TORONTO, June 17, 2002 - The 2002 Ontario Association of Art Galleries Awards were announced and presented Monday night, June 17, 2002, in a one-hour celebration at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. Established in 1978, the OAAG Awards are the only annual juried awards to recognize excellence and significant achievement in programming and partnerships in the public art galleries of Ontario. Liz Wylie, curator, University of Toronto Art Centre, was master of ceremonies for the awards ceremony.

>Check out the list of winners

First Award Category Presented: The 2002 INCO Curatorial Writing Awards

Carolyn Vesely, Visual Arts and Media Officer, Ontario Arts Council, presented the first awards of the evening, the 2002 INCO LIMITED Curatorial Writing Awards.

William Wood, program chair of the Critical Curatorial Studies program at the University of British Columbia, was awarded a cash prize ($1000) in the Contemporary category for his essay, "How to Watch Words" in the catalogue to the exhibition Becky Singleton, published by the Art Gallery of York University in 2001. AGYU Director Loretta Yarlow received the award on the author's behalf. Wood's essay accompanied the first public gallery exhibition of Toronto artist Rebecca Singleton's work in 17 years.

Internationally-known Canadian curator Barbara Fischer, director of Blackwood Gallery in Mississauga, ON, was awarded a cash prize ($1000) in the Historical category for the book Love Gasoline published by Toronto artist-run centre Mercer Union in 2001. Love Gasoline was an exhibition about the artist's use of the body in sculpture, performance, video and photo-based works of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Toronto artist Jay Wilson, president of Mercer Union, accepted the award on Barbara Fischer's behalf.

INCO LIMITED has generously sponsored the annual curatorial writing awards for twelve consecutive years. INCO's consistent sponsorship allows the writing awards to be presented as cash prizes to the writers. Catherine O'May, INCO, was thanked during the presentation.

Second Award Category Presented: The 2002 MANACA INC. Design Awards

Canadian designer Bryan Gee, of Bruce Mau Design, Toronto, introduced the 2002 Manaca Inc. Design Awards by saying that the skills and achievements of Canadian designers in this particular field of book, poster and web site design were highly regarded around the world. Jay Richardson, Manaca Inc, was thanked during the presentation. Except where noted, all designers were in attendance to receive their awards.

Exhibition Book (32 pages and over)
Lewis Nicholson, designer, for the book Marla Hlady published by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre and The Gallery, University of Toronto at Scarborough, in 2001.

Honourable Mention
Andrew Di Rosa/SMALL Design, for a series of three exhibition books, Noisemakers, spilled edge soft corners, and Rebecca Belmore 33 pieces, published by Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga, in 2001.

Exhibition Book (32 pages and under)
Mark Timmings, Timmings and Debay, for the book Panya Clark Espinal: The Visitor, published by Oakville Galleries. (Gallery director Francine Périnet accepted the award on the designer's behalf.)

Exhibition Poster
Ron Terada, artist, for the design of the poster for the exhibition Universal Pictures 3, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga. (Toronto artist Luis Jacob received the award on the artist's behalf.)

Gallery Brochure
Clare McGoldrick, designer, for the brochure for the exhibition Greg Denton: "anyone lived...," Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph.

Gallery Web site
Art Gallery of Ontario, for the Web site re-design of www.ago.net. Project team: Ian Rubenzahl, Creative Direction; James Cordiner, Web Development; Zoubin Zarin, Flash Programming.

Third Award Category Presented: Exhibition of the Year

Toronto gallery dealer Susan Hobbs presented the award for 2002 Exhibition of the Year to Museopathy. Originated by Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, ON, June 23-September 9, 2001, Jennifer Fisher and Jim Drobnick / Display Cult, Guest Curators, Jan Allen, Coordinating Curator.

Jan Allen, Curator, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, accepted the award. The award jury found that Museopathy was an innovative, multi-site exhibition of regional, national and international artists' installations and rare and remarkable objects in eleven of Kingston's highly diverse museums and heritage sites. The exhibition involved an extended research phase for the curators, since advance site visits to Kingston were required by participating regional, national and international artists. The exhibition successfully mingled distinct audiences for historical sites and contemporary art.

