Join Griffin Art Projects’ adjunct curator, Dr. Karen Tam and special guests –Roxanne Arsenault and Pascal Desjardins, Dana Claxton, and Jamie Cameron and Christopher Bredt– for an engaging panel discussion focused on art collecting. Drawing on themes explored in Griffin’s current exhibition, Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection, this panel explores how collecting art begins, how collections evolve over time and the relationships that develop between artists and collectors. After the presentations, join us for Chats & Chews, an informal post-conference discussion. Bring an appetizer and/or a drink, and join us in conversation to unpack the ideas sparked during the panel discussion.

Pascal Desjardins has been working in the field of sound for 25 years. His interest in contemporary art manifests itself in the video production of artist portraits and in assisting with sound post-production for local and internationally renowned artists. In collaboration with Roxanne Arsenault, he is also building a diverse collection of contemporary Canadian art that has earned him recognition in the art world.

Roxanne Arsenault has been active in the Montreal cultural milieu for over 15 years, particularly in contemporary art and music. She has been the co-director of the Centre d'art et de diffusion CLARK since 2014. She holds a master's degree in art history and her thesis has been transformed into the book Kitsch QC published by Éditions Fides in 2021, of which she is co-author.

Dana Claxton is a critically acclaimed artist working in film, video, photography, video installation, and performance art. Her practice investigates indigenous beauty, the body, the socio-political and the spiritual. Her work has been shown at international venues including the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis, MN), Sundance Film Festival, Salt Lake City (UT), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, AU), Crystal Bridges (Bentonville, AR), and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Minneapolis (MN). Her work is held in Canadian public and private collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the MacKenzie Art Gallery, and the Audain Museum. She has received numerous awards including the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), the Scotiabank Photography Award (2020), the VIVA Award, the Eiteljorg Fellowship, the Hnatyshyn Award, and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. 

She is Head and a Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory with the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations located in SW Saskatchewan and she resides in Vancouver. Her collection began with northwest coast Indigenous women artists ( 240 pieces) and has expanded to include northwest coast indigenous men whose art features Indigenous women or female entities.

Jamie Cameron, now Professor Emerita, was a full-time faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, from 1984 to 2020. One of Canada’s most senior public law scholars, Cameron has served on law-related boards that include the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and the Board of Editors for Ontario Reports. Jamie is an appointed member of the Ontario and Nunavut Review Boards. She has served on cultural boards that include the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Canada’s National Ballet School. She is currently on the Board of Directors for Art Canada Institute and the Inuit Art Foundation