Martha Street Studio/Manitoba Printmakers Association, Winnipeg, Canada, announces the appointment of a new Executive Director.
Martha Street Studio's board of directors formally announces the resignation of Sheila Spence, Executive Director of Martha Street Studio since 2001. The organization would like to acknowledge the incredible amount of time, work and effort that Sheila put into Martha Street Studio over the last 11 years. Sheila began with The Manitoba Printmakers Association as it was re-emerging from a production hiatus resulting from a myriad of issues in the late 90s. Those issues caused the closing of the Market Street production space, the original location of the Manitoba Printmakers Association, incorporated in 1988. MPA acquired the building at 11 Martha Street in 2001. Sheila was brought on board at this time and oversaw the transformation of 11 Martha Street from a former wholesale dry goods distributor (originally a fur storage building) to a fully functioning, fully wheelchair accessible 4000 square foot state of the art printmaking facility. Along with significant physical upgrading of the building (the copper wall alone is worth a trip), Sheila also built MSS’s community outreach programming to include the highly successful Youth Outreach and Inkubator programs that have seen scores of youth between the ages of 16 to 25 from neighbourhoods across the city come to MSS and learn not only the technical skills required to be a printmaker, but also are introduced to the world of professional art practitioners. Sheila was also responsible for developing Martha Street Editions, commissioned works by local artists that have seen international recognition through promotion and sales. These projects form the hallmark of the current state of affairs here at Martha Street. Sheila continues to be a loyal supporter of Martha Street Studio.
In tandem, Martha Street Studio is pleased to announce the appointment of Larry Glawson to the position of Executive Director. Originally hired in March of this year as Interim Executive Director, Glawson has a long history in the artist-run centre system in Winnipeg. He is one of the founding members of Ace Art and has served in various capacities from juror to board member to staff person of a number of Winnipeg organizations, including PLATFORM: Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts and Video Pool Media Arts Centre. As a photo-based artist, Glawson has produced and exhibited locally, nationally and internationally for over 30 years. He has also served as a chronic sessional instructor in photography at his Alma mater, the LeMoine Fitzgerald School of Art at the University of Manitoba more or less continually from 1990 to 2012 with a 2 year sojourn to London Ontario where he received an MFA from the University of Western Ontario. Glawson is excited to be part of the Martha Street Studio team and is looking forward to engaging with Martha Street’s staff, membership and many friends and supporters.