Lectures and Talks
Curator Talk: Dr. Sylvie Lacerte
Sat Mar 22, 2025 | 2 PM - 3 PM
Room 4East
Join us for an engaging talk with curator Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, an art historian and independent researcher, as she shares her four-year journey in developing Riopelle: Crossroads in Time. From initial reflections and research to the exhibition’s design, production and installation, Dr. Lacerte will offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue came to life at the National Gallery of Canada in 2023.
She will also discuss her collaborations with the Winnipeg Art Gallery/Qaumajuq (2024) and the Vancouver Art Gallery (2025)—alongside Richard Hill, Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art—exploring how the exhibition was adapted for each venue.
This talk is free for Experience Members and above and ticketed at the reduced price of $5 for Ideas Members and $10 for Access Pass Holders. For non-members, the talk will be $10 in addition to the cost of Gallery admission.
If cost is a barrier to you or if you have any access requests for this event, please reach out to learn@vanartgallery.bc.ca or call 604 662 4700.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Sylvie Lacerte is a historian and theoretician of art and museums. Her fields of interest encompass all spheres of contemporary visual art, including its technological and digital aspects, and their historiography. As a curator, speaker, art critic and lecturer (UQAM, McGill University and Université Laval) she has spoken in Québec, Canada, Europe and Asia. In addition to her book La médiation de l’art contemporain (2007), taken from her PhD dissertation, she has published numerous essays in exhibition catalogues, anthologies, art magazines and scholarly journals. Dr. Lacerte has organized many exhibitions as an independent curator, including Vera Frenkel: Mapping a Practice (2010), Survivance – Manuel Mathieu (2020) and Ninga Mìnèh – Caroline Monnet (2021), when she was Curator of Québec and Canadian Contemporary Art at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. Her most recent essay can be found in the monography Antonietta Grassi (2024), about a Montreal artist recipient of one of the 2024 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships. Dr. Lacerte is presently at work curating a survey exhibition of Montreal artist Luce Meunier, due to open on May 3, 2025.
Richard Hill has worked as a curator, critic and historian of Indigenous and Canadian art for nearly three decades. His Cree heritage and lifelong interest in Indigenous art and questions of transcultural experience are often themes in his research and exhibitions. Currently, he holds a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Prior to this, he was Associate Professor at York University, teaching courses in art history, curatorial practice and graduate research methods. Hill also worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where, with Dr. Anna Hudson, he oversaw the museum’s first substantial efforts to collect Indigenous North American art and display it in the permanent collection galleries.
Riopelle: Crossroads in Time is organized by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, Art Historian and Independent Researcher. The Vancouver Art Gallery presentation is coordinated by Siobhan McCracken Nixon, Associate Curator.