Investing in the creative process

The Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery has long invested in emerging contemporary artists, and the newly minted Leonard and Bina Ellen Program in Support of Artistic Production aims to continue that tradition.

Every two years, a program participant will receive up to $22,000 to develop and produce a work that will be part of the gallery’s exhibition programming.

“We believe that this strategy reflects a forward-thinking approach to supporting the arts,” says Ellen Art Gallery director Michèle Thériault. “The focus of the program is not only on the acquisition of finished works, but also on the very process of creation.”

Funded by the Ellen Art Gallery Acquisition Fund and endorsed by the Ellen family and other donors, the program is open to a range of mediums and practices, including ephemeral, immaterial and site-specific works.

The program will officially be launched on Wednesday, February 12, at the opening of Oscillations of the Visible, an exhibition of works by Olivia Boudreau, curated by Michèle Thériault.

“I pay a lot of attention to simple actions in hopes that the visitor may find interest in something else — maybe the texture of a fur coat or a subject’s skin changing colours,” says Boudreau. “There is a lot to see in an image before you understand it deeply.”

The opening of Olivia Boudreau's Oscillations of the Visible — including the launch of Leonard and Bina Ellen Program in Support of Artistic Production — takes place on Wednesday, February 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery in the J.W. McConnell (LB) Building (1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.). Oscillations of the Visible runs until Saturday, April 12.