The Burnaby Art Gallery (abbreviated as BAG) is an art museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The museum is located on the northern periphery of Deer Lake Park, situated off of Deer Lake Avenue. The museum occupies Fairacres Mansion, designated as a historic site by the municipal and provincial governments.
The institution was established in 1967 by the Burnaby Art Society, who partnered with the City of Burnaby to exhibit its collection in the publicly owned Fairacres Mansion. The association continued to manage the museum until 1998, when the municipal government of Burnaby assumed control of the museum's collection, operations and governance.
The museum's permanent collection holds more than 6,500 artworks. It is the only public art collection in Canada dedicated to works on paper.[1]
Scope of operation
Established in 1967, the Burnaby Art Gallery is dedicated to collecting, preserving and presenting a contemporary and historical visual art program by local, national and internationally recognized artists.[2] The Burnaby Art Gallery is operated by the City of Burnaby. The Burnaby Art Gallery cares for and manages over 6,500 works of art in the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection[3] and the City of Burnaby'sPublic Art Collection.
The Gallery manages ongoing offsite exhibitions at two of Burnaby's Public Libraries. Public programs for adults, youth and children are located at the Burnaby Art Gallery Barn Studio adjacent to the main Gallery building.
Building history
The Burnaby Art Gallery is located in Fairacres Mansion,[4] which was designed by Robert Percival Sterling Twizell[5] (1875-1964).[6] Fairacres Mansion, also called Ceperley House, for its original owners, was built in 1910 at an estimated cost of C$150,000.00, making it the largest and most expensive house in Burnaby, British Columbia of its time.[7] It was constructed in the EdwardianArts and Crafts style with handmade fixtures, carpentry and tiled fireplaces. The original grounds included a garage and horse stables, an aviary, gazebo and pergola, lagoons, strawberry fields, greenhouses, a steam plant and a gardener's cottage.[8] The tiles throughout the house were imported from England, fabricated by Conrad Dressler and his Medmenham Pottery. In the former billiards room and parlour, a grand oak mantelpiece, hand-carved by George Selkirk Gibson, bears a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."[9] On the death of the original owner Grace Ceperley, the house was sold to a series of private owners. In 1939, it was acquired by Benedictine monks, and became an Abbey in 1953.[10] The Order vacated the house in 1954 when it moved to Westminster Abbey (British Columbia) in Mission. After the Benedictines sold the property, it was used by the Canadian Temple of the More Abundant Life and as a fraternity house for Simon Fraser University's Delta Upsilon Fraternity.[11] In 1966, the Burnaby Art Society, led by Jack Hardman, Polly Svangtun, Sheila Kincaid and Winifred Denny, among others, worked with the City of Burnaby to purchase the 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) site for C$166,000.00. The Burnaby Art Gallery opened its doors on June 10, 1967.[12]
