CURATORIAL CLINIC

What is a Curatorial Clinic? According to the Power Plant Gallery in Toronto, it is an informal opportunity to discuss one's work with members of the Curatorial Team, and not an evaluation or appraisal service. Members of that gallery can make a fifteen-minute appointment on Fridays. I was inspired to take-up this opportunity when recently Toronto Art Critic, Andrea Carson in her blog, View on Canadian Art - VoCA referred to me as an excellent artist doing lovely, sensitive work about place and memory, but who was "off-the-radar".

Preparing for this type of brief presentation forces the selection of visuals and quick explanations for inevitable questions from the curatorial team. The fifteen-minute time constraint could have been bumped to thirty. However, with everyone around the table being art junkies, a time constraint is necessary. From the perspective of the the artist, its an opportunity to listen to informal response by gallery's curatorial leadership and support. Based on this experience, I would recommend the Ottawa Art Gallery provide curatorial clinics for their artist members.