The book may tell the story of 100 years in the Art Gallery of Guelph, but for Judith Nasby, it encompassed her entire career and put her in a unique position to tell the story of the historic museum.
“I was there for 45 years. And that was the reason the book is called a memoir,” said Nasby who began her career in 1968 at the founding director and curator of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre now known as the Art Gallery of Guelph.
The memoir, The Making of a Museum, is illustrated with 80 images and tells the story of the museum from its humble beginnings in the hallways of the U of G campus in 1916 to the current day. The photos were derived from the museum's permanent collection.
In the book, Nasby talks about how arts institutions can be created through dedication, serendipity, and perseverance.
“So much of it is reminiscences and many humorous stories that have happened,” said Nasby.
“I think why the book is important is that in a smaller place, creating an institution is also based on people's goodwill and serendipity opportunities that arise that one is able to act on quickly.”
Nasby said when the Art Gallery of Guelph launched, it was run by a group of volunteers and it wasn't until 1916 when it really kicked off. She said famous paintings like The Drive by Tom Thompson were purchased and hung in the Ontario Agriculture College building and hallways.
“When I came in 1968 and was hired to be the University of Guelph curator of art, I had 150 works in the collection. I was very committed to create a community based Gallery which then serves the entire community and we built a collection of close to 9,000 works when I retired in 2013,” said Nasby. She said the museum has a vast collection of Canadian art.
“I soon realized that there was no point in trying to copy the national galleries and the Art Gallery of Ontario's collection of Canadian art, and it would be best if we would specialize, particularly being a university affiliated gallery where we could do special research publications and show our work.
“So that results in a very important collection of Inuit drawings that toured to four continents. It was very well received internationally. It really put Guelph on the map.”
She said when she chose the art, she wanted to show the diversity and breadth of the collection.
“There's images of Indigenous beadwork. There's images of contemporary Canadian silverwork. We have a specialized collection with that. And of course, perhaps most famous to the community is the sculpture park of 39 works. It is known as the most important collection of contemporary sculpture in the country in one place,” said Nasby, adding that other important works include Chinese painting and European etchings.
She said she always wanted a sculpture park.
“The first sculpture was put in 1983. And then I thought it was extremely important to make a collection that would fit into this very small site of only a little over two acres,” said Nasby.
“Because that work is always there. It's visible. It's enjoyable. It's freely open to the public, from dawn to dusk, and it makes public art very accessible to everyone. When of course, you know, galleries are always limited in what they can show inside from their permanent collection.”
Nasby’s memoir is published by McGill-Queen’s University Press and is available at The Bookshelf and Art Gallery of Guelph gallery shop.
