Acquiring items that chronicle development of the visual arts here will be a priority for the Lakes District Museum Society in the next five years, society officials announced last week.
The Lakes District Museum at 520 Highway 16 West in Burns Lake contains thousands of historical artifacts but few items of enduring cultural value, according to society members. A review conducted earlier this year revealed that the museum owns only a few pieces of original art, and they aren’t representative of the region or its people.
“Even though this area has a history of producing good artists, our collections contain only a handful of paintings donated by a few private collectors,” Cameron Hart, president of the museum society, said last week. “We don’t have any sculptures, carvings, or fabric art, and only one work by an Indigenous artist.”
Hart and museum curator Michael Riis-Christianson said preserving art will help the museum tell this area’s story to future generations.
“Art, like newspapers and documents, is a window into the past,” Riis-Christianson noted. “One of the pieces in our collection is a testament to this. Painted by E. F. “Frank” Trousdell, an artist who turned his hand to sign painting to make ends meet during the Great Depression, it shows us what Burns Lake’s second hospital looked like in 1934. If not for Trousdell, we wouldn’t know the hospital had cream coloured siding, a red roof, and brown brick chimneys, because all the photos in our archives from that period are black and white.”
Local art is also worth preserving, Riis-Christianson adds, because it illustrates the human experience. “Artists do what they do as a form of expression. There’s a little of themselves in every work, and it helps us understand who they are, how they feel, and what is important to them. In the process, it also helps us understand ourselves.”
The museum society hopes to supplement its existing art collection with commissioned works and pieces bought directly from artists and collectors. Its efforts will be guided by the Lakes District Museum Art Collection Development Plan, a comprehensive document that outlines gaps in the current collection and strategies for filling them in the next five years.
“Although we will continue to accept donated art if it meets our acquisition criteria, our collecting will be more focused and strategic in the future,” Riis-Christianson said. “We want pieces that do more than showcase artistic talent. They should also represent diverse artistic styles and this area’s unique cultural composition.”
Museum society officials recognize that creating a first-class permanent art collection will take time and money. The museum society is fundraising for the initiative and hopes donors will contribute enough to support the acquisition of one or two pieces of art each year.
The new collection will be exhibited regularly at the Heritage Gallery and stored when not displayed.
Anyone wanting to know more about the society’s plan to create a permanent art collection should contact the museum by telephone (250-692-7450) or email (ldmuseumsociety@gmail.com).
