WAG@The Forks Opens This Saturday

The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) held a preview of their new retail space today, which is located in the Johnston Terminal at The Forks.

WAG@The Forks is a display and retail space for Indigenous art, with an emphasis on showcasing and selling pieces from the WAG’s collection of Inuit art, which is the largest in the world.

“Every art-making culture has different ways to sell and feature their work,” said WAG Director and CEO Stephen Borys. “We’d like to give them a facility and an opportunity for them to show their work to the public with the goal of selling it.”

Borys says approximately 4-million people visit The Forks every year, and this shop will provide Inuit, Indigenous and Metis artists a chance to reach an audience that might not always be there for them.

“We want to give all the people who come to Winnipeg and The Forks an opportunity to acquire work, observe it and even own it,” said Borys. “Inuit artists have done incredible things for the WAG and something we can do for them is show off incredible Inuit and Indigenous art.”

WAG@The Forks officially opens this Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 10 a.m. The hours in June are Monday-Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In July and August the hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday's from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit wag.ca.

Artist-in-Residence Program Also Announced

Borys also announced today the WAG has teamed up with the Canadian Arctic Producers (CAP) and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association (NACA) to finance an artist in residence program at WAG@The Forks.

According to CAP Vice President and NACA board member Debbie Jones, two to five artists will come to Winnipeg from Nunavut every year over a three year period. Once here the artists will work on art pieces at the new space and conduct workshops that will be open to the public. The first artist will be Paul Malliki, who is known for carving polar bears out of stone. He is expected to arrive in late September.

Debbie Jones speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony

Jones says it’s beneficial for the public if Inuit artists come down from the north to engage with and talk to the consumer.

“The public tends to admire and engage more rapidly when they can touch and feel art and speak with the artists,” she said. “It helps them to understand the story and history behind pieces of art and that is a beautiful thing.”

It also benefits the artists.

“It’s a great opportunity to bring new collectors and new buyers into the market place and allow this kind of art to have a future,” said Jones.

Borys says it’s important to expand art beyond just viewing exhibits.

“Art for art’s sake is critical, but art is one of the most powerful vehicles to promote ideas and perspectives,” he said. “In terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, there’s a role we can play in terms of respect, understanding and reconciliation.”

“When you look at an Inuit carving, a First Nation’s print or a Metis birch bark piece there’s always a story and a meaning behind it,” Borys continued. “These stories are both good and bad but they need to be told and the WAG wants to be part of that.”

Here are some photos from WAG@The Forks: