A Tour of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax, NS
Do you have a local spot that friends keep telling you is great but you never get around to visiting? Yeah, me too. Now more than ever, many of us have redirected our attention from trips far from home to places right around the corner. For me, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) has lingered on my list of “must sees” for awhile now.
Once the winning design of the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia was announced for the new Halifax waterfront location, I knew I needed to visit the current AGNS.
The new design is sleek and modern. Surrounded with innovative curves and interestingly drafted community spaces, the new building is unique.
Will it become a landmark? Likely! The building appears to be a piece of art in and of itself.
Current Art Gallery of Nova Scotia location
But what is the current gallery like?
I’ve walked past the Hollis Street location in Halifax dozens of times. Its beautifully sculpted columns and windows filled with Maud Lewis’s tulips always left me curious. These smooth, stone walls completely contrast the wide open windows of the new plans.
I’m not overreaching when I say that these two buildings are completely different styles. This comparison made my planned visit even more appealing. I feel knowing the “old art gallery” is vital to understanding the evolution of the new project and how it offers an improvement facility.
Before your visit to the Gallery
On a quiet afternoon, my partner and I decided to take a trip to the Nova Scotia Art Gallery.
If you’re driving, I highly suggest going on the weekend or any evening the gallery is open. Located on Hollis, there is paid street and garage parking nearby. However, Halifax does not charge for parking after 6pm weekdays. Weekends are also complimentary.
If you are walking or taking transit, the gallery is easy to get to with multiple bus stops nearby.
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is accessibility friendly, with ramps or elevators available where there are stairs.
To accommodate social distancing due to COVID-19 safety procedures, guests as asked to travel up floors by elevators and down by stairs. When unable to do so, elevators or ramps are always available for guests to travel down as well.
Some exhibitions are English and French bilingual, but some are only presented in English.
Admission to the AGNS is currently priced as follows:
Admission at the Halifax location can also be used to visit the Yarmouth gallery for 50% off within the same week. Entry fees as the Yarmouth location are a bit less expensive, currently ranging $3.50-$6 for individuals and family passes for $12.50.
When visiting the AGNS, large bags including items like backpacks and purses must be checked. Umbrellas are other big items must also be checked. Food and drink are not permitted in the space. Due to these restrictions, I recommend traveling light when visiting.
Before we dive into my visit, let’s explore the AGNS’s history.
A Brief History of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia opened as the Nova Scotia Fine Arts Museum in 1908.
Moving several times, the gallery found its current home in 1988 in the Dominion building on Hollis Street. By 1998, a second building was constructed on the lot.
The museum has more than 10 000 pieces in their collection!
Besides their main Halifax location, the AGNS also has a satellite location in Yarmouth (opened in 2006) and numerous traveling exhibitions.
Visiting the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax
As my partner and I entered the main lobby, we headed over to the front desk. After paying admission, we were given stickers to put on our clothing. The kind ticket counter worker gave us a run down of the buildings and what order we would view the exhibitions.
A pamphlet provided told us more about the gallery’s rules. Personal photography is permitted without flash.
Usually guided tours are available, however due to COVID-19 there were not guided tours. The in house cafe, Pavia, was closed for the same reasons.
Despite these closures, the gallery’s gift shop was still open.
The pamphlet opens to a map of the different levels and wings of the buildings. Turns out, this beautiful old building is a bit confusing to get around.
A list of “Current Exhibitions” is accompanied with gallery/ room numbers, which helped us navigate the connected buildings.
Maud Lewis
The first exhibition we viewed was the one I was most excited to see, Maud Lewis.
The Maud Lewis exhibition has continued to be a valuable attraction for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia since is opening in 2013.
And for a good reason.
As one of Nova Scotia’s most famed artists, her artwork can be found on everything from t-shirt, pens, coasters, and key chains. Her work is a main draw for visitors to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
About Maud
Maud Dowley was born in South Ohio or Yarmouth, Nova Scotia between 1901-1903. Throughout her life, she struggled with both birth defects and arthritis.
Maud first started painting Christmas cards as a child. Her mother sold these cards in the community.
