inc. has issued a statement of solidarity and hosted a screening of the film Invasion. Student unions at NSCAD University and OCAD University also joined a national student walkout yesterday in support of Wet’suwet’en solidarity. (WAG, APTN, Hamilton Artists Inc., NSCADSU, OCADSU)
A mixed bag of culture-funding is surfacing in Alberta. On February 21, the Alberta government said it would invest $40 million toward overdue Glenbow Museum renovations. On February 24, Lethbridge City Council, responding to reduced capital funding from the province, cancelled its plans to support an expansion of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. And on February 27, the Alberta government announced its annual budget, which included a five per cent reduction in funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, putting that granting body’s budget for 2020–21 at $26.9 million. (Calgary Herald, Medicine Hat News, Alberta Foundation for the Arts)
Some Canadians are spotlighted at this week’s Armory Show in New York. Ottawa-based artist Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum is doing a solo booth for London, UK, gallery Tiwani Contemporary, while Miami-based Canadian Amy Schissel’s massive drawing installation takes over the booth of Ottawa/Montreal gallery Patrick Mikhail. Toronto’s Daniel Faria Gallery is featuring Kristine Moran, while Montreal’s Bradley Ertaskiran is presenting Shary Boyle and Jane Corrigan, and Toronto-based platform Caviar20 is also present. (Globe and Mail, Armory Show)
Toronto artist Tau Lewis is the sole Canadian to be featured at the next Prospect New Orleans. The list for the triennial, released earlier this week, includes 51 artists and collectives. Curated by artistic directors Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi, “Prospect.5: Yesterday We Said Tomorrow” will take place at museums, cultural spaces and public sites throughout New Orleans from October 24, 2020, to January 24, 2021. (Artforum)
Farihah Aliyah Shah has won the John Hartman Award. Originally from Edmonton and now based in Bradford and Toronto, the artist uses photography, video and sound installation to explore the colonial gaze, race, land and collective memory. The John Hartman Award is an annual prize of $4,000 granted to an emerging artist, with past recipients including Duane Linklater (2011), Erika DeFreitas (2016) and Olivia Whetung (2018). (MacLaren Art Centre)
