The OAAG Awards 2012

Ontario visual arts awards announces nominees and special guests

The Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) announces its landmark 35th annual Ontario visual arts awards on Friday, September 21 at 6 p.m. at the Great Hall at the University of Toronto’s Hart House.

Hélène Joy, an award-winning actress whose roles include playing Dr. Julia Ogden on CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries, and Thom Ernst, the host and producer of TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies, will help present the OAAG Awards.

Thirty-two visual art galleries from 19 cities across Ontario are nominated this year.

The OAAG Awards recognize artistic merit and excellence in nine major categories: Exhibition, Curatorial and Art Writing, Public Program, Education, Art Publication, Design, Partnership, Colleague and Volunteer. The Awards are an annual, juried program.

“It’s astounding how much high quality work is produced in the visual arts sector each year. The OAAG Awards acknowledge and support work that could otherwise be overlooked,” says Olinda Casimiro, President of OAAG’s Board of Directors.

She adds, “The OAAG Awards ceremony has become a place visual arts professionals want to be. Highly distinguished and emerging visual arts professionals from across Ontario come to celebrate the year’s achievement in our dynamic public art galleries.”

The OAAG Awards program is one of the most comprehensive and best known among Ontario’s sectoral art awards, according to the 2009 third-party OAAG Program and Communications Review.

The awards reception and ceremony are free and open to the public. Last year, the venue was filled to capacity with 150 guests.

This year’s OAAG Awards ceremony is preceded by a joint public reception by OAAG and Justina M. Barnicke Gallery from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Hart House. Justina M. Barnicke Gallery is presenting the exhibition Blue Cloud: Jack Bush & Ohotaq Mikkigak, curated by Nancy Campbell.

OAAG is a registered charitable organization that serves and represents Ontario’s dynamic public art galleries as valued and essential centres of art and learning. OAAG recognizes annual operating support for this initiative from its members, the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

RSVP oaag@oaag.org 416-598-0714

Nominated Galleries
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
Art Gallery of Hamilton
Art Gallery of Mississauga
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Art Gallery of Peterborough
Art Gallery of York University, Toronto
Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga
Cambridge Galleries
Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa
Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough
Durham Art Gallery
Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Toronto
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie
McIntosh Gallery, London
McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton
Museum London
Oakville Galleries
Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives, Brampton
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto
Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
Rodman Hall Art Centre / Brock University, St. Catharines
Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto
Thames Art Gallery, Chatham
Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound
University of Toronto Art Centre
Vtape, Toronto
Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Unionville
York University Art History Graduate Students' Association, Toronto

Presenters

Hélène Joy, a native of Perth, Australia, trained at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Her early career began on the stage touring Australia-wide in various roles with the Sydney Bell Shakespeare Theatre Co. Joy then went on to play such classic roles as Juliet, Ophelia and Lady Macbeth for the Melbourne Theatre Company. Joy stars in the award winning CBC series The Murdoch Mysteries now in its sixth season. Audiences may also recognize her from her starring role in HBO’s Durham County for which she won a 2008 Gemini for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role. Joy was nominated again for the same award in 2010 and for the Outstanding Actress Golden Nymph award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival in 2011 and 2012. Most audiences remember Hélène from her two seasons on the hilarious CBC comedy series An American in Canada, starring opposite Rick Roberts. Along with her fellow cast, Joy was nominated for her first Gemini, Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series. Joy continues to lend her talents to numerous film and television projects, most recently starring in At The Bottom Of The Hill, a short film by Vanya Rose. She is also the voice in a number of television animation series in Canada, Australia and the UK. In 2005, Joy won a Leo Award for Best Lead Performance by a Female for Feature Length Drama for her performance in Desolation Sound. Joy is soon to be seen on stage with The Company Theatre in the Canadian Premiere of the award winning Australian play Speaking In Tongues.

Thom Ernst is the producer and host of Saturday Night at the Movies. He is also a playwright, a freelance writer, a film columnist and an on-air critic. Ernst covered 15 years of the Toronto International Film Festival and has appeared as a regular film critic and commentator on TVO's More to Life, Studio 2 and The Agenda with Steve Paikin. He was also the on-air film reviewer for CBC's Play with Jian Ghomeshi. Ernst wrote and co-produced the short film, Rosa's Time, which appeared at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto Short Film Festival and the Edmonton Film Festival. Ernst has a bi-weekly column in Toromagazine.com where he covers film and does in-depth one-on-one interviews with filmmakers, screenwriters, actors and authors.

Sponsors

Gold: Art Toronto, Creativ Festival, Flash Reproductions, The Globe and Mail, Hart House (University of Toronto)

Silver: Elgin Picture & Frame Inc.

Bronze: CARFAC Ontario, Gallery Express, OCAD University, Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Museumpros Art Services Inc., Stephen Bulger Gallery, University of Guelph

In-Kind: C Magazine, Canadian Institute of Floral Design, Cineplex Entertainment, Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, SLATE Art Guide

Design by Donderdag

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Media Information
Veronica Quach
Communications and Events Coordinator
communications@oaag.org 416-598-0714
www.oaag.org