She left as a McMaster University graduate over 50 years ago.
On Wednesday, Art Gallery of Guelph founding director Judith Nasby will return to her alma mater as the 2024 recipient of the McMaster Distinguished Alumni Award for the Arts.
"It's a great honour to be recognized in this way," Nasby said. "I certainly had an ambition, with wonderful staff, to create a very fine museum collection to serve the entire Guelph community."
Graduating from McMaster University in 1968 with a BA (honours) in studio art with a minor in art history, Nasby received the job offer of a lifetime.
"I was just 22 when I was hired to be the University of Guelph's curator of art. It's hard to think that that might happen today, but it did," she said. "I got it started, and off it went."
When Nasby first arrived at the U of G, the search for art was on.
"One of my first jobs was to find out what artworks were on campus. I had identified 150. When I retired, the collection was close to 9,000," Nasby said.
"I began the exhibition program in the corridor at the MacKinnon Building. Back then, it was the University of Guelph Art Gallery."
In 1975, the gallery was moved to the main floor of the university library.
"Then we had the opportunity to renovate the Macdonald Consolidated School at the corner of College and Gordon, with support from the Macdonald Stewart Foundation in Montreal," Nasby said.
In 1978, the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre was established through a partnership between the University of Guelph, the City of Guelph, the County of Wellington, and the local public school board.
And In 1980, the centre moved to its permanent location, with two-and-a-half acres around it.
"At the time, people would have been surprised at the size of the facility. But it was a joint project that supported the renovations to the building and created this excellent public gallery for the community and for the campus," Nasby said.
In 1983, Nasby became involved with another major development, to create a sculpture park, outside.
Today, Donald Forster Sculpture Park offers a diverse collection, with installations by prominent Canadian and international artists.
"You can have a large collection inside the gallery, but the sculpture park makes the works available 24 hours a day, dawn 'till dusk, year-round," Nasby said.
"We made it a serious initiative which has resulted in 41 sculptures. It is the largest sculpture park at a public gallery in the country and offers people a wonderful overview of Canadian sculpture."
After a 45-year career as the Art Gallery of Guelph founding director/curator, Nasby retired in 2013 and was named Curator Emerita.
In 2014, the centre was renamed the Art Gallery of Guelph.
Nasby has lectured and toured exhibitions internationally. In addition to her position as founding director and curator, she has served as adjunct professor of fine art at U of G, teaching museum studies.
Since retiring, Nasby has written a number of books including a memoir telling the story of the gallery from its beginning on campus, to the internationally recognized institution it is today.
"My book, The Making of a Museum is about my 45-year career at the same place. It began with just a corridor for a gallery with a few art works and then it ended up being what it did. I felt it was interesting to write the history of the gallery," she said.
"And it really did become a memoir, with many anecdotes and humorous stories of things that happened over that time period."
In 2021, Nasby was nominated for a Governor General’s award for The Making of a Museum. Her most recent publication is Kivioq’s Journey and Other Revelations in the Donald Forster Sculpture Park at the Art Gallery of Guelph.
"I felt is was very important to document the artist's works about their sculpture and to have them recorded. Both books really provide a cultural history of the community in the visual arts area," she said.
Nasby is set to receive her award at McMaster convocation on Nov. 20.
"It is a great honour for me to go back to my alma mater to receive this award and to acknowledge people who work in the arts, as someone who has given a career to one community, rather than someone who has done work all over the world," Nasby said.
"It's about valuing someone who has given their career to one community to create a cultural institution. I think that is what's important to me, and I think it was obviously important to them, and the reason why they selected me for this award."
