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History

In September 1998, the Art Gallery of Bishop’s University took the important step of changing its mandate and redefining its role as a university art gallery within the artistic community of the Eastern Townships. With the adoption of its new mission, the gallery would no longer serve as an artist-run-centre. Forging a new identity, since 1998, the gallery’s exhibition program has expanded to encompass and showcase artworks by emerging and mid-career professional artists from across Canada and abroad.

One of the Art Gallery’s main objectives is to provide visitors who are unable to travel to major metropolitan Canadian centres with the opportunity to view the work of artists who challenge their perception of art and life. Secondly, the flexibility of our structure and the technical facilities available to artists are one of our main tools with which we want to pursue the development of production-residencies and of subsequent publications. Finally, each year one of our exhibitions focuses on art which has a direct relevancy to the area in which we are based. While affirming our role as a presenter of contemporary art from across Canada and abroad, we do feel that we must also promote, present and research art made by artists from the Eastern Townships.

Students are well represented among the visitors to the Bishop’s University Art Gallery, which devotes a large share of its programming to them. The Gallery plays an integral role in students’ education through its exhibitions and conferences by artists and guest curators, and by making its facilities available to students for the study and contemplation of art works. Moreover, our non-university functions are equally important: since 1998, we have played host to a growing public made up of the various populations of the region. Our free-of-charge activities are designed to promote participation in the cultural life of the region, and to make us an active and accessible member of this community through our various public programs.

In October 2004, Bishop's University chose to name the gallery the Foreman Art Gallery in honour of Florence May Foreman, formerly of Vancouver, B.C., who donated the largest gift in the University's 160 year history.

Florence Foreman (1914-2003) was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Growing up in rural Saskatchewan in the hard-luck days of the 20s and 30s brought out in Miss Foreman a passionate caring for the less fortunate. During the depression years of prolonged drought, Florence's parents — Doug and May Foreman, both native Quebecers — used their previously acquired affluence to help struggling farmers and others. Miss Foreman continued their philanthropic practices throughout her life. Her keen and long-held interest in higher education, with all the generous support this entailed, is an important part of Miss Foreman>s enduring legacy.

GUEST SPEAKERS LIST

1999 Diana Nemiroff, David Liss, Scott MacLeod, Mariana O’Gallagher, Jean-Pierre Perreault

2000 Michael Jarvis, Fabienne Lasserre, Danija Jojich and Francine Salinitri, Jean Gaudet, Louisette Gauthier-Mitchell, Arnaud Gosselin, Normand Rajotte, Francine Boivin, Daniel Roy, Pierre Bruneau, Louise Bédard, Sylvain Émard, Marc Parent, Nancy Bleck & Aaron Nelson-Moody

2001 Janet M. Brooke, Jane Needles, Bernard Bilodeau, Naomi London, Annie Thibault, Allyson Adley, Robert Holland Murray

2002 Sarah Steveson, Mélissa Day, Ed Pien, Gilles Morissette, Louise Bédard, Lucie Bureau

2003 Arnaud Maggs, Angela Grauerholz, Dean Mullavey, Paul Bourassa, Jan Wade, David Hall

2004 Sophie Hackett & Jennifer Long, Denyse Thomasos, Laurier Lacroix, Irene F. Whittome, Gaëtane Verna, Nadia Myre, Kelly Mark, Shie Kasai and Joanne Hui, Margaret Lawther

2005 Cedar Nordbye, Daniel Barrow, Richard Kerr, Shawna Dempsey, Sol Nagler, Jeanne Thib, Ana Rewakowicz

2006 Vicky Chainey Gagnon, Annie MacDonell, William Pope.L, Paige Gratland and Day Milman, Alicia Henry, Suzanne Pressé, Meredith Carruthers, Jennifer Angus, Lucie Chan

2007 Renée Lear, Gregory King, Amos Latteier, Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley, Nick Lenker, Alex Da Corte, Astria Suparak, Yechel Gagnon, Andrea Fatona, Michael Fernandes

2008 Clive Holden, Sylvie Bouchard, Rose Farrell & George Parkin, Philippe Bazin, Geneviève Pernin, Marie-France Beaudoin, Geneviève Cadieux, Christianne Vollaire, Jean Émile Verdier, Shawn Bailey from Bioteknica

2009 Geneviève Chevalier, Andrea Vander Kooij, Ryan Rice, Jason Luhan, Andrew Hunter, Margaret Ulvic

2010 Oliver Ressler, Gregory Sholette, Petra Gershner, Michael Backmund, Ron Benner, Andrew Silver King, Christina Battle

2011 Nato Thompson (guest curator)

ARTISTS SINCE 1998

1998

Picasso, Rembrandt, Matisse, Chagall, Toulouse-Lautrec, Valloton, Canaletto, Bonnard, Otto Dix, Jim Dine, Caroline Hayeur, F.S. Coburn, Robert Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Kay Kinsman, Norman Laliberté, Louis Muhlstock, L.T. Newton, Toni Onley, Jessie Oonark, Salvatore Rosa, Robert Savoie, David Sorensen, Monique Voyer, Orson S. Wheeler, James M. Whistler

