The MacKenzie Art Gallery Announces Commission of Indigenous Monument for Canada 150 Project

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The Department of Canadian Heritage has announced funding for Saskatchewan’s contributions to the Canada 150 project, including the MacKenzie Art Gallery’s commissioning of a large-scale Indigenous public artwork to be unveiled outdoors on the MacKenzie grounds in October 2017.

“It’s a thrill to be a part of this historic event,” said Anthony Kiendl, the MacKenzie Art Gallery’s Executive Director and CEO. “—Not only for the announcement of the MacKenzie’s own contribution to the project — a major public artwork by an Indigenous Canadian artist — but for the unique opportunity it provides to celebrate how our country has grown over the past 150 years.”

National in scope, this public artwork will be commissioned through an invitational process soliciting proposals by eight of Canada’s leading First Nations and Métis artists and their collaborators, marking Canada’s 150th Anniversary. 

Reflecting the overarching Canada 150 themes, the work will celebrate Canada as an open, diverse, and pluralistic society. Specifically, the public artwork will celebrate the achievement and contributions of Indigenous peoples in the shaping of this country, and will be experienced by thousands of people as they go about their daily lives.

“The theme and subject of the monument connects us to our past, embraces the present, and builds towards the future,”  Kiendl said. “The MacKenzie Art Gallery’s commitment to the work of contemporary Canadian artists is deeply ingrained within our organization. The selected artwork will be a beacon signaling that we live in an open and democratic society with a rich past, compelling present and hopeful future. It also marks the ongoing growth of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.”

This Canada 150 project will contribute to the MacKenzie’s burgeoning reputation as Canada’s leading institution for the research, collection, preservation, and presentation of contemporary Indigenous art. The commissioned artwork will become part of the Gallery’s growing and increasingly diverse Permanent Collection of more than 4,500 works of art, preserving Canada’s cultural heritage in perpetuity.

Source: MacKenzie Art Gallery.