Photo by Melissa Stockton Joanne Marion and Joanne Ellis reflecting on their time together in the Art Gallery.
As the festive season approaches, and the end of 2019, many of us are wondering, “where did the year go?” It seems I barely got used to writing/typing 2019, and it’s already time for 2020. Now, that’s a futuristic-looking year!
Next year will be a significant one here at the Esplanade: it is our 15th anniversary on Oct. 22 and, before spring comes, we will be welcoming a new curator of art. After 20 years as curator of art, and recently, superintendent of curation & galleries for the city’s community development department, I shall soon be focussing on other pursuits.
Through the Art Gallery’s mission to support, present and animate a diversity of local, provincial and national art, I’ve been constantly and consistently inspired by local and national artists and partner galleries, community members and visitors, both at the former Medicine Hat Museum & Art Gallery, and here at the Esplanade. And, while the exhibitions themselves only last for eight weeks or less, we have produced dozens of publications that explore the work of both Medicine Hat and national artists presented in the Art Gallery – watch for the launch of our most recent, A Prairie Vernacular, coming in January. We’ve both participated in and mounted touring exhibitions that have crossed the country, and I’ve been gratified by the many successes of our Travelling Exhibition Program, now based in the beautiful new TREX Space on Third Avenue. Funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, through TREX SE we have brought Alberta art to hundreds of thousands of Albertans throughout the province for over 30 years.
I will undoubtedly miss my wonderful colleagues in all areas of the Esplanade, especially the incomparable Joanne Ellis. Excelling now in her new role as the Esplanade’s volunteer coordinator, for more than 30 years Joanne beautifully installed our exhibitions, took impeccable care of the Permanent Collection of Art, and smoothly managed Art Gallery receptions and programs. I like to joke that I would get us into trouble, and Joanne would get us out. (OK, maybe that’s not really a joke, but we did have a lot of fun over the last 20 years!)
I’ve also been privileged to work with our own Museum and Archives staff more closely in the last few years, on projects such as the summer’s From the Vaults exhibition, the move of our off-site artifacts to the new Kipling storage site, connecting with regional Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers and cultural consultants on the Museum’s Blackfoot holdings, and the screenings of I am Rohingya, in conjunction with Refuge Canada. The latter exhibition, which came to us from The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, makes way now for our upcoming Archives exhibition, Snapshot: A History of Photography, focussing on the development of photography from daguerreotypes to digital imagery, as seen right here in the Hat.
Along the way too, I have been delighted to see the growth and high quality of our Education programs, and the tens of thousands of children and youth who have eagerly participated in them; and to experience firsthand the excellence of our Theatre team, and the creativity and excitement that Theatre performances generate in our community. Last, but not least, my work with the City’s Public Art Committee on numerous commissions around the City, on the Medicine Hat Public Art Map, and on the recent hosting of the Alberta Public Art Network Summit here has been both stimulating and rewarding.
I am so proud to have had the opportunity to serve the community and the City of Medicine Hat, and to have played a part in the creation and operation of the Esplanade, a unique cultural institution that ranks with the very best in Canada. Now I look forward to what comes next in culture and community in Medicine Hat!
Joanne Marion is director/curator of Art at the Esplanade.
