KAG: Stories That Animate Us
Sat October 5, 2024 to Sat December 28, 2024Kamloops Art Gallery (465 Victoria St #101, Kamloops, BC V2C 2A9, Canada)
Arts & Culture, Galleries & Exhibits
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- Joyce Wieland
- David Hockney
- Robert Davidson
- Amanda Strong
- Francisco de Goya
- Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo
- Marina Roy
- Jérôme Havre
- Cauleen Smith
- Camille Turner
- Ed Pien
- Royal Art Lodge
Central Gallery
Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Zoë Chan, Assistant Curator (former) and Diana Freundl, Senior Curator
Storytelling—its scope and significance—lies at the heart of Stories that animate us. Highlighting a rich selection of works on paper and animations, Stories that animate us draws from a wide range of collectively shared oral histories, knowledge systems and cosmologies, as well as personal memories, imaginings and dreams. Whether evoking the spirit world, creating fictional tales or endeavouring to make sense of historical and current events, the featured artists vividly reflect on such themes as culture, community, memory, death and identity in order to speak to the past, present and future.
Foregrounding diverse voices, the stories showcased here span from the small to the sweeping. Joyce Wieland and the Royal Art Lodge embrace the exploratory medium of drawing to stimulate the creative process. David Hockney gleans from the world of fairy tales and fiction as fodder for his drawings. Robert Davidson and Amanda Strong bring Indigenous stories to life as potent acts of cultural reclamation and resilience within the colonialist context of Canada. Francisco de Goya and Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo work through the ongoing traumas of war. Marina Roy, Jérôme Havre, Cauleen Smith and Camille Turner use the speculative nature of the science fiction genre to imagine new identities and ways of being. Ed Pien finds inspiration in the spectral and the supernatural as radical sites of transformative potential.
The narratives evoked here resonate well beyond the artists and artworks featured in this exhibition. Stories that animate us invites the public to reflect on the importance of storytelling in their lives: What stories inspire you, what stories need to be told and which will you pass on?
Stories that animate us is organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery under the Across the Province program and is curated by Diana Freundl, Senior Curator and Zoë Chan, former Assistant Curator
About Kamloops Art Gallery
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The Kamloops Art Gallery is a registered charity and not-for-profit society.
Incorporated in 1978, the Kamloops Art Gallery serves residents of and visitors to Kamloops (pop. 82,000) and the surrounding Thompson-Nicola Regional District (pop. 124,000) as well as national and international audiences.
In 1998, the KAG moved to a purpose-built civic building, designed by award-winning architects Peter Cardew and Nigel Baldwin, which also houses the Thompson-Nicola Regional District offices and the Kamloops branch of the TNRD Library System. The 20,853 square foot Gallery includes 4,500 square feet of exhibition space, an admissions/store area, two multipurpose studio/workshop/lecture rooms, a packing and acclimatization area, the collection storage vault with an adjoining workroom and, on a mezzanine above, administration and curatorial offices along with a research library. In 2006, the KAG was designated a Category “A” institution under the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.
The Gallery’s annual attendance has ranged between 24,000 and 37,000 over the last five years. It enjoys a national reputation for its touring exhibitions and publications and has developed relationships with national and international artists, curators, critics and scholars. The KAG is also well respected for its exhibitions, events and educational and public programs through activities organized and presented in the community and region involving both contemporary and historical art. Its collection as of December 2012 consists of 2,700 works that primarily reflect the Gallery’s exhibition history. In 2005, the KAG co-commissioned with the University of British Columbia’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Canada’s participation in the 51st Venice Biennale with the work of Rebecca Belmore.
Governed by a Board of Trustees, the KAG maintains an effective organizational structure that includes a Management Team led by the executive director, a Program Team led by the curator and a Development Team led by the manager of operations. Teams meet monthly to report, evaluate, problem solve and plan.
Vision
The Kamloops Art Gallery brings art, artists and communities together.
Mandate/Mission
The Kamloops Art Gallery is the principal gallery in the Southern Interior of British Columbia supporting contemporary and historical visual arts and practices on a local, national and international level. The KAG acknowledges art to be an essential part of the human experience in nurturing a healthy society. As a leading cultural institution, the KAG is an integral part of the fabric that draws intellectual, social and economic opportunities to our province and to our region.
The Kamloops Art Gallery fosters enjoyment of and interest in the visual arts by researching, developing and producing exhibitions, publications and programs that engage, challenge and inform its various audiences. The Gallery also oversees the development and preservation of a permanent collection that includes regional, national and international art in all media. It also strives to create rewarding opportunities for visual arts professionals and the public.
Guiding Principles
- Committed to art, artists and audiences
- Collaborative, respectful and ethical
- Tolerant, inclusive and diverse
- Relevant to local and regional communities
- Striving for excellence
- Fiscally responsible
- Sustainable