After both of her parents died in the mid 1930’s, Maud lived with with her brother and then her aunt. She eventually moved out, working for a local man named Everett Lewis, as a housekeeper. She married Everett Lewis in 1938. The couple lived in a small one room home in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia.
The couple lived in their tiny home for decades, as Maud sold paintings to those who often made the trip by their house specifically to buy her art.
Their home did not have a telephone, but that did not stop Maud’s fame from spreading. She was featured on television and even the President of the United States bought one of her paintings.
Maud passed away in 1970 after contracting pneumonia. Everett died nine years later during a home invasion.
A deeper dive in Maud’s life and how it is portrayed in the exhibition can be found in an upcoming post.
Her Home
The exhibition includes her home taken from Marshalltown, Nova Scotia where she lived with her husband Everett Lewis.
The house featured in the exhibition is their real home, with a replica standing where this house once did in Digby.
Maud’s Paintings
Besides Maud’s house, the gallery holds a variety of her paintings, including the three that have been chosen for Canada Post’s holiday stamps this year.
Some of Maud’s most popular pieces feature cats, life by the water and in the winter.
As a huge fan of Maud’s work already, it was touching to not only view her works in person but see so many of them together. There’s no doubt that “Nova Scotia’s Sweetheart” deserves a permanent place at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
After we left the Maud Lewis exhibition, we headed downstairs to the basement to see the next artist’s work.
Ned Pratt’s “One Wave”
Located in the AGNS’s lower level is Ned Pratt’s “One Wave”. The room is large and spacious. Pratt’s exhibition focuses on his photography surrounding the sea, with quotes about his life and work scattered throughout.
About Ned Pratt
According to the Nicholas Metivier Gallery’s webpage, Pratt was born in Newfoundland in 1964. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design.
Besides his exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, his work can also be found at The Rooms, NFLD.
As an award winning photographer, his eye focuses on catching “minimal, striking photographs”.
His Photography in “One Wave”
Pratt’s photography features nature and its balance. Many of the photographs in the exhibition use a similar style of capturing a horizontal scene face on.
Pratt’s pieces are inspired by his personal life and connection to his subjects. From my understanding, his art has also helped him explore his own voice.
Here’s an example of the details Pratt shares regarding his inspiration and creative process:
Reviews of his work are also shared in the exhibition, such as the following from the Curator of Contemporary Art:
He empathizes the mundane, distills the features of a place into elegant compositions of form and colour, disrupts depth with close architectural details and incisions of poles and wires, and eliminates distraction to create visual experiences that are as generous as they are impenetrable.
Mireille Eagan, Curator of Contemporary Art
(section of longer quote in reference to Ned Pratt’s “One Wave”)
Transitioning from Lewis’ folk art to Pratt’s minimalist photography demonstrated the array of the materials at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s. However, this was just the beginning of the Gallery’s diverse collections.
Wild Boar
As we walked by this piece in between exhibitions, the gallery security guard said “Hope you’re not boared“. I always appreciate puns.
This detailed carving was made from marble by an Italian artist in 1925.
Next we headed to another room in the lower part of the Gallery, featuring abstract paintings.
Jacques Hurtubise’s “Prints from the Collection”
About Jacques Hurtubise
Hurtubise was an abstract artist, born in Quebec in 1939.
Upon graduating from Art School in 1960, he received a scholarship to study in New York.
At the age of 21, his first exhibition was put on display the the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Starting in the 1960’s and 70’s with bright, geometric paintings, his work would later include cut outs and stencil work.
Hurtubise moved to Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1983 with his wife, Monique Colangelo. Residing there for the last 30 years of his life, some of his later works were painted in the province. According to the exhibition, “colours and fierce passion” of Cape Breton inspired his works.
“Prints from the Collection”
The exhibition features paintings that were gifted to the AGNS by the artist. The paintings and prints are bold, fun and unusual (in the best way possible).
As we left Hurtubise’s exhibition, the space opened.
There were stairs on one side of the room. The other had archways, which led to other exhibitions. In the middle there were a few displays. The main draw of this open space was this humongous painting.
