McMichael exhibition closes in one week and then travels to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland!

STEPHEN WEIR NOTES: The show is now in Switzerland, however, it has left it's footprint on the gallery. A Don Yeomans Totem Pole carved for the exhibition still stands in the McMichael lobby. You can see a George Socka's video of its raising at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr2dcJhpvBE

McMichael exhibition closes in one week and then travels to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland!

Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast will represent Canadian culture to an international audience.


September 10, 2009 Kleinburg, ON — The McMichael Canadian Art Collection announced today that its special exhibition, Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, will be on display in Switzerland’s Olympic Museum Lausanne as part of the celebrations for the Vancouver 2010 XXI Olympic Winter Games. The exhibition, organized by the McMichael and guest curated by Ian Thom, will close at the McMichael in one week on September 20th, 2009. Challenging Traditions features over seventy contemporary works of art created by forty of Canada’s most talented First Nations artists living in Canada’s Northwest Coast. The exhibition will travel to the Olympic Museum Lausanne on October 8th, 2009 and remain on display throughout the Winter Games in February, 2010, closing there on April 11th, 2010.
The Olympic Museum Lausanne brings together sport, art and culture. They are the traditional pillars of Olympism, and the Museum gives concrete form to this trinity. The mission of the Olympic Museum is to make visitors aware of the breadth and the importance of the Olympic Movement; to show them by means of images and symbols that Olympism is not merely a matter of sports competition but rather a philosophy of life whose roots are deeply embedded in our history. Bringing First Nations art to the Olympic Museum during the 2010 Winter Games is very much in keeping with the Museum’s and Vancouver Organizing Committee’s commitment to celebrate the best in Canadian and international arts and popular culture. By recognizing the traditions of the First Nations people of Vancouver, British Columbia, they will create a cultural legacy that will endure even after the Olympic Games are over.
“The Challenging Traditions exhibition is so uniquely Canadian and immensely interesting,” said Tom Smart, Executive Director and CEO of the McMichael gallery. “We are proud to be the first institution to organize and host this landmark exhibition and provide our visitors with a unique look at the contemporary art of Northwest Coast artists. And now, we have been given a rare and prestigious opportunity to showcase some of the very best in Canadian contemporary art of the Northwest Coast to an international audience.”
The McMichael exhibition will be part of a larger display entitled Vancouver 2010: Sustainable Development and Living Traditions, which will provide a cultural link with Canada and British Columbia on the occasion of the XXI Olympic Winter Games.
Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast is a landmark exhibition and publication (co-published by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Douglas & McIntyre) that examines the rich diversity and creativity of art in this region of Canada. The criterion for the selection of work has been based not on anthropological categories, but on innate aesthetic qualities and artistic significance.
The forty artists included in the exhibition have been selected by the guest curator, Ian Thom, the foremost curator and author of historical and contemporary Northwest Coast Canadian art. Each artist has built a substantial and important career. They address, in their own ways, an important visual and cultural tradition in a unique, personal voice. Lastly, and perhaps most controversially, each artist produces work of remarkable depth, beauty and quality. Moreover, the curator has attempted, wherever possible, to select recent, newly created work in direct consultation with the artists themselves.
Each artist has been interviewed by the curator and the selection of the works included was thoroughly discussed with the artist. In some cases, this has resulted in the artist being represented in a way that might not be expected, but is of their choosing. All have welcomed the opportunity to participate in the project and the opportunity to provide input into the selection of included work.
Acknowledgements
Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation. This project has been made possible in part through a contribution from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage. The publication and accompanying curatorial research has been generously funded by the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts.
About the McMichael
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Culture. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of more than 5,500 artworks, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, First Nations and Inuit artists.
The gallery is located on Islington Avenue, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Kleinburg, and is open daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students and $30 for families. There is a $5 fee for parking. For more information about the gallery, visit www.mcmichael.com.

