514-622-9917
514-622-9917
News12 March, 2026
Welcome to new subscribers and old–remember you can unsubscribe anytime using the link at the bottom.
In this edition, we’re back with updates on our ongoing funding pursuits, Wikipedia success, and AOPA’s plans for bringing on board a little sister: the tentatively-christened Catalogue Raisonné Collective. Curious? Fill out this form and we’ll keep you in the loop. But I am getting ahead of myself!
Read on to get all the news….
Have a friend who’s interested in keeping up with AOPA? New readers can sign up here. Looking for past newsletters? Click here.
Invitation card for an upcoming event produced by AOPA: Screening of the documentary Out of the Picture and the Catalogue Raisonnée Collective. Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at Produit Rien Project Space, 6909 rue Marconi, Montréal.
Last newsletter, we discussed avenues for future growth and the need to raise funds. In the end, our entry into crowdfunding just happened organically. We are humbled to have received donations from patrons totalling $1,000! This is huge news.
Don expressed his deep gratitude, not only for the help paying for our hefty development costs, but more so for the encouragement that we felt receiving this backing. It’s like a vote of confidence. And it feels great.
These patrons’ contributions have already helped pay for the expansion of the exhibition data fields and the creation of the new publications templates, which will be part of the upcoming AOPA-Retrospective platform 1.1 launch.
For anyone interested in joining our star-studded list of donors, the need remains, and support is welcome:
Now, AOPA would like to recognize our fabulous donors. It turns out that these are all people in Don’s life that have always been in his corner, through thick or thin.
Doug Sigurdson at Suzanne Gilles’ Fort Garry (Ladies’) Pony Club dinner in the historic Armstrong’s Point nieghbourhood of Winnipeg.
Douglas Sigurdson (gold patron) is the retired Head of Visual Arts at the Canada Council, and lives in Ottawa. With Suzanne Gilles, he was founding director of Winnipeg’s Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in the seventies, and is an honorary member of Winnipeg supreme-cool-royalty.
In the mid eighties, Don was cutting his critical-writing teeth in Toronto. Discouraged, he would drop in on Doug, who was director of A-Space at the time. An hour later Don would leave with renewed morale and his mind expanded, having listened to Doug’s sharp reflections on contemporary art and its systems.
To get the flavour of their exchanges, here’s an Andy-Warhol-esque conversation Don had with Doug touring Montréal galleries in 1997, published in the Cube art paper edited Pierre Beaudoin and François Dion.
Dr. Brian Mirtle at the Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse in Edmonton.
Brian Mirtle (silver patron) is a 5-star psychiatrist in Edmonton who Don met in the back alleys of suburban Winnipeg, when they were both kids. They have remained friends since. Brian has had a long-standing interest in good music and culture, and is always the first to like AOPA’s Instagram posts.
Brad and Maricela Galatiuk in the St.-Elijah Romanian Orthodox Church basement in Lennard, Manitoba.
Brad & Maricela Galatiuk (silver patrons) are family. Brad and Don share fond memories as kids of eating perogies in their grandmother’s pioneer house in rural Manitoba. Brad worked as a Credit Union loans officer and a business assistant in a large farming operation in Manitoba. Maricela is a bookkeeper who moved to Manitoba from Romania. They’ve been curious about and supportive of AOPA, since the beginning.
Thanks to all!
A coupe of quick updates. For Gordon Payne’s archive, Emma has been photographing more of his recent skins paintings in the Hornby studio, and Don’s been treating the photos here in Montréal. Gordon has begun writing about the overarching themes in his art, with the goal of opening up a dialogue with selected people, and defining the groupings for the retrospective website, which will provide the entry points into his oeuvre.
This is a box of slides that Emma discovered in Gordon’s studio. We are excited to get them scanned and see which images might fill in the archive!
I’m also happy to share that Don and Mark Sheerin’s article on artist Lynn Hughes for Wikipedia is now live! It is the fruit of much research and source authentication (the article has 102 references). There are sections about Lynn’s studies, her painting and interactive works, publications, teaching and academics, research groups, collectives and curating.
