Darlene Coward Wight | |
---|---|
Born | Darlene Coward 1948 (age 74–75) Picton, Ontario, Canada |
Education | Peterborough Teachers' College (1967-1968); Carleton University, B.A. Art Hist. (with honors) (1978), M.A. (with distinction) (1980) |
Known for | world expert in Inuit art |
Spouse | Roger Wight |
Darlene Coward Wight (born 1948) is a Canadian art historian who has been Curator of Inuit art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) since 1986.
Darlene Wight was born in Picton, Ontario and attended Peterborough Teachers' College (1967-1968); Carleton University, Ottawa, where she received her B.A. in Art History (with honors) in 1978, and her M.A. (with distinction), in 1980. She worked at Carleton U as a teaching assistant in art history (1978-1979), then as the fine arts curator for Canadian Arctic Producers, Ottawa (1981-1984) and as an independent curator and researcher, Ottawa (1983-1986). She was hired by the Winnipeg Art Gallery as associate curator of Inuit art (1986-1998), and became curator in 1998. [1]
Wight helped make the Inuit Collection at WAG become more representative, geographically and chronologically. By 2013, after she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Manitoba (2012), [2] the WAG was said to have the largest collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world, or half of its permanent collection. [3] The gallery had collected Inuit art since 1957, initially, in part, due to Winnipeg’s business dealings with the Arctic, [4] that is the city's historical status as a trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). [5] Since 1972, there has been a full-time curator at the gallery for this collection. [6] As the first curator of Inuit art, Jean Blodgett developed the gallery’s Inuit art collection, producing solo and group exhibitions with many catalogue publications. [5]
Under Wight’s stewardship, major developments in Inuit art were defined and the collection doubled in size. [7] She co-authored the story of contemporary Inuit art of Canada in the book catalogue which she edited for her major survey exhibition, Creation and Transformation: Defining Moments in Inuit Art (2014) which drew on 250 pieces from the gallery’s collection and was co-published by the gallery and Douglas & McIntyre. It received the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction from the Manitoba Writers Guild (2013) [8] and Goodreads gave it four out of five stars. [9] She also authored the on-line book Oviloo Tunnille: Life and Work available at https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/oviloo-tunnillie.
Among the close to 100 exhibitions she coordinated and/or curated, Wight organized for the Winnipeg Art Gallery such major exhibitions as Out of Tradition, a 1989 exhibition of carvings by the brothers Abraham Anghik and David Ruben Piqtoukun. [10] She has been a regular contributor to Inuit Art Quarterly and has authored about 50 articles, papers and invited lectures. [2] She has given lectures on Inuit art across Canada and the U.S. [3]
The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collection of Inuit art. In addition to exhibits for its collection, the museum has organized and hosted a number of travelling arts exhibitions. Its building complex consists of a main building that includes 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft) of indoor space and the adjacent 3,700-square-metre (40,000 sq ft) Qaumajuq building.
Wanda Koop is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Cliff Eyland was a Canadian painter, writer and curator.
David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ is an Inuvialuk (Inuit) artist from Paulatuk, Northwest Territories.
Germaine Arnaktauyok is an Inuk printmaker, painter, and drawer originating from the Igloolik area of Nunavut, then the Northwest Territories. Arnaktauyok drew at an early age with any source of paper she could find.
Ningiukulu (Ningeokuluk) Teevee is a Canadian Inuit writer and visual artist.
Ingo D. W. Hessel is a Canadian art historian and curator specializing in Inuit Art. The author of Inuit Art: An Introduction, Hessel has curated exhibitions for the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.
Aganetha Dyck is a Canadian sculptor residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dyck is best known for her work with live honeybees, that build honeycomb on objects that she introduces to honeybee hives. In 2007 Dyck was awarded both Manitoba's Arts Award of Distinction and Canada's Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Sherry Farrell Racette is a Métis-Canadian feminist scholar, author, curator, and artist. She is best known for her contributions to Indigenous and Canadian art histories. She is currently an associate professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina.
Michelle LaVallee is a Canadian curator, artist, and educator. She is Ojibway and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ontario. She has BFA (2000) and BEd (2004) degrees from York University in Toronto.
Diane Whitehouse is a Canadian painter, professor and art activist.
Ovilu (Oviloo) Tunnillie was born at Kangia, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories and was an Inuit sculptor. Her carvings served as her commentary on both traditional and changing contemporary Inuit culture. She was one of the first Inuit artists to work with an autobiographical theme.
Ulayu Pingwartok was a Canadian Inuk artist known for drawings of domestic scenes and nature.
Heather L. Igloliorte is an Inuk scholar, independent curator and art historian from Nunatsiavut.
Elisapee Ishulutaq was a self-taught Inuit artist, specialising in drawing and printmaking. Ishulutaq participated in the rise of print and tapestry making in Pangnirtung and was a co-founder of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts, which is both an economic and cultural mainstay in Pangnirtung. Ishulutaq was also a community elder in the town of Pangnirtung. Ishulutaq's work has been shown in numerous institutions, including the Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada.
Abraham Anghik Ruben is a sculptor of partly Alaskan Native ancestry. Ruben was born south of the hamlet of Paulatuk in the Inuvik Region east of the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1951.
Bernadette Iguptark Tongelik (1931-1980) was an Inuk artist known for her sculptural works. Tongelik was born in Wager Bay, Northwest Territories and died in Repulse Bay (Naujaat), Northwest Territories, both of which are now part of Nunavut.
Mary Qayuaryuk, also known as Kudjuakjuk, was an Inuit printmaker and midwife. She settled in Cape Dorset in 1966 after living off the land. She was the first woman elected to the Cape Dorset Community Council and between 1966 and 1982 she worked with the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. She was married to Kopapik "A" and three of her daughters also became artists, Qaunaq Mikkigak, Sheokjuke Toonoo, and Laisa Qayuaryuk.
Sakkiassee Anaija (1913–1980) was an Inuit artist. Anaija was known for his carvings in whalebone, antler, stone and ivory. Anaija was born in the Netsilik territory of the Northwest Territories.
William H. Lobchuk, known as Bill Lobchuk was one of the first people in Canada to found a printshop which made printmaking facilities available to contemporary artists. In 1968 he opened the Screen Shop at 50 Princess Street in Winnipeg with partner Len Anthony, which led to the founding of The Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop in 1973. It was the first print shop of its kind in Western Canada and a focus of printmaking production and distribution for artists, both in the Prairies and Canada-wide.