An exhibit at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University was named the Innovation in a Collections-Based Exhibition winner at last night’s 42nd Annual, 2019 OAAG Awards ceremony. The Ontario Association of Art Galleries also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to the Art Centre’s director, Jan Allen.
Curated by Sunny Kerr, the winning collection “The hold: movements in the contemporary collection” was featured at the Agnes in 2018 from August 25 to December 2. The exhibit web page describes the collection as: “Guided by the gestures and imaginaries of works from the collection—such as amassing and splitting figures or tracing paths across grounds this exhibition concentrates on hindrance and movement, from the global to the intimate“.
The winner for Innovation of in a Collections-Based Exhibition is: The hold: movements in the contemporary collection, Sunny Kerr, Agnes Etherington Art Centre @aeartcentre #2019OAAGAwards pic.twitter.com/a0866yQ5Zy
— OAAG (@OntArtGalleries) November 25, 2019
The exhibition included works by John Abrams, Stephen Andrews, Shuvinai Ashoona, an unknown Bamana artist, Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge, Shary Boyle, Napoleon Brousseau, Luc Courchesne, John Dickson, Will Gorlitz, Freda Guttman, Geoffrey James, Kingston Residents of the Prison for Women, Jeneen Frei Njootli, William Strang, Jinny Yu, and Natalie Majaba Waldburger. Dr Lisa Figge, a Kingston artist and researcher, was consultant on the exhibition’s formation. The Exhibition Coordinator was Jennifer Nicoll and Scott Wallis and Mark Birksted were named as the collection’s installation team.
Named acting director in 2012, Jan Allen was appointed Art Centre director in 2014. According to the Centre, The Agnes has won several prestigious awards and nearly doubled its funding from the Canada Council for the Arts under her leadership. Allen has announced her plan to retire effective January 1, 2020.
The OAAG Awards are a signature program and event produced by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries. The OAAG Awards are annual, province-wide, juried art gallery awards of artistic merit and excellence recognizing and celebrating the exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships commissioned by and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries.
The OAAG Awards, recognizing artistic merit and excellence, was established in 1977 to celebrate the exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships commissioned by and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries. This year’s jurors were Sharona Adamowics-Clements, Raymond Cheah, Patricia Deadman, Elwood Jimmy, Jessica Leong, Michael Madjus, Gabrielle Moser, Crystal Mowry, Lindsay Nixon, Shani Parsons, November Paynter, and Sasha Suda.
This year’s winners were announced live at an awards ceremony at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre Theatre on Monday, November 25. The complete list of winners is available at the OAAG website.
Photo (edited): Google
