The Agnes Etherington Art Gallery was presented with five Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries awards at The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on Monday.
Alicia Boutilier, chief curator of The Agnes, says it was a thrilling experience.
"Five awards is quite a sweep for the Agnes...This is a peer reviewed award and the only awards of this kind offered nationally. It's exciting for us to have five awards that really represent the breadth of what Agnes contributes to exhibitions, to curatorial writing, to programming and for design...For me it's so gratifying to have so many of our colleagues within Agnes recognized for the work that they do. These awards went to some longer term staff members and some of our new staff members," says Boutilier.
Boutilier says the nominations they submit as a gallery are reviewed by a jury of artists.
"A lot of these awards that we received are about partnerships with other galleries, with artists and designers. It's not just about us, it's also about our work in relation to our colleagues across the province, Every gallery in Ontario is invited to submit nominations for projects they've been involved in, these all get compiled and sent to GOG...they bring a jury together, and those jurors review all this material and make their selection. These jurors are our peers, they're drawn directly from the field...It's really important to have that perspective on the work that one does."
The jury shortlists the submissions, and then the winners are announced at the award ceremony. Boutilier says the awards had been reduced through the pandemic, but was back to a full roster this year.
"There were 24 awards given this year, they haven't been able to award that many in the last couple of years," says Boutilier.
The gallery won two exhibition awards for: a ghost + a host = a ghost and Shelby Lisk's work, Shé:kon se’onhwentsyà:ke ratinékere tsi nihá:ti nè:ne yesanorónhkhwa (there are
still people in the world that love you). Qanita Lilla’s With Opened Mouths 2021 brochure received a curatorial writing award. Agnes also took home two design awards, The Art Book Design Award went to John McKusker for Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens: The Power Given to Abstractions that Make Us Stupid and Kingston designer Vincent Perez won the Design Budget under $1,500 Award for With Opened Mouths wordmark.
"It is a selection of all that we do, a thoughtful selection.. an an opportunity after a year has gone by to really reflect on all the work that we've done and with whom we've worked...We are always seeking ways to expand what it means to be a gallery," says Boutiller.
Listen to the full CFRC interview with Alicia Boutilier below: