Art Gallery of Mississauga

Art Gallery of Mississauga
Established 1987 (1987)
Location 300 City Centre Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Type Public Art gallery
Director Mandy Salter
Curator Kendra Ainsworth
Website www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

The Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) is a public, not-for-profit art gallery in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the Mississauga Civic Centre right on Celebration Square across from Square One Mall. The Gallery is open every day and offers free admission and guided exhibition tours in addition to regular art social events, workshops for adult learners, and youth programmes for schools, universities and community groups.

The gallery is envisioned as a centre for community building which aims to energize the cultural producers of Mississauga and beyond. A particular interest is in projects that engage our community and reflect our awareness of contemporary and relevant cultural topics and issues. Crossing of social boundaries in terms of artistic discipline is vital by linking elements, concepts and notions that are at the core of universal artistic expression, and traversing social and class lines in valuing multiple audiences is paramount to visual art experiences at the AGM.

The Gallery connects with the people of Mississauga through the collection and presentation of relevant works from a range of periods and movements in Canadian art and holds approximately 18 exhibitions a year on a rotating basis.

History

In 2013, the AGM hired artist Camille Turner to be Mississauga’s first ever Artist in Residence.[1] Turner was interested in the hidden histories of Mississauga. Her projects for the AGM included the (un)settler Community Journal Project[2] and the 5&Dime walking tour, exploring strip malls as cultural spaces.

In 2014, the AGM launched an extensive re-branding campaign, characterized by a new design created by The White Room in Toronto. This campaign has received international recognition in design magazines,[3] and a finalist in the Graphis 2015 annual design competition.[4]

Director

Mandy Salter MA, ISA joined the AGM as Director in 2015.[5] Salter graduated magna cum laude with an M.A. in art history and classical civilizations from the University of Miami in 1996. Her B.A. Honours in studio and art history is from the University of Windsor in 1994.[5]

Salter’s recent curatorial work includes Annie MacDonell: The Abyss and the Horizon; Seasons of Mist and Mellow, Fruitfulness: Group of Seven Works from the Collection; Friedl vom Gröller (Kubelka): Year Portraits; and Approaching Abstraction: Marian Scott, Fritz Brandtner, Bertram Brooker and Lawren Harris. Her most recent co-publications were, David Merritt: shim, sham, shimmy with the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the McLaren Art Centre, and The Films and Videos of Jamelie Hassan co-published with Platform: Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts and the AGW.

Salter has also partaken in strategic and curatorial work for the city of Windsor regarding their public art collection and cultural heritage holdings and with the Art Gallery of Windsor, where she was recently the Chief Curator and Collections Manager. Previously, Salter was the Manager of Exhibitions at the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, Toronto and the Gallery Director at George Adams Gallery, NYC, where she was an agent for the first Art Miami/Art Basel (2002). Prior to her work in museums and galleries, Salter was on the faculty at Nova Southeastern University and The University of the West Indies and was an Educator/Programmer with the Art Gallery of Ontario's Anne Tannenbaum Gallery School.[6]

Permanent Collection

The AGM’s Permanent Collection numbers over 500 works by regional and national artists. In 2013, the AGM launched a digital archiving project, funded by the Museums Assistance Program and the Museums and Technology Fund, which created an accessible online database launched on the AGM website in 2014.[7]

Because of space limitations, the Gallery had a moratorium on collecting since 2008. In 2014, the AGM presented a new collections policy, focusing on digital and lens-based works, with a particular focus on regional artists, iconic Canadian works and works by artists representing the social fabric of Mississauga.[8] The AGM's Permanent Collection was made accessible on an online archive in December 2014.[9]

Expansion

Long considered "the best kept secret in Mississauga" due to the lack of visibility of its location inside the Civic Centre,[10] in 2011 the AGM commissioned Lord Cultural Resources to conduct a facility expansion plan, with the objective of potentially moving the gallery into a new building to increase visibility and exhibition space.[11] The Lord Cultural study reported that, despite being in the sixth largest city in Canada, the AGM was the smallest public art gallery.[12] In June 2014, past AGM Director | Curator Stuart Keeler and Board President Mike Douglas appeared before Mississauga City Council to request support for a facility expansion. Gallery visitors grew from just under 19,000 in 2011 to over 30,000 in 2013. Options presented include an expansion of the AGM’s current facility in City Hall and a new home in the Living Arts Centre across the street. City Council was supportive of the request, and asked staff to examine feasibility.[12]

