The possible closure of the Mendel Art Gallery comes as a surprise to the grandson of the man who founded it.
"This is a complete shock to me," Chip Mitchell said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
"I think it's a big mistake."
On Friday, representatives from the City of Saskatoon and the Mendel Art Gallery board are expected to propose that a new art gallery be built in Saskatoon at River Landing, replacing the Mendel, which has sat farther north overlooking the South Saskatchewan River since 1964. They hope the proposal to build a new facility will trigger long-awaited federal funding for a public art gallery in the city.
The Mendel name would likely be removed from the building, possibly to be named the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan. One section of the gallery would be named after Mendel to honour the man credited with initiating the building of the first public art gallery in Saskatoon.
"That's definitely not the kind of pact that the city and the province entered into with my grandfather," said Mitchell.
In addition to paying one-third of the construction costs of the original gallery, Mendel also donated from his private collection 13 paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. The Mendel family has continued to support the art gallery through the years, says Mitchell, whose mother was a Mendel.
The family supports an earlier decision by the Mendel board that would see the present facility expand to 45,000 square feet from 25,000 square feet and include a courtyard, a cafe named in honour of singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and a larger civic conservatory.
The price tag for the expansion, in the works for at least five years, has risen to more than $21 million. The provincial government has already committed $4.1 million while the city has agreed to contribute $4.5 million. At least $1.1 million has already been spent on architectural drawings. Despite repeated requests for federal funding, no money has been committed by Ottawa.
"We can talk about the Mendel on the riverbank (at its present location). We can talk about the Mendel in River Landing. We can talk about the Mendel anywhere, but until the federal government steps up, there will be no development," said a source with knowledge of the project.
"I think that the city and the Mendel art board think this will increase the chances of getting federal funding and this project can't happen without that money," the source said.
The proposed Art Gallery of Saskatchewan would be significantly larger than the proposed expansion of the present Mendel. A 120,000-square-foot building would be attached to Persephone Theatre's exterior blank wall that faces west. Between 75,000 to 80,000 square feet would be allocated for the art gallery, leaving room for a restaurant or other uses, says the source. The proposal, still in its infancy, does not include drawings.
"There are big dollars at stake here," said the source, who wasn't sure of the exact number.
"We'll need significant portions coming from the three levels of government."
In applying for Building Canada money announced in the latest federal budget, the city has identified the proposed new art gallery as its No. 1 priority. If the federal government would commit this spring to fund part of the construction, a new art gallery could be built within two years, says the source.
The idea of moving the Mendel Art Gallery to River Landing was floated in 2005, drawing strong reactions from several benefactors, including Eva Mendel Miller, a daughter of Fred Mendel, and volunteers who threatened to pull their support and finances.
Ray Martineau, chair of the Mendel Foundation, which raises money for the gallery to purchase pieces of art, supports expansion at the current site and is angry with this latest development.
"It's my opinion that city council and the administration of the city are in such a helluva hurry to fill that hole in south downtown that they'll stand on their heads to do it," said Martineau, who was a longtime member of the Mendel board of trustees but now sits on the foundation.
The foundation members have not been told of the proposal to build a new gallery, he said.
No one from the Mendel Art Gallery would comment. Executive director Vincent Varga and Art Knight, chair of the Mendel board, would only confirm a news conference was scheduled for Friday.
No one from the City of Saskatoon, including Mayor Don Atchison, would comment either.
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