[Bcma-l] (Fwd) Important exhibition opening at the Penticton Art Galler

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release

July 9, 2008

Contact: Paul Crawford, Director/Curator
The Penticton Art Gallery
199 Marina Way, Penticton, BC
Phone:  (250) 493-2928
E-mail: agso_curator@shawbiz.ca

Students Collect: the first 20 years of the University of British
Columbia Alma Mater Society Student Art Collection

The Penticton Art Gallery, in partnership with the Naramata Bench
Winery Association, is proud to present Students Collect: University
of British Columbia Alma Mater Society Student Art Collection,
featuring 32 works by artists from across Canada between 1948 and
1968. The original intent was to create a collection which exposed the
students to the visual arts and in doing so, provided a more aesthetic
and pleasing educational environment.

The exhibition at Penticton Art Gallery opens with a reception this
Friday, July 11th, from 7 pm - 10 pm

What makes this collection unique is the fact that the works were
chosen by the students for the students, and document the interests
and concerns of the student body during a pivotal period of radical
social and societal change. Collectively, these works trace the
evolution of the UBC student body, creating an invaluable social
record. The original intent of making the art collection accessible to
all has been overshadowed by the increasing value of the individual
works and the security concerns this presents. The works are now kept
in a secured storage area and are only exhibited briefly each year.

Over the years, the students' interest in further developing the
collection has ebbed and flowed, and is best reflected in the number
of works purchased and the eras they cover. The greatest period of
collecting activity occurred over the first 20 years of the
collection, with the least activity during the 1970s and '80s.
Presently the collection consists of sixty-seven pieces with the most
recent purchases featuring the photo-conceptual artwork of Roy Arden
and Adam Harrison.

If you have ever been a student at UBC, you have contributed directly
to the purchase of these works though your student fees. During my
selection of the works for this exhibition, I was surprised at the
breadth of the collection and the artists whose works are represented.
While regional in its focus, the collection does represent artists
from across the county and traces Canada's regional differences and
nuances. The collection is a fair illustration of the development of
Canada's art history over these two important decades. Some of the
artists whose work is included in this exhibit are: Lawren Harris, E.
J. Hughes, Molly Lamb Bobak, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Joe Plaskett, Jack
Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, Takao Tanabe, Harold Town, A.Y. Jackson, 
Art
McKay, Greg Curnoe, Roy Kiyooka, William Ronald, Iain Baxter, Yves
Gaucher and Claude Breeze.

This is the first time this collection has been seen as a collection
outside of the UBC Vancouver Campus, and presents a rare 
opportunity
to see theseworks displayed together. Not only does this collection
trace the development of abstraction in British Columbia and the
formation of our own aesthetic fingerprint, it draws works from across
the country showing the parallel development of regional schools in
Regina, Southern Ontario and Quebec. It's not surprising that
regionalism exists, but it is fascinating to see the contrasts and
comparisons between regions, and the exchange of ideas which 
occurred
as artists moved across the were the beginning of a major social
revolution which transformed our nation forever.

For more information about this exhibition, please contact the
Penticton Art Gallery at (250) 493-2928.

                               - end -

------- End of forwarded message -------