Guest columnist Savannah Anderson tours the CBU Art Gallery’s new collection website.
Viewers able to browse artwork by artist, medium, date and style
When you make a visit to Cape Breton University you will notice various artwork on display throughout the campus. These pieces represent a small portion of the 2,200 artworks that make up the CBU Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
One of CBU Art Gallery’s mandates is to preserve these artworks for future generations.
Although the gallery exhibits at least one collection-based exhibition every two years, the vast majority of the collection is kept in storage and is rarely seen by the public.
The collection contains works that were created by many culturally significant and internationally recognized artists, including locally based artists who have helped to shape the artistic identity of Cape Breton Island.
The CBU Art Gallery has received many requests to make the permanent collection more visible to the general public.
Fortunately the gallery has reached a major milestone with the creation of a new online viewing platform.
In 2009, former gallery curator Laura Schneider began the long process of organizing and digitizing paper records. Former collections technician, Graham Iddon photographed the vast majority of the collection and intern and resident ‘art-detective’ Julie Martin created
a comprehensive digital inventory.
Intern Kayla Cormier continued the process of updating
collection records and current collections manager John Mathews continues to monitor and ensure the safe keeping of
artwork. Former gallery curator Karie Liao secured the funding and organized the resources for developing the collection website.
Thanks to this dedicated team of employees, the collection can now be viewed on a new website.
With this foundation work completed, as the latest collections intern, I was able to oversee the building and design for the new data management system and public website.
Virtually sharing the entire contents of the permanent collection with the public is a huge feat for the gallery and we are very excited to do so.
This project was made possible through a grant from the One-time Emerging Culture and Heritage Initiatives Program, a Support 4 Culture program.
This new website will allow viewers to browse artwork by artist, medium, date and style.
I would recommend the special topics page as the best place to start exploring the collection website. Here you will find images of past collection-based exhibitions and detailed information about the artworks.
We hope that visitors will enjoy the new collection website.
The Cape Breton University Art Gallery will hold a launch party for its new permanent collection website on Tuesday, March 28 from 12-1 p.m., in the Sydney Credit Union Room in the Great Hall on the CBU campus.
An informal tutorial for the new website will be given at the event, followed by a walk and talk with the newly reinstalled Lewis Parker Murals, which were commissioned by CBU in the 1980s and depict the last 600 years of Cape Breton history.
Complimentary refreshments will be served and visitors will have the chance to explore the new website and ask questions. We hope to see you there.
CBU Art Gallery’s new collection website can be found at www.cbuagcollection.ca.