The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie’s newly minted, ‘SPECTACULART!, the 39th annual art auction’, held on November 2nd at the Gallery was deemed a wild success. Hundreds of patrons were dazzled by hoopers, acrobats and fire breathers at our special event.

Executive Director, Jeff Erbach, elaborated on the vision, ‘as an art gallery we consider it our obligation, even when looking to raise funds, to do something extraordinary, dynamic and fun.’ Jeff further put numbers to the fundraiser, ‘As a free, public gallery, it’s critical that we can find support from our community. This year’s event was a net profit of approximately $50,000, which goes a long way in ensuring we can launch exhibitions and all our tours and programs.’

The sold out event included aerial acrobatic performances from Kelowna’s ‘Enthrall Performers Collective’ and a finale with Peace Region’s own ‘Circus of Hell.’ Artwork and experiences were auctioned in both a silent and live format and included pieces from local artists alongside work from Calgary and Vancouver. Food vendors provided snacks and meals in a carnival-like atmosphere inside the gallery. The event was title sponsored by Chrenek Dion & Associates.

Thanks to all who attended, who support the Gallery, and to our amazing artists for their incredible vision and energy!

Thank you to our Sponsors:
Chrenek Dion & Associates
Aurora Eye Care
CLHbid.com
Ello Marketing + Design Co
Enframe Construction Ltd.
Fulcrum Group Chartered Professional Accountants
Hi-Tech Business Systems Ltd.
JMS Construction
Seven Generations Energy
Tower Services

Thank you to our Performers:
Alex Vieiva
Circus of Hell
DansConnection School of Performing Arts
Dino Run
Enthrall Performers Collective
Halo Tribal
Hula Hoop Circus
HypnoHunny
MJ Designs
Music with JayFresh
Susan Pearson

Thank you to our Donating Artists:
Bailey Merkley
Bibi Clement
Bryan Chubb
Candace Sanderson
Candice Johnson Popik
Carl White
Carmen Haakstad
Carol Bromley Meeres
Celeste Walsh
Cheryl Paige Bozarth
Christina Wallwork
Clint Wilson
Dalen Chmilar
Dan Wourms
Daniel Sanchez
Darla Dawn Lukac
Edward Bader
Elizabeth Hutchinson
Emily Lozeron
Emma Fimrite
Frances Obie
Grant Berg
Greg Payce
Heide Enzmann
Janice Kretzer-Pryzunka
Karrie Arthurs
Keith Curtis
Ken Lumbis
MAJ Photography
Monique Martin
Parker Thiessen
Patrick Cruz
Peter von Tiesenhausen
Robert Guest
Serena Love
Suzanne Sandboe
Tina Martel
Tiziana Le Melia
Vickie Hotte
Wendy Johnsen

Thank you to our Food Vendors:
FUBAR Beverage Services
Four Points by Sheraton Grande Prairie
Major’s Family Restaurant
OMG! Cupcakes
Sheshu’s Sizzling Tandoor Inc,

Thank you to our Event Photographer:
Liza Curtiss Photography

Special Thanks to:
Gemini Helicopters
Grant Berg Gallery
Lattitude 55
Ritchie Bros.

Planning for next year’s event begins in April 2020 and members of the community can participate by volunteering on planning teams. Contact the Art Gallery for more information at info@aggp.ca or 780-532-8111.

Thursday, November 28th from 7:00pm – 9:00pm join us for the Opening Reception of two different exhibitions. We will have free food, a bar, and as always, it’s free admission!

Candace Sanderson is a Northern Albertan artist with roots in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. She creates contemporary sculptural work which focuses on her relationship with these two homes. Her first solo exhibition, A Common Reality will come to life from November 14th – March 8th, 2020.

Thank you to our A Common Reality exhibition sponsors:

• Presenting Partner: Rotary Club of Grande Prairie 
• Exhibition Sponsor: Enframe Construction LTD. 

Sonic Youth is a group exhibition of 13 artists that revolves around and revisits the role of youth in the avant-garde. Specifically, it is about making noise, disrupting the peace and challenging the concept of the status quo. It contains works by artists that address issues of politics, protest and civil rights, queer spaces, Indigenous rights to traditional knowledge and education, feminism and  most importantly the agency of youth voices. This exhibition will occur from November 28th – March 19th, 2020.

Sonic Youth Exhibiting Artists:

Emily Promise Allison | Richard White | ©Leisure: Susannah Wesley + Meredith Carruther | Joi T. Arcand | Cathy Busby | Anne Drew Potter | Liz Knox | Jamey Braden | Guillermo Trejo | LJ Roberts | Hannah Jickling + Helen Reed

Thank you to the Sonic Youth exhibition sponsors:

• Presenting Partner: Rotary Club of Grande Prairie
• Exhibition Partner: SIDE Group
• Exhibition Partner: Servus Credit Union
• Exhibition Supported by: Canada Council for the Arts

Photo credits:

Left: Artwork by Emily Promise Allison (image provided by this artist)

Right: Hedgehogs artworks, with the artist Candace Sanderson (image provided by this artist)

To prepare for our upcoming Art Auction, we will be closing the Gallery from Friday, November 1st – Sunday November 3rd. You can still join us on Saturday November 2nd for the 39th Annual Art Auction! Tickets are available on Eventbrite

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie’s 39th annual fundraiser is here! You can now purchase tickets to join us on Saturday, November 2, 2019. It’s our signature event of the year and all proceeds support the exhibitions and programs for one of the premiere Free Admission Galleries in Western Canada.

