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Canadian Art

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Vacation Visits: Cross-Canada Shows to Catch During the Break

Across Canada Holiday 2008
Diana Thorneycroft's  <i>Group of Seven Awkward Moments - Winter on the Don</I>  is part of
Diana Thorneycroft's Group of Seven Awkward Moments - Winter on the Don is part of "Arena: The Art of Hockey" on at the Art Gallery of Alberta to January 4.

Diana Thorneycroft's Group of Seven Awkward Moments - Winter on the Don is part of "Arena: The Art of Hockey" on at the Art Gallery of Alberta to January 4.



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Too cold to toboggan, but too cabin-feverish to stay home? Many miss their usual out-of-the-house art fix when commercial galleries take a breather in late December. Fortunately, the holiday break’s a great time to check out museum shows. Here’s Canadian Art’s suggested vacation visits from the west coast to the east.

Vancouver: “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution” is a must-see at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the holiday season is one of the last chances to take it in: the show closes January 11. (It's also the only Canadian stop for the show, as well as its final North American venue.) As a bonus, the VAG is hosting the first Canadian exhibition of German artist Kai Althoff. The museum is open every day of the break, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day included.

Edmonton: In a season ripe with spirit and storytelling, “Imagining Science” takes a bit of a harder edge. The exhibition, on at the Art Gallery of Alberta to February 9, features 10 internationally recognized artists riffing on genetics and biotechnology. (Just the thing to get a holiday-lazed brain working again.) On a more family-friendly front, the exhibition “Arena: The Art of Hockey” circulated by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia runs to January 4. The gallery is closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but open otherwise.

Winnipeg: The Winnipeg Art Gallery is hosting two interesting photography shows over the holiday period. “Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen,” organized by Minneapolis’s Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, features witty landscape–self-portrait hybrids by the Finnish-born, Massachusetts-based artist; there’s tinges of both Erwin Wurm and Ansel Adams. On a more down-to-earth tack, “Sheila Spence: Pictures of Me,” looks at the extensive, activism-oriented portraiture practice of a longtime Winnipeg artist. The gallery is open all days except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Toronto: Whether you’re looking for massive paintings or mini multiples, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art has it—but only until December 28. That’s when the contemporary painting survey “Carte Blanche” and touring archive exhibition “Art Metropole: The Top 100” close up. If you miss that, there’s still lots to see at the recently revamped Art Gallery of Ontario—one of our top 10 picks for 2008—which is open every day except for December 25.

Montreal: As fall 2008 fades into memory, so does the “Art Rocks in Montreal” promotion dreamed up to celebrate the convergence of three music-themed art shows: “Warhol Live” at the Musée des beaux arts de Montréal to January 18; “Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967” at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal to January 11; and “Christian Marclay: Replay” at the DHC/ART Foundation to March 29. If you’ve missed the first two, now’s the time to see them. Both the MBAM and MCAM are open all days except for Christmas Day, December 29, and New Year’s Day.

Halifax: At the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, it’s the ideal time to see well-reviewed and well-travelled Joe Fafard exhibition, which is circulated by the National Gallery of Canada and the MacKenzie Art Gallery. For those with vacations on the brain, the group show “Flight Dreams” could likely fit the bill. It matches both historical and contemporary artists in a look at air travel. (There’s even some work from Alexander Graham Bell to see before the show wraps March 1.) The gallery is closed December 24, 25 and 26, as well as January 1, but open all other days.

This article was first published online on December 24, 2008.

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