The Art Gallery of Alberta (formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery) is a public art gallery located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Its collection of well over 6,000 works of art includes historical and contemporary paintings, sculptures, installation works and photographs by Canadian and international artists. In addition to its permanent collection, the AGA hosts visiting exhibitions and offers public education programs.The vision statement of the AGA is: "The Art Gallery of Alberta creates a welcoming and engaging environment where people are motivated to transform their understanding of the world by connecting with the visual arts."
Originally designed in 1968 as a Brutalist building by Don Bittorf, the gallery recently underwent an $88 million renovation designed by Randall Stout Architects. It reopened in January, 2010. The newly renovated 85,000-square-foot (7,900 m2) space includes almost double the exhibition space of the original building; a restaurant, gallery shop, and 150 seat theatre; and dedicated gallery space for the AGA's permanent collection.
Response to the post-renovation AGA have shown success in Alberta, receiving significant increases in annual memberships and 30,000 visitors within the first six weeks of reopening.
In 2005, and architectural competition was held, and a design by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout was chosen as the winning design for the new Art Gallery. At this time, the gallery re-titled itself again as the Art Gallery of Alberta. In April 2007, most of the Bittorf building was demolished with significant portions of the existing structure incorporated into Stout's design. Local architects and engineering firms assisted Randall Stout's design team from LA and San Francisco. The local firms were HIP Architects (Architects), Stantec (Mechanical and Electrical), BPTEC (Structural) and RJC (Envelope). Ledcor provided the Construction Management.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Art_Gallery
