CATHERINE CROWSTON is Executive Director/ / Chief Curator of the Art Gallery of Alberta, having joined the Gallery in 1998. From 1994 to 1997 Crowston was the Director/Curator of the Walter Phillips Gallery at The Banff Centre and Editor of the Walter Phillips Gallery Editions. Prior to that, she was Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto (1986 to 1994), and a member of the Editorial Board and Chair of the Board of Directors of Fuse Magazine.
Over the course of her career, Crowston has curated numerous original exhibitions and overseen the production of several national partnership projects and travelling exhibitions. In 2002, Crowston served as the Canadian Commissioner for the Sydney Biennale of Contemporary Art and was awarded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Visual Arts. In 2005, she received the City of Edmonton Salute to Excellence Award for her work on the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art.
In addition to her work at the AGA, Crowston has taught courses on curatorial practice and public art at the University of Alberta, and currently serves on the McEwan University Fine Arts Advisory Board. She has also served as Vice-Chair of the City of Edmonton Public Art Committee (2008-2012) and was a founding member of the University of Alberta’s Festival of Ideas Advisory Board. Crowston was inducted into the City of Edmonton Salute to Excellence Hall of Fame in June of 2015.