Canada Council Art Bank Acquires 72 New Works

The Canada Council Art Bank has spent $600,000 to acquire 72 new works by emerging and established Canadian artists.

The purchase, which coincides with the art bank's 50th anniversary, is part of a strategy to establish a collection that represents the "changing face" of contemporary art in Canada, the council said Wednesday. 

Priority was given to Indigenous, Black, racialized, deaf or differently abled artists, as well as to artists who self-identify as 2SLGBTQI+, gender-diverse or as women, amongst others, the council said. It also favoured pieces by artists whose works were not already in the collection.

The newly acquired works include photographs, paintings, textiles and mixed-media works. Some 56 are by artists who are new to the collection, and almost half are by artists who self-identify as women.

Notable artists include Barry Ace, Sonny Assu, Ruth Cuthand, Wally Dion, Jude Griebel, Maureen Gruben, Julya Hajnoczky, Kablusiak, Emmanuel Osahor, Krystle Silverfox, Stanley Wany and Lan “Florence” Yee.

"Art is often an expression and an account of an artist's quest for identity," said Simon Brault, the council's CEO. "Sharing the ideas, feelings and impressions that a work of art can arouse can impact our understanding and our experience of equality and belonging."

Here is the full list of new acquisitions:

  • Barry Ace (Ottawa) – Poignant, 2018
  • Eldred Allen (Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, N.L.) – Boxed, 2022
  • Siku Allooloo (Bowser, B.C.) – Akia, 2019
  • Judy Anderson (Calgary) – A Square is Not a Circle (South), 2020, A Square is Not a Circle (West), 2020, A Square is Not a Circle (North), 2020, A Square is Not a Circle (East), 2020
  • Ning Ashoona (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) – Computer Desk, 2022
  • Sonny Assu (Campbell River, B.C.) – Landline #8, 2020
  • Rémi Belliveau (Memramcook, N.B.) – Land of Evangeline Route, 1930, 2021
  • Deanna Bowen (Montreal) – Donna (Afterimage), 2020
  • Nicole Brabant (Toronto) – astum (come here), 2019
  • Sandra Brewster (Toronto) – Blur 21, 2017
  • Annie Briard (Vancouver) – In Possible Lands I, 2020
  • Rydel Cerezo (Surrey, B.C.) – Penny Loafers, 2021
  • Jorian Charlton (Mississauga, Ont.) – Susie, 2021
  • Kelli Clifton (Prince Rupert, B.C.) – Gaksdanaa (Behold!), 2020
  • Ruth Cuthand (Saskatoon) – Surviving: Measles, 2022
  • Dayna Danger (Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal) – End of the World, 2018
  • Wally Dion (Binghamton, New York) – Braids (pencil crayon), 2022
  • Louis-Charles Dionne (Dartmouth, N.S.) – Manila Legal Folder, 2021
  • Melissa Doherty (Kitchener, Ont.) – The Green and the Grey, 2019
  • Chun Hua Catherine Dong (Montreal) – Skin Deep, 2014-2020
  • David Elliott (Montreal) – Studio w Typewriter & Squirrels, 2021
  • Nicolas Fleming (Gatineau, Que.), Darren Rigo (Toronto) and Waard Ward (Toronto) – Flowers for, 2021
  • Michelle Forsyth (Toronto) – Pink Floral Stack, 2020
  • Anthony Gebrehiwot (Scarborough, Ont.) – The Power of A Hug, 2020
  • Jonathan S. Green (Winnipeg) – Preserving Old Geologies, 2018
  • Jude Griebel (Bergen, Alta. / Brooklyn, New York) – Portent, 2022