An Exhibition Highlight: Monkman, Johnson & Bennett
This section, linking to the exhibition Shifting Ground, features three indigenous arts. Spotlighting Kent Monkman, Ursula Johnson, and Jordan Bennet.
As you may remember from above, Bennett was instrumental to the design of the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia plans.
Out of the pieces, if anything makes statements at the AGNS, it’s Monkman’s “Miss Chief’s Wet Dream”. Due to this, I am going to focus primarily on his piece.
Miss Chief’s Wet Dream
Yes, you read that title right.
About Kent Monkman
Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist with Cree ancestry. According to the Gallery’s website:
His work is known for its provocative reinterpretations of romantic North American landscapes and explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience – the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experience.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
(website page “KENT MONKMAN – MISS CHIEF’S WET DREAM”, accessed 18 December 2020)
The Painting
Monkman’s piece is not only the largest at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, but one of its most unique modern works.
This painting is chaotic, and I absolutely love it. Every corner of this painting is not only extremely detailed, but adds to this oddly enticing scene.
Tying the past and present together, it has made visitors question their perceptions of colonial and Indigenous history.
Added to the collection in 2018, other works by Monkman have been featured at the Gallery as well.
After touring this open space, we approached the first doorway.
“Gigante’s Mechanical Eye” Views of 19th Century Naples
Giacinto Gigante, a well known Italian landscape artist, created the 11 pieces that form this exhibit.
About Giacinto Gigante
Turns out, Gigante was not the first artist in his family. He came from a family of painters. His father likely inspired his profession. Gigante studied under him when becoming a draftsman and engraver.
Once older, Gigante studied under popular artists such as the German painter Jakob Wilhelm Huber. He also worked at the Royal Printing Office in the Topography Department. By 1826, his first public exhibition was held at the Museo Borbonico.
Naples was often the subject of his landscape paintings. Later his paintings shifted focus to interior spaces. He eventually worked off commissions from royalty and aristocrats.
His Art
Landscape paintings filled the room. Delightfully detailed, I also felt a bit of gloom. Perhaps the charcoal conveys that feeling.
We approached a room with rich red paint and detailed framed paintings. That room, of course, was focused on historic pieces made by Canadian artists.
“A Canadian Collection”
Made up of several different types of pieces purchased or donated to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, this exhibition includes both historic and contemporary pieces. Due to this, it is nicknamed the “Canadian Collection”.
The collection is actually called the “Ondaatje Collection” after Charles Ondaatje, a generous donor.
And let me tell you, this collection is full of fun and interesting art. From maple syrup making, snow ball fights, lighthouses, newly shaped sculptures and nude women – this collection has something for everyone.
In a connecting room, the focus switched to European art.
European Art
Golden frames show off art that originated as European either in style, from a creator or geographically. Primarily filled with painted people and animals, there are a couple of sculptures as well.
One of these is a statue of the “Head of the Emperor Augustus” dating from 27BC-14AD.
As we left this exhibition, we looped around to the Wild Boar we had seen earlier. It was time to hop on the elevator to travel to the next floor.
Shifting Ground
About the exhibition
This floor focuses on indigenous art. Some of the most creative and unique art can be found on this floor.
Connections between the past and present as well as nature, culture, time and space are common themes of pieces. With art from across Canada featured, the exhibition starts with art from the east coast and travels both north and west.
With a wide scope of materials and mediums used, the art displayed on this floor helped me learn more about indigenous cultures, norms, faith, history, and political issues.
My favourite pieces in the gallery are these four colour linocuts on paper. They were created by Allen Angeconeb in 1955.
I also enjoy that there’s a carved cooler in the gallery filled with Budweiser cans. This exhibition is easy to navigate and pieces are organized in smaller rooms or open spaces on the mezzanine.
After looking through all the spaces in Shifting Ground, we headed up to the fourth floor to check out the next exhibition.
Good Earth: The Pots & Passion of Walter Ostrom
About Ostrom
Walter Ostrom has lived in Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia for close to three decades. He studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) and is now a professor emeritus in the ceramics department.
