Contemporary Calgary, Western Canada’s buzziest public contemporary art gallery located in the city’s former Centennial Planetarium, opened its doors after hours for their annual fundraiser, LOOK. More than $1-million was raised, a record-breaking sum for the event, which raises money for the gallery’s operations, public programs and exhibitions. New this year was Rogers Communications, which signed on as presenting sponsor (chairman Edward Rogers was there with his wife Suzanne, who served as an honorary chair). Nothing else for the event’s 2023 edition felt particularly new, and that’s great news, as this gathering is one of the most fun on the spring social calendar. There’s a lengthy cocktail hour to preview an impressive lineup of works to be auctioned, a zippy dinner, complete with a fashion show and drag performances orchestrated by LOOK maestro Kelly Streit, who returned as chair of the gala and serves on the organization’s board. Later, the auction (helmed by Brett Sherlock of Christie’s, sponsored by Heather Bala Edwards and supported by Ryan Green) got under way and with paddles flying, raised a princely sum for the cause. John Lacey, an oil and gas entrepreneur and philanthropist, made an unprecedented donation, not of funds but rather a work on canvas by Jean-Paul Riopelle titled Vespérales,which sold for $250,000 at the auction. Later, young patrons joined in the festivities, flooding the gallery’s spaces for the after party, where DJs spun and more art-full fun was on offer. There among those at LOOK: vice-chairs Kim Berjian and Elizabeth Middleton; guest of honour Jean Grand-Maître, artistic director of Alberta Ballet; honorary chairs including artist Robert Houle, filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, and makeup artist Hung Vanngo; model and actor Tricia Helfer; Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek; Kanika Anand, the gallery’s associate curator, and of course, David Leinster, CEO, Contemporary Calgary.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Moonlight Gala, Kleinburg, Ont., May 27
By night’s end, $630,000 had been raised at the latest edition of Moonlight Gala, the annual summer-timed fundraiser for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Located north of Toronto in the town of Kleinburg, the gallery is home to works by Canadian artists, with a 7,000-piece permanent collection including works by historic and contemporary Canadian artists, including Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. As of late, a slew of exciting blockbuster exhibitions have placed historic works in dialogue with those more contemporary, and also solo shows of contemporary works such as Sandra Meigs: Sublime Rage, featuring work inspired by the wilds of Ontario, which guests at the gala previewed. The Moonlight Gala is timed to highlight the gallery’s new summer exhibitions and its environment, some 100 lush acres, when it’s looking its best. More than 600 attended this year, and in lieu of a formal seated dinner, there was food passed, drinks and a chance to wander through the gardens and gallery after hours. Funds raised from the gathering will support the gallery’s permanent collection and the development of educational programs for children and youth. Philanthropists Joanand Martin Goldfarb served as honorary chairs for the evening, and among those out under the stars were gala co-chairs Debra Fenwick and Laura Mirabella (who both serve on McMichael boards); honorary patron Steven Del Duca, Mayor of Vaughan; Andrew W. Dunn, Canadian Shield Capital founder and chair of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, with his wife Christine; arts patron W. Bruce C. Bailey; First Nations chef and author David Wolfman; and, of course, the gallery’s chief curator Sarah Milroy and its executive director Ian A.C. Dejardin.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
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