News Releases - 2007
Steven Loft to be first Aboriginal curator-in-residence at the National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, October 11, 2007 – The Canada Council for the Arts and the National Gallery of Canada announced today that Winnipeg curator Steven Loft, will be the first to benefit from the pilot project that will provide him with a two-year residency at the National Gallery of Canada. Mr. Loft will begin his residency in December 2007.
This partnership initiative between the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Gallery provides a two-year development opportunity for a mid-career Aboriginal curator to work at the Gallery. The residency will focus on the study and use of the Gallery’s collections under the supervision and with the help of its professional staff. In addition to research and assistance on the collections, the curatorial resident will prepare, over the course of the two-year residency period, an exhibition for the Gallery’s On Tour program. The residency will take place from December 2007 to December 2009.
Steven Loft
Steven Loft is a Mohawk of the Six Nations. Born in Hamilton, he studied at McMaster University and Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology. He is a curator, writer and media artist. Since 2002, he has been the Director of the Urban Shaman Gallery (Winnipeg), Canada’s largest Aboriginal artist run centre. Prior to this, Mr. Loft was First Nations Curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Artistic Director of the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association.
He has curated gallery exhibitions, programmed media arts festivals and written extensively on Aboriginal art. His video works have been screened at festivals and galleries across Canada and internationally. He has written articles, essays and reviews on Aboriginal art and aesthetics for magazines, catalogues and arts publications. Recently, Mr. Loft co-edited Transference, Technology, Tradition: Aboriginal Media and New Media Art, published by the Banff Centre Press.
General information
For more information about this program and to receive an application form contact Jim Logan, Visual Arts program officer at the Canada Council for the Arts, at 1‑800‑263-5588, ext.5266, or at jim.logan@canadacouncil.ca.