| The distinction between private and public galleries is lost on some. Private galleries in Calgary and elsewhere rely on their typically well-to-do patrons to keep them in business. Although some private galleries make a point of sometimes highlighting innovative young artists, they mostly provide an outlet for collectors who stick to the tried and true represented by the gallery at that moment in time. There’s nothing wrong with this – it’s called business.
Public galleries and artist-run centres, on the other hand, are the places where more experimental forms of creative expression are welcomed and promoted. This prologue is leading to the point that public galleries, artist-run centres and individual artists require community support – money.
Although there are good grant allocation programs, such as the ones through The Alberta Foundation for the Arts or the Calgary Region Arts Foundation (that has just been dissolved in order to merge with the Calgary Arts Development Authority), most public galleries and artist-run centres survive on meagre budgets and a layer of volunteer support to keep them functioning.
If you have a chance to attend a fundraiser in the coming months, or special event in support of these vital outlets, do so. Triangle Gallery, The New Gallery, Stride Gallery, Art Gallery of Calgary, TRUCK Gallery and others all welcome your support, enthusiasm and encouragement.
One such event will take place at AGC, when ARTwear 2006 comes out of the closet. Part fashion show, part art exhibition and part auction, it all happens at the gallery on November 16 at 8 p.m.
Also at AGC on November 2 (from 7 to 9 p.m.) is the eighth annual RBC Canadian Painting Exhibition. This year, 15 semi-finalists were chosen from 600 artists. Their works, plus the works of the 12 semi-finalists are showcased in this travelling exhibition.
Triangle Gallery’s fundraiser is the 2006 Studio Art Sale and Bohemian Extravaganza, with 50 per cent of the proceeds supporting the contributing artists and 50 per cent designated to support exhibitions and art education programs. The event will take place from November 2 (opening at 7 p.m.) and runs until November 4. Admission to the gallery during these days is free.
Also at the Triangle is the opening of the retrospective exhibition of Annemarie Schmid-Esler. The exhibition, The Artist's Odyssey, opens on November 16 at 7:30 p.m. and runs until December 28th.
Another event on the busy evening of November 2 is at the Glenbow Museum, with the public unveiling of an 11-foot-tall barbed-wire horse created by Calgary artist Jeff de Boer. The Glenbow commissioned de Boer to develop this larger-than-life bucking bronc sculpture for the new permanent gallery, Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta, which will open in spring 2007.
For those who have missed the most recent exhibition at TRUCK, there’s still time to check out Converse, which is there until November 11. It’s described as a "multidisciplinary installation that offers an interactive experience for exploring the creation of new language through the translation of gesture/action into low frequency vibration."
At Stride Gallery, also until November 11, is Ageographica by Crystal Mowry, made of maps, diagrams and "meandering tourists."
At Newzones Gallery until November 25 are the abstract wonders of Marie Lannoo. Large acrylic works, these paintings are glossy expressions from this Saskatoon-based artist. With mirror-like surfaces, paintings and viewers converge into something else.
The Banff Centre recently took part in a press conference in Iqualuit where the launch of the Nunavut Animation Lab was announced. Three animation workshops in Cape Dorset, Iqaluit and Pangnirtung are expected to develop new skills among emerging and established Inuit artists to help them tell their stories using state-of-the-art animation equipment.
Four candidates will eventually be chosen to make a short film and spend a week in Winnipeg participating in story workshops co-coordinated by The National Screen Institute, Canada. Following these workshops, the participants will arrive at The Banff Centre to direct and animate their films. Eventually the films will be available in Inuktitut, English and French, with worldwide exposure through the NFB website at www.NFB.com, film festivals and through Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
"We will work with the chosen artists to help realize their vision, develop their craft, and expand their networks," says Susan Kennard, director and executive producer of The Banff Centre’s Banff New Media Institute (BNMI). "This is a unique opportunity to bring together media artists from the North to work with mentors in the south in the creation of visual stories that have no boundaries." |
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