A Public Art Forum
October 16, 7 to 9pm

Cultural Services, City of Kingston and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre partner in presenting a Public Art Forum. Help us to position Kingston as a community that fosters creativity and innovation, and trail blaze a future for public art while also respecting the depth of heritage in Canada’s first capital and UNESCO World Heritage site.


We will create a Public Art Master Plan that will help the City, local artists and groups create both permanent and temporary works to animate the public realm in a variety of way that benefit all people who live in and visit Kingston.

6:30: View Critical Mass: Sculpture by Shayne Dark
7:00-9:00 Conversation/Presentation
9:00-9:30 Dialogue

The forum will convene a panel of artists and experts who will respond to a set of framing questions through images and conversation.  The conversation will be moderated and include questions from the audience.  

Hear from Artists and Experts:
Shayne Dark

Shayne Dark is currently one of Canada’s most sought-after makers of major works of public sculpture.  Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1952, Kingstonian Shayne Dark has been working as a professional artist since the mid-1980s. His work has been featured in exhibitions across Canada and internationally. He has also been awarded important public art commissions in Calgary and Toronto.  The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is thrilled to bring Shayne Dark’s recent work to his hometown audience. For this unique occasion, the Art Centre has expanded the traveling exhibition Critical Mass to include never-before-seen works that playfully query the customary distinction between representation and abstraction.  Exhibition is on until November 3^rd, 2013.

cj fleury is recognized for groundbreaking projects that bring the “public” into public art. A multi-media artist and cultural researcher, c.j. is deeply interested in the role of art in contemporary society. Her practice includes drawing, shield-making, performance, writing, video, large-scale sculpture and pilot projects for social-justice and social-entrepreneurship education. She has completed commissions for seventeen permanent public works in Ontario and Quebec including: Ottawa - "Postcards from the Piazzas" (15 bronze and granite sculptures on Preston St); The "Women's Monument against Violence" (Elgin Street); The Dorothy O'Connell Anti-Poverty Activists' Monument (City Hall); Gatineau - "The Condition of Rosetta Stones" (C.E.G.E.P. Heritage College) and many others. 

As head of the City of Ottawa's Public Art Program, Julie manages public art commissions, the civic art collection and the public exhibition program.  A graduate from Algonquin College and University of Ottawa’s BFA program, Julie’s main research area is in cultural and creative economy policy development and her recent work in digital media involving cultural and creative clusters has led to an artist in residence program with Invest Ottawa, a digital incubator for start-ups.  She is currently managing Ottawa’s new Light Rail Transit Art Program. The Public Art Program has recently undertaken a renewal of its policy and a new Public Art policy will be launched in 2014. 

Helena Grdadolnik
Helena has a Masters in Architecture as well as expertise in planning, urban design, policy, community engagement and education. Helena has more than a decade of experience working with non-profit organisations, private companies and municipalities in Canada, the US and the UK on creative programs and events related to architecture and public space. Previous roles include Senior Advisor for CABE, the English government’s advisor on architecture and public space, and as the Cultural Planner at the City of Mississauga. She developed one of the major cultural projects for the 2012 London Olympics, established a public art program for Mississauga, and initiated and is managing the Green Line project.