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Curatorial students benefit from expertise of Dr. Stephen Borys

Stephen-Borys-wpRecent winner of the Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year, Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO of the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) also is an adjunct professor at UWinnipeg. Borys teaches one of the core courses for the Curatorial Practices stream of the Masters in Cultural Studies, sharing his considerable curatorial knowledge with UWinnipeg MA students. Borys helped design the program and the internships that are in place to train students seeking careers in museums and galleries as curators, and to provide trained curatorial workers to meet the national and local demands in this field.  Many UWinnipeg students at the graduate and undergraduate levels benefit from the vast and rich WAG resources.

“When Dr. Borys joined the WAG, one of the first things he did was organize the permanent collection to exhibit to art history students throughout the province so they could study and learn from the WAG’s collection,” expressed Serena Keshavjee Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Art History.

“He is considered a first-class curator and our students glean both academic and experiential knowledge from him. The Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year is another example of how active he is in the field.”

WAG curators initiated the UWinnpeg art history program 45 years ago, and this relationship continues to thrive, sharing expertise, collections, and a strong commitment to mentoring students and the downtown arts community.

An alumnus of UWinnipeg, BA honours, Borys continued his education and obtained his MA in Art and Architectural History from the University of Toronto; he has an Executive MBA and received his PhD in Art History from McGill University, Montreal. He leads a sterling career in the arts that transcends borders and his experiences are reflected in his curatorial expertise that embraces a variety of art forms which echo in his role as a teacher.

His diversity is demonstrated in the roles that he has held prior to the WAG and UWinnipeg. Borys was the Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, the largest university art museum in North America, where he oversaw the Museum of Art and Cà d’Zan Mansion collections and exhibition programs. He held an adjunct teaching post in the Art History department at FloridaStateUniversity, and was a Research Scholar at NewCollege, Sarasota.

Prior to Sarasota, Borys was curator at the AllenMemorialArt Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, where he taught in the Art History department. Before Oberlin, he was assistant curator in European and American art at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and he has also worked in the Prints and Drawings department at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

He has organized numerous exhibitions, written accompanying catalogues and scholarly articles, and lectured across North America.

A recipient of exhibition and research grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Ohio Arts and Humanities Councils, Oberlin College, Florida State University, Canada Council for the Arts, and Canadian Heritage, Dr. Borys is a graduate of the Getty’s Museum Leadership Institute and the Royal Collections Studies Program, London. He is a member of several national and international museum and art history organizations, including CMA (Canadian Museums Association) and CAMDO (Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization) where he serves as President of the Boards of Directors, AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors), and CODART (International Council for Curators of Dutch and Flemish Art).

About Masters in Cultural Studies: Curatorial Practices.

Curatorial Practices is a specialization within the established MA Program in Cultural Studies. Graduates are prepared for employment in visual arts organizations, especially interpreting, displaying and disseminating information about art. For more information on this unique program please visit https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/ma-curatorial-practices.

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