Art Gallery of Alberta

The museum was established in 1924 as the Edmonton Museum of Arts, with a mandate to promote fine arts, and preserve historical relics from the region. The institution was established after Maud Bowman, the museums founding director and president in addition to 24 works on loan from the National Gallery of Canada collection. Growth of the museum's collection was slowed during the 1930s and 1940s, as a result of the Great Depression and the Second World War. During this period, the museum maintained a number of art education classes, and exhibited works on loan from the National Gallery of Canada. In the first half of the 20th century, the museum occupied various sites, including a former Edmonton Public Library building, and the fourth floor of the Civic Block as well as the Edmonton Motors building before settling into the former home of Richard Secord in 1952. The building was opened in 1969, and was named the Arthur Blow Condell Memorial Building. In 2005, the museum launched an architectural competition, with 27 architects submitting applications. On the same day the winning design was announced, the museum was renamed the Art Gallery of Alberta, in an effort to reflect its expanding focus on art from all of Alberta. In April 2007, the Arthur Blow Condell building was partially demolished with significant portions of the existing structure incorporated into Stout's design. Construction of the new building formally began in June 2007. The museum was closed to the public from March 2007 to January 2010 in order to facilitate the construction of the new building, with a museum exhibiting its collection in a former Hudson's Bay Company property at Enterprise Square from April 2007 to December 2009. After the museum reopened on 31 January 2010, annual memberships to the Art Gallery of Alberta increased, with the museum seeing 30,000 visitors within the first six weeks of reopening. In December 2009, the museum and the National Gallery of Canada issued a joint press release announcing a three-year partnership, which saw the use of the Art Gallery of Alberta's galleries to exhibit works from the National Gallery's collection. The program was the first "satellite program" between the National Gallery of Canada, and another art museum. In 2017, the museum started an initiative of providing free admission for minors and post-secondary students. ==Grounds==

s, and the North Saskatchewan River The property is located at Churchill Square, a public square in downtown Edmonton. The building takes up of the property, which includes over of climate-controlled exhibition spaces. The building's interior also features an "aurora" inspired room. The original structure on the property that was used by the museum, the Arthur Blow Condell building, was opened in 1969 with designs from Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley. The Brutalist-styled building was partially demolished in 2007 to accommodate the reconstruction of the building. However, approximately 67 per cent of the older museum structure was retained during the reconstruction, with most of the retained portions used as the new building's foundation, or lower floors. The museum also operates an "equity committee" that serves to identify barriers rooted in ableism, racism, or exclusion; and advises the museum's board of directors and facility management on practice and changes. Transit access The museum is accessible through public transit from Churchill station, a station for the Edmonton LRT system. The museum provides a discount visitors who travelled by public transit. Parking spaces for automobiles and bicycles is not provided by the museum, with museum visitors reliant on surrounding parking spaces maintained by the municipal government. ==Permanent collection==

The museum's permanent collection features over 6,000 works, the majority of which were produced after the 1950s. Many of these works were acquired by the museum through private and public donors. to acquire works by contemporary First Nations, Inuit and Metis artists for their permanent collection from the ''Canada Council for the Arts' New Chapter'' program. The museum's collection of historical Canadian art includes works by Jack Bush, Emily Carr, Henry George Glyde, Illingworth Kerr, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, James Wilson Morrice, Marion Nicoll, Paul Peel, Bill Reid, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Carl Schaefer, Lilias Torrance Newton, and members of the Group of Seven. The museum's collection of photographs was started in 1977 and presently has over 1,500 photographs. The museum's collection of photographs includes historical photographs by Edward Curtis, Karl Blossfeldt, Walker Evans, and Yousuf Karsh, and contemporary photographs by Lynne Cohen, and William Eakin. The museum also maintains a prints collection that includes over 850 works by Thomas Bewick. Selected works File:Tom Thomson Frasers Lodge.jpg|Frasers Lodge, Tom Thomson, 1915 File:Tom Thomson Autumn Foliage Fall 1916.jpg|Autumn Filiage, Tom Thomson, 1916 File:Thomson, Fisherman - winter 1916-1917 - EdA 68.6.84.jpg|The Fisherman, Tom Thomson, ==Affiliations==

The museum is affiliated with the Alberta Museum Association, the Canadian Heritage Information Network, the Canadian Museums Association, and the Virtual Museum of Canada. ==See also==