Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Albertan named director of aboriginal art gallery
By: Staff Writer
20/01/2010 11:33 AM |
Comments: 1
Winnipeg’s Urban Shaman aboriginal art gallery has hired a new director. Albertan Amber-Dawn Bear Robe’s appointment was confirmed Tuesday night, said Niigon Sinclair, president of the Exchange District contemporary gallery.
Reached in Tucson, where she is completing her second master’s degree in art history at the University of Arizona, Bear Robe said she was looking forward to her new post.
"It’s the kind of position I’ve been working toward for a long time."
The Calgary-born is Bear Robe, who will arrive in Winnipeg Feb. 8, is a member of Blackfoot Siksika First Nation.
In her early 30s, she has an undergraduate degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. She has worked as a curator at the Walter J. Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre for the arts and as general manager of the Vancouver artists co-op First Nations Creations artists co-op.
Urban Shaman is one of Canada’s largest publicly subsidized aboriginal art galleries. It operates as a non-profit artist-run centre dedicated to the development, education and training of aboriginal artists, curators and cultural producers. It is located on the second floor of 290 McDermot Ave.
The gallery’s outreach co-ordinator, Niki Little, had been acting director. Several people have held the job since Steve Loft left for the National Gallery of Canada at the end of 2007.
One of Bear Robe’s priorities, Sinclair said, will be to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary aboriginal art forms and bring those into the gallery.
"We’re really excited to have her," he said. "She blew us all away."
On Feb. 12, Urban Shaman will open an exhibition by Ontario-based artist Bonnie Devine curated by Faye Heavyshield.
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