Windsor's premier art gallery is marking a huge milestone with two exhibitions.
The Art Gallery of Windsor is launching the exhibitions Friday night as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. One is focused on the AGW's collection at the gallery's 75th birthday, the other concentrates on the contributions of one of the gallery's biggest advocates.
The launch of the exhibits is part of the AGW's Fridays Live! series, which features the unveiling of different exhibits throughout the course of the year.
The AGW's mission to showcase contemporary Canadian visual media is the focus of the exhibit Look Again! The AGW Collection at 75 Years. This exhibition celebrates the historical collections leading to the 20th century, and features many favourites from the collection displayed through the years, from artists like Emily Carr, Prudence Howard and members of the Group of Seven, which consisted of seven Canadian landscape painters who were active between 1920 and 1933.
The 75th anniversary exhibition also will feature pieces depicting Indigenous histories, particularly in the Great Lakes basin, from artists like Bonnie Devine, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig and Angus Trudeau.
The second exhibit opening Friday is Kenneth Saltmarche: Dedicated Visions. The Welsh-born Saltmarche moved to Canada in 1924 and died in 2003. He became the AGW's director of operations in 1946, and its director in 1960. Over a 40-year-span, Saltmarche worked to promote visual art in Windsor, and produced pieces spanning a series of genres, according to his entry in the Famous Windsorites database at the Windsor Public Library.
The AGW was established in 1943 and for many years was run out of historic Willistead Manor. After outgrowing the space, the gallery moved in the early 1970s to the former Carling brewery warehouse on Riverside Drive West. That location would eventually house the temporary Casino Windsor and be torn down, with a new AGW opening on the site in 2001.
The 75th anniversary kickoff runs Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the AGW, located on Riverside Drive West and Church Street. The event will feature refreshments and live music. Tickets are free for AGW members and $15 each for non-members. Complete information on the exhibitions is available on the official AGW website.