We’re thrilled to share that the OAG made a number of exciting purchases in 2020!

Focused on the work of historical and contemporary artists who have contributed to the artistic life of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, our Permanent Collection is an essential part of OAG’s activities. We are excited to share our 2020 acquisitions with you in the coming weeks, and the ways in which these works help to enrich our Collection. 

OAG purchased ten photographs by Ottawa-based Inuk artist Barry Pottle, with the support of the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, a program of the Gordon Foundation and administrated by the Ontario Arts Foundation. As the first works by Pottle to enter OAG’s collection, this selection of photographs includes images from his Syllabic, Our Community, and Awareness series, among others, and is representative of Pottle’s practice, which explores the uniqueness of the urban Inuit community.

With the generous support of the Stonecroft Foundation, we also completed the purchase of Anishnābe (Algonquin) artist Tony Amikons’ Thunderbird [Onimikì Pineshì], a pen and marker drawing shown in our inaugural exhibition and the first work by an artist from Pikwakanagan First Nation to join the OAG’s collection.

Finally, two whimsical drawings by senior artist Russell Yuristy were also purchased with the support of the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program. Featuring fantastical scenes and animal subjects, these works are from a series of daily drawings Yuristy made in Saskatchewan in the 1970s and helped form the basis of his 2020 OAG exhibition Russell Yursity: The Inside of Elephants and All Kinds of Things. They mark the first in a series of fourteen drawings from this exhibition that will eventually be added to our Collection, with the twelve remaining drawings generously donated by the artist.