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The Art Gallery of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we are located in Treaty 6 Territory and Region 4 of the Metis Nation of Alberta. We respect this as the traditional and contemporary  land of diverse Indigenous Peoples including the Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Beaver Cree, Nitsitapi/Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Anishinaabe/Saulteaux/Ojibwe and Dene Peoples. We also acknowledge the many Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people who make Alberta their home today.

Celebrating International Women’s Day: Featuring our AGA Curatorial Team

To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021 we are featuring members of our outstanding AGA curatorial team. On this day, we especially recognize the importance in challenging gender inequalities and celebrating women’s achievements. 
 

 Catherine Crowston

Catherine Crowston, Executive Director and Chief Curator 

Share a proud moment or achievement in your career 

For the past few years, the AGA has been working to document the important work of women artists in Alberta and Canada, in a series of original exhibitions. These include: Undaunted: Canadian Women Painters of the 19th Century, Alberta Mistresses of the Modern: 1935-1975 and Rebellious: Alberta Women Artists in the 1980s, each curated by a female curator: Laura Ritchie, Mary-Beth Laviolette and Lindsey Sharman, respectively. 

Sandra Bromley, Colossi: Elder I, II, III, IV, 1989-1993. Wood sculpture. Courtesy of the Artist. Installation view of Rebellious: Alberta Women Artists in the 1980s, Art Gallery of Alberta, 2019. Photo: Charles Cousins, Art Gallery of Alberta 

I am very proud of the exhibitions that I have worked on in collaboration with other female curators throughout my career. Such great colleagues: Asinnijaq, Amery Calvelli, Nancy Campbell, Sara Diamond, Josee Drouin-Brisebois, Barbara Fischer, Sylvie Gilbert, Francesca Hebert-Spence, Candice Hopkins, Mary-Beth Laviolette, Lindsey Sharman, Diana Sherlock, Jessie Ray Short, Michele Theriault, Nancy Tousley, Jayne Wark. 
 

Amery Calvelli

Amery Calvelli, Adjunct Curator, Poole Centre of Design

Share a time that a female artist had a deep influence on your work or perspective

Representation of gender, ancestry, and culture helps us to acknowledge diverse perspectives. Eight years ago, “Women in Design” students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design petitioned the Pritzker Prize jury to reconsider a 1991 award to Robert Venturi that had omitted recognition of Venturi’s partner in practice, Denise Scott Brown. Still today, Scott Brown remains without an award for her contribution. The petition drew global attention, within the architecture community, to gender inequity. 

Opening this year at the AGA is an exhibition on Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. A Canadian landscape architect, she was one of the first women to graduate (in 1947) from the same program as the Women in Design students organizing the petition for Scott Brown. Adding counterpoint to the Pritzker Prize for architecture, this year commences a new award: the biennial Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize. I am grateful that the AGA, a museum with strong female leadership, will be exhibiting Oberlander’s impressive body of work. A special thanks to Catherine Crowston who supported the research and development of the idea early on.

Photo Credit: Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, Courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 2008.

 

Danielle Siemens

Danielle Siemens, Collections Manager/Curatorial Associate

Share a favourite work by a female artist from a past exhibition or collection

The AGA Collection has a plethora of amazing work by women artists. One that I have been interested in lately is Barbara Astman’s ‘mother’s kitchen (#10 from the ‘Places’ series).’ ‘Places’ is a sculptural series that refer to actual locations that the artist has visited, memories of which are evoked through the linoleum that she associates with each place. The assemblages are not replicas of rooms but abstract representations of them. In this case, the title ‘mother’s kitchen’ evokes the intimate conversations between mother and daughter that might occur while cooking together or enjoying a late night cup of tea at the kitchen table.

Barbara Astman, ‘mother’s kitchen,’ 1982, wood and linoleum. Art Gallery of Alberta Collection, gift of the Artist

Share a time you were particularly proud of an exhibition you worked on

Right now, I am very proud of the exhibition The Scene, which I co-curated with Lindsey Sharman. This exhibition showcases some of the most exciting art practices in Edmonton today and includes work by 10 women: Kasie Campbell, Lauren Crazybull, April Dean, Yong Fei Guan, Taryn Kneteman, Kim McCollum, Morgan Melenka, Tamires Para, Tiffany Shaw-Collinge and Jill Stanton.

Install view of The Scene featuring work by Lauren Crazybull, Yong Fei Guan and Jill Stanton

Hours

Monday: closed
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday: 11am-5pm
Thursday: 11am-7pm
Friday: 11am-5pm
Saturday: 11am-5pm
Sunday: 11am-5pm

Admission

* Restrictions apply. Please see our Hours and Admissions page.

AGA members
$Free
Youth 0-17
$Free
Alberta students 18+
$Free
Out-of-province students
$10
General admission
$14
Seniors 65+
$10

Location

2 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T5J 2C1

780.422.6223
info@youraga.ca

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The Art Gallery of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we are located in Treaty 6 Territory and Region 4 of the Metis Nation of Alberta. We respect this as the traditional and contemporary  land of diverse Indigenous Peoples including the Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Beaver Cree, Nitsitapi/Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Anishinaabe/Saulteaux/Ojibwe and Dene Peoples. We also acknowledge the many Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people who make Alberta their home today.