1999

Serge Jongué, John Ballantyne, William Henry Bartlett, Catherine Young Bates, Ophra Benazon, George Bompas, Joseph Bouchette, Frederick Simpson Coburn, Allan Aaron Edson, John Arthur Fraser, Caroline George, Minnie Gill, Marcel Gingras, William Stuart Hunter, Samuel Kilbourne, Kay Kinsman, Cornelius Krieghoff, John Lyman, Nina M. Owens, Denis Palmer, Wilbur Aaron Reaser, Goodridge Roberts, Henry Sandham, Monique Voyer, Laura Letinsky, Scott MacLeod, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Mario Pouliot

2000

Micheal Jarvis, Fabienne Lasserre, Jean Gaudet, Louisette Gauthier-Mitchell, Arnaud Gosselin, Normand Rajotte, Francine Boivin, Daniel Roy, Pierre Bruneau, Marc Parent, Nancy Bleck and Aaron Nelson-Moody

2001

Naomi London, Jacky G. Lafargue, Louis Couturier, Annie Thibault, Robert Holland Murray

2002

Sarah Stevenson, Melissa Day, Arthur Villeneuve, Arthur Bouchard, Léo Fournier, Félicien Lévesque, Yvon Côté, Edmond Châtigny, Oscar Héon, Honoré Hunt, Jérôme Fortin, Tina Modotti, Ed Pien, Gilles Morisette

2003

Bernd & Hilla Becher, Christian Boltanski, Angela Grauerholz, Arnaud Maggs, Jan Wade, David Hall, Gaétan Beaudin, Dean Mullavey, Doucet-Saito duo

2004

Carmen Bouchard, Sara Angelucci, Barbara Astman, Dean Baldwin, Chris Curreri, Nancy Friedland, Clint Griffin, Vid Ingelevics, Germaine Koh, Adrienne Lai, Nina Levitt, Denyse Thomasos, Irene F. Whittome, Gilbert Boyer, Ruth Cuthand & Elizabeth MacKenzie, Paul de Guzman, Nelson Henricks, Kelly Mark, Nadia Myre, Sylvia Ptak, Rober Racine, Joanne Hui, Shie Kasai, Margaret Lawther

2005

Cedar Nordbye, Richard Kerr, Daniel Barrow, Shawna Dempsey, Jeannie Thib, Ana Rewakowicz,

2006

Manon De Pauw, Hui Lin Liu, Annie MacDonell, Michele Waquant, the Loop Collective, Day Milman & Paige Gratland, William Pope.L, Amber Albrecht, Katie Dutton, Holly King, Lyne Lapointe, Logan MacDonald, Michele Peress, Brigitte Roy, Cynthia Touchette, Michel Veltkamp, Cybèle Young, Jennifer Angus, Lucie Chan

2007

Christina Battle, Larissa Fan, Gregory King, Kristiina Lahde, Renée Lear, Guy Ben-Ner, Amos Latteier, Alison Norlen, Alex Da Corte, Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby, Nick Lenker, Annie MacDonell, Allyson Mitchell, Andrea Vander Kooij, Yechel Gagnon, Deanna Bowen, Christopher Cozier, Michael Fernandes, Maud Sulter

2008

Clive Holden, Sylvie Bouchard, Bioteknica, Farrell & Parkin, Nathalie Grimard, François Morelli, Geneviève Pernin, Tanya St-Pierre, Lisa Steele & Kim Tomczak, Annie Thibault, Bill Viola

2009

Valérie Blass, Duane Linklater, Tanya Willard, Jason Lujan, Andrew Hunter, Adam David Brown, Martha Fleming/Lyne Lapointe, Inger Lise Hansen, Véronique La Perrière M., Penelope Stewart, Margaret Ulbik

2010

ATSA, RTMark, Zanny Begg, Etcétéra, Petra Gerschner, John Jordan, Numia Vila + Marcelo Expósito, Gregory Sholette, Dmitry Vilensky, Oliver Ressler, Arnaud Maggs, Andrew Silver King, Chantal Séguin, John Smith, Andrée Anne Vien, Ron Benner, Christina Battle

2011

Francis Alÿs, AREA Chicago, The Center for Land Use   Interpretation (CLUI), The Center for Urban Pedagogy   (CUP), e-Xplo, Ilana Halperin, kanarinka (Catherine D'lgnazio), Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, Lize Mogel, Multiplicity, Trevor Paglen, Raqs Media Collective, Ellen Rothenberg, Spurse, Deborah Stratman, Daniel Tucker, Alex Villar, Yin Xiuzhen

2012

Charles Stankevich