Patkau Architects has won a 2021 Architecture Award from the American Institute of Architects for the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. The award celebrates the best contemporary architecture. Of the 10 award recipients, Patkau Architects is the only Canadian architectural practice. The new Polygon Gallery building has a jagged, sawtooth profile clad in mirrored stainless steel.
Elaine Monds and Linda Williams are among the 25 recipients of the BC Achievement Community Awards. Monds founded Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria and has been a leader in promoting Indigenous arts. She led an initiative to link Pacific Indigenous communities with First Nations' artists in Canada. Williams is the chair of the Coast Cultural Alliance. She supports the Sunshine Coast's artistic community by coordinating events like the Sunshine Coast Arts Crawl, which includes 350 artists annually.
Jarvis Hall Gallery in Calgary has been renamed Norberg Hall. The new name is a combination of the surnames of the gallery's co-directors Jarvis Hall and Shannon Norberg.
The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., will reopen June 2. Visitors can see the special exhibition Queens of Egypt, featuring over 300 Egyptian objects, including sarcophagi and jewelry. Food services in the museum remain closed, as does the Canadian Children's Museum. The Canadian War Museum, across the Ottawa River in Ottawa, also remains closed due to COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario.
After 25 years as the director and curator of the Art Gallery of Swift Current, Kim Houghtaling is retiring. "Kim would like to thank everyone who has supported the AGSC over the years as artists, audience, volunteers, students, staff and friends," the gallery said in Facebook posting on April 30. Houghtaling was recognized by the Saskatchewan Art Awards in 2019 with an Individual Leadership Award. Heather Benning, formerly the gallery's associate curator and educator, confirmed Monday that she has stepped into the top job on an interim basis until July 1, when she will assume the post permanently. Born in Humboldt, Sask., Benning has a BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax and an MFA from the Edinburgh College of Art. She is probably best known for turning an old farmhouse into a dollhouse.
Kwakiutl artist Richard Hunt has designed a new $200 pure-gold coin worth nearly $4,200 for the Royal Canadian Mint. The coin, released for sale last week, features two engraved pairs of bighorn sheep. It's the fourth coin Hunt has designed for the mint. "They saw my website years ago and said they liked my work and wanted to work with me," he told the Victoria Times Colonist. "It's really really nice to see your work on a coin."
Edmonton artist Kyle Beal has a new permanent light installation in Calgary's Inglewood neighbourhood. Titled Nightwatch, it includes four sets of eyes stacked in a column. Designed to look like a neon sign, the work actually uses brightly coloured LED lights. The eyes change shape throughout the day, and one pair even winks.
The Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar, B.C., has secured a new location and will be working to move its vision for a new home to reality. "It will be a few years yet before we open the doors to the community, but the board and staff hold a vision for a welcoming, engaging and accessible contemporary art gallery within a vibrant downtown centre," said executive director Val Fields. The proposal is for a gallery and affordable housing on property purchased by the city and the Columbia Basin Trust. For information, go to www.kootenaygallery.com.