The Art Gallery of Ontario presents a major show that looks at art made between 1492 and 1898, when Spain controlled large parts of the world. Faith and Fortune: Art Across the Global Spanish Empire, from the collection of the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York City, features some 200 sumptuous works from the Americas, the Philippines and Spain, including paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and textiles. The Toronto exhibition, on view until Oct. 10, is curated by Adam Harris Levine, the gallery's assistant curator of European art, in collaboration with Filipino-Canadian artist and designer Tahnee Ann Macabali Pantig. A consultation panel of Toronto-based Latinx and Filipinx scholars and artists helped shape the exhibition, which highlights both the beauty of these objects and the realities of their creation.
A collection of some 500 objects from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., will be transferred to the new Mi'kmaw Debert Cultural Centre in Nova Scotia, The Art Newspaper reports. The Mi'kmaw centre, located west of Truro, is scheduled to open in 2025. The objects include regalia that once belonged to a Mi'kmaq woman identified as Charlotte Paul Wilmot, as well as quillwork, woven baskets, tools, weapons, clothes and beaded jewelry.
After two years as a virtual event, Toronto's Luminato Festival is back live until June 15 to reinvigorate culture in the city. Highlights include the outdoor screening of In the Wake of Progress, Edward Burtynsky's look at humanity's impact on the world. The festival is being presented across Greater Toronto, with work in Brampton and Vaughan, as well as on the regional transit system. If you're on a GO train, watch for a grumpy fish dressed in a business suit.
The Gardiner Museum in Toronto hosts the International Ceramic Art Fair until June 19. The 10-day fair features work by emerging and established artists, as well as online and in-person programming. This year, the fair centres connections between body, identity and land, noting that global health and environmental crises make understanding bodily connections to the earth increasingly urgent. The fair's honorary patron is Magdalene Odundo, an internationally known Kenyan-born British studio potter.
The B.C. Achievement Foundation has opened calls for nominations for two prizes. Applications for the Fulmer Award for First Nations Art, which recognizes Indigenous talent across the province, and the Carter Wosk Award for Applied Art and Design, which recognizes excellence in functional art, close July 7. Read more here.
The Capture Writing Prize, a $2,000 juried award to support emerging writers and broaden the discourse on lens-based art, is seeking applicants. The winner will be commissioned to write a 1,000-word text for Capture’s annual catalogue about a current issue in lens-based art. Applicants must self-define as an emerging writer and have a limited publishing history. The deadline is June 20. For information, go here.
The Art Gallery of Alberta is conducting a survey about the future of the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art after controversy erupted over its failure to include Black artists. The exhibition, which presents new works by regional artists, is seeking input on everything from equity to regional boundaries. The survey builds on community feedback through roundtable conversations and outreach initiatives over the past two years, the gallery said. A report sharing the feedback will be released later this year. For information, email info@youraga.ca.
The Gardiner Museum in Toronto has unveiled a new permanent public sculpture, Talking Earth. It is made by Tekaronhiáhkhwa / Santee Smith, a multidisciplinary artist from the Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan, Six Nations of the Grand River, Haldimand Treaty lands. The sculpture takes the form of a four-cornered earthen pottery vessel, fractured and partially reconstructed, with light shining through the cracks. Smith says the work "aims to piece the shards of knowledge back together, reconstructing ancient knowledges in new forms.” The work, along with the museum's façade is animated with 3-D mapping and projections, including photographs of the Smith family. Visit here for information.
