Espace Riopelle has moved a step closer with the unveiling of four candidates for the final stage of a design competition launched last March. The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City has selected Agence Spatiale and BGLA, CCM2 and BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), FABG, and STGM in collaboration with Cobe. The final choice for the $42.5-million space will be announced this summer in time for the start of Jean Paul Riopelle’s centenary celebration. It is expected to open in 2025 and will house a collection valued at more than $100 million.
Sarah Quinton is bidding farewell after 27 years as curatorial director of the Textile Museum of Canada. Quinton has curated some 30 exhibitions for the Toronto institution. Her final project, Aïda Muluneh: Water Life, which raises awareness about water scarcity across the globe, is on view until Sept 25. Learn more here.
The Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar, B.C., has a new executive director, Joleen Kinakin, following the retirement of 17-year veteran Val Field. Audrey Maxwell Polovnikoff, the chair of the gallery's board, thanked Field for her contributions, including ongoing work to relocate the gallery. Polovnikoff said Kinakin, who has held various roles in the local business community, would be "a huge asset" to the gallery.
The Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums: History Alive! has been given to the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto and partner West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative for the exhibition Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios. Curated by Roxane Shaughnessy, the exhibition presented graphic textiles produced by Inuit artists and printmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibition closed earlier this year, but an audio tour is available through the Textile Museum of Canada App.
