Scott Watson
Director and curator Scott Watson has resigned from the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Watson held the position for 32 years. He started in 1989 when the Belkin was called the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery and was located in the basement of the university's old Main Library. Over time, the gallery grew from just two employees to a staff of 14.
Gage Averill, UBC's dean of fine arts, said Watson provided provided the artistic and curatorial vision that has built the Belkin into a “stellar and progressive home for engaging with contemporary art.”
Watson worked with the late architect Peter Cardew on the design and construction of the Belkin's building, which opened in 1995. He helped establish the institution's archives as a resource for local and international researchers, and guided the growth of the gallery's permanent collection, which now includes some 5,000 works. In 2003, Watson co-founded the university's critical and curatorial studies program.
Watson also invited curatorial collaborations and international exchanges, most recently the exhibition Image Bank, shown in 2019 at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, and now on view at the Belkin until Aug. 22. The exhibition includes photographs, drawings and other ephemera from the Belkin's archive of materials from Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov, which Watson worked to acquire and accession. The two artists founded the Image Bank together in 1969.
“Scott’s passion and advocacy for the gallery has been a constant,” says Averill. “It is, in fact, hard for me to disentangle Scott from the gallery that he led with such grace, vision, wit, honesty, curiosity and care for so many years.”
The Belkin's associate director, Lorna Brown, will serve as acting director until the position is filled. An international search is underway for a new director.
Source: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery