Calling all volunteers and bakers! This year's Beaverbrook Art Gallery Nutcracker Tea is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The Nutcracker tea is a family event and fundraiser for the gallery. We look forward to welcoming families into the gallery for a joyful day filled with treats, performances, art activities and live music.
All funds raised from the event help support our children’s education program. For this event to be a success, the gallery relies on volunteers to bake cookies and work stations at the event.
We are currently seeking volunteer bakers to bake 2-3 dozen cookies. The baked goods can be dropped at the gallery front desk on Saturday, November 25th, from 10 am to 4 pm.
If you would consider helping, please fill out the Excel sheet here with your information - name, phone number, type of cookie and number of cookies. If you have any questions or have difficulty signing in, please reach out to Rachel Forrestall for any assistance.
We are also seeking volunteers to work stations during the event on Sunday, November 26th from 1 pm-4 pm.
These volunteer shifts include tasks such as checking guests in, serving food and beverages, helping in the activity rooms and more. You can click here to view those opportunities or reach out to Rachel Forrestall.
Thank you for all your contributions to the Nutcracker Tea and for helping to make it a magical event!
(Fredericton, NB) – January 28 at 3PM, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery will host a free official opening celebration of the following new exhibitions: Guillaume Desrosiers Lépine “Screens”, Heather McCaig “Together We Bloom”, and Denis Williams “Modern Icon”.
The Beaverbrook is proud to exhibit from its permanent collection the groundbreaking work of Denis Williams, the first black artist to win critical acclaim in Britain. Williams 1954 panel “Painting in Six Related Rhythms” earned him a major prize in the Young Contemporaries exhibition in 1955, sponsored by Lord Beaverbrook – the only abstract painting to do so.
Originally from Quebec, Guillaume Desrosiers Lépine recently moved to New Brunswick to take on a faculty position in the Université de Moncton's Department of Visual Arts. “His work is rigorous and incredibly disciplined, exploring the powerful subtleties of colour, depth, and shimmering tone. His small colourfield canvases with their corduroy-like surfaces are among the most successful abstract paintings I've seen come out of New Brunswick in many years, while his massive Bic pen drawings fill the walls of the Jean Irving River gallery with a breathtaking command,” says John Leroux, Manager of Collections and Exhibitions.
Another New Brunswick artist whose work will be on exhibit at the gallery is flame-worked borosilicate glass artist, Heather McCaig. McCaig’s 13 handmade glass flowers that make up her "Together We Bloom" exhibition of Canadian provincial and territorial flowers are described as, visually bold, technically rigorous, and strikingly colourful. “As an emerging glass artist, Heather McCaig is surely on her way to great achievements in her field of fine craft,” Leroux says.
All members of the public are welcome to attend this free opening celebration at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Guillaume Desrosiers Lépine and Heather McCaig will be present at the event. Please visit our website, beaverbrookartgallery.org to learn more about these exhibitions.
Media Contact
Dara Blanchard
Marketing and Communications Specialist
dblanchard@beaverbrookartgallery.org
(Fredericton, NB) -The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is pleased to announce a very special event that will honour one of New Brunswick’s finest citizens and a hockey icon.
A monumental portrait of Willie O’Ree has been presented to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery by a generous anonymous donor. Measuring five feet by five feet, the painting shows an older O’Ree proudly wearing his Boston Bruins jersey, while he holds a hockey stick and sports his Hockey Hall of Fame ring. The portrait was featured as the cover image of O’Ree’s recent autobiography “Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player” as well as the poster image of his recent film documentary.
The public unveiling will take place at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery on January 18th at 6:30 PM, which is the 65th anniversary of Willie O’Ree’s first NHL game. On that day in 1958, he made history as the first Black player in the NHL, suiting up for the Boston Bruins as they played the Montreal Canadiens. O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, and in 2022, US President Joe Biden announced O'Ree will be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions to "hockey, inclusion and recreational opportunity."
The portrait artist is Tim Okamura, a contemporary painter who investigates identity, the urban environment, metaphor, and cultural iconography. Born in Edmonton, Okamura earned a BFA with Distinction at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary before moving to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts in 1991. After graduating with an MFA in 1993, Okamura moved to Brooklyn, where he continues to live and work.
Okamura is known for his depiction of BIPOC subjects in urban settings, and for his combination of graffiti and realism. His work has been featured in several major motion pictures and in London's National Portrait Gallery. Okamura was one of several artists to be shortlisted in 2006 for a proposed portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. He received an invitation to The White House in 2015 to honor artists whose work addresses issues of social justice, where he received a letter of commendation from then Vice President Joe Biden.
All members of the public are welcome to this free unveiling event at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The artist, Tim Okamura, will be present, and Willie O’Ree plans on attending virtually from his home in California, addressing the gathering live via zoom.
Media Contact
Dara Blanchard
Marketing and Communications Specialist
Beaverbrook Art Gallery
703 Queen Street, P.O. 605
Fredericton, NB E3B 5A6
Email: dblanchard@beaverbrookartgallery.org
We are excited to be a part of the Frostival activities again this year! The following events are taking place at the gallery:
Join us on December 3rd, 2022, at 4 PM for an official public opening celebration of the many great exhibitions we have travelling to the gallery in November and December, including the unveiling of the major exhibition Peter Powning: "A Retrospective".
Please click here to learn more about these exhibitions!
• Anna Torma & Brigitte Clavette: "Resisting Constraints and Defying Labels"
• Dawn Steeves: "Capturing Salty Towers"
• "AR(T)CHIVES: Visual Treasures from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick"
• Julie D’Amour-Léger: "Crows – Black on White"
• Peter Powning: "A Retrospective"
Join us on December 4 at 3 PM for a panel talk with Peter Powning, Beth Powning and Peter Larocque, moderated by John Leroux, followed by Q&A. Click here for tickets.
Join us for the return of the Nutcracker Tea, November 27th 2-4pm, sponsored by Rebecca Steeves Realty and Corey Insurance!
Immerse your family in a winter wonderland full of art activities, treats, music, dance performances, and more! All funds raised from this event support our children’s art programs.
Click the link to get your tickets before they sell out:
