New Curator named for the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba

After a national search, the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba is excited to announce the appointment of Lucie Lederhendler as the gallery’s new Curator.

Lucie Lederhendler is a Montreal-based writer, curator, and artist. Her research pursues the question of what role an art practice can have in building mythologies that foster connections with the material and immaterial of the non-human world.

“We are delighted to welcome Lucie to the AGSM and to the community here in Brandon (MB) said Deirdre Chisholm, Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. “Lucie brings great insight and passion to the gallery, that I am confident -will build on our momentum to support the spirit of radical experimentation as set out in our Strategic Plan. She has a subtle and insightful understanding of community-based artistic practices and an accessible and open demeanour. I am very excited to collaborate with her and to see the direction it will take the gallery in the future”

.Lucie Lederhendler is committed to a collaborative framework that expands the ways in which communities engage with contemporary art, most recently as the curator of Studio Beluga.Integral to Lederhendler’s deeply local, community-based approach prioritizes voices from diverse and historically underrepresented audiences.

Lederhendler has held education positions at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Concordia University’s FOFA Gallery, and McGill University. She has also been involved in advisory boards for social enterprises and artist run centres, including for the Montreal International Fringe Festival, Mainline Theatre, Mainline Gallery, and the Suspicious Fish After School Literacy Programme.

Lucie Lederhendler holds a BA, Art History, from McGill University (2005) and an MA, Art Education from Concordia University (2019). She has presented her transdisciplinary projects internationally, has been published in Canadian Art Teacherand Quebec Heritagemagazines, and her graduate research is included in the most recent issue of the journal Leonardo.

“As much as I am looking forward to becoming a friend and collaborator with the AGSM, I am even more excited to get to know the communities that it serves. I am gratified to be joining a gallery with a radical vision of inclusion, and a willingness to experiment and evolve. Its deep connection to the land and its histories appeals to my love for the environment. My process is going to start with a dialogue with you, and so I am very eager to be a guest and a host in my new home.” -Lucie Lederhendler

Lederhendler will be welcomed to the community mid-January (2021) at the forthcoming opening reception for A Prairie Vernacular.

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