His Work
“Good Earth” centers around Ostrom’s work with clay and ceramics. His pottery is creative and colourful, breaking out of the traditional beige. He is a well-known Canadian artist, so much so that these innovation pieces put him on the map internationally.
Ostrom’s work is featured in galleries in Canada as well as the United States, China and Europe. As an internationally recognized artist, his influence on his students is also demonstrated through the exhibition.
The exhibition includes projects from his time at NSCAD and 40 years of teaching. A large focus is put on his earlier works and the meaning behind pieces.
His work transitions different topics from gardening, knowledge, teaching, political ideologies, and ultimately passion.
Once we finished up on the top floor, we made our way to the final two exhibitions.
Folk/Funk
The gallery takes another drastic turn. To something I certainly did not expect to see in the AGNS.
Folk and Funk styled art.
This exhibition is fun. It’s silly. It’s different, and I’m here for it.
Here’s a couple of pieces from this collection:
Jim Smith’s Titanic Dish
The detail of these waves and tiny windows on Jim Smith’s Titanic model adds to the sleekness of the design.
Unexpected is the fact that this is a dish that opens on the top. The multifunctional nature of this design is part of what makes this piece so appealing.
Victoria Bathing with the Beavers
David Gilhooly gave me a good laugh with this piece. If you had not guessed, this work is satirical and reflects thoughts on modern life. According to the AGNS website, this statue is made in a hobbyist style with purposeful imperfections.
As fun as this section was, it was time to move on to the gallery’s final exhibition. Oddly enough, we circled back to a coastal centered folk artists that reminded me of Maud Lewis’ work.
Buoys & Gulls
Buoys and Gulls features more than a dozen different artists. All of the pieces focus on expressions of Atlantic Canadian life by the ocean through folk art.
A variety of mediums are used, from paintings to tables and even a dresser.
Like the last exhibition, this one is fun. It’s colourful. I had a few chuckles at the different ways the Maritimes is portrayed through these pieces.
Final Thoughts
If I could summarize my visit with one word, it would be “wow”!
There is a considerable amount of pieces on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. With a variety of styles and mediums presented, visitors can spend as much time as the please with collections that speak to them.
I can see why the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is outgrowing its space. With over 10 000 pieces in their collection, I think a new building provides an exciting opportunity for the public to see pieces that may be kept in storage currently out of necessity. I also believe that a new location provides the chance to express Nova Scotian and Canadian styles through architecture.
I do think that the current location is a bit confusing because the two buildings are connected through the basement. This results in a not so smooth transition for the visitor to travel from exhibition to exhibition without getting lost. The AGNS is doing the best with their current space, but I whole heartedly believe that the gallery could use a new space.
The new location will be on the waterfront, perhaps making the location more visible and accessible to locals and tourists alike.
Would I recommend a visit?
Yes!
There are so many different exhibitions and types of art to explore. We spent a whole afternoon at the art gallery.
It’s also a great way to learn more about Nova Scotia’s art history.
Considering the low price of admission paired with the hours of exploration and learning, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is well worth the trip.
After our gallery visit, we headed down the street to grab coffee and a snack at the Wired Monk.
The Wired Monk
This cute café located on the corner of Hollis Street and Morris Street. It’s only a short walk away from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
My partner and I split a Nanaimo bar (which was delicious). We also both grabbed a coffee. My mocha was beautiful and tasted amazing.
Needless to say, this was the perfect way to end our day of exploration.
Have you been to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia yet?
What was your favourite piece of art?
You may also be interested in:
The Naval Museum of Halifax, Nova Scotia
Mills Brothers Building Meets Wrecking Ball
Exploring McNab’s Island, Nova Scotia
Sources:
A visit to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax location).
News articles:
https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/new-art-gallery-of-nova-scotia-design-chosen-6-photos-2889136
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia website:
https://www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca
Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics:
https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=88-857&Event=marriage&ID=232219
Other:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721954/
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/films/maudie/38e815a-0119a340d20
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/paying-tribute-to-painter-maud-lewis
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