In my last Gallery Views’ article in Preview I wrote that several Vancouver-based galleries were managing more than one premise. A bit of sleuthing or insider knowledge is required to discover who they are and where they are located.

Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Palm Desert

Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton

Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto

Preview gallery listings reveal the connection between The Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery at the University of British Columbia and the Belkin Satellite on Hamilton Street. Keith Wallace, who currently oversees both Belkin premises, stated that “the Satellite was established to give a ‘town’ profile to the program and collection managed out of the campus gallery.”

Although it’s a commercial gallery with different aims than the Belkin venues, the Bau-Xi on Granville Street also desired exposure for its important artists in a different location when it opened the second Bau-Xi in Toronto in 1976, directly across from the Art Gallery of Ontario. Now after the Bau-Xi has become the “sole proprietor” of the two Foster/White Galleries in Seattle, there is potential for a fruitful interchange of art for sale among three cities. According to Julie Lepper, the Gallery representative, with these additions the Bau-Xi has become “the largest or close to the largest art business under Canadian management.”

The two Douglas Udell galleries afford a flow of artwork between Vancouver and Edmonton. For many years, therefore, Vancouverites have been gifted with exposure to sculpture by Joe Fafard and paintings by Dorothy Knowles, both Prairie artists of renown.

By having out of province galleries, the Monte Clark and Buschlen Mowatt Galleries also increased exposure to the artworks they vend and augmented the space in which to show them. Monte Clark has rented a 4,000-square-foot second premise in Toronto’s Distillery District in a converted industrial structure. Graham Gillmore, Alan Switzer and other members of his stable are introduced to visitors who include New York curators and critics.

Finally, Buschlen Mowatt’s Palm Desert, California gallery doubles its Vancouver square footage from 3,500 to 7,000 and provides a patio where sculpture can be displayed. The California venue features Buschlen Mowatt’s international artists, for example, Lynn Chadwick, John Henry and Helen Frankenthaler. Buschlen Mowatt’s semi-yearly around-Vancouver installation of outdoor sculpture proves that, as executive director Jan Ballard states, “sculpture is the Buschlen Mowatt enterprises’ most unusual focus.”

Ann Rosenberg is a freelance curator, critic, and author.