A new book from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and Anchorage Press celebrates the prestigious fine arts program at Mount Allison University — from its origin as the first art school for women in Canada to its continuing tradition of training successful professional artists.
Leaders in the Field documents the program’s history and legacy and features hundreds of colour reproductions of works by its students over the past 170 years.
“It’s tangible evidence of the magic that was created there,” said John Leroux, a curator at the Beaverbrook and one of the book’s editors.
Leroux calls Mount Allison a “tiny, special spark of a university.”
“Some of the most important artists in Canada have come out of there,” he said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton.
They’ve achieved success in visual arts, music, film, architecture, cartooning, theatre, industrial design and other fields, and shaped how we see ourselves in the world, Leroux and co-editor Thaddeus Holownia write in their foreword.
Some of Canada’s most important artists came out of Mount A, says John Leroux, one of the editors of Leaders in the Field. (Submitted by John Leroux)
“Its story is also the story of women’s empowerment and professionalism in Canadian art,” said Leroux.
Mount Allison’s fine arts school began as the “Female Branch of the Wesleyan Academy,” in the southeast New Brunswick community of Sackville.
The school was later called the Ladies College,
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