2014 Year in Review
Thank you to everyone who made 2014 a successful year at the Michael Gibson Gallery. Here are a few highlights:
Our January – February Greg Curnoe exhibition featured paintings from 1961-1965. We listened to Greg’s records, watched his films, enjoyed reviews in Border Crossings and Canadian Art Magazine and were pleased to exhibit his free-standing, double-sided painting “Three Pieces” as a featured project at Art Toronto in October.
In April, we exhibited the personal art collection of Herb and Margot Ariss. Herb and Margot supported and collected artists of their generation, Margot as an artist and Herb as the head of the Beal Art Department. This was our first estate sale featuring the entire personal collection which included furniture and ephemera from the Ariss home. We were happy to sell 100% of their collection.
Susan Dobson’s June exhibition of new “Viewfinder” photographs was serenely beautiful. The show was an incredible success with works selling to private and corporate collections and was accompanied by a new full-colour exhibition catalogue.
Our annual Sizzling Summer Soiree in July featured two near sell-out shows of Erik Olson in the main gallery and James Kirkpatrick in the middle gallery. A guaranteed great party, Erik’s bold and colourful new Oil on Denim abstract paintings of the Canadian rocky mountains set the tone for a lively evening. James Kirkpatrick’s middle gallery July show of music/graffiti/voodoo/video-game – inspired paintings.
In October we attended – for the 15th consecutive time – Art Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. We were successful in selling a selection of Gathie Falk’s “Lux: Water” paintings as well as vintage 1960s Greg Curnoe collages & watercolours. Susan Dobson’s newest “Viewfinder” photographs were a huge hit. We sold out the editions of Diana Thorneycroft’s “The West Wind” and “Avro Arrow at Sombre Hill” photographs. Paintings by emerging artists’ Erik Olson and Ashleigh Bartlett also found new homes. We received mentions in the press including Canadian Art’s “Editors Preview Picks for Art Toronto” and Greg Curnoe’s monumental “Three Pieces” was mentioned in James Adams’ Globe and Mail article on Art Toronto.
In November we were honoured to exhibit Gathie Falk’s newest suite of paintings inspired by water and light. This was Falk’s first exhibition at the gallery and it was an overwhelming success. Several of the paintings were shipped to Florida, Ottawa and the UK.
Artist News
Congratulations to the following Michael Gibson Gallery artists for their recent accomplishments:
Ashleigh Bartlett was one of the 15 finalists for the 2014 RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Ashleigh is now living in Boston, MA, eagerly setting up a new studio.
In 2014, Aganetha Dyck won the Winnipeg Arts Council “Making A Mark” Award, given to a professional artist for excellence in their art practice in Winnipeg and beyond.
James Kirkpatrick has had a busy year with a commissioned mural in Sarnia, a major solo exhibition of experimental work at Western University’s McIntosh Gallery, a painting exhibition at MGG and a hip-hop/art tour of Japan. A forthcoming McIntosh Gallery exhibition catalogue is being published featuring essays by McIntosh Gallery’s James Patten and the National Gallery of Canada’s Rhiannon Vogl.
Congratulations to Wanda Koop who has moved to Brooklyn, New York for four months. She will be doing an artist residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program. Koop also has an upcoming exhibition in 2015 in Washington, DC at the Canadian Embassy, as well as the Woodrow Wilson Centre.
In October, Erik Olson moved to Dusseldorf, Germany as Peter Doig’s guest student at the famous Kunstakademie. Erik has been invited to stay for a second term and is soaking up the historic school and learning new techniques.
In Memoriam
In 2014 we lost people who meant a great deal to the gallery: artist Walter Redinger, collector Dr. Martin Robinson, collector & mentor Dr. Ross Woodman and Mrs. Florence Gibson.