The Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge is looking for a new executive director. The gallery board released a statement Monday saying an executive search will start in the New Year. "It is with mixed emotions that we share news that Kristy Trinier is no longer the executive director of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery," said the letter, signed by co-chairs Melissa Arseniuk and Mark McMurray. "We thank Kristy for her contributions and efforts over the past 2.5 years and wish her well in her future endeavours." No further information was provided.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton has won the Ontario Association of Art Galleries' annual award for top exhibition with a budget over $50,000 for This is Serious: Canadian Indie Comics. Oakville Galleries picked up the award for an exhibition with a budget under $20,000 for Laurie Kang: Beolle. The Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in partnership with the Woodland Cultural Centre, won in the under $10,000 category for Planting One Another. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Kim Fullerton, the founder and director of Akimbo Art Promotions. The Changemaker BIPOC Award went to Tamara Toledo, the director of Sur Gallery (Latin American Canadian Art Projects).
Toronto's Contact Photography Festival has released a preliminary list of artists for its 25th anniversary edition in May. Included are Sara Angelucci, Dana Claxton, Susan Dobson, nichola feldman-kiss, Sasha Huber, Onyeka Igwe, Erik Kessels and Thomas Mailaender, Emmanuelle Léonard, Sebastein Miller, Esmaa Mohamoud, Isabel Okoro and Timothy Yanick Hunter, Frida Orupabo, Jon Sasaki and Rehana Zaman.
Jean Paul Gaultier's haute couture wedding dresses for couples of all genders and orientations continue to spread love around the world. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts show Love Is Love: Wedding Bliss For All à la Jean Paul Gaultier is opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. Designed, produced and circulated by the Montreal gallery in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, the exhibition recorded a combined total of some 250,000 visitors at the Centro Cultural Kirchner in Buenos Aires in 2018 and in Montreal in 2017.
Sarah Milroy, chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, has been made a member of the Order of Canada. The appointment was announced recently by Governor General Julie Payette. Milroy joined the McMichael in 2018. She was the chief art critic for the Globe and Mail from 2001 to 2011 and editor and publisher of Canadian Art from 1991 to 1996. More.
Educator Marcia Guno has been appointed vice-provost, students, at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, effective Jan. 6. Guno is from the Nisga'a Nation. Her Nisga’a name is K’amyuuwa’a and she is Laxsgiik (Eagle) and is from the House of Minee’eskw. For the last six years, she has worked as director of the Indigenous Student Centre at Simon Fraser University. More.
Saskatchewan-born abstract painter Ben Woolfitt is exhibiting his drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Now based in Toronto and New York, Woolfitt begins each day by pouring his emotions onto the pages of his drawing books. His show, Rhythms and Series, opens Jan. 23 and includes 37 works on paper, four drawing books and one painting. “One of the reasons I like to work early in the morning is because the range of emotions are very available to me,” he says. “Once you go through the day and people have banged on your door enough times, it is very hard to return to these emotions.” More.
The National Gallery of Canada says it has passed a milestone, welcoming some 50,000 visitors since the gallery reopened from its pandemic shutdown on July 16. Gallery director Sasha Suda says she is heartened that people are returning. “The National Gallery of Canada is the perfect place to spend some time during the holidays during this unprecedented time,” says Suda. “The pandemic has taught us that in crisis, we need the arts more than ever." More.
Cherith Mark has been appointed to the board of governors of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Mark is from the Stoney Nakoda Nation, where she works as the language and culture coordinator for the Stoney Education Authority. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, and attended the Banff Centre's aboriginal arts program between 1999 and 2006. Mark, a dancer and performer, has worked with Indigenous dance companies including Red Thunder Native Dance Theatre, Raven Spirit Dance, Dancing Earth and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. More.