Department of Fine Arts, Okanagan University College

 
 


Important Moments in
the History of Canadian Visual Culture

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1968 TO PRESENT Compiled by Robert J. Belton 1993

For the October election, Preston Manning's Reform Party capitalizes on popular sentiment by targeting recent, controversial acquisitions by the National Gallery as examples of government waste and deficit building. Canadian Pacific adds the American flag to its logo. Air Canada's planes get new tail decorations, designed by an American firm.Vancouver artist Gideon Flitt shows paintings describing the oppression of white males. Artist Eli Langer is charged under new child pornography laws for his show of explicit drawings at Mercer Union in Toronto (Dec.). The Art Gallery of Windsor moves into a local shopping mall and, counter to expectations, attendance figures go up.

There is heated debate in Vancouver over the proposed inscription for a public monument to "all the women murdered by men," although Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg already have similar commemorations (July). In Edmonton, an inukchuk is erected as a memorial to an Inuit hero of two decades before, David Kootook (Aug.). London,Ontario's Forest City Gallery hosts a month-long neighbourhood project called "A Cup for A Cup," in which nearly sixty artists and small-business operators collaborate as equal partners outside the gallery walls (Sept.-Oct.).

Readers of the Vancouver Sun are upset over an editorial cartoon of Justice Minister Kim Campbell as a female warrior à la Madonna (Mar. 3). Douglas Cardinal is awarded the Molson Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canada Council (Mar. 8). The Canada Council announces serious funding cutbacks (Mar. 13). The Art Gallery of Hamilton announces layoffs and a four-day work week due to deteriorating funding (Apr.). The Art Gallery of Ontario sues the Cultural Property Review Board over the valuation of donated works of art. Newly created Jean A. Chalmers Awards are given to Jeff Wall and Francois Houdé for visual arts and crafts, respectively (May 19).