Letter from our Director

The Varley Art Gallery is delighted to announce two new initiatives for 2019, both supporting educational activities. The first is a fund named for William J. Withrow, who died earlier this year. Mr. Withrow was well-known as an art educator and as the transformative Director of the AGO, 1961-1991. Less well known is the fact that he was also a very important supporter of the Varley Art Gallery. He was an advisor to Kathleen Gormley McKay and encouraged her ideas for a gallery in Unionville, eventually becoming a trustee of Mrs. McKay’s estate. He was a founding member of the Gallery Board, he and his wife June contributed to the Varley Capital campaign, and he gifted several important works to the Gallery’s permanent collection. I am therefore delighted to announce that the Varley-McKay Art Foundation has decided to honour him by establishing the William J. Withrow Schools Bursary. It will support elementary school visits to the Varley by assisting with transportation costs. A huge “thank you” to the Foundation for recognizing Mr. Withrow in this very appropriate way.

The second initiative supports a key Varley activity, which is to promote emerging local and regional artists. Varley Curator Anik Glaude has organized an exhibition of work by second year MFA and PhD students enrolled in York University’s Graduate Program in Visual Arts, to be shown at the Varley in January 2019. The first in what is planned to be a series of three installations, this project will give the student artists an outstanding opportunity to work with a professionally-run gallery. Come by the Varley in January to see exciting work by some of today’s newest emerging artists!