Downtown Calgary Fun New Public Art Gallery
You gotta love it when the private sector and government work together to make something happen. Yes, it can happen.
First it was Aspen Properties and Glenbow Museum, who collaborated to create a temporary exhibition space in Aspen’s The Edison office building (formerly the Pan Canadian tower, across the street from the Fairmont Palliser Hotel) while the Glenbow was closed for renovations. The Glenbow programmed the space from April 2022 to November 2024.
FYI: The planned reopening of the Glenbow as the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture isn’t until late 2026.
Now Aspen Properties and Alberta Arts Foundation (AFA) have collaborated to create the “art house”, a public gallery, in the same Glenbow space that will feature the Foundation’s extensive art collection. The Gallery opened on September 10 and will be open Tuesday to Friday from 12 to 4 pm. It is very unfortunate that it isn’t open on the weekends and perhaps one evening for afterwork visitors, as the reason for the City supporting the project is to bring more vitality to the downtown and attract more people to live downtown. That means more things to see and do in the evenings and weekends. Hopefully, the gallery will be a huge success, and the hours will be increased soon.
FYI: The AFA collection consists of 9,600 artworks by over 1,700 Alberta artists. It has been offering a travelling exhibition program (TREX) to smaller Alberta communities for 40+ years. In fact, I was involved in the establishment of TREX in 1987 as the Executive Director of the Muttart Art Gallery.
The Edison office building has been transformed from an oil and gas headquarters building to a funky “start-up” tower. On the 21st floor is the Mob Squad Cafe which is open to the public and offer spectacular views of downtown’s signature office towers and Bow River Valley. It is located at 150 9th Ave SW.
Backstory:
Tom Mahler, Director, Downtown Strategy at City of Calgary recently posted on LinkedIn; “During the pandemic, many of us were wringing our hands as to how to bring some activity back downtown. The Glenbow was closed for their renovation, and the idea started to form of how to get them a space to allow them to keep presenting shows while giving Calgarians a reason to come downtown to see some great art. A partnership between the Glenbow, Aspen Properties, Calgary Downtown Association and the City of Calgary came together to build out a museum grade gallery space in some vacant office space on the plus 15 level (second floor) of The Edison office building.
For several years Glenbow was able to successfully run some amazing free shows that drew many visitors to our downtown. With the Glenbow now preparing to move back into their new space set to open next year, the gallery became idle. But with the investment we put into the gallery, we didn’t want to lose that important space in our downtown arts ecosystem.”
He then went on to add; “Enter David Leinster of Contemporary Calgary who connected me with Cynthia Moore and Le Bo of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Since that time, I have been blown away. In a few short months, the AFA board and their staff have conceived and delivered a first class art gallery branded as Art House in the heart of our downtown. Supported by funding from the Government of Alberta through the Ministry of Arts, Culture and the status of Women and The City of Calgary and the generous contributions of Aspen Properties the space has been re-energized with visual art and music. A special shout out to my colleague Tracy at The City for her efforts to get the lease done on time! What is most impressive to me is how strong and collaborative our downtown, arts and culture network is. We have made so much progress since the pandemic, and I can’t wait to see what Art House will deliver in the years ahead.”
Wow…amazing collaboration. Kudos to Aspen Properties for their continued support of a public art gallery in the heart of downtown. Kudos to Mahler and his team in supporting 100s of initiatives designed to enhance downtown vitality, including the management of the “office to residential conversion” program. Kudos to Glenbow, Contemporary Calgary and Alberta Foundation for the Arts in thinking outside the box to create a public gallery downtown’s unique +15 indoor walkway.
The Inaugural Exhibition
The current exhibition “New Views” focuses on recent acquisitions, which means it is survey show that includes everything from photography to paintings, from ceramics to drawings. It also includes the Foundation’s first artwork, which ironically was not an artwork but Don Getty’s Edmonton Eskimo football playing card. FYI: Getty later became Alberta’s Premier between 1985 and 1992.
Here are some of the highlights of the current exhibition from my perspective.
The exhibition consists of 50 artworks, including the first artwork.
Jude Griebel, Roundabout, 2017, acrylic and pencil crayon on paper
James Holroyd, Doug, 2023, cyanotype, acrylic, pencil and acrylic marker on panel
Katie Ohe, Ancestors, The Sculpture Prayers Series, 2020, steel
Mark Mullin, Famous Monsters, 2017, oil on canvas
Kari Woo, Long Life, 2015, wood, etched brass, found objects, sterling silver, gold leaf, acetate, poppy seeds, leather, hair, gold, jade, copper penny, flocking, steel handle, brass.
Last Word
I hear there are plans for an Artist-In-Residence exhibition and an educational programming space which makes me think there are more ambitious plans than just rotating exhibitions of the AFA’s collection.
Let’s hope the art house at The Edison is a huge success and becomes a permanent gallery and not just a short-term initiative like the Glenbow’s temporary exhibition. And while we are at it, let’s hope AFA will extend the hours to include at least one evening and weekends.
