In this Member Profile from our Winter 2020 newsletter, we reached out to long-standing Partner Club member Ivan Hurlbut to learn about his lifelong appreciation of art, the collection keeping him company at home, and his favourite exhibition at KWAG.

What first drew you to the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery?

I’m not sure what first drew me. I have always been interested in art and I have always enjoyed visiting art galleries​. I started coming to KWAG to see the exhibitions just after it opened when it was in the bicycle shed. Now I make a point of arriving an hour early whenever I come to see a show at Centre In The Square so I have time to visit the Gallery as well.

You’re an art collector. Can you tell us a little about your collection?

Currently, there are over forty pieces of original art hanging in my home. I collect mostly local artists like Peter Goetz but I also have some pieces by Tom Roberts who is from Toronto. I like watercolour though my collection isn’t limited to that medium and colour is an important consideration. My wife and I visited Paris where we spent an entire day in the Musée d’Orsay. I like the impressionist style and the collection of impressionist paintings they had was remarkable.

Can you describe a favorite piece or exhibition you have seen at KWAG?

I have seen most of the exhibitions that have come through KWAG over the years but Adad Hannah’s Glints and Reflections really impressed me. When I saw the image on the last newsletter and its connection to art history I was immediately interested. I had expected an exhibition of still photographs so when the pieces started moving I was surprised but that movement has really stayed with me.

If you were having your portrait done which artist would you ask and why?

I would ask Amedeo Modigliani because I like his style of painting. I actually own a print of his work and a painting by a Nova Scotia artist following his style. The only thing I would want him to do differently is the eyes. Modigliani usually left his subjects eyes blank but I would want my eyes to have some detail.