It’s very satisfying to see the career of an important Canadian artist properly referenced and available to researchers, students and anyone interested. And Lynn’s trajectory is so interesting. Do check it out, it’s a good read: Lynn Hughes (artist) – Wikipedia.
Screen capture of part of the Lynn Hughes Wikipedia entry.
Since the launch of the AOPA-Retrospective platform 1.0, it has become clear that AOPA’s tools and methods need to find their way into the hands of more dedicated curators, which will enable us to serve more artists. The demand is there, the capacity to respond needs to be nurtured.
So, we have decided to move forward with the challenge of creating a collective or cooperative of independent critics, curators and art historians, including recent graduates in these disciplines, to join in the fun.
With the working name of The Catalogue Raisonné Collective, the initiative is still in its early stages, but its potential is significant for the interpreters, analysts and archivers of art—offering them a new way to do meaningful research that can provide a new source of revenue.
The goal remains the same: to provide legacy services to mid- to late-career contemporary visual artists, creating their online archives, retrospective websites and catalogue raisonnés.
Screen capture of part of the Lynn Hughes Wikipedia entry.
“Out of the Picture” Documentary Screening &
The Catalogue Raisonné Call to Action
March 22, 2 p.m.
Produit Rien, 6909 rue Marconi, Montréal
To get things going, AOPA is organizing an afternoon get-together at Produit Rien in Montréal. It is a first step toward connecting with a motivated group of independent critics, curators and art historians.
We would love to see you on March 22nd for a free screening of the award-winning documentary “Out of the Picture” (2024), followed by a call to action to get involved in the founding of the Catalogue Raisonné Collective.
Out of the Picture explores the changing role of art criticism and writing in our times. The fledgling Catalogue Raisonné Collective is poised to answer the ensuing question: What new structures might support art writers, curators and historians in the future?
If you can’t make it, don’t worry, step 2 will be to organize a virtual gathering… coming in the near future. Spread the word!
To stay informed: fill out this form to express your interest (ici en français).
—
Get out all the details about “Out of the Picture” and the call-to-action event here: FR | EN
Screen capture of a segment of the search results from Louise Robert’s catalogue of works with time period and thematic area selected.
One more thing before you go… Check out this comprehensive online catalogue raisonné for Québec artist Louise Robert. It was created by art historian Michel Huard. Don and him recently met and discussed this passion project that took seven years to complete. Don and Michel had a rich exchange, comparing notes on the highs and lows, and the great privilege and satisfaction of working with living artists to build the archive of their life’s work. Keep up the good work!
As you can see, exciting things are happening. With the addition of forming an art-focused cooperative to extend AOPA’s mission, this is a time of information gathering and collaboration, and reaching out to others.
Hope to see you on the 22nd, bring anyone you think might be interested, and if you can’t make it, fill out the form and stay tuned for the virtual meeting.
Thank you again, as always, for reading, and don’t be shy to get in touch.
Mya Fernandes-Giles, AOPA Dedicated-Curator Assistant
Masters of Art History from Concordia University. Completed an SSHRC-funded thesis that relies heavily on alternative archives. Has a great appreciation for record-keeping and cultural preservation, especially amongst little-known artists and communities. Recipient of SSHRC, FRQSC (in title), Concordia Merit Scholarship, the Guido Molinari Prize in Studio Arts, and the Sarah Leaney Award in Ceramics and Fibers.
Artist Online Presence and Archiving (AOPA), provides professional online archiving and web-development services to mid- to late-career contemporary visual artists. AOPA was founded in 2023. It grew out of the freelance work of Don Goodes, who was an art critic and curator in Canada for a decade before moving over to web development in the cultural sector. AOPA delivers its services via a growing team of freelance writers, curators and designers spread across Canada. Over the past 2 years, the core team has been developing a flexible and comprehensive online platform called AOPA-Retrospective, a key tool in delivering AOPA’s services. AOPA-Retrospective is designed to fulfill the needs of contemporary artists, for both archiving and the online presentation of their oeuvre in the spirit of the catalog-raisonné.
For questions or inquiries see our contact page. We would love to hear from you.
choose your preferred method of communication