Walter Phillips Gallery

Walter Phillips Gallery (WPG) was established in 1976 in Banff, Alberta, as a part of The Banff Centre in Banff National Park. Walter J. Phillips was a printmaker and painter, from the 1930s to the 1950s, who played a seminal role in the development of the visual arts program in The Banff School of Fine Arts. After its conception, it quickly evolved into a small but dynamic gallery and became known for a contemporary art program that championed curatorial innovation with a commitment to emerging forms of art including video and performance.

For contemporary artists, particularly those engaged in alternative forms of practice, the WPG remains an essential and principal site where art is presented to an audience for critical reception. In an effort to ensure a broad and balanced representation of the different areas of research at the Centre, the Gallery exhibits and collects: painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography and new media-based works. The Gallery's substantial collection of video art is housed in the Paul D. Fleck Library at The Banff Centre and is available for public viewing. The Walter Phillips Gallery operates under the jurisdiction of the Visual Arts Department at The Banff Centre.

The Gallery's publication program presents new ideas for understanding the social, historical, political and aesthetic realms in which many of today's artworks exist. Most of these publications are published as Walter Phillips Gallery Editions by The Banff Centre Press. Recent publications include: Frances Stark: My Best Thing, essay by Mark Godfrey (2012); Anthony Burnham: Even Space Does Not Repeat, essays by Diana Nemiroff, Marie-Ève Charron, and Naomi Potter (2011); Ron Terada: Who I Think I Am, essays by Cliff Lauson, Anne Low, and Tom McDonough (2010); Silke Otto-Knapp: Present time exercise essays by Suzanne Cotter, Jan Verwoert, and Catherine Wood (2009); and The World Upside Down edited by Richard William Hill (2008).