Fourth Award Presented: The 2002 Educators Award

Toronto-based arts writer Tony Luppino presented the 2002 Educators Award to the Art Gallery of Ontario for an innovative youth-directed, after-school and weekend program for teens aged 14 to 17 called Teens Behind the Scenes 2001.

Developed by a nine-person advisory committee to provide enriched art education opportunities, Teens Behind the Scenes directly involved over 350 students from widely diverse cultural, economic and social experiences in Art Gallery of Ontario programs presented to over 1000 other young people.

Teens Behind the Scenes 2001 was originated by Melanie Fernandez and Janna Graham; developed by Janna Graham; and delivered by Janna Graham, Mara Shaugnessy and Jane Hilton in collaboration with the AGO's teen council. In front of a cheering audience, Jana Graham received the award with six young participants from the program.

Fifth Award Presented: The Samuel E. Weir Partners Award

Margaret Ferguson, President of the Weir Foundation in Queenston ON, presented the newly-named Samuel E. Weir Partners Award. This juried award is presented to a business, foundation or individual having made a highly significant contribution to a public art gallery in Ontario in the preceding year.

The 2002 Samuel E. Weir Partners Award was presented to Toronto-area company:

ecentricarts inc.
for their major contribution to the innovative and collaborative Web-based project Art2Life: The Canadian Century, www.art2life.ca , organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON, and the York Region District School Board and launched in September 2001.

Keith Durrant and Sean Kosey accepted the award on behalf of ecentricarts inc. Also speaking were McMichael executive director and CEO Vincent Varga and creative director Shelley Falconer.

The Partners Award is presented in the name of Samuel E. Weir, a Queenston-area collector and philanthropist whose estate, art collection and library now forms OAAG's member organization RiverBrink-Weir Collection of Art.

Final Award Category: 2002 Volunteer Award

Newly-elected OAAG President Dennis Geden, director of WKP Kennedy Gallery in North Bay, announced that the juried 2002 Volunteer Award, which recognizes exemplary contributions by an individual as a volunteer in a public art gallery throughout 2001, would be shared this year by two volunteers in the province:

Eve Baxter for extraordinary service to the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound and Joan Lozinski for outstanding volunteer service to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

Matthew Teitelbaum, director, Art Gallery of Ontario, presented the award to Joan Lozinski, and spoke warmly of her significant contributions as Chair of the Curators' Circle Committee and organizing member of the 100th Anniversary Gala Committee.

Volunteer Eve Baxter was unable to attend the Awards from Owen Sound, but Demetra Christakos, executive director, OAAG, read the presentation address provided by Stuart Reid, Director, of the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. Eve Baxter was praised for her leadership as Chair of the gallery's Management Board and Acquisitions Committee. Eve Baxter also facilitated the establishment of an Endowment Fund safeguarding the legacy of the gallery founded in the memory of Tom Thomson in his hometown for future generations.

Presentation of OAAG Pin

The 2002 OAAG Awards concluded at 7:15 pm with the presentation of the silver OAAG pin of merit to Liz Wylie, retiring as president of the Board. Dennis Geden thanked Liz Wylie for her steady, positive leadership and unswerving voluntary commitment to the Association over the preceding years.

The 2002 OAAG Awards Jurors
Debbie Adams, principal designer, Adams + Associates
Janice Carbert, director, Open Studio
Teresa Casas, head of public programming, Oakville Galleries
Petra Chevrier, designer, Bruce Mau Design
Natalie De Vito, director of administration, Mercer Union
Kathleen Pirrie Adams, director, Interaccess Electronic Media Arts
Jenifer Papararo, curator
Eileen Sommerman, editor, C Magazine

OAAG thanks our Awards partners: A La Carte Kitchen Inc., INCO LIMITED, Lisa Kiss Design, MANACA Inc., and The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre for generous use-of-facilities.