Art enthusiasts gather to support National Gallery of Canada Foundation

Gala Etcetera in support of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Nov. 29-30

Art enthusiasts from across Canada gathered recently in Ottawa for the inaugural Gala Etcetera, a weekend-long fundraiser for the National Gallery of Canada. The concept for the gathering was to foster connection between supporters and highlight the national collection through curator- and artist-led talks, tours and of course, a splashy black-tie gala. Things kicked off Friday night with a cocktail reception and panel discussion with artists Joan Jonas, Jin-me Yoon (whose work titled Honouring a Long View is currently wrapping much of the Moshe Safdie-designed facade of the museum) and June Clark (who was a finalist for this year’s Sobey Art Award and whose work was on display in a nearby gallery alongside this year’s other Sobey finalists), as well as curators Eva Respini (who heads curatorial programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery), Josée Drouin-Brisebois (head of national engagement at the National Gallery) and Lynne Cooke (a senior curator at the National Gallery in Washington). Jean-François Bélisle, who joined the gallery as director and CEO in July of last year, served as moderator. The following morning, leading the first of a handful of art tours was the aforementioned Cooke, who was responsible for the fantastic exhibition Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Extractions. As the title suggests, the show presents abstract art’s intersection with woven textiles (on until March 2, done in collaboration with the National Gallery in Washington, LACMA, MoMA and the National Gallery of Canada).

Later, the group took to the Ottawa Gallery where artist Jeff Thomas was on hand to introduce his latest exhibition Stories My Father Couldn’t Tell Me, a retrospective of the urban Iroquois artist’s four decades as a photo-based storyteller. The exhibition’s curator Rachelle Dickenson and the galleries director and CEO Alexandra Badzak were also both in attendance. The last art stop of the day was a visit to the Canada Council Art Bank, where some 17,000 works by more than 3,000 artists, collected over the past five decades, are held in a non-descript warehouse outside of Ottawa’s city centre. Art Bank head Amy Jenkins gave guests the chance to explore the warehouse and pull out racks where works from some of this country’s most recognized names including Jack Bush, Michael Snow, Shuvinai Ashoona and Meryl McMaster are stored.

Saturday evening culminated with a black-tie dinner held in the National Gallery’s Scotiabank Great Hall. After its recent era of organizational turmoil, a buoyant and optimistic tone could be felt throughout the gala evening and weekend at large with guests in attendance ready to support the institution as it regroups. There on the stage joining forces during dinner were the chairs of org’s two key boards, the foundation board chair Ann Bowman and Paul Genest, chair of the board of trustees. Also in the room: Nichole Anderson-Bergeron a member of the foundation board, was across from me at dinner, and to my left was Lindsey Thomsen, the foundation’s director of development; Lisa Turcotte the foundation’s CEO was nearby; Corrie Jackson was there representing the weekend’s sponsor RBC Wealth Management (she’s senior curator of the bank’s corporate collection); Michelle Koerner, vice-chair of the gallery’s board of directors, and her husband Kevin Doyle; Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada governor; Michelle Chawla, director and CEO of the Canada Council; David Leinster, head of Contemporary Calgary; gallery foundation board members Carol Weinbaum and Nigel Schuster; Koffler Arts’ Tiana Koffler Boyman and Marc Boyman; as well as a flock of National Gallery distinguished patrons including Susan Glass and Arni Thorsteinson, Reesa Greenberg and Fred and Elizabeth Fountain.

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