Constructions of Identity
Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection of the Kelowna Art Gallery
October 9 to December 12, 2010
Our main fall exhibition features works of contemporary art that have been added to the Gallery’s permanent collection in the last two years, many thanks to the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program. Seven of the eight artists included are local residents. The works selected may all be grouped loosely under the theme of the formation of a person’s identity, whether it be that of the artist, him or herself, or that of the subject being portrayed. In some cases, this notion becomes highly abstract, in other works, it is presented in a very straightforward manner. Works included range in medium and style from drawing on paper to painting on canvas, and from installation art to printmaking.
Since her arrival at the Kelowna Art Gallery in 2007, curator Liz Wylie has made it a priority to add key works by important local artists to the collection, so that eventually their work will be represented in some depth and variety in the Gallery’s holdings. The local artists included in the exhibition are Rose Braun, Briar Craig, Jane Everett, Byron Johnston, Wanda Lock, Gary Pearson and Bryan Ryley. There is also a large work made up from twenty-two components by Toronto-based artist Cathy Daley, which she kindly donated to the Gallery in 2009. This exhibition gives us an important opportunity to share these new works with the community at large, for whom the Gallery holds them in trust.
