From the Field

Canadian Art magazine interviewed Stephen Borys, director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery and current president of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization, for their August 2013 issue. The occaision for the interview was 100 Masters: Only in Canada, an exhibition Borys curated for WAG's 100th anniversary. 100 Maters closed on September 2 as the most well-attended exhibition in the museum's history.

In the Q&A, Borys addresses his experiences working at institutions in the US and Canada, actual versus virtual museum experiences, and the opportunities stemming from WAG's collection of contemporary Inuit Art, which is the largest in Canada. "Inuit art in Canada has been largely curated by non-Inuit people, and it has a context that is unknown to 98 per cent of the population," he says. "How do we communicate the story of Inuit artmaking? We can’t do it in isolation. It’s my goal to work with people in the North in telling that story."

Where would Borys like to see WAG on its 200th anniversary? "In 100 years, I would like to think there is a dialogue going on between the art gallery and the city and the people it serves," he said.

You can follow Stephen Borys on Twitter @stephenborys. 100 Masters: Only in Canada closed on September 2, but the exhibition microsite, including Borys' blog, is still online.

Image of Stephen Borys by Leif Norman.