Eunice Bélidor has been named the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky curator of Quebec and Canadian contemporary art (1945 to today) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the first Black curator in the museum’s history. The Montrealer has a Bachelor’s degree in art history from Concordia University, and a graduate diploma in curatorial studies and a Master’s in art history and visual culture from York University in Toronto. For the past two years, she served as director of Concordia’s FOFA Gallery.
Eleven artworks were stolen from the Alberta Craft Council's Edmonton gallery space on April 14. Nine of the works were made by Northern artists who participated in the Crafted NWT exhibition. The executive director of the craft council, Jenna Stanton, says "the unconscionable theft of artwork has further hindered artists who were already experiencing a challenging situation. We at the Alberta Craft Council are heartbroken." The building was damaged and equipment was also stolen.
Lori Blondeau, one of the winners of this year's Governor General Awards in Visual and Media Arts, presents her rarely shared performance – Are You My Mother – at the Winnipeg Art Gallery's Born in Power exhibition. The performance draws from her mother’s stories about her experiences at residential school, and celebrates her mother's strength and survival. The piece debuted in 2002, and Blondeau reworks it each time it's shown with input from her mother. Go here to see the performance.
In honour of the 104th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the Art Canada Institute has released a new open-source online book about the creator of the Vimy Memorial in France – Walter S. Allward: Life & Work by Philip Dombowsky. Celebrated during his lifetime, Allward is little known today. The Vimy Memorial, which took 14 years to complete and is visited by 800,000 people annually, put Canadian sculpture on the international map and inspired a new generation of sculptors. Read the book for free in English or French here.
The E.J. Hughes Book of Boats by Robert Amos is a finalist for the 2021 Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, one of the BC Book Prizes. Hughes was a celebrated painter of B.C.'s landscapes, and, as his official biographer, Amos worked with the artist's estate to publish this selection of Hughes' paintings of boats along the West Coast. This is Amos' third book on Hughes, following E.J. Hughes Paints British Columbia and E.J. Hughes Paints Vancouver Island. The winner will be announced Sept. 18.
Contemporary Calgary will present two new exhibitions – Everywhere We Are and Notes for Tomorrow – as soon as allowed by provincial pandemic restrictions. Everywhere We Are includes 140 artworks and a program of public talks, panels and workshops addressing themes such as fostering careers and deep collecting. Notes for Tomorrow premieres in Canada with work selected by international curators, reflecting the new global reality of the pandemic. The exhibitions are expected to continue until Aug. 15.
Both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Banff Centre released new strategic plans last week. Written during the pandemic, both plans attempt to address resilience and equity in the arts sector. The Canada Council's strategic plan is called Art, now more than ever, and can be read here. The Banff Centre's plan – Creative Pathways – is here.
The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal has appointed Anne Eschapasse as deputy director. She recently worked at the National Gallery of Canada as deputy director of exhibitions and outreach.
