grunt gallery facts for kids

grunt gallery

Established	1984
Location	Mount Pleasant, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Type	art gallery

The grunt gallery is a special art space in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was started in 1984 by artists. This gallery is known for showing art by both Indigenous (First Nations) artists and non-Indigenous artists. It's a place where artists can share their new and exciting ideas.

History of grunt gallery

The grunt gallery began in 1984. It was founded by a group of artists: Glenn Alteen, Kempton Dexter, Danielle Peacock, Susan MacKinley, Garry Ross, Dawn Richards, Billy Gene, Hillary Wood, and Daniel Olson. It was one of many new artist-run galleries opening in Vancouver around that time.

From 1985 to 1989, grunt gallery was a place where the first meetings for the Vancouver Fringe Festival happened. It also hosted festival events. From 1987 to 1994, a weekly jazz music series called "Jazz in the Gallery" took place there.

After 1990, grunt gallery started many performance art series. These often happened at the same time as the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Some of these included the Vancouver Performance Art Series in 1990 and the First Nations Performance Series in 1992. In 1993, they produced a festival celebrating diverse communities.

In 1994, grunt gallery worked with artist Pat Beaton on the Mount Pleasant Community Fence. This was one of Vancouver's first public art projects that involved the community. In 1995, grunt gallery got its own dedicated space. That year, they also created a series called "Halfbred" with the Pitt Gallery. This series looked at different identities and communities.

In 1996, they produced the "Mattering Map" by Pia Masse. This was another community art project that focused on the working-class diners in East Vancouver. In 1999, grunt gallery held a big six-week performance festival. It celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Living Art Festival. Because this event was so successful, grunt gallery started the "Live Biennial of Performance Art" in 2001. This event still happens today.

In recent years, grunt gallery has continued to create important projects. In 2008, they produced the "Medicine Project," a website by Dana Claxton and Tania Willard. In 2009, they helped create the "Vancouver Art in the 60’s" website with the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. In 2010, grunt gallery started its "Media Lab Campaign" and the "Activating The Archive Project." The Media Lab opened in 2011, and new website projects were developed from the archive.

Many famous artists have shown their work at grunt gallery. These include Rebecca Belmore, Syrus Marcus Ware, Derya Akay, Aileen Bahmanipour, and Paul Wong.

Working with First Nations Artists

For over 20 years, grunt gallery has worked closely with First Nations artists. The gallery's collection has many records of these artworks. These include videos of performances, black and white photos, and digital images of exhibitions.

Throughout the 1990s, the gallery focused on showing works by First Nations artists. These artists were at all stages of their careers and used many different types of art. One important event was the 1997 computer-generated performance called "An Indian Act Shooting the Indian Act" by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

In 2002, grunt gallery held a conference called "Indian Acts - Aboriginal Performance Art." In 2005, as part of the LIVE Biennial, grunt created the "Nova Library" community project. They also launched their first website about First Nations performance art. In 2006, grunt gallery started the "First Visions Project" with three new websites. This was also the year the Grunt Gallery Legacy Endowment was set up to help the gallery continue its work. In 2007, they held the "Live In Public- The Art of Engagement Conference." They also created the "Aboriginal Creators Project" with websites by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Rebecca Belmore, and Dana Claxton.

Beat Nation Project

In 2008, Glenn Alteen, the director of grunt gallery, started an online gallery project. He invited Tania Willard and Skeena Reece, who are both Aboriginal artists and curators, to help. They both had connections to young Aboriginal artists. This project became known as "Beat Nation."

"Beat Nation" grew from an online gallery into a big art exhibition and performance series. It was shown at SAW Gallery as part of the British Columbia art scene in Ottawa, Ontario. It also included performance art events with "Beat Nation" artists in Saskatoon. Co-curator Skeena Reece even performed as part of the 2010 Sydney Biennale in Australia. The "Beat Nation" project continues to grow and share the work of these artists.

Images for kids

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  The front door of grunt gallery.