On the Road
Galleries in small communities are punching above their weight thanks to programs that bring in shows from larger cities.
January 11, 2019
Hugh Conacher, “Neptune’s Bellows, Whalers’ Bay, Deception Island 62˚59’ S, 60˚34’ W, November 26, 2016”
Jane Ireland, who manages the new Heritage Home for the Arts gallery in Killarney, a small community in southwestern Manitoba, is excited to be showing photographs by Winnipeg’s Hugh Conacher this month.
His work, Antarctica: Layers of Time, Beautiful Monsters, is the gallery’s fourth exhibition since opening last fall and the first by an artist from outside the Killarney-Turtle Mountain area.
It’s on view thanks to the Manitoba Arts Network, a non-profit arts service group that is touring 16 of Conacher’s Antarctic photographs around the province. Next stop: The Pas, in northern Manitoba.
The network tours four or five professionally curated shows every year to small communities in Manitoba and sometimes beyond. Work can be on the road for up to 18 months, stopping at anywhere from four to nine locations. In most cases, communities receiving these subsidized exhibitions could not otherwise afford to show them.