Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery facts for kids
Exterior of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
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| Former name | UBC Fine Arts Gallery |
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| Established | 1948 |
| Location | 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 |
| Type | Art Gallery |
| Architect | Peter Cardew |
The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a cool place to see contemporary art in Vancouver, British Columbia. It's located right on the campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC). The gallery building itself is a work of art! It was designed by a famous architect named Peter Cardew and opened in 1995. Cardew even won a special award, the RAIC gold medal, for his amazing design in 2012.
This gallery is home to UBC's growing collection of modern art. It also keeps special archives with objects and records about the history of art in Vancouver. Every year, the Belkin Art Gallery puts on 4 to 7 new art shows. These shows feature art by artists from Canada and all over the world. They also display pieces from their own collection in themed exhibitions.
The Belkin Art Gallery sometimes creates smaller art shows that travel to other places in Canada. They also work with other galleries on big international exhibitions. The best part? Admission to the gallery is free! About 13% of the art in the gallery's collection is by women artists. In 2017, the gallery started an annual event to help create more Wikipedia articles about these talented women artists.
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What is the Belkin Art Gallery's Purpose?
The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC has a clear mission. They want to research, show, collect, and share information about contemporary art. They also explore modern ways of studying art history and criticism.
The Belkin takes care of the University's art collection, which has more than 5,000 art pieces. This includes the Outdoor Art Collection, which you can see around the campus. They also manage an archive with over 30,000 items! Artworks and items from their collection are shown every year. Other museums and researchers also borrow pieces for their own studies and shows.
The gallery also publishes books and participates in many programs. These include talks, tours, concerts, and special events. All of these activities are related to art history, art criticism, and curating (which means organizing art shows).
How Did the Gallery Start?
The gallery first opened in 1948. Back then, it was called the UBC Fine Arts Gallery. It was located in a basement area of the Main Library on the university campus. At that time, it was the only place in Vancouver that focused only on contemporary art.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the gallery became very important across Canada. It showed exciting new art by artists who were making Vancouver famous in the art world. For many years, until 1994, the gallery was only used for showing art. After that, it also started to keep and manage the University's art collection.
On June 14, 1995, the Fine Arts Gallery got a new name: the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. It also opened its brand new building at 1825 Main Mall.
Artworks and Archives at the Gallery
The Belkin Art Gallery is home to many artworks and archives from famous artists. Some of these artists include Roy Arden, Carol Conde, Rodney Graham, Joyce Wieland, and Rebecca Belmore.
One of the biggest collections in the archives is called the Morris/Trasov Archive. It used to be known as Image Bank. This archive has thousands of items related to artists Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov. It also includes a huge network of mail artists. Mail art is art that is sent through the postal service!
Since 2003, new outdoor artworks have been placed around the UBC campus. These pieces are by artists like Rodney Graham, Jamelie Hassan, Myfanwy Macleod, and Edgar Heap of Birds. You can even download a map from the Belkin Art Gallery's website to take a self-guided tour of all the outdoor art on campus!
Interesting Exhibitions and Collaborations
The gallery's Director/Curator, Scott Watson, who worked there from 1989 to 2021, really encouraged working with other galleries. He helped create partnerships both locally and internationally.
For example, in 1997, the Belkin worked with seven other galleries for an exhibition called Utopian Territories: New Art from Cuba. This show brought the work of 23 modern Cuban artists to Vancouver. In the same year, for Théodore Géricault: The Alien Body/Tradition in Chaos, the Belkin worked closely with the famous Louvre museum in Paris! They brought 80 artworks to the gallery.
In 2009, for Ruins in Process: Vancouver Art in the Sixties, the Belkin teamed up with grunt gallery. Together, they created an online digital archive of Vancouver art from the 1960s and early 1970s. Scott Watson also invited other curators to work with him. This led to important exhibitions like Rebecca Belmore: Fountain at the Venice Biennale in 2005. Another was Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools in 2013.
Keith Wallace, who was an Associate Director/Curator at the Belkin, continued the gallery's focus on Cuban art. In 2014, he co-curated The Spaces Between: Contemporary Art from Havana. This show featured many artists from Havana, Cuba.
Lorna Brown, another Associate Director/Curator, created a four-part series of exhibitions called Beginning with the 70s (2017-2019). This project looked at how important the 1970s were for art. These shows included works by artists like Helen Goodwin, Marianne Nicolson, Gathie Faulk, and Dana Claxton.
In September 2020, the Belkin hosted Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts. This show was curated by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson. It also traveled to other galleries. Artists in Soundings included Raven Chacon, Germaine Koh, Tanya Lukin Linklater, and Tania Willard.
Every year, the gallery also holds a special exhibition for students graduating from the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of British Columbia. Some alumni who have shown their work include Aileen Bahmanipour and Marina Roy.
