Western Canada’s art magazine since 2002
23 January 2024 Vol 9 No 2 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2024
Shelley Boettcher
From the Editor
If, like us at Galleries West, you’ve been following the saga of the purported J.E.H. MacDonald sketches donated to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2015, you know that we covered the VAG announcement in December that the art turned out to be fake. You also likely saw writer John Thomson's look at the science behind the decision. It's quite the tale: hidden art, misspelled signatures and, as it turns out, forged art. The entire story has been captured in J.E.H. MacDonald: Up Close by Kate Helwig and Alison Douglas, published by Goose Lane Editions and just released last week.
In highlighting the book’s release in this issue, we’ve taken the opportunity to also introduce our new association with Amazon that allows you to order this book and others directly through our site. What that means for us: If you purchase a book by clicking on the Amazon link in a review, Galleries West may receive a small commission. Each book has been independently selected by our editorial team, and you’ll be helping to support independent arts journalism in Canada.
So, check it out when you have a moment. A couple more excellent titles: Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision by Anne Koval; and Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington, too.
And, since we're on the subject of reading, we have plenty to offer here, too. Calgary writer Richard White spent a day at Glenbow at The Edison and wrote about Glenbow Showcases Kinngait Textiles. And our Vancouver contributor Yani Kong has lots to say about James Turrell: Light, Space and the Art of Perception, on view at the Center of International Contemporary Art Vancouver. Missed our last issue? There's still time to see Nick Sikkuark: Humour and Horror at the National Gallery of Canada.
Then we head across the country, making stops in Fredericton for Graeme Patterson's latest exhibition, Strange Birds, at Beaverbrook Art Gallery and, then, the first major Canadian art exhibition by Chinese artist Shen Xin, but this is the language we met in; 我们在这个语言中相遇, at the Richmond Art Gallery.
We recommend a few days this month in Toronto to take in as much of DesignTO as possible and then we stop in Medicine Hat to see George Littlechild’s powerful new exhibition, Here I am — can you see me?, on now through April 6 at the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre. Then we head north to see Yukon artist Nicole Bauberger — and Galleries West contributor — whose show, Fish and Fire, is on view now at Northern Front Studio in Whitehorse.
As for us, we're already planning our next issue, with stories on Gathie Falk: Revelations at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, Wynona Mulcaster's show at Kenderdine Art Gallery in Saskatoon, Resistance and Respiration at Contemporary Calgary and more.
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Yani Kong, Richard White
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
