The Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery is not closing

Consider this a hand stopping the rumour mill’s crank: The Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery is not going anywhere. Despite whispers in the visual art scene that the space was finished with the ending of longtime curator Robin Metcalfe’s 17-year-tenure, a university spokesperson tells The Coast via email that the gallery is alive and well.

In fact, the space is looking for a new curator while exhibiting a new installation in its gallery window, thanks very much. The university is working with an outside firm to find the new candidate, the spokesperson says, adding that because of Covid no official job posting has been listed yet.

The gallery—located in the first floor of the university’s Loyola Building, at 5865 Gorsebrook Avenue—focuses on the work of contemporary Canadian artists and has a permanent collection of 2,000 works. Past shows by the gallery have ranged from work by the Sobey Art Award-winning artist Ursula Johnson to retrospectives of Soviet propaganda. Currently, you can view a site-specific installation in the gallery’s window by artist Frankie Macaulay, whose re-using and re-imagining of cardboard boxes creates a starkly geometric landscape. The work is on view to those allowed on campus until mid-April.