-30-


For further information or to receive high resolution photographs, contact:

Stephen Weir, Publicist
Gallery: 905.893.1121 ext. 2529
Toronto Office: 416.489.5868
Cell: 416.801.3101
sweir@mcmichael.com

Cathy Lepiane, Communications Coordinator
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
905.893.1121 ext. 2210
clepiane@mcmichael.com

REVISED: Event Occurs Tuesday at noon. Raising A Totem Pole - A rare event in Ontario.

Don Yeoman's latest will be raised at the McMichael on Wednesday morning. First new totem pole in a GTA public building since 1984
There are few opportunities to see a totem pole raised in Ontario. For one thing, although there are First Nations' artists who carve Totem Poles in the province, their work is often classed as tourism-driven. Before the turn of the last century, pole carving was not considered part of the Woodland culture.
No, the tradition of totem pole carvings belong to the First Nation Tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, usually cedar, but mostly Western Redcedar, and the peoples of the west coast have been making them since the 18th century.
According to Wikipedia "totem pole construction underwent a dramatic decline at the end of the 19th century due to American and Canadian policies and practices of acculturation and assimilation."
Although the number of new poles created last century was very small, the tradition continued. And today a number of successful native artists carve totem poles on commission. So successful are these artists that it is hard to purchase a new pole ... their work is such high demand.
Back in 1984, Toronto's sesquicentennial a new totem pole was commissioned and raised inside the public space of the Macleans Magazine / College Park building in downtown Toronto. Since then there hasn't been a totem raised in public space. But, that is going to change next Wednesday!
A new, very modern (the totem includes images of ipods, cell phones and computers) totem carved by Don Yeoman is to be erected next Wednesday morning, indoors, at the McMichael.
I have assisted in both the repossession of an indoor totem in Windsor and the erection of a large two-story totem in Curve Lake, Ontario. Because Totem's tend to have wings at the top, their erection, especially when it is windy, is a very tricky and dangerouns operation.
With that in mind, the McMichael is restricting access to the gallery on Wednesday to working media, when Don Yeomans' 20ft tall totem is erected inside the McMichael's Great Hall. Here are the details.

Photo Opportunity: REVISED TUESDAY, September 1, 2009 at NOON

A Media Exclusive by invitation only! This is the only opportunity to cover the installation of the McMichael’s latest major art acquisition – a twenty-foot totem pole to be raised in the gallery’s Grand Hall.
WHAT: The McMichael Canadian Art Collection has recently commissioned a major acquisition; a full-scale totem pole by artist Don Yeomans will be installed in the gallery as part of its permanent collection. The installation and raising of the twenty-foot totem pole will take place September 2nd at 10:00 a.m. in the gallery’s Grand Hall, which will be closed to the public. Media will have exclusive access to witness and photograph/film this historic moment.
WHEN: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. (photo op will take a maximum of 30 minutes)
WHERE: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Grand Hall. The gallery is located on Islington Avenue, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Kleinburg.
WHO: Media are invited to attend to witness/photograph/film the totem pole installation and speak with: Artist, Don Yeomans; McMichael Executive Director & CEO, Tom Smart.
WHY: Don Yeomans is one of the most respected and renowned Northwest Coast Native artists. Born of a Masset Haida father and a Métis mother from Slave Lake, Alberta, Yeomans has studied and worked in the Haida style since he was a youth. He uses many materials in the creation of his artworks and his carving skills are exceptional and consummate his understanding of the Haida form. This latest thought-provoking artwork challenges many traditional native values by interweaving traditional iconography and totemic animals with today’s different modern modes of technological communication.
About the McMichael
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Culture. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of more than 5,500 artworks, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, First Nations, and Inuit artists.
The gallery is located on Islington Avenue, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Kleinburg, and is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students and $30 for families. There is a $5 fee for parking. For more information about the gallery visit www.mcmichael.com.
YOU MUST RSVP PLEASE. Media contact:
Stephen Weir, Publicist
Gallery: 905.893.1121 ext. 2529
Toronto Office: 416.489.5868
Cell: 416.801.3101
stephen@stephenweir.com