Roots and Branches | Education

The AGM acquired a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to fund educational and engagement programming from 2013 – 2014. Roots and Branches is a comprehensive, hands-on approach to learning that facilitates free visits by Artists in Residence, who collaborate with Teachers to deliver lesson plans and visual art-inspired activities that extend standardized curriculum, while exposing students to critical processes in contemporary artistic practice.[13]

The programme as well provides free Tours of the Gallery with free Bus Transit to and from the school site and the Art Gallery of Mississauga.[14]

Beyond the Art Trail | Artist Professional Practices Programme (APP)

Cindy Blazevic: PillBilly Fantasia, 2012. XIT-RM, AGM

Regional, national and international artists engage the artist community with presentations, panels, workshops and readings to engage dialogue and learning centered on an engaged professional practice. Collaboration with established regional art resources for artists, writers and cultural producers are aimed to build a network and broaden community support.

Living Waters

Living Waters is an interdisciplinary arts and environment project in collaboration with Corsair Public School and artist Christopher McLeod.[15] Teaching artist Christopher McLeod will facilitate student projects that look at the centrality of water to all environmental and sustainability issues. Students will learn about the importance of water to the travel, trade and survival of Indigenous peoples of this region; the Anishinaabe, the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee. Projects and field trips will emphasize the location of communities in relation to water to maintain food cultivation and survival.

XIT-RM

In 2012, the AGM opened the XIT-RM Project Space, an exhibition space sponsored by the RBC Foundation that is dedicated to emerging regional artists. Notable exhibitions include: Contemporary Jamaican Art circa1962 | circa2012, Lise Beaudry: Sur la glace | Standing on Ice (Winner, BMW Exhibition Prize 2012),[16] Genius Loci, 011+91 | 011+92, F’d Up!, The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India Since 1989 (from The Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago),[17] Fausta Facciponte: Six Characters in Search of a Photograph,[18] and Joy and Sorrow: Photographs and Films by Elisa Julia Gilmour and Ben Freedman[19]

Six artists are selected annually by the gallery’s curatorial team to exhibit work that honours the mission and mandate of the AGM, with an emphasis on contemporary art and critical engagement. Each exhibition features its own opening and is accompanied by a published catalogue with a curatorial essay.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "Social Work". Mississauga Life. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  2. ↑ Paterson, David (2014-07-06). "Dear diary: Journal project peers into the mindset of a city". Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  3. ↑ "Razzle, Dazzle 'Em". Applied Arts. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  4. ↑ "Art Gallery of Mississauga Identity". Graphis. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  5. 1 2 "AGM hires Mandy Salter as new director/curator". The Mississauga News. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  6. ↑ "- Exhibitions - AGM Welcomes Mandy Salter as new Director | Curator". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  7. ↑ "Allegory of the Cave, Opening Reception". Akimbo. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  8. ↑ "Art Gallery of Mississauga needs your help". The Mississauga News. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  9. ↑ "Art Gallery of Mississauga: Permanent Collection". Retrieved 2015-01-02.
  10. ↑ "Art Gallery of Mississauga facing identity crisis". Brampton Guardian.
  11. ↑ "Facility Planning Study for the Art Gallery of Mississauga". Akimbo. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  12. 1 2 Clay, Chris. "Gallery Just Too Small, AGM Officials Say". The Mississauga News. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  13. ↑ Fisseha, Rebecca (2014-03-19). "Community profile: Art Gallery of Mississauga". Diaspora Dialogues. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
  14. ↑ "Roots and Branches". Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  15. ↑ "Christopher McLeod: Performance Sculpture Artist: Finding Water". www.christophermcleod.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  16. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-19.. Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
  17. ↑ Schechter, Fran. "Sahmat Inspires". Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  18. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-19.. Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
  19. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-19.. Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
  20. ↑ "AGM Exhibit: XIT-RM". Retrieved 2014-08-19.

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