AGA Curators

Lindsey V. Sharman is curator of the Art Gallery of Alberta and adjunct professor with the Department of Art at the University of Calgary. Sharman has studied Art History and Curating in Canada, England, Switzerland and Austria. Earning degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of the Arts, Zurich. From 2012-2018 she was the first curator of the Founders’ Gallery at the Military Museums in Calgary, an academic appointment through the University of Calgary. Her primary area of research is politically and socially engaged art practice. Curatorial projects of note include Seeing Soldiering: in theatre with those who serve by Althea Thauberger; TRENCH, a durational performance by Adrian Stimson; Felled Trees, an exhibition deconstructing national identity at Canada House, London; Gassed Redux by Adad Hannah; and the nationally touring retrospective The Writing on the Wall: Works of Dr. Joane Cardinal Schubert. Sharman has contributed to academic and non-academic publications including Galleries West, n.paradoxa, Blackflash, the Canadian Journal of Military History, and The Writing on the Wall published by the University of Calgary Press.

AmeryCalvelli works to advance the public connection with architecture and design. She is a co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Design Talks Institute in Calgary (dtalks.org); co-editor of the online design publication FOLD (thisisthefold.org); and teaches Design History at the University of Calgary’s Continuing Education Program. She hosted the CJSW radio program “Space and Place” for four years and has served on the Boards of the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art and the SFMOMA’s Contemporary Extension as well as has worked for designers such as Comme des Garçons, Giorgio Armani and Agnès b.

Franchesca Hebert-Spence is a MFA candidate at the University of Winnipeg, in the Masters of Arts in Cultural Studies stream with a BFA in ceramics from Ishkabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg, Brandon University Visual and Aboriginal Arts program. Hebert-Spence’s grandmother was from Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba and her research focuses on identity both as an indigenous woman as well as a feminist. Hebert-Spence began her art journey as a maker which has created an empathetic lens within her curatorial praxis. Kinship is a common theme within her projects and those responsibilities direct the engagement she maintains within her community. Hebert-Spence is currently Programme Coordinator at Manitoba Craft Council.

Jessie Ray Short is an artist, filmmaker and independent curator whose cross disciplinary practice involves memory, visual culture and Métis history. In the past 10 years she has exhibited work nationally and internationally. As a curator she has had the opportunity to work on various projects most notably Jade Carpenter: Mourn at City of Calgary Open Spaces Gallery and Mixed Berries: Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett at Gallery 2, Grand Forks, BC, as well as being a co-curator of Li Salay, recently on exhibit at the AGA. She has worked for the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective and currently works as a program coordinator for TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary. Short holds an MA from Brock University with a focus on contemporary Métis visual culture.

Leonore-Namkha Beschi is a museum practitioner with extensive experience in exhibition-making, community outreach and art publications. Her core interests and knowledge lie in modern and contemporary art practices, gained through travels and immersion in international art scenes. She formerly worked as an Assistant Curator at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar. There, she participated in the positioning of the institution as a centre for dialogue and curatorial research in the region and internationally. She previously worked with curators Catherine David, Abdellah Karroum, Sam Bardaouil & Till Fellrath and Pier Luigi Tazzi on exhibitions such as Dia al-Azzawi: A Retrospective (from 1963 until tomorrow) (2016-2017), Shirin Neshat: Afterwards (2014-15), Mona Hatoum: Turbulances (2014), and Adel Abdessemed: L'âge d'or (2013-2014).