Peggy Gale facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peggy Gale
Born	Mackenzie, Guyana
Nationality	Canadian
Education	University of Toronto, Università degli Studi, Florence Italy
Known for	Curator, Writer, Editor
Awards	Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2006)

Peggy Gale was born in 1944. She is a Canadian curator, writer, and editor. A curator is someone who chooses and organizes art for museums and galleries. Peggy Gale studied Art History at the University of Toronto. She earned her degree in 1967.

Peggy Gale has written many articles and books about art. She often writes about video art and other modern art forms. In 2004, she edited a book called Artists Talk 1969-1977. In 2006, she won a special prize called the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. This award celebrates great Canadian artists. Peggy Gale has also helped organize big art shows. For example, she worked on the Biennale de Montréal in 2014. She is a member of several important art groups. She has also been an editor for Canadian Art magazine since 1986.

Peggy Gale's Early Work

From 1967 to 1974, Peggy Gale worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). There, she helped teach people about art. She also organized an important show called Videoscape in 1974. This was one of the first museum shows to feature video as a type of art.

After the AGO, Peggy Gale worked for the Canada Council for the Arts. This group helps fund artists in Canada. From 1975 to 1979, she was the Video and Film Director at Art Metropole in Toronto. She also led A Space, which is one of Canada's oldest art centers run by artists. In 1981, she became an independent curator. This means she worked for herself. She organized a performance art show in Berlin called OKanada in 1982–83.

Peggy Gale's Later Work

Since 1981, Peggy Gale has worked as an independent art critic and curator. She has organized many art shows. Some of these include Museums by Artists at Art Metropole in 1983. She also curated Electronic Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada in 1989. In 1991, she organized Northern Lights at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

In 1994, Peggy Gale helped edit a book called Video re/View. This book was about Canadian video artists. In 1995, her own book, Videotexts, was published. It explored the stories in artists' video works. Starting in 2005, she led a project called Video Art in Canada. This was a website about Canadian video art. You can still find it online today.

In 2006, Peggy Gale helped organize Live With Culture for Toronto's first Nuit Blanche. This is a night where art is shown all over the city. She also helped plan the Biennale de Montréal 2014. This was a major art event in Montréal. Peggy Gale continues to work as a curator, writer, and advisor in the art world. Her important papers are now kept in the archives at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Awards and Recognition

Peggy Gale has received many awards for her work in the arts. These awards recognize her important contributions to Canadian art.

• Winner of the 2006 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts.
• Toronto Arts Award (Visual Arts) in 2000.
• Canada Council and Japan/Canada Fund: helped fund her Northern Lights exhibition in Tokyo in 1991.
• Canada Council Outreach Program: helped her travel to Igloolik, Nunavut, in 1998.
• Canada Council Arts Grant "A" (for curators and critics) in 1983.
• Canada Council Travel Grants in 2015, 2012, 1989, 1978, 1976.
• Canada Council Short Term Grant (for writing) in 1981.
• Ontario Arts Council (for writing) in 1992, 1990, 1987.
• Ontario Arts Council (Writers' Reserve) in 1989.

Selected Works

Peggy Gale has edited many books and written for many exhibition catalogues. These publications share ideas about art and artists.

Books Edited by Peggy Gale

• PUBLIC: Art/Culture/Ideas 44, Experimental Media, 2011.
• Artists Talk: 1969-1977. Halifax: The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2004.
• Before and After the I-Bomb: An Artist in the Information Environment. By Tom Sherman. Banff: The Banff Centre Press, 2002.
• Video re/View: The (best) Source for Critical Writings on Canadian Artists' Video (with Lisa Steele). Toronto: Art Metropole/VTape, 1996.
• From Sea to Shining Sea: artist-initiated activity in Canada, 1939-1987. Edited by AA Bronson. Associate editors: René Blouin, Peggy Gale, Glenn Lewis. Toronto: The Power Plant, 1987.
• Museums by Artists (with A.A. Bronson). Toronto: Art Metropole, 1983.
• Performance by Artists (with A.A. Bronson). Toronto: Art Metropole, 1979.
• Video by Artists. Toronto: Art Metropole, 1976.

Exhibition Catalogues with Peggy Gale's Contributions

• 'Wide Eyes', (curator’s introduction) in L’avenir (looking forward). Montreal: La Biennale de Montréal 2014 and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
• 'Mapping Intuition,' In Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection, edited by Peggy Gale. Toronto: Ryerson Image Centre editions, 2012.
• 'Living History,' In Art Metropole: The Top 100, Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2006.
• 'Both Memory and Territory,' In Real Fictions: Four Canadian Artists. Sydney (Australia): Museum of Contemporary Art, 1996.
• 'Northern Lights: An Exhibition of Canadian Video Art.' Tokyo: Canadian Embassy and International Videoworks, 1991.
• 'Norman Cohn: Portraits.' Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1984.
• 'A New Medium,' In Videoscape. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1974.

Book Chapters and Other Writings

• 'Stan Douglas: Evening and Others.' In Parachute: The Anthology (1975-2000), Vol. III : Photography, Film, Video, and New Media, edited by Chantal Pontbriand, Zurich & Dijon: JRP | Ringier & Les presses du réel, 2015.
• 'All These Years: Early Toronto Video.' In Explosion in the Movie Machine: Essays and Documents on Toronto Artists’ Film and Video, edited by Chris Gehman, Toronto: Images Festival and Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, 2013.
• 'Eric Cameron: Author! Author!' In Cover and Uncover: Eric Cameron, edited by Ann Davis. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011.
• 'Looking for David Askevold,' In David Askevold: Once Upon a Time in the East, edited by David Diviney, Halifax: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2011.
• 'Video has captured our imagination.' In Video re/View: The (best) Source for Critical Writings on Canadian Artusts' Video, edited by Peggy Gale and Lisa Steele. Toronto: Art Metropole/VTape, 1996.
• 'A History in Four Moments.' In Mirror Machine: Video and Identity. edited by Janine Marchessault. Toronto: YYZ Books and Montreal: Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, 1995.
• 'History Lesson.' In Performance and Multi-Disciplinarity: Post-Modernism edited by Chantal Pontbriand. Montreal: les éditions Parachute, 1981.