Sunday Lecture Series
The Sunday Lecture Series has been operating for four years and is open to the public. Speakers are selected because of their knowledge and expertise in various art-related topics. Recent lectures by Dr. Daniel Mato, professor emeritus in art history at the University of Calgary, covered Russian modern art and Surrealism and included a question and answer period.
Returning for the fifth year, Dr. Daniel Mato will host four Sunday Lectures in 2019 that focus on the arts in Africa.
The series, presented by the Gallery Associates, is a fundraiser for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and is held at the Art Gallery.
The lectures, always a sellout, will run in February and March on Sunday afternoons between 2 and 4 pm. Each lecture will be centred around a topic that will take participants on a fascinating journey through Western African art history and its far-reaching influence on Western European art.
The first lecture, scheduled for February 3, 2019, is titled Kings, Queens and Commoners: The Historical and Classical Art of Africa. The artists of this period created images of their rulers, ancestors and spirits in traditional and expressive forms.
On February 10, masks and figures that served to initiate individuals into their communal roles and, though symbolic representations of spirits and animals exercise social control. The Power of Beauty: Art in Service to the Life Experience will highlight the role the masks sought to play in assuring moral and ethical conduct, punishing wrongdoers or simply lightening the day by entertaining the community.
The third lecture, Seeing the World, Hearing the Image: See the Sculpture, Know the Proverb, on March 3 will introduce attendees to the Akan people of Ghana and their use of proverbs to support their opinion on an issue and to use symbolic figures to reinforce the discussion.
The final lecture on March 10 is titled Shapes of Modernism: African Art, the Catalyst for the Break with the Past and illustrates, through the expressive forms of African masks and figures, the visual means for artists of the 20th century to break dependence on representational art in Europe.
Tickets are available online below or at the front desk of the Art Gallery. The entire series is $100 for students and gallery members; $120 for general admission. Individual tickets are $30, students and $35, general admission.
Proceeds go toward supporting Gallery exhibitions and programs. The Associates of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria volunteer, promote and support the Gallery through fundraising events and programs.
