March 9, 2009
Thanks to everyone who braved the drizzle to visit the gallery yesterday. So nice to meet everyone. If you couldn't make it, please check this site for periodic weekend open gallery hours or email me for an appointment.

March 7, 2009!!
The show is today, rain be darned. We have warm beverages, bring a brolly, it'll be great. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the map to the gallery. And look for the water-logged arrows when you get close!! 4 p.m. on!

February 18, 2009
We're almost there! Lots of art already here, it's just a matter of getting rid of the pesky car temporarily parked in the gallery. As soon as it drives itself away, it'll be sweeping and hanging time. The show is Saturday, March 7th at 4 p.m. with intermittent appointments and hours after that. Hope to keep it all up until late April or early May. Scroll to the bottom of the page for map to the gallery! Still not too late to submit. Drop me a line if you'd like to do so.

November 13, 2008 - Call for Submissions!

The Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada has no heat. No matter. We're seeking your finest winter portraits for Cold Comfort, a show that'll run February-March in the gallerage. We'll drink warm beverages and wear our plushest parkas, and it will make the art feel that much more vividly real.
Deadline: January 10th, 2008.
Please send an expression of interest to montrose(((at)))theportraitgallery.ca for shipping and drop-off information.

November 11, 2008
So they've gone and done it. Pulled the plug on a silly bid tendering process that yielded unsuitable gallery proposals. How much egg on your face can you handle before your face turns into a frittata? Sad how the state of the economy is used to justify every trim and cut and axe. And while The Montrose Portrait Gallery understands frugality in times of fiscal restraint, and the unbecoming hubris that pervades so many demands for arts funding from the public till, we still hold fast to the idea that this one is a no brainer - We have the art, we have the building. Like blogging, the start-up costs are neglible!

To assuage our saddened hearts, The Montrose Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce a call for submissions for our winter show, Cold Comfort Countenance: No Gallery, No Heat, No problem! All sorts of winter portraits welcome. More information to come.

October 14, 2008
I just heard Paul Gross on the radio, talking Passchendaele, but simultaneously slipping in his feelings on the portrait gallery: It should exist. Good work, Paul. If you're here for an update on the gallery, the Michael Polan in me would say: Roof Leaking, Online for Winter, Reopening 2009. That said, if you want to volunteer a stopgap space for the gallery in its temporary homelessness, drop me a line.

May 13, 2008
A Facebook event about a protest to keep The National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa! If you're in the capital city, go go go!

May 9, 2008
The two portrait galleries come together! Last night the Montrose PG of C met the curators and coordinators of the National Portrait Gallery of Canada, as they unveiled their ambitious biennial new works commissioning program. It sounds as if it will be a fantastic, broad, ambitious proram. Maybe The Montrose should start one too?

March 31, 2008
Spring is in the air. And our plans for season two of the portrait gallery are rising with the temperature. Check this space frequently for info about our open call for our Summer 2008 show, Rogues and Heroes.

January 11, 2008
So much gallery gossip! Ottawa wants to host the gallery after all! It seems it would cost an extra few million annually to house the gallery anywhere but Ottawa. Also, kudos to Jian Ghomeshi and Q for constantly keeping news of the present portrait boondoggle on the airwaves.

September 29, 2007
We had a lovely time in the Portrait Gallery this Sunday. Lots of artists and curious pedestrians ambled by, and we got a fashion portrait added to the gallery by Danielle Meder.
On a less lovely note, Prime Minister Harper is taking over the former U.S. embassy so he can host swish parties, according to this Globe article by Val Ross. Thank goodness Ms. Ross is on the portrait beat. But what a bummer. And yet, for some unfathomable reason, I have still not completely lost hope that Harper will come to his senses and go forth in portraiture.

September 19, 2007
We'll be open this Sunday, September 23rd, from 1-4pm. And guess what? The National Portrait Gallery of Canada is also sorta kinda open. Road trip anyone?

August 30, 2007
The gallery will be closed for Labour Day weekend. Check back next week for gallery hours.

August 28, 2007
Hey! Sounds Like Canada host and author/illustrator Kevin Sylvester stopped by with an awesome addition to the gallery:


Listen to SLC on CBC Radio 1 on Thursday and you can hear Kevin's visit to the gallery.

August 22, 2007
Hey! We'll be open this Saturday, August 25th from 5-8pm, so come on down!
Thanks to Torontoist for stopping by, and for bringing us some lovely drawings in rhinestoned frames.

August 15, 2007
The Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada will be open Sunday, August 19th, from 1-4pm. Please come on by. Thanks to everyone who came by already, and thanks for the impromptu bike-by art drop-offs.
New arrivals this weekend will include portraits of Margaret Atwood and K.D. Lang. Looking forward to seeing them!!

August 9, 2007
Why are we building a Portrait Gallery of Canada, you ask? We're building a portrait gallery because we like portraits, we answer. Certainly we understand that Bev Oda does not have 45 million dollars to spare at the moment, but we want a portrait gallery all the same, and we feel we can build one using elbow grease instead of 45 million dollars. The National Portrait Gallery of Canada has thousands of lovely portraits and millions of lovely photos. In storage. We have approximately thirty or so lovely portraits. In a garage. Today we received a bust of Jean Chretien as Frankenstein. You really should come check it out!

Has Bev been invited? Yes, she was invited in cartoon fashion in the July 9th issues of the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun. A formal, embossed invitation will follow shortly.

Thanks THIS Magazine for the kick-in-the-pants coverage! Let's brocade this baby!
Thanks also to Sounds Like Canada for supporting the gallerage.
BlogTO stopped by too, and we finally got to meet the charming Danielle Meder in person.

And thanks to the excellent Peter Goddard for the vast swath of newsprint real estate he donated to Sean Carrie's Portrait of Conrad Black in today's Toronto Star.

For all enquiries: montrose(remove this guy)@theportraitgallery.ca

 

Portrait Links:
-NDP MP Paul Dewar is onto this Pork Barrel politics stuff. Check it.
- The PG of C.

 

 

 

Photos and Artists:
photos

Artists 2009
Sean Carrie
Dewi

Greg Elliot
Rob Elliot

Mendelson Joe
Jonathan Johnson
Noah Kalina
Kagan McLeod
Danielle Meder
Suzanne Mogensen

Heather Schibli
Pat Shewchuk
Kate Swoger
Stella Walker
Yarek Waszul
Tristan Zimmerman


Artists 2007
Rose Bianchini
Boo (Barri Biederman)
Bertha Biederman
Julia Breckenreid
Sean Carrie
Mike Constable
Eduardo Dellaforesta
Benjamin Errett
Vera Fischer
Antony Hare
Pauline Hare
Christopher Hutsul
Jim Kemkes
Sarah Lazarovic
Fernando Leppe-Alvarez
Kevin McBride
Kagan McLeod
Danielle Meder
Suzanne Mogensen
Steve Murray
Madi Piller
Roman
Graham Roumieu
Pat Shewchuk
Jeffrey Stewart Timmins
Kevin Sylvester
Kate Swoger
Colin White
Ruby Zagorskis

 

 

 

 

 
     
Getting to the gallery: