Burnaby Art Gallery

The Burnaby Art Gallery (abbreviated as BAG) is an art museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The museum is located on the northern periphery of Deer Lake Park, situated off of Deer Lake Avenue. The museum occupies Fairacres Mansion, a historic residence designated as a historic site by the provincial government.

Burnaby Art Gallery
Exterior facade of Burnaby Art Gallery in 2012
Established1967 (1967)
Location6344 Deer Lake Avenue
Burnaby, British Columbia,
Canada
Coordinates49.2410°N 122.9713°W / 49.2410; -122.9713
TypeArt museum
DirectorJennifer Cane
ChairpersonLauren Lavery
ArchitectRobert Percival Sterling Twizell
OwnerCity of Burnaby
Websitewww.burnaby.ca/things-to-do/arts-and-heritage/burnaby-art-gallery.html

The institution was established through a private association in 1967, who used the publicly owned Fairacres Mansion to exhibit its collection. The association continued to manage the museum until 1998, when the municipal government of Burnaby assumed control of the museum's collections, and governance.

The museum's permanent collection holds more than 6,300 artworks. It is the only public art collection in Canada dedicated to works on paper.[1]

Scope of operation

Established in 1967, the Burnaby Art Gallery has been dedicated to collecting, preserving and presenting a contemporary and historical visual art program by local, national and internationally recognized artists.[2] The Burnaby Art Gallery is operated by the City of Burnaby. The Burnaby Art Gallery cares for and manages over 6,300 works of art in the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection[3] and the City of Burnaby's Public Art Collection.

Building history

The Burnaby Art Gallery is located in Fairacres Mansion,[4] which was designed by Robert Percival Sterling Twizell[5] (1875-1964).[6] Fairacres Mansion, also called Ceperley House, for its original owners, was built in 1910 at an estimated cost of C$150,000.00, making it the largest and most expensive house in Burnaby, British Columbia of its time.[7] It was constructed in the Edwardian Arts and Crafts style with handmade fixtures, carpentry and tiled fireplaces. The grounds included horse stables, an aviary, gazebo and pergola, lagoons, strawberry fields, greenhouses, a steam plant and a gardener's cottage.[8] The tiles throughout the house were imported from England, fabricated by Conrad Dressler and his Medmenham Pottery. In the former billiards room and parlour, a grand oak mantelpiece, hand-carved by George Selkirk Gibson, bears a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."[9] On the death of the original owner, Grace Ceperley, the house was sold to a series of private owners. In 1939, it was acquired by Benedictine monks, and became an Abbey in 1953.[10] The Order vacated the house in 1954 when it moved to Westminster Abbey (British Columbia) in Mission. After the Benedictines sold the property, it was used by the Canadian Temple of the More Abundant Life and as a fraternity house for Simon Fraser University's Delta Upsilon Fraternity.[11] In 1966, the Burnaby Art Society, led by Jack Hardman, Polly Svangtun, Sheila Kincaid and Winifred Denny, among others, worked with the City of Burnaby to purchase the 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) site for C$166,000.00. The Burnaby Art Gallery opened its doors in June 1967.[12]

Permanent collection

The Burnaby Art Gallery manages a collection of over 6,300 works on paper, primarily created by Canadian artists. The collection is unique in its specialization and is the only public collection devoted to works on paper in Canada. Highlights include substantial holdings by Anna Wong, Ernest Stephen Lumsden, Jack Shadbolt, Takao Tanabe, Susan Point, Gordon A. Smith, BC Binning, Roy Henry Vickers, Laurence Hyde, Gathie Falk, Sylvia Tait, Ann Kipling, and Alistair Bell.

The Burnaby Art Gallery has organized and hosted numerous temporary and travelling exhibitions.

See also

References
  1. "About the Burnaby Art Gallery". www.burnaby.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  2. "Burnaby Art Gallery".
  3. "City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection". Archived from the original on 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  4. "HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca". www.historicplaces.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  5. "Twizell, Robert Percival Sterling | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada".
  6. Hill, Charles (2013). Artists, Architects and Artisans: Canadian Art 1890-1918. Ottawa: National Gallery of Art. pp. 120–1. ISBN 9780888849151.
  7. Hill, Charles (2013). Artists, Architects and Artisans: Canadian Art 1890-1918. Ottawa: National Gallery of Art. pp. 120–1. ISBN 9780888849151.
  8. Hill, Charles (2013). Artists, Architects and Artisans: Canadian Art 1890-1918. Ottawa: National Gallery of Art. pp. 120–1. ISBN 9780888849151.
  9. Denny, Winifred (1974). The Story of a House: Ceperley Mansion to Burnaby Art Gallery. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery. p. 17.
  10. Cane, Jennifer; van Eijnsbergen, Ellen (2017). Ornament of a House: 50 Years of Collecting. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery. p. 13. ISBN 9781927364239.
  11. Cane, Jennifer; van Eijnsbergen, Ellen (2017). Ornament of a House: 50 Years of Collecting. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery. p. 13. ISBN 9781927364239.
  12. Cane, Jennifer; van Eijnsbergen, Ellen (2017). Ornament of a House: 50 Years of Collecting. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery. p. 13. ISBN 9781927364239.
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