Fonds LA.SC151 - Peggy Gale fonds

Identity area

Reference code

LA.SC151

Title

Peggy Gale fonds

Date(s)

  • 1963-2016 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

1,960 photographs [1,252 slides, 577 prints, 129 negatives, 2 transparencies]
14.7 m of textual records
566 posters
65 audio cassettes
46 objects
45 DVDs
8 drawings
17 CD-ROMs
3 prints
3 USB sticks
3 floppy discs

Context area

Name of creator

(1944-)

Biographical history

Peggy Gale (b.1944) is an independent curator, critic, and writer based in Toronto who specializes in contemporary time-based and media art. Gale studied at the Università degli Studi (Florence, Italy, 1965-66) and graduated from the University of Toronto with an honours BA in 1967. She then worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1967 to 1974, first in the Audio Visual Library and then as an Education Officer, where she was responsible for originating and coordinating all lectures, concerts, films, and performance events. She served as the Assistant Film and Video Officer at the Canada Council (1974-75), returning to Toronto to act as the Video/Film director at Art Metropole from 1975 to 79. From 1980 to 1982, Gale served as the executive director of A Space. She returned to Art Metropole as Special Projects Coordinator from 1985 to 1987, and again in 2001-02 as Acting Director. As an art writer, Gale was a regular contributor to Parachute magazine (Montreal) and has been writing for Canadian Art since 1986. She has edited three books in the “By Artists” series published by Art Metropole, in addition to Video re/View: The (best) Source for Critical Writings on Canadian Artists' Video in collaboration with Lisa Steele (1996). Gale’s work as an independent curator includes Videoscape (1974), a monumental exhibition of video art at the AGO and the first of its kind in Canada. Other notable curatorial projects include: InVideo (Dalhousie Art Gallery 1977, Art Gallery of Ontario 1978, Winnipeg Art Gallery 1978), OKanada (curator of performance art, Berlin 1983), Electronic Landscapes (National Gallery of Canada 1989), Northern Lights (The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo 1991) co-curated with Akihiko Morishita, Ecstatic Memory (Art Gallery of Ontario 1996-97), and the Biennale de Montréal (2014), co-curated with Gregory Burke. Gale is married to the artist Michael Snow.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

AGO Credit Line: Gift of Peggy Gale, 2017

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Fonds consists of documentation of Peggy Gale’s career as an independent writer and curator in Canada with projects in the US, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Accumulated content includes records of curated exhibitions, publications, photographs and slides, ephemera, essays, biographical information on artists, Gale’s research notes from various projects, written correspondence with artists and artist run centres, and audio recordings of lectures and interviews.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Further accruals are expected

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open. Access to Special Collections is by appointment only. Please contact the reference desk for more information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Also includes material in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish, and Inuktitut.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Acronyms: AGNS (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia), NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design), CHR (Center for Historical Reenactments), WLU (Wilfrid Laurier University), GGVMA, AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario), ECAV (École cantonale d’art du Valais), TPW (Toronto Photographers Workshop Gallery), AM (Art Metropole), AICA (International Association of Art Critics), BNL MTL (Montreal Biennale), CIAC (Center Internationale d’art Contemporain), MoCCA (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art), NGC (National Gallery of Canada), TIAF (Toronto International Art Fair), UBC (University of British Columbia), ARC (Artculture Resource Center, Toronto), OAAG (Ontario Association of Art Galleries), UAAC (Universities Art Association of Canada), UTAC (University of Toronto Art Centre), MAC (Museum d’art Contemporain), ATSA (Quand L’art Passe à L’action), MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), UQAM (L’Université du Québec à Montréal), CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture).

Note

Physical condition: Typed letters may be slightly adhered to each other from ink. In most files, thermal faxes are faded and illegible. Please handle documents with care and consult archivist if needed.

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Art Gallery of Ontario

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Final

Level of detail

Full

Dates of creation revision deletion

May 23, 2018

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related genres

Related places