About the Gallery
Union Gallery is a not-for-profit, student-centred public contemporary art gallery at Queen's University. UG is a space centred in community and conversation, driven by play, curiosity, curation and research-creation. We are the primary public gallery at Queen's dedicated to showcasing the range and excellence of students' artistic and curatorial practices. UG also supports local (based in Katarokwi-Kingston), regional and national professional artists to foster a diverse network of artistic production, presentation and interpretation. We’re committed to supporting creative growth through merging technical and critical understandings of the arts, as well as a deeper understanding of how art can reflect the most important issues of our time. UG is centrally located on the first floor of Stauffer Library on Queen's main campus. All are welcome and admission is always free.
ABOUT WRITING IN THE GALLERY
In Winter 2024, Union Gallery ran a pilot project: a student writers’ group, facilitated by UG board member and Art History MA student Anna Douglas. Bolstered by visiting artist Adrien Crossman’s writing workshop, the group got together periodically over several months to write, edit, and reflect together on the 2023-24 curatorial theme of radical play.
Three pieces written by members of the group—two essays and an artist interview—will be included in the first installment of UG’s new annual zine series, Writing in the Gallery, volume one: radical play (upcoming May 2025).
The second installment of Writing in the Gallery will focus on our 2024-25 curatorial theme of home/land (to be published September 2025). We are opening this call to all Queen’s students.
The zine will be made available in print (black and white with a colour cover) and online (colour). While this is not a paid opportunity, writers will receive 10 complimentary copies of the zine, and we will make sure that there is a permanent link to the online edition that can be used in writers’ CVs/portfolios. Your writing remains your own, and you are free to publish it elsewhere after the publication of the zine.
ABOUT HOME/LAND
Our 2024-25 curatorial theme of home/land centres Indigenous stories of kinship, harvest, healing, resistance, and dreaming—expanding the conversation outward to include other perspectives on the idea of belonging to place.
Examples of theme-related programming from this year: