#bcartists

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a special Christmas gift to share with you. Gary Sim has just released to the web a lifetime of research on British Columbia Artists. His biographical endeavour compiles over 20 years of intensive and dedicated research on the arts scene in British Columbia, with special interest in artists who have exhibited in Vancouver prior to 1950. This invaluable research tool is something I have drawn on in the past, though it was previously only available on CD-ROM by subscription, or by special access in a number of local libraries.

As posted in his introduction, the site features "more than 19,300 artists who worked or are working in British Columbia, from the 1700s to the present day..." There are “...more than 3,000 bibliographic references, including exhibition catalogues, books, prospectii, newspaper reviews, archival records, personal correspondence, websites, and artist statements. The bibliographic references are linked to the artist index with more than 37,000 individual cross-references. Thousands more references are contained in 1,640 artist biographical files."

Here are some of the reviews Gary has posted on his page:

"It is truly impressive, intelligently and skillfully organized..."     Charles C. Hill, Curator of Canadian Art Emeritus, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa "It is a most welcome addition to Canada's national research collection in the visual arts."     Jo Beglo, Former Bibliographer, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Ottawa "It is indeed a very helpful and impressive body of work."     Ian M. Thom, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery "...an invaluable contribution to Canadian cultural research - and a boon to all art historians..."     Paula Gustafson, Editor, Artichoke magazine book review, Summer 2004 issue, Vancouver "...the result is a document that is amazingly comprehensive and accurate."     Lynn Brockington, former Librarian, Vancouver Art Gallery "This tool is a rich storehouse of information about artists working in Vancouver."     Murray Waddington, Former Chief, Library & Archives, National Gallery of Canada "It is a compact gem densely filled with valuable information."     Letia Richardson, former Art Researcher and Writer, Vancouver "It has been handy in more ways than you might imagine."     Cheryl Siegel, former Head Librarian, Vancouver Art Gallery

Opening up this research to the masses is a great gift of generosity, and will be of great interest to both a local and global audience. I assisted Gary with the migration of his data to the web, and I’m pleased to be able to make this announcement.

I hope you all have a Happy Christmas! Here’s the link to Gary’s BC Artists: