Agnes Etherington Art Centre shows ' Beyond the Silhouette '

Friday, 20 July 2007 02:01

Kingston, Ont., Canada - The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is home to the Queen's University Collection of Canadian Dress, one of the finest collections of costume in Canada. As part of our 50^th anniversary programming celebrating collecting and community, the Art Centre will stage, starting 22 July, a breathtaking selection of works drawn from this national resource. Through their display, Beyond the Silhouette will explore the social and cultural history of our city and community, from 1815 to the modern era.

Initiated by its first curator, Dr Margaret Angus, the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress has grown over a period of some sixty years from donations of apparel from families in the Kingston area. The collection includes rare items from the city's founding families, and wonderful examples of women’s clothing through the 19^th and 20^th centuries, to the 1970s, including couture creations commissioned by Art Centre foundress Agnes Etherington. The collection is an outstanding expression of Kingston’s material culture reflecting both the prominent families of this historic city and the skills of those essential seamstresses who made the garments so beautifully.

Beyond the Silhouette will feature 20 women’s dresses from the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress as well as a large selection of related accessories. A beautifully illustrated catalogue, with a thoughtful essay by costuming specialist M. Elaine MacKay, presents highlights of the collection in publication for the first time. The exhibition also will be the subject of the Art Centre’s popular School Program for elementary schools in the Kingston region during the 2007-2008 school year.

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre's mandate, as defined in our 2005-2009 Strategic Plan, is to serve the students, faculty and staff of Queen's University as a teaching/learning resource, and the communities of the City of Kingston and the region as a cultural locus, through collecting, research, interpretation and exhibition of works of art, in the belief that contact with original works of art contributes to understanding our world, ourselves and others. Visit : www.aeac.ca/

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council. On Exhibit 22 July 2007 – 6 April 2008.