I can’t believe I didn’t know until recently, about Gallery 1958 located in the lobby of the TC Energy building in downtown Calgary. Turns out it has been open for a few years now, but I just found out in late November 2024 while on a guided tour of the vintage murals in the stairwell of SAIT’s Heritage Hall conducted by Lisa Christensen - who just happens to be the curator of the TC Energy art collection. (FYI: The Heritage Hall murals will be a blog soon.)

When I got home, I quickly checked Google Maps and sure enough there it was. I then checked the Galleries West website to see if Gallery 1958 was on their Calgary gallery listings. It was not, which made me feel better. A quick email to Tom Tait, publisher of Galleries West and “knower of all galleries in the West,” and it turns out he hadn’t heard of it either.

Now I was really intrigued to see this art gallery that has flown under both of our radars - three days later I went to visit.

Gallery 1958

As promised, the Gallery was open when I arrived at 10 am and it was very easy to find and inviting with no doors or security desk, just a large opening into a bright exhibition space with lots of seating. Warning: It can be a bit awkward to look at the art if someone is sitting right in front of it (there were three groups of people sitting in the gallery when I arrived).

Unfortunately, there was no information beside the artworks (i.e. title/artist/medium/year) and I couldn’t decipher the names of many of the artists by their signatures. Nevertheless. the12 artworks on display showcased a mix of a styles from Joan Cardinal Schubert’s surrealism to Allan Sap’s realism and from landscape to abstraction. What I loved was that you were encouraged to sit and ponder the art in a very pleasant atmosphere!

You can tell it was designed not only as a place to feature TC Energy’s collection ( almost 3,000 artworks that spans international, national and local art, with a focus on Western Canadian and Alberta artists in all genres), but also for employees to meet, or perhaps a quiet place to work or get away from the office. Having the Starbucks next door makes it a perfect place to grab a coffee and meet a friend or catch up on your emails while surrounded by art. It is also a welcoming place for anyone downtown looking for a quiet oasis.

I was told there is an older couple who come every day - I think they may have been the couple sitting at the front of the gallery when I arrived.

Backstory

Gallery 1958 is located on the main floor of the TC Energy Tower (formerly Trans Canada Tower) on First Street SW between 4th and 5th Avenues is a 38-storey office building that was custom built to be its headquarters by Cohos Evamy, a Calgary architectural firm. It opened in 2001 and shares the block with Harmony Park, formerly known as James Short Park, where the James Short School was once located. The south side of the lobby has a tropical garden with a pond, with some benches that creates a tranquil seating for anyone seeking a bit of solitude. You can also enjoy the three West Coast masks hidden on the east wall. On the north side is a Starbucks café and a retail space which was converted into Gallery 1958 when the tenant moved out a few years ago.

The gallery name celebrates the year of the completion of the Canadian Mainline, a 14,082 km pipeline that transports natural gas produced in Western Canada Sedimentary Basin to consumers in Eastern Canada and the United States. The Mainline extends from the Alberta border across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario and through a portion of Quebec.

Personal Connection: Ironically, it was the Canadian Mainline that allowed my parents to convert the heating of our home in Hamilton, Ontario in the early ‘60s to natural gas. And my father worked for the Union Natural Gas for 40+years.

Bonus Art

Outside the entrance to the building sits one of downtown’s most impressive public art sculptures (there are 100+ scattered around downtown). It looks a like a giant horn when you approach it from the street. In fact, there are two artworks one is titled “Horn” and the other “Weaving Fence.”

The sculptures are by John McEwen, based on his experience seeing Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep when visiting Waterton National Park, south of Calgary. It stands 30 feet high and 24 feet wide. With its huge size, it’s fun to watch people walk under it and not even notice it.

Hot tip: If you look at it from the street it looks like a woman’s high heel shoe.

The weaving fence along 4th Avenue sidewalk creates a bit of windbreak and a sense of enclosure for the “Horn.” The metallic-grey office tower façade rising from the sidewalk suggest the mountains and the sidewalk overhang acting as a canyon or crevasse in the mountains. Overall, it is a unique and intriguing art experience.

Last Word

Almost all of Calgary’s 100+ downtown office buildings feature art in their lobbies, but a few stand out for their surprising permanent art exhibitions. Eighth Avenue Place has the most notable collection with the likes of Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jack Shadbolt, Jack Bush, Jean McEwan and William Ronald. Other noteworthy lobbies include Bankers Hall, Jamieson Place, Calgary City Centre and Centennial Place. You could walk around downtown all day on an art treasure hunt and not see all of them.

However, having a corporate gallery open to the public (7am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday) with rotating exhibitions is rare and noteworthy. Kudos to TC Energy and their curator Lisa Christensen for enhancing downtown Calgary as one of the Canada’s best places to experience the visual arts.

Downtown Calgary Hidden Gem: Gallery 1958

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