Art Gallery of Alberta
Alberta's main public art museum, wrapped in a steel ribbon on Sir Winston Churchill Square.
The Art Gallery of Alberta began in 1924 as the Edmonton Museum of Arts and is the oldest institution in the province devoted to the visual arts. Its collection holds roughly 6,000 works, with particular depth in historical and contemporary art from Alberta and the rest of Canada, alongside international prints, drawings and photographs. The gallery mounts a large number of concurrent exhibitions across its floors, mixing collection displays, commissions by Alberta artists and touring shows, and runs studio programmes, talks and family activities.
The gallery's home on Sir Winston Churchill Square was rebuilt between 2007 and 2010 to a design by the Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, who had worked in Frank Gehry's office. Stout retained the concrete structure of the 1969 Edmonton Art Gallery by Don Bittorf and wrapped it in zinc, glass and a curving stainless-steel ribbon known as the Borealis, intended to suggest the northern lights and the North Saskatchewan River. The building reopened in January 2010 and includes a rooftop terrace and a top-floor events space.
Highlights
- Randall Stout's curving stainless-steel Borealis ribbon
- Collection of about 6,000 works, strong in Alberta art
- Several exhibitions running at once across three floors
- Ledcor Theatre and studio spaces for talks and workshops
