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On at the Owens: student works from past and present, plus an impressive hanging of the historic founding collection

A red gallery wall covered in dozens of painting in gilded frames, and a white statue on a pedestal.
The Salon Hanging at Owens Art Gallery is back again this year after a five year hiatus. Image: owensartgallery.com
Erica Butler - CHMA - Sackville • NB | 13-05-2022
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This weekend at the Owen’s Art Gallery viewers will have the chance to see new works by graduating fine arts students, and also a number of works created by faculty and students from the early years of the art department at the school. The latter collection features copies of the Owens Art Institute collection, which became the core collection of the new Owens Art Gallery in 1893.

“The Owens exists because a collection that was formed by the estate of John Owen moved from Saint John to Mount Allison in the late 19th century,” says gallery director Emily Falvey.

The collection of 388 pictures, 32 plaster casts, and a small library of art books is “one of the oldest of its kind in Canada,” says Falvey. “And it was used originally to teach students learning Fine Arts in the Mount Allison Ladies College.”

Owens preparator Roxie Ibbitson haș drawn from the collection to put together the Salon Hanging, which opens Saturday May 14 at the Owens.

“The Salon Hanging is basically floor to ceiling hanging of over 100 works from the core collection that Roxy [Ibbitson] does in the high wall gallery. So it’s quite impressive,” says Falvey. “It’s supported by another exhibition [School Effects] that has some historical documentation of the collection hanging in Saint John, but also paintings that students made from the works,” says Falvey. Back then, “[copying] was basically the dominant way that students learned,” says Falvey.

The Owens is chock-a-block full this weekend, with a number of exhibitions on in addition to the Salon Hanging and School Effects:

  • Astuwicuwon / It Flows Together, a work of public art by Wolastoqiyik artist Amber Solomon, appears in the gallery’s entrance window starting on Saturday;
  • No Place, Nowhere, an exhibition put together by curatorial intern Jack Symonds, addresses “the question of place and no place.”
  • Trust the Process: Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition 2022 features works by 17 graduating students from the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University.

Falvey says she is also looking forward to the summer, in particular a show by Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux that Falvey hopes will kick off with a barbecue on June 10.

Hear Emily Falvey in conversation on CHMA’s Tantramar Report:

Download Audio