  • Maureen Gruben (Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.) – Moving with joy across the ice while my face turns brown from the sun, 2019
  • Julya Hajnoczky (Calgary) – Monotropa uniflora 2, 2021
  • Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka (Toronto) – Crossing the Current (map), 2021
  • Brandon Hoax (Halifax, N.S.) – MOVEMARROW Full Suite, 2022
  • Jessica Houston (Montreal) – Letters to the Future – Antarctica, 3019, 2020
  • Ji Hyang Ryu (Riverview, N.B.) – SUGAR CAMP, 2022
  • Tanea Hynes (Montreal) – Club, 2022
  • Duane Isaac (Listuguj, Que.) – Land/Body, 2020
  • Hua Jin (Montreal) – ECHO, 2022
  • Ursula Johnson (South Brookfield, N.S.) – ITHA Label, 2020
  • Anique Jordan (Toronto) – These Times, 2019
  • Bushra Junaid (Toronto) – Sweet Childhood, 2017
  • Kablusiak (Mohkinstsis / Calgary) – Akunnirun Kuupak: Duck Lake Street, 2018
  • Fariba Kalantari (Ottawa) – The unknown future, 2022
  • Wy Joung Kou (Toronto) – Mycelium: Interdependence in the Undergrowth, 2022
  • Jim Logan (Ottawa) – The One The Elders Kept From the School, 2018
  • Levi MacDonald (Fort Smith, N.W.T.) – Eagle fishing, 2022
  • Ruth Marsh (Halifax) – Cyberhive Triptych Set 6, 2020
  • Laïla Mestari (Montreal) – Monabamqueb, 2022
  • Azadeh Monzavi (St. Catharines, Ont.) – Namesake, 2022
  • José Andrés Mora (Toronto) – Arrival, 2022
  • Calvin Morberg and Brian Walker (Whitehorse) – Daughter of the Creeks, 2022
  • Kriss Munsya (Burnaby, B.C.) – Dream On, 2020
  • Zinnia Naqvi (Toronto) – The Wanderers - Niagara Falls, 1988, 2019
  • David Neel (North Vancouver, B.C.) – The Great Transformer, 2022
  • Kosisochukwu Nnebe (Ottawa / Montreal) – Black Woman #6 (Hyper/in/visibility), 2017
  • Raoul Olou (Toronto) – Nap, 2021
  • Emmanuel Osahor (Toronto) – A Chair Outside (An artist book - folio of 7 prints), 2022
  • Lionel Peyachew (Buena Vista, Sask.) – tahto awasis kihceyihtakosiw (Cree for "Every Child Matters"), 2020
  • Annie Pillaktuaq (Richmond Hill, Ont.) – A Bird's-eye View, 2018
  • Bertrand R. Pitt (Montreal) – Écho : d'après Refus Global, lu par Françoise Sullivan, 2017-18
  • Yann Pocreau (Montreal) – Archipel, 2021
  • Sarah Pupo (Montreal) – burning through the body, 2021
  • Frank Shebageget (Ottawa) – Free Ride, 2022
  • Krystle Silverfox (Whitehorse) – tth'í' yáw nan (thread beads land), 2018
  • Skawennati (Montreal) – On The Occasion of The Three Sisters Accompanying xox on Her Visit to The Queen, 2022
  • Marika St. Rose Yeo (Burnaby, B.C.) – Shifting Conversations, 2021
  • Janet Wang (North Vancouver) – Looking for Gold Mountain: Joss House, Lytton and Altar, Barkerville, 2021
  • Stanley Wany (Montreal) – Ancestry, 2019-2020
  • Tobaron Waxman (Toronto) – Chimera Project: Riis Beach, September 1, 2012, 1:46:42 AM, 2019
  • Nelson White (St. John's, N.L.) – Grandfather, 2022
  • Jane Meredith Whitten (Summerside, P.E.I.) – Consumed, 2021-22
  • Jessica Winters (Makkovik, Nfld.) – Hair Braiding Booth, 2022
  • Timothy Yanick Hunter (Toronto) – Untitled (Shimmering), 2022
  • Lan "Florence" Yee (Toronto) – Finding Myself at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts IV, 2018
  • Wang Zi (Toronto) – Yi Hua Li, 2018

Source: Canada Council for the Arts