Coach House history on display at renovated AGO

The 1960s and ’70s were a revolutionary time in Canadian art, when bright young talents took their work in radical new directions. At the centre of it all was Coach House Press.

When the renovated Art Gallery of Ontario opens on November 14, it will showcase the work of this cadre of artists in a new exhibit, Canadian Art in the 1960s and 1970s through the lens of Coach House Press. Coach House was and is a printing and publishing house, a space where artists, writers, photographers, musicians, sculptors and designers could meet and inspire one another, and where they had access to printing presses, photography equipment and a Linotype machine. In this collaborative environment, the press emerged as a locus of technological innovation and artistic invention, a workshop for creators committed to developing new modes of communication.

Last April, AGO curator Dennis Reid invited individuals connected to the Coach House during its early years for exhibit proposals. The result is a lively display of ephemera, art, photography, video and printed matter arranged by curator Georgiana Uhlyarik, exhibit designer Emma Reddington, artist Rick/Simon, photographer David Hlynsky and Coach House master printer Stan Bevington.

Radiating from the central Coach House table are displays spotlighting influential artists and galleries, with contributions from Barbara Astman, Joyce Wieland, David Bolduc, Richard Gorman, Michael Hayden, Les Levine, the Isaacs Gallery, A Space and others.

Canadian Art in the 1960s & 1970s through the lens of Coach House Press opens to the public on November 14th and runs through the year.