FREDERICTON, NB.- The entire Beaverbrook Art Gallery permanent collection of works is now viewable online on the gallery’s website for members of the public to study and enjoy, and this is joined with new animated videos and activities for children.

Beginning as a COVID-19 project, the curatorial team at the Beaverbrook undertook the major project of reviewing, documenting, and photographing the entire collection housed at the gallery. Ranging from paintings, to sketches, prints, photographs and sculpture, the entire art collection has been re-catalogued and photographed with a state-of-the-art digital process. The photographs, along with artwork and artist information, have now been uploaded to a browsable database that is available to the public.

John Leroux, the Manager of Collections and Exhibitions, is thrilled to be able to share these new high-quality images of the collection with art lovers around the world. He remarks that, “going through the entire collection during the pandemic allowed us the privilege of digitizing the collection so we could share it, but it also led us to discover many artworks that were all but hidden to viewers. All of the beloved artworks are here, but so are several thousand works that have never been seen by the public.”

Visitors to the Beaverbrook website are encouraged to browse the entire gallery collection and view their favourite works in our collection or explore and admire pieces by artists that they may not have seen before. “While we change out artworks that we have on display from our permanent collection, there are many works that folks may not have seen,” says Tom Smart, Director of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. “This is an excellent opportunity to view all the treasures that the Beaverbrook has to offer, and perhaps discover an interest in a new work or artist that they may have never come across.”

Launching with the digital collection of works are Kidoons videos for youth. These engaging videos, featuring Joe Otter and his pal Billy Mink, showcase their visit to the gallery and what they found on their adventures.

To celebrate the launch of the collection, visitors to our website are encouraged to browse the collection, find your favourite work(s), and create a piece in response. This can be a poem, a song, a video, or your own work of art. Share your response on your own social media and tag us and we’ll add it to our collection of responses! We’ll announce and tag the winner on September 4th, who will receive a $50 gift card to our gift shop and free membership to the gallery!

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.