CAGE 2015 National Conference: Re-Examining Interpretive Models

March 26-28, 2015, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan

Read the full Conference Report! Click here: 2015_conference_report

When is the last time you paused to consider the effectiveness of your museum’s interpretive model? Many of us have been using the same model for decades, no questions asked. This year CAGE is offering the opportunity to workshop and review interpretive models we are all familiar with as well as absorb new research and thinking in this field, all in the context of a vibrant and contemporary cultural and artistic landscape. During the conference, we will explore a current example of re-examining models at the MacKenzie Art Gallery through the groundbreaking exhibition Moving Forward; Never Forgetting, co-curated by guest Curator David Garneau and MacKenzie Art Gallery Associate Curator Michelle LaVallee. Moving Forward; Never Forgetting is an exhibition, a series of three specially commissioned performances, art workshops, and a symposium celebrating Indigenous continuance, resistance and adaptation through the visual arts. The 2015 CAGE National Conference will include a keynote presentation, practical workshops related to interpretive models, case study presentations by national colleagues, an engaging on-site program at the Dunlop Art Gallery, and access to the Moving Forward; Never Forgetting symposium and MacKenzie Art Gallery programs.

Keynote Presentation

Jane Sillis, Director of engage, the National Association for Gallery Education (UK): Interpretation and Education in Visual Arts Venues; Recent Research and Evaluation of Gallery Education Practice in the UK. What Strategies Work and What are the Key Challenges?

Jane Sillis has been Director of engage, the National Association for Gallery Education, since 2005. Jane was Education Officer at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (1986-89); Head of Community Education at Whitechapel Gallery, London (1994-99); Arts Manager for Look Ahead Housing and Care (1999-2005); and an arts consultant. Clients included: the National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Turner Contemporary, the Clore Duffield Foundation, the British Council and the Department for Children Schools and Families. Jane was a Vice Chair of engage’s Board of Trustees (1998-2005), a trustee of Chisenhale Gallery (2000-05) and of Magic Me (2000-08) and is a trustee of Iniva, the Institute of International Visual Arts (2008-present). Jane has a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration, City University (1983-84) and a MA in Cultural Theory, University of Birmingham (1991-4).

Presenter Bios

David Garneau (Métis) is Associate Professor and Head of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter of road kill and drive-by landscapes, Métis themes, maps, comics, and quilts. His curation and writing most often engage the collision of nature and culture, metaphysics and materialism, and contemporary Indigenous identities. He has curated several large group, two-person and solo exhibitions and written numerous catalogue essays and reviews. He has recently given talks in Melbourne, Adelaide, New York, San Diego, Sacramento, Saskatoon, and keynote lectures in Sydney, Toronto, Edmonton, Sault Ste Marie, and Vancouver. Garneau is currently working on curatorial and writing projects featuring contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial exchanges between Canada and Australia, and is part of a five-year, SSHRC funded curatorial research project, “Creative Conciliation.”

Michelle LaVallee (Ojibway) is the Associate Curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery. LaVallee’s curatorial work has explored the colonial relations that have shaped historical and contemporary culture through exhibitions such as: 13 Coyotes: Edward Poitras (2012); To Be Reckoned With…(2010); Blow Your House In: Vernon Ah Kee (2009); Wally Dion (2008); and Captured: Portraiture and the Permanent Collection (2008). Most recently, she organized the historical and nationally touring exhibition 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. and book contextualizing their influential role in contemporary Canadian art history. In 2013 LaVallee was awarded the City of Regina Mayor’s Arts and Business Award for Excellence in Arts Related Service. She was a chosen participant for the Canadian Aboriginal Curators Delegation sent to the 2011 Venice Biennale, the 2010 and 2008 Biennale of Sydney. LaVallee holds a BFA and BEd from York University, Toronto. She is currently pursuing an MA Art History and Curatorial Studies at the University of Regina, where she is investigating non-colonial, Indigenous curatorial practices towards the development of a curatorial and art historical research model.