I was never much of an “art connoisseur”, despite my growing respect and admiration for the visual arts. This week, however, I decided to take it upon myself to get a little more educated. On Thursday, I had made my way back downtown to Beaverbrook Art Gallery, where I had the chance to meet with Terry Graff, the curator of the gallery. I arrived quite a bit early because of my drive, so I took a walk through the gallery beforehand. Having never been inside the gallery, it was quite an experience. Beautiful pieces of artwork in each exhibition, coupled with antique furniture, tapestries, and dishes (along with some paintings from children aged 10 and 11 downstairs).

When I met up with Terry, we first discussed the Masterworks exhibition. The exhibition, on tour with 75 of the favourite pieces of Beaverbrook’s collection, is a North American tour over the span of 3 years, currently residing in Palm Beach, Florida’s Society of the Four Arts until March 30th. Terry said that it was a long, complex project, and it was especially a struggle moving Salvador Dali’s piece, Santiago El Grande, as it barely fits on the moving truck. This is only the second time the piece has left the gallery in 50 years.  Terry’s plan was to share the collection with the rest of North America, and after doing extensive research on Beaverbrook himself (and his motivations for beginning the gallery), the result was the Masterworks book and the tour.

Following the Masterworks discussion, we spoke of one of the popular exhibitions that is currently in the Gallery. The Fabric of Her Life, stunning fabric art by Charlotte Glencross, was an absolutely amazing exhibition to see. Charlotte was a large part of the art community in Fredericton, and her death was terribly sad for many.  She was very well liked and known; however, very few people knew of the artwork that she, herself, was producing. Upon her death, her family offered to give many of the pieces to Beaverbrook Art Gallery, where they are currently paying tribute to her life – even recreating her workspace with the combination of her loom (used for weaving) brought into the gallery, featuring stunning textile work of linen, cotton, and wool.

The other exhibitions currently part of the program include Art Treasures of New Brunswick and Dreams of Order at the Edge of Chaos: Contemporary Geometric Abstraction.

When asked to define the current program, Terry said that the three words he would use to describe it were “collaboration, community, and collection”. His excitement about the current exhibitions and the Masterworks tour was beautiful, and speaking with him was an adventure in itself. Walking through the gallery with him and discussing some of the pieces is an experience I will never forget, and I hope to cover more of Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s programs in the future.