New gallery will offer a rare peek at millions of treasures in the U of A’s collections

From dinosaur bones to Group of Seven artworks, some of the University of Alberta’s more than 10 million museum artifacts will be unearthed from storage and put on display at a new public art gallery. 

Construction began in July on the Kenneth and Sandra Wong Gallery, a 5,000-square-foot facility at the Telus Centre on the university’s North Campus. 

At five times the size of the university’s current exhibition space, the new public gallery will allow visitors to see the treasures held in the university’s 30 museum collections.

“[There’s] something about the tactility of seeing something firsthand — … not touching it but looking at it — that’s really special,” said Dale Askey, the university’s chief librarian.

“It makes you think about the world differently or you become curious about something. There’s a sense of wonder and a sense of awe.”

Earlier this week, the university set up a special display of artifacts that don’t usually get to see the light of days, including an Emily Carr painting, an ancient Greek coin, a fossil of a baby dinosaur and a taxidermied Greater Prairie chicken, now extinct in Canada, which was brought out of the freezer for the event. 

The Wongs, along with their children Vincent and Emily both U of A graduates, are the project’s lead donors. 

The goal is to give the university’s rare art and artifacts collections a permanent new home — and give visitors free access to see them.

“The idea came that, well, we should do something more substantial, more lasting,” said Kenneth Wong. “We have so much heritage in the collection … in arts, in sciences. So, for the people who come here, I hope that they will enjoy the breadth of knowledge. Because it is a teaching gallery, too.”

Museum director Christine Conciatori said there are items in the university’s collections that date back to the 16th century. One of those items — a print by Albrecht Durer, regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist — was among the artifacts brought out of storage this week. 

 “It’s the oldest print that we have in the collection, it dates from 1505, so very early 16th century,” said Conciatori. ”[It] is quite exceptional to have that print.”