What’s New

General Description

One of the largest square footage art galleries in Alberta, the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is a place of art preservation, inspiration and exploration. We offer free admission, tours, programs, and activities for all ages. The Art Gallery presents an average of twelve art exhibitions per year and welcomes over 25,000 visitors annually. The program managed in this position, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ ‘Traveling Exhibition Program’, sees participation from approximately 23 venues and 150,000 people annually.

Closing date for application: Friday, March 23, 2018 at 5pm MST

Position start date: Flexible to suitable candidate
Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm (some weeknights and weekends required)
Hours: 35 hours per week
Wage: $40,000 – $48,000 commensurate with experience
The position includes a generous health benefit plan

Reporting to the Curator, Exhibitions and Collections, the Associate Curator has responsibility for the Gallery’s delivery of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ ‘Travelling Exhibition Program’ (TREX) for region 1 (Peace Region and Northeastern BC). They will also support the research and curation of exhibitions as part of the Gallery’s annual calendar. They are responsible for supporting the priorities and attitudes that exemplify the values, professionalism, mission and vision of the Gallery.

Exhibition Curation and Circulation:

• Circulate a minimum of six exhibitions for the TREX program per year.
•  Curate, prepare and circulate a minimum of three new exhibitions per year; one of these exhibitions must be solely comprised of artwork from the Alberta Foundation for the Art’s (AFA) collection. All artworks included in all TREX exhibitions must be by Albertan artists.
• Work with the Gallery team to manage the scheduling and safe shipping of all TREX material to venues.
• Ensure proper insurance for all artworks included in TREX exhibitions.
• Ensure incremental payment of artist fees are paid, aiming towards the CARFAC fee schedule levels.
• Work alongside the Gallery team to provide technical and qualitative advice to all Venues as required.
• Ensure an “Exhibition Fee” is charged to all Venues participating in the TREX Program.
• Manage all contracts, agreements and third parties required to deliver the TREX program.
• Research, develop and curate several exhibitions for the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie annually.
• Support the Curator and Exhibitions and Collections team as required.

Education

• Oversee with Gallery staff one or more of the following to accompany all new TREX exhibitions: educational packages, lesson plans, pamphlets and catalogues, curatorial/artist statements and didactic panels and labels.
• Where budget allows, organize visiting artists program in conjunction with selected exhibitions; artists would be contracted to conduct workshops and lectures pertinent to the exhibition and audience.

Marketing

• Promote the TREX Program in the Region(s) selected by planning and enacting a five-year promotional program in print and/or electronic media, radio and/or television.
• Maintain up-to-date and relevant electronic and print interpretive/educational materials and a website for the TREX Program.
• Locate and encourage new Venues to participate in the TREX Program, especially those outside of Edmonton and Calgary.

Reporting

• Provide progress and information reports on the TREX Program activities in the Region to the AFA as required.
• Participate in an annual teleconference Travelling Exhibition Program Management mid-year committee meeting.
• Participate in the annual in-person Travelling Exhibition Program Management committee meeting on or before April 1 of each year.
• Participate, as required, in Gallery ‘Curatorial Meetings’.

Budget

• Manage a yearly budget allotment and ensure all artist fees, visiting artists and invoices are paid.

Qualifications

A Degree in Fine Arts, Art History, Curatorial or Museum Studies, or equivalent education and experience, from an accredited education program with a specialization in a Fine Arts related discipline.

Five years of recent progressively responsible experience in an art gallery or art museum, with demonstrated success in originating art exhibits, including all facets of research, production, publication, and budget development and control. Knowledge of art packing, crating, framing and other preparatory skills is considered an asset.

Knowledge of funding agencies / organizations and experience in writing grant applications.

Please send a cover letter and CV, and any inquiries, to:

Executive Director
103, 9839 – 103 Avenue
Grande Prairie, AB
T8V 6M7
info@aggp.ca

Closing date for application: Friday, March 23, 2018 at 5pm MST

We thank all who may apply, and only those who are short-listed will be contacted for an interview.

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The Recent Acquisitions exhibition is a collection of work donated to the Permanent Collection within the past two years. However, there is one painting donated to the collection and created by Canadian artist William Perehudoff (1919-2013) that you will not see here. Consummation (1985) is a larger than life celebration of Post-Painterly Abstraction and it’s the subject of a new curatorial project.

Before being donated to the Gallery nearly two years ago, it belonged in the private collection of art critic Karen Wilkin and has not been seen by the public for several decades. The painting is not included in the exhibition, due to the fact that the painting shows signs of age and was removed from its canvas stretcher for shipment, resulting in the work needing to be restored before it can be shown again.

For a curator, the pleasure of working with a collection is in being asked to interpret, investigate and preserve the history of works of art. It was during this process of discovery that Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, Derrick Chang, began to ask himself, “How do we recover the voice of this painting so that it can be exhibited to the public again?”

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is committed to the complete restoration of William Perehudoff’s Consummation (1985). Over the course of the next year, and as part of a new artistic and curatorial project, Derrick will be working in collaboration with artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay as they explore how lost histories can be brought to life. The unexamined life of an artwork holds many discoveries. We hope that you will join us on this journey.

This project is made possible with the support of the British Columbia Arts Council.

William Perehudoff

William Perehudoff (1918-2013) is a Canadian painter most recognized for his contributions to colour field painting in Canada. He is noted for his participation in the Emma Lake Artist Workshops in Saskatchewan at various times between 1957-1990. In 1999 he was made a member of the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian painting.

Perehudoff’s work has been represented in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Mendel Art Gallery, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Glenbow Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay is a Montreal-born artist and diarist based in Edinburgh. His artistic work mediates emotional encounters with musical, art historical and Queer cultural material, encouraging deep listening and empathic viewing. In his work you will find bells, bouquets, ceramic vases, enchanted forests, folding screens, gay elders, glitter, gold leaf, love letters, imaginary paintings, madrigals, megaphones, mirrors, naked men, sex-changing flowers, sign language, subtitles, and the voices of birds, boy sopranos, contraltos, countertenors, and sirens.

Nemerofsky’s work has been exhibited internationally, and is part of the permanent collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, the Polin Museum for the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Thielska Galleriet Stockholm and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (AGGP) proudly announces that, alongside the Grant Berg Gallery and Grande Prairie Live Theatre, it has topped a list of millennial destinations based on a recent survey.

From the Expedia.ca article, ‘Canadian Millennials Recommend Their Favourite Places to Visit in 2018’ –  “Here at Expedia.ca, we asked 1,000 real Canadians where they’d recommend travellers visit in 2018, and then filtered by the millennial voice (ages 18-34). The respondents were more apt to international destinations, more introspective in their reasons, and more creative in their preferences—which makes us confident that these top places will soon become too popular for the average visitor.”

The article elaborates that Expedia researchers found Grande Prairie to be a lively location for millennial activity, particularly in the Arts. “Need some more #artlife and #nohashtag filter in your life?  Visit AGGP where you’ll find a world of paintings”.  Executive Director, Jeff Erbach, isn’t surprised by the findings, “We have a national level art gallery in Grande Prairie, and a thriving Arts scene thanks to Grant Berg and GPLT.  The next horizon for us is making that consistently known”.

Expedia also gushed about the Grant Berg Gallery, calling it ‘another favourite’ which exhibits many local and indigenous artists.  “What an amazing compliment that in Canada’s youngest city, Expedia and its audience went straight to arts and culture to represent our city. It’s an often overlooked part of our city and great to see the Arts getting the national attention it deserves.”

The full article, “Canadian Millennials Recommend Their Favourite Places to Visit in 2018” can be found on expedia.ca in the travelblog section.

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!