From the Editor

Western Canada's art magazine since 2002

13 March 2018  Vol 3 No 6  ISSN 2561-3316  © 2018

From the Editor

If you read Galleries West regularly, you'll notice our new look. We’ve revamped the magazine's format to reflect your need for easy access to full stories with just one click. 

You’ll still get at least six stories every two weeks. But we're starting to post them earlier, adding one every few days, so there’s always something fresh to check out. If you signed up for email reminders, you'll still get one every second Tuesday when we've posted all the stories. If not, you may want to sign up so you never miss an issue.

We’ve also made it easier to find news items from the art world, which we post daily. And we've added a couple of fun features to our homepage. Scroll down to find a selection of our most popular stories, those with 250 or more likes. Or check out Flashback, with five stories chosen from the archives by our robotic minions. You can see another mini-show by hitting the "more" button. I’m fascinated by this feature and have been musing about organizing a real-life show curated by artificial intelligence. If you’re an art-loving bot – or know how to program them, drop me a line!

Other changes? We have refined our Find It section, which features interactive searchable listings of galleries, exhibitions and services like framing and art supplies. We’re still working to populate some of these. If you operate a gallery or arts-based business and you're not listed, please drop us a line. This site is Western Canada’s most comprehensive digital source for arts information.

We also have new options for advertisers. The most exciting is a Promoted Exhibitions feature on the homepage that allows galleries to post text, images and videos about upcoming shows. Don’t wait to book your time slot – we’re already fielding inquiries.

Our new look comes as we celebrate our most-read issue ever. At last count, our Feb. 27 stories had more than 1,100 likes, including a new record of 691 for Sarah Swan’s review of Margaret Nazon's amazing beaded images of outer space. Meanwhile, Beverly's Cramp's cover story on Indigenous art from India, still on view in Greater Vancouver, attracted 271 likes. Over all, our metrics tell us we’ve been logging more than 500 visits a day.

This issue is already off to a running start with more than 200 likes. We have stories on stellar mountain photography in Banff and two female war artists more than 70 years apart, one a self-proclaimed chaser of sailors. I’m happy to thank our wonderful longtime contributors – Steven Ross Smith in Banff, Beverly Cramp in Vancouver, and Paul Gessell, who keeps an eye on the national scene from Ottawa.

Also in this issue, a new writer, Sylvia J. Dreaver, ably reviews a Winnipeg show that considers the tragedy of missing and forgotten Indigenous women. Our final stories are about a Winnipeg old-timer, Roman Swiderek, and a younger artist from Calgary, Erik Olson, who uses the tree house as a metaphor for escaping the world and its sometimes harsh realities.

Until next time,

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE:  Beverly Cramp, Sylvia J. Dreaver, Paul Gessell, Steven Smith