The National Gallery of Canada says more than 75,000 people have visited the gallery since it reopened in mid-July. The gallery's Rembrandt exhibition, which closed in early September, had more than 42,300 visitors over an eight-week run. Director Sasha Suda called the numbers “exceptional” for pandemic times. “It shows how people crave for experiencing visual arts in person,” she said. The gallery did not say how many people would visit the gallery during a normal summer season.
The Canada Council is launching two new digital initiatives to foster growth and innovation. The first, Digital Generator, will help arts groups, collectives and organizations build digital capacity. The program has two streams. One supports hiring external consultants or experts and provides up to $40,000, while the other helps implement recommendations from external consultants and provides up to $50,000 for single groups or organizations, and up to $100,000 for multiple groups or organizations. The second initiative, Digital Greenhouse, will help artists, groups and organizations develop projects that use digital technology to address sectoral and digital challenges. Digital Greenhouse provides up to $50,000 for one of the following: research and planning, development, implementation and testing or evaluation and knowledge sharing.
Saskatchewan artist Cheryl Ring's exhibit at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport honours missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Her project is a collection of clay hearts, each named for a missing or murdered woman. “What I know for sure is that missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is not solely a First Nations issue, not just a women’s issue, but a human one – a Canadian one and we all have to care about it,” says Ring, who lives in Prince Albert. The exhibition will be on display for a year starting Feb. 1.
Marcel Dzama has a new permanent installation in New York City's subway system. Dzama's four brightly coloured glass mosaics, No Less Than Everything Comes Together, now adorn the Bedford Avenue subway station in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighbourhood. The mosaics were commissioned by MTA Arts and Design and fabricated by Mayer of Munich. The surreal compositions depict dancers, suns and moons in yellows and blues. Dzama, known for his work with The Royal Art Lodge, a collaborative artist group that rose to fame in Winnipeg, is now based in New York City.
The Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto is offering free admission until Dec. 31. New exhibitions on view include Jagdeep Rania: Chase, an exploration of memory and migration, as well as And other monuments, which traces the colonial trade of oriental rugs and other orientalia across borders and time. The exhibitionᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios, which opened in 2019, has been extended until January.
Kingston Prize co-founders Kaaren and Julian Brown are retiring after 16 years. Established by the Browns in 2005, the Canadian portrait competition is held every two years, with a top prize of $20,000. The 2021 prize and exhibition has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
Jas Lally has been appointed assistant curator of engagement at Vancouver's Capture Photography Festival. Lally has worked at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. She is currently president of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver's board of directors.