Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
30 June 2020 Vol 5 No 13 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2020
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
I’m happy to report that I’m now assigning stories about exhibitions that you can actually go to see in galleries.
It’s been a long haul over the last several months and it's taken extra effort to find stories, many of which have tracked how the pandemic is affecting artists and galleries.
But as the number of COVID-19 cases drops and public health restrictions ease, galleries are opening again, which means we can start to transition back to our traditional coverage of six exhibitions every two weeks.
Over coming days, I expect to be posting stories about Santiago Mostyn at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge and Donald Lawrence at the Kamloops Art Gallery in the B.C. Interior.
I've also asked Winnipeg curator Noor Banghu to write about an interesting show at Urban Shaman, an artist-run centre in Winnipeg, that is showing a project that brought together Vancouver’s Muslim and Coast Salish communities to create 10 small-scale “prayer rugs.”
While it’s exciting to be covering gallery shows again, I’m curious how readers are feeling about venturing out to see them. A recent national survey found some reluctance among cultural patrons – just 30 per cent of those surveyed said they would return right after institutions reopen. Are you among them?
You can read how galleries are approaching the transition in John Thomson’s story, Rethinking the White Cube, which reflects on everything from the kinds of shows on offer to hand sanitizers and design retrofits.
This issue of Galleries West is ambitious as we also have included two other major survey stories.
The first, The Floyd Effect, by Paul Gessell, looks at art galleries' poor track record on diversity, particularly for Black artists, and what is being done to improve the situation.
The second, The Virtual Class of 2020, is by Dick Averns, who reached out to art schools across Western Canada to find out how they moved BFA grad shows online during the pandemic and what students can expect in the fall.
We also have a story about Edmonton artist Sean Caulfield’s role in a major research project on counteracting misinformation about the pandemic on social media.
This issue’s Sneak Peek feature takes a quick look at a photography show documenting the history of the Canucks hockey team in Vancouver.
And West Coast artist Ilze Bebris shares her feelings about the death of her father in our House Call series of reports from cultural workers coping with the pandemic. We're still accepting submissions for this series and would love to hear what's on your mind.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Dick Averns, Paul Gessell, John Thomson, Pamela Young