The 2018–19 Glenbow Board of Governors. Back row from left: John Q. Adams, Paul Hardy, Jim McLeod, Rich Kruger, Roxanne Dunlop, Kent Monkman, Patricia Phillips, Su Ying Strang, Stephanie Pankratz, Irfhan A. Rawji, Todd Hirsch, Ross Middleton, Timothy J. Hamilton. Front row from left: Ken Fetherstonhaugh, Kathryn Heath, Donna Livingstone, Lori Van Rooijen, Noella Wells, Chris Chan, Zai Mamdani, John Larsen. Not pictured: Paul Desmarais III, Jack Thrasher.
There has been some compelling art news afoot this week, with the BC government announcing a new $15 million for the BC Arts Council, a longlist for the Scotiabank New Generation Photo Award released, and a new exhibition on menstruation art being planned for a Canadian museum. Here are more updates worth keeping track of:
The Glenbow Museum board of governors has confirmed several newer members. In a recent release, the Calgary museum summarized new additions to the board from 2018 and 2019, including artist Kent Monkman, New Gallery director Su Ying Strang, Iniikokaan Centre director Noella Wells, Strategic Group co-founder Zai Mamdani and Sagard Holdings CEO Paul Desmarais III. “Calgary is a fascinating, vibrant city, and it requires a public art museum that is responsive to the needs and the interests of the community while contributing to the national cultural conversation,” said board chair Irfhan Rawji in a release. “We’ve brought together a really exciting group of people to serve on our board, representing the dynamic diversity of our business and cultural community.” (press release)
A shakeup is coming to the Remai Modern board in Saskatoon, too. “Saskatoon’s Remai Modern Art Museum is losing another key member of its leadership,” CBC reports. Scott Verity, the chair of the museum’s board of directors, is not being asked to stay on, according to a document obtained by CBC News. Verity’s impending departure comes only two months after Gregory Burke announced he will exit as CEO in March. CBC News has obtained a copy of an email that Remai Modern’s new chief operating officer, Celene Anger, sent to all Remai Modern staff on Wednesday. (CBC)
Emily Carr University of Art and Design is hiring five new Indigenous faculty. “The cluster hiring initiative, which is designed to introduce an interdisciplinary group of Indigenous academics to the university at the same time, will double the number of tenured and tenure-track Indigenous faculty at ECU,” says a release. “The hiring process is led by Bonne Zabolotney, Vice-President Academic and Provost, and coincides with the recruitment of five other permanent faculty positions at the university.” The university will start reviewing applications March 1. (press release)
TIFF’s new programming team is 50 per cent women. The move reflects a stronger push for gender parity at this leading film festival, including initiatives like Share Her Journey. Among the new lead programmers are Kiva Reardon and Dorota Lech. Ming-Jenn Lim, Lydia Ogwang and Brad Deane are joining the Platform selection committee, with Platform being co-curated by Andréa Picard and Cameron Bailey. Robyn Citizen will curate Short Cuts with Jason Anderson. More details are available on the TIFF website. (press release)
The Audain Art Museum has also added two new faces to its board. Capture Festival founder (and according to a museum press release, “avid snowboarder”) Kim Spencer-Nairn is new to the Whistler museum board. So is former BC Minister of Finance Carole Taylor. Municipality of Whistler reps Mayor Jack Crompton and Councillor Cathy Jewett are also now on board. (press release)
It still looks like two of Vancouver’s biggest commercial gallery spaces will be demolished for public transit. A recent Vancouver Courier article mentioned that some artists have installed work in the area to contest the government decision, which affects Equinox Gallery and Monte Clark Gallery. A transportation ministry spokesperson told the Courier, “Unfortunately, there is not a feasible alternative alignment for the future subway at this location because of the adjacent active rail right-of-way and the new Emily Carr University building to the south.” (Vancouver Courier)
In East Vancouver, Catriona Jeffries has just opened a large new gallery, and it could be an area where more move in future. Her new space is a stunner,” Marsha Lederman reports in the Globe, “a 1970s former marine metalwork warehouse with 25-foot ceilings, redesigned by Patkau Architects to create a sleek and airy new space for contemporary art that also shows off the building’s original industrial bones.” (Globe and Mail)
Nova Scotia decided to honour Maud Lewis for Heritage Day. “Nova Scotians will honour folk artist Maud Lewis this week,” Global News reports. “Lewis is this year’s honouree for Heritage Day, a Nova Scotian holiday dedicated to recognizing a person, place or event that helped shape the province’s history and identity.” (Global News)
Sudbury may need to look for a new civic art gallery space. “Councillor Fern Cormier is calling on the city to pick a new location for a combined art gallery, library and convention centre,” CBC reports. “Last year the city announced it would build the new facility at the Sudbury arena downtown, contingent on a new arena being built on the Kingsway as part of the proposed Kingsway Entertainment District. That project has hit delays, and is currently mired in an Local Planning and Appeal Tribunal hearing.” (CBC)
Laura Ritchie is the new director of MSVU Art Gallery in Halifax. Ritchie comes from the Kelowna Art Gallery, where she was previously curator. She fills the spot left by Ingrid Jenkner, who recently retired from the MSVU Art Gallery after 24 years there. Ritchie, who is originally from New Brunswick, has also worked at the Art Gallery of Alberta in the past. Ritchie is being welcomed with a public reception February 21. (press release)
The Toronto Biennial will be in discussion at New York’s Armory Show. The new Armory Show talks lineup indicates that Candice Hopkins, senior curator at the Toronto Biennial of Art, will be in discussion with artist Ryan Gander, Queens Museum director Sally Tallant and Istanbul Biennial director Bige Örer on a March 9 panel called “Biennials Then & Now.” (Artnews)
Louie Palu’s photographs will be featured at SXSW in Austin. The SXSW art program says the Canadian photographer’s Arctic Passage series, which looks at the geopolitics of the region, will be on view. Palu has also been active in Austin of late as a Harry Ransom Center Research Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. The large-format photographs will be frozen in large ice blocks on the plaza of the Harry Ransom Center on March 12. (press release)
University of Winnipeg researchers are headed to the Honolulu Biennial. The just-released program of talks for the biennial features a March 8 “Decolonizing Methodologies” artist talk at the Honolulu Museum of Art with Julie Pelletier and Heather Snell from the University of Winnipeg, moderated by Healoha Johnston, HoMA Director of Curatorial Affairs and HB19 curator Nina Tonga. (press release)
Canadian Sylvie Fortin has been selected as next Bemis curator-in-residence in Omaha. Fortin was previously artistic director of the Biennale de Montréal, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. She is also former editor of Art Papers in Atlanta. “She will participate in Bemis Center’s Residency Program, serve as a professional resource to Bemis Center artists-in-residence and the Greater Omaha arts community and organize exhibitions and public programs at Bemis Center through January 31, 2021,” says a release. Fortin adds: “I’m using the term ‘currencies’ to create a constellation of meanings that includes currency as a financial instrument; currency as the quality of something broadly accepted; and by extension, contemporaneity, and flows…This inquiry grows out of my frustration with our current lack of political hospitality as well as our failures of aesthetic hospitality.” (press release)
