View art selections from the Gallery's permanent collection online. Learn more >

Tom Thomson, Untitled, 1917, oil on canvas, 33 x 40 cm. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Young, 1995.

KW|AG has been innovative in its use of the permanent collection by creating community partnerships with cross-disciplinary venues such as the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Princess Cinema and the Registry Theatre. By placing works from the collection outside the gallery and into alternate spaces, or in conjunction with live events, a new and diverse audience has been reached. Combined with loans to exhibiting institutions Elora Centre for the Arts, Castle Kilbride, Homer Watson House and Gallery and the Children's Museum a total of 120 Permanent Collection works are seen at diverse sites throughout the region.

KW|AG continues to incorporate works from the permanent collection into exhibitions with unique curatorial contexts. These efforts provide a framework to highlight selections of contemporary and historical works from the collection on an ongoing basis for regular visitors and school tours. Collection pieces were showcased alongside student artwork in Expressions, reinforcing parallel themes and subjects between established artists and beginners. The year-long exhibition Flatland: Work from the Permanent Collection included 18 works, some of which were shown for the first time since their acquisition.

Laura Muntz Lyall, Untitled, 1887, oil on canvas, 107 x 79 cm. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Gift of Mr. Gibson Pirie, 1980.

Through Collection X, an online ArtsAccess project initiated by the Art Gallery of Ontario, over 100 of KW|AG's permanent collection images were made available for viewing along with contributions from other institutions and from the public. This website encourages the public to "connect, collect, create", allowing them to upload their own works, view the extensive bank of images, generate online exhibitions with their own curatorial contexts and discuss ideas about art with others in the Collection X community. In utilizing ubiquitous media such as the internet, we anticipate the collection stimulating a climate of appreciation, interest and recognition of public ownership in the visual art heritage of the Region.

If you have any questions about the Gallery's permanent collection or would like to request a tour, contact collection@kwag.on.ca.

 

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