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learning. That’s what is so interesting about it.”
Malin has taught art classes at the AGA in addition
to formerly working as an art teacher at Harry Ainlay High School. Her art ranges from sculptures to canvas paintings to, more recently, evocative landscapes painted onto polycarbonate lexan. Malin’s work is currently on show as part of the AGA100, which is a series of exhibitions specially curated to celebrate the AGA’s first century. It runs until spring 2025.
This year’s centennial celebration has the AGA not just reflecting, but looking forward too. In fact, the AGA has recently teamed up with Edmonton Community Foundation to establish the AGA Always endowment fund. The AGA has already raised more than $2 million in support of the $20 million goal, which is meant to go to improving visitor experiences, renovations and much more.
“We tied the campaign to the anniversary because we thought it would be a moment for both celebration but also connection with a lot more people,” says Crowston, who openly acknowledges the financial difficulties that have faced the AGA since the pandemic. “The idea of the endowment is to create long-term, sustainable funding for the gallery so that we’re not so tied to the ebbs and flows, or in some cases, peaks and troughs of the economy and how it can impact non- profit organizations.”
Crowston is confident that the Art Gallery of Alberta will not only be able to weather its current financial difficulties — with the help of the endowment, of course — but also adapt to whatever the next century of art might bring, even if it isn’t quite what Maud Bowman would have had in mind.
“Art changes with the times,” says Crowston. “But
I do fundamentally believe that there will always be
a place for handmade things that people craft with their hands and where you can feel the presence of the person in the made object. I hope that the art gallery is still here and engaging what would probably be a very kind of different population. I think one of the things we also have to think about is sustainability and what does a look like in a changing climate environment? Those are challenges we’re all going to face as we go forward and think about our buildings and their operations.”
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