This three act, circus-themed event will feature several food vendors, and of course, the Peace Region’s premiere silent and live auction.  The fundraiser is a special opportunity for the community to support the Gallery’s exhibitions and programs.

Saturday, November 2, 2019
7 pm
Art Gallery of Grande Prairie

Schedule
7pm to 9pm – Act I Performances and Silent Auction
9pm – 10pm – Act II Live Auction
10pm – 1030pm – Act III finale Performance

Tickets
$60 each
or 2 for $100

Would you like to know more?
Check out our Frequently Asked Questions on our main event page.

Conversation Ecology – Artist and Curator Talk

Saturday, September 28, 2019

11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Join artists Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal and Clint Wilson talking about their work in our current exhibition Ecology is: Human | Nature. Derrick Chang, Exhibitions and Collections Curator at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, will be leading this public talk. Everyone is welcome to this free event.

Orphan Well Adoption Agency – Extended Hours

Saturday, September 28, 2019

1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Curious about adopting an Orphan Well? The Orphan Well Adoption Agency (OWAA) within the Ecology Is: Human| Nature exhibition at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is dedicated to finding caretakers for abandoned oil and gas wells through symbolic adoptions. Stop by the Orphan Well Adoption Agency and meet with an OWAA representative and apply to adopt a well. If approved, caretakers will receive a certificate of adoption with the name and location of an orphan well in Alberta.

When: Saturday, September 28th from 1:30 – 4:00

Where: Art Gallery of Grande Prairie

Please register by Friday, September 27 by calling (780) 532-8111, or e-mail: info@aggp.ca.

Join exhibiting artist and community activist Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal who works with indigenous networks of knowledge, her work with natural materials including clay, handmade paper and traditional medicines is, “a reminder of the responsibility that we all need to uphold to the land for which we live and work on, as well as to the people, plants and animals of Turtle Island.”.

This workshop will take participants of all ages through the process of creating handmade paper. In keeping with Cardinal’s nêhiyaw tradition, the first handmade paper sheet pulled will be gifted away to the artist’s Mekinawewin: to give a gift project, while the participant has a choice to bring the rest of their pulled sheets home with them.

This program is free. All materials will be provided. Light refreshments will be offered.

Bring your own natural or collage materials you wish to embed in the handmade paper you will create.

Everyone welcome. Space is limited to 22 participants.

Photo Credit: Katy Whitt Photography

Mark your September calendars: The Gallery’s interactive space on the 2^nd level, The Carlstrom Family Green Space, will be closed for building maintenance from September 16 – 30th.

The Gallery will be open regular hours during this time and exhibitions will remain on view. We look forward to welcoming visitors back to the Carlstrom Family Green Space after this temporary, scheduled closure.

Thank you for your patience.

Join us at the Gallery on July 11th from 7:00PM – 9:00PM to celebrate the Opening Reception of Ecology Is: Human | Nature. Free food, free admission and drinks are available!

This group exhibition includes six Canadian Artists; Alana Bartol, Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Carley Freisen, Lyndal Osborne, Marina Roy and Clint Wilson. There is no better time to consider our relationships to nature and each other than in this group exhibition which points out the fact that at its core, ecology is the biological need to co-exist within nature. The impact of human influence and economic development foregrounds the urgent need for a balanced conversation between industry and the environment.

Click here to learn more about Ecology Is: Human | Nature

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Presenting Partner

Exhibition Sponsor

Exhibition Partner

Thursday, June 27th from 7:00pm – 9:00pm join us for the Opening Reception of three different exhibitions. We will have free food, a bar, and as always, it’s free admission! Tiziana La Melia will be opening her newest exhibition, we will be presenting a long awaited restored painting by William Perehudoff, and our Permanent Collection Gallery will be presenting a series of regionally sourced portraits.

Tiziana La Melia is an accomplished poet and artist. Over the last decade she has exhibited her work in notable presentations across Canada and internationally. Early in her career she received national recognition for her work by winning the RBC Painting Competition in 2014.

Tiziana La Melia will be introducing her new exhibition, some of which will be created during her Artist in Residency at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie. This Artist in Residency is our first partnership with the Euphemia McNaught Homestead Society.

Click here to learn more about Tiziana

Thank you to this exhibition’s sponsors:

Presenting Partner:

Exhibition Sponsor:

Exhibition Partner:

Gifts & Gestures is the most anticipated unveiling of an acquisition into the Permanent Collection in recent history. The painting by the Abstract Expressionist painter William Perehudoff, represents the largest undertaking the gallery has made in the conservation of a work of national significance for future generations. The project will be accompanied by an artist book and a limited-edition artwork. Co-authored by Derrick Chang the Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, and the artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay.

Click here to learn more about Gifts & Gestures

This project is made possible with the support of the British Columbia Arts Council and the faculty and students of the Department of Art Conservation at Queen’s University.

Thank you to the Gifts & Gestures Presenting Partner:

Pioneering Portraits showcases works that explore the tradition of collecting portraiture that reflects the spirit of this region. The exhibition features work from the Estate of Bert Tieman, James Agrell-Smith, Edward Bader, Donna Barrett, James Daubney, Ken HouseGo, Harold Klunder, RFM McInnis, Judi Moscovitch, Holly and Gordon Perret, Walter J. Phillips and Jeanette L. Walker.

Click here to learn more about Pioneering Portraits

Thank you to Pioneering Portraits sponsors:

Presenting Partner:

Exhibition Sponsor: