Woodstock Art Gallery

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Woodstock Art Gallery History

The Woodstock Art Gallery was originally founded in 1967 by the Oxford County Art Association as a Centennial project. Initially the Gallery was housed in the downstairs of the Woodstock Library but eventually both the Library and Gallery required more space and the Gallery began to look for a new home. An intense fundraising campaign, spearheaded by the Woodstock Public Art Gallery Volunteer Committee, allowed the Gallery to move to a refurbished manse located next door to the Woodstock Library in 1983. By this time, the Gallery's permanent collection consisted of 75 works of art by prominent Woodstock artist, Florence Carlyle.

Until 1993, the Gallery was a department of the Woodstock Public Library. On November 19, 1992 a by-law was passed and the Woodstock Art Gallery became a City of Woodstock cultural facility. The City Council now appoints members of the community and one Councillor to the Art Gallery Advisory Committee so that the Woodstock City Council may receive direct citizen input into the operation of the Art Gallery. In 1995 the Gallery achieved a Category "A" Designation under the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, simplifying Cultural Properties designation applications.

By the late 1990s the Gallery had again outgrown the available space at its Hunter Street location. The small studio space was constantly filled to capacity and the permanent collection had grown by1000% and now included over 40 works by Florence Carlyle. On November 5, 2009, after receiving a $3.38 million dollar Build Canada grant; the Woodstock City Council authorized staff to develop a plan to renovate the John White building to become the new Woodstock Art Gallery. The Woodstock Art Gallery opened the doors at its present location, 449 Dundas Street, on July 19, 2011.

Copyright 2012 Woodstock Art Gallery, Woodstock, Ontario Canada. All rights reserved. Website Design by AZ Group

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