Colin Brezicki
Special to Niagara Now/The Lake Report

RiverBrink Art Museum in Queenston has reopened after a long COVID closure, and director/curator Debra Antoncic and her staff are delighted to welcome back members and non-members alike.

However, masks are mandatory and admission numbers are limited.

Sara Morris was recently appointed office administrator and Morgan Chin-Yee is the new curatorial and programming assistant. Both new employees are excited to be welcoming visitors to share the museum’s most recent exhibitions and enjoy the attractive gardens overlooking the Niagara River.

“Power,” an audio and video installation by St. Catharines artist Elizabeth Chitty, is now open. The exhibit’s theme portrayed simultaneously on three screens is reconciliation: three women representing Loyalist and Indigenous personae walk against a backdrop of the Niagara River’s hydro power that drove industry at great cost to the river and natural setting. “Sound moves through space of spoken excerpts from historical documents, the women’s voices and soundscape of the river above and below the water’s surface.”

A complementary exhibition curated by Antoncic is “The River,” drawn from Samuel Weir’s collection. The paintings, prints and drawings illustrate the transition from the early pastoral countryside to the beginnings of the Industrial age.

Antoncic also has curated from the permanent collection an exhibition of Georgian-Era portraits by European artists that express class and status within settler elites in British North America following the conquest.

On the grounds at RiverBrink, artist Tracey-Mae Chambers has created a string installation as part of her #hopeandhealing initiative. Other installations can be viewed at the Pumphouse in NOTL, Ball’s Falls and Grimsby Art Gallery.

Inside the art museum are also paintings by members of the Group of Seven, a selection of “Botanicals” and recent acquisitions. The museum gift shop features many new items, paintings, jewelry, and books by local artists and authors.

To learn more about the exhibitions, activities, the “Adopt-an-Artist” fundraiser and membership options, visit the website at www.riverbrink.org.

Colin Brezicki is a member and volunteer at RiverBrink.