Ottawa, February 16, 2006 - The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, in Kingston (Ontario), is the recipient of the 2005 York Wilson Endowment Award, for the purchase of antipersonnel, by Newfoundland contemporary artist Barb Hunt.
Since its creation in 1997, the York Wilson Endowment Award has been given annually to an eligible Canadian art museum or public gallery to assist it with the purchase of an original artwork by a Canadian artist that will significantly enhance its collection. The award, which is the result of gifts of more than $600,000 from Lela Wilson and the late Maxwell Henderson, honours the contribution of Canadian painter York Wilson by assisting Canadian institutions to acquire works by living Canadian painters and sculptors.
Through the York Wilson Endowment Award, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre receives $20,000 towards the acquisition of artist Barb Hunt's antipersonnel. The work was shown in the Art Centre's 2001 exhibition Museopathy. It will be included in a publication scheduled for release next fall by Princeton Architectural Press.
"We are proud to receive the York Wilson Endowment Award," said Janet M. Brooke, Art Centre director, "and equally pleased that through it, we are able to acquire Barb Hunt's work. Its stature, significance and timeliness add depth to our contemporary collection." Contemporary art curator Jan Allen commented on the special meaning of the work to Kingston's community: "antipersonnel speaks eloquently to Kingston's history as a garrison town and its present day reality as home to CFB Kingston, whose electronic specialists are engaged in de-mining. The work occupies common ground between Kingston's activist anti-war cadre and the military/peacekeeper community."
The members of the peer assessment committee for this year's award were Josée Bélisle (Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal), Terry Graff (Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon), and artist Robert Houle (Toronto).
Agnes Etherington Art Centre
The Agnes Etherington Art Centre has a distinguished record as a centre for contemporary art in Canada and is securely ranked among the country's top university art galleries. Through a vibrant and inventive exhibition program, the gallery articulates and enacts emerging tendencies in contemporary art practices. It offers a dynamic education and animation program, including publications, lectures, seminars and symposia, in order to stimulate reflection, inquiry and debate. The Art Centre acquires works of art in the public trust and presents a considered program of exhibitions that fuels progressive dialogue in the university setting. Further, its galleries and collections are a vital resource for students and emerging professionals seeking hands-on experience in art and museum practices.
The Art Centre is committed to supporting new forms of expression in visual and media arts, and to advancing knowledge in the field. As a regionally based centre, it addresses diverse audiences through topical, relevant initiatives that enrich the cultural and intellectual environment of Queen's University and the surrounding community. As a site for collaboration and exchange among visiting artists, curators, peer institutions and communities, the Art Centre contributes to the development and profile of the visual arts in Canada and beyond.
Barb Hunt
Barb Hunt lives in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, where she teaches sculpture and drawing at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Ms. Hunt studied at the University of Manitoba and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver before earning her Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal in 1994. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, including the site-specific group exhibition Museopathy at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and a solo exhibition, antipersonnel, at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2001.
antipersonnel
antipersonnel is a 50-part sculptural installation of full-scale replicas of land mines, hand-knit in various hues of pink wool. This ongoing project begun in 1998 and will ultimately yield representation of some 250 types of land mines. antipersonnel is meant as a continuing act of protest: by rendering land mines as knitted objects, Ms. Hunt makes them harmless, and in doing so pays homage to efforts to rid the globe of these pernicious weapons.
General information
The Canada Council for the Arts, in addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, administers and awards prizes and fellowships to over 100 artists and scholars annually in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and engineering. Among these are the Killam Prizes, the Killam Research Fellowships, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Governor General's Literary Awards, the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.
For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director of Endowments and Prizes, at (613) 566-4414, or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 5041, or Alexis Andrew, Acting Endowments and Prizes Officer, at (613) 566 4414, or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4116.
Visit the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at http://www.aeac.ca/.
Media contact:Carole BretonPublic Relations Officer1-800-263-5588 or (613) 566-4414, ext. 4523Email this contactDonna BalkanSenior Communications Manager1-800-263-5588 or (613) 566-4414, ext. 4134Email this contact
Agnes Etherington Art CentreAnnabel Hanson: (613) 533-6000, ext. 77049hansona@post.queensu.ca Jan Allen(613) 533-6000, ext. 77052ja6@post.queensu.ca
