Gallery Arcturus is an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in downtown

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Garden District neighbourhood on Gerrard Street East near

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

and the

Church and Wellesley Church and Wellesley is an gay village, LGBT-oriented enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Gerrard Street (Toronto), Gerrard Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street ...

area. The gallery is a member of Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries and the

Ontario Museum Association Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The museum operates as a public, not-for-profit

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

gallery with a permanent art collection of over 200 works including drawings, paintings, collages, photographs and sculptures made by notable North American artists including the photographer Simeon Posen, the Inuit art sculptor Floyd Kuptana, and the renowned artist, teacher, writer, and founder of the School of Reductionism, E.J. Gold. Established in 1994 and opening in its present location in 1997, Gallery Arcturus has held many public exhibitions including Thomas Henrickson "Inner Mirror", E.J. Gold "Large As Life", Peter Banks "Emergence", Carol George "Asia Calling", Deborah Harris "Toward the One", and Dominique Cruchet & Joan Cullen "Crossing the Great Waters". The artist-in-residence and curator of the gallery is Deborah Harris.

History

Gallery Arcturus was established in 1994 by the Foundation for the Study of Objective Art, a Canadian federally registered charitable organization, to provide the public with an opportunity to view and study works by contemporary North American artists free of charge and without commercial motives. The gallery was first located in rented space on Parliament Street in Toronto. The gallery began acquiring an extensive permanent art collection for display and study, starting with a significant purchase of works by members of the "School of Reductionism" in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...

, including paintings by E.J. Gold, Della Haywood, Heather Valencia, Robert Trice and Kelly Rivera. In 1997, the Foundation for the Study of Objective Art purchased a 10,000 square foot heritage building located at 80 Gerrard Street East in downtown Toronto and renovated it to serve as the permanent location for the gallery and its administrative offices. The Gallery Arcturus building, in addition to being a historic property (built in 1858 in the

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

style and may be known as the Green House), was immortalized by the famous Canadian

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...

artist Lawren Harris in a 1912 painting entitled ''Houses, Gerrard Street, Toronto'' (now part of the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture gar ...

). The permanent art collection has grown every year and totals over 225 works of art. Pieces from the collection are often displayed as part of new exhibits or installations. Shows tend to debut every six to eight weeks, with each space changing at different time intervals.

Exhibition spaces

Gallery Arcturus consists of nine exhibit areas: Genesis West and East, Up North, Collage, Photographic and Ascending Galleries as well as the Library and the Drawing and Dark Rooms. The Genesis Gallery is the space where artists are invited to create work in response to an inquiry initiated by curator and artistic director Deborah Harris. The Up North Gallery features landscape paintings and sculptures reflecting northern Canada. Sculptures by Floyd Kuptana are displayed in the Library which also includes artworks and books by E.J. Gold. The Collage Gallery adjoins this second-floor space with works by Deborah Harris and other artists currently working in

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

. The Ascending Gallery, extending from the first to the fourth floor, features works by many of the gallery's collected artists including photographer Simeon Posen and multiple media artist Sae Kimura. The third floor is currently consists of three exhibit spaces: the Drawing Room, the Dark Room, and the Photographic Gallery. The Drawing Room features graphite and pencil drawings by Daniel Hanequand as well as works by other artists in pencil, ink and charcoal. The Photographic Gallery overlooks Gerrard Street and features photographs from the permanent collection as well as selections from previous shows of the CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto's yearly celebration of photo art.

Permanent collection

The Gallery Arcturus permanent art collection includes the following artists: Dara Aram, Gisele Boulianne, William Caldwell, Peter Chung, Ed Cramer, Dominique Cruchet, Joan Cullen, Carol Currie and Stuart Leggett, Chris Dolan, Marie Fournier, Neil Fox, Camie Geary-Martin, Luke Gilliam, E.J. Gold, Jeremy Gordaneer, Christopher Griffin, Scott Griffin, Marni Grossman, Deborah Harris, Michael Hayes, Della Heywood, Lenka Holubec, Randy Hryhorczuk, Louis Irkok Jr, Olena Kassian, Floyd Kuptana, Dongmin Lai, Grabriel Lalonde, Chris Langstroth, Elaine Ling, Yousha Liu, Ruth Luginbuehl, Jorge Luna, Andrea Maguire, Eric McConnachie, Larry Middlestadt, Sharon Naidos, Joachim Oepkes, Simeon Posen, Terri Quinn, Kelly Rivera, Wendy Rombough, Paul Saari, R.C. Trice, Heather Valencia, Susan Valyi, Francine Vernac, Irena Vormittag and Pamela Williams.

References

{{authority control 1994 establishments in Ontario Art museums and galleries established in 1994 Art museums and galleries in Ontario Museums in Toronto Contemporary art galleries in Canada

History

Exhibition spaces

Permanent collection

See also

References