An exhibition space at the Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery has been renamed to acknowledge the generosity of two significant benefactors.
The large gallery on the third floor will now be known as "The John Oravec & Marisa Bernardi Gallery," following a special ceremony held Thursday.
The couple have donated over 30 works of Canadian contemporary art to the gallery's permanent collection in the last ten years.
Gallery curator Lisa Daniels says a number of the works are highlighted in the gallery's exhibition called The Bold & The New, which is the latest in the Share the Passion: Gifts of Art series.
"Thirty percent of the works in this exhibition are donated by John Oravec and Marisa Bernardi, and this is to celebrate their ongoing and significant donations of art to the gallery," says Daniels.
She says John and Marisa have had a particular love for paintings done by London, Ontario artist Ron Martin.
"We are developing one of the better collections of the work of Ron Martin in Canada, where we're able to have samples of key periods of his development and basically build a full range of his practice to be able to tell that story," says Daniels.
All of the art works have been certified by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CCPERB) and have been designated as important to Canada's Visual Cultural heritage.
"What they determine is that the work that is being donated to the gallery is of such significance, that if it was lost to the Canadian people it would significantly hurt our Canadian visual heritage," says Daniels. "It's really significant that all of the works John and Marisa have donated to the gallery, each and every one of them has been designated by Canadian Heritage."
The exhibition will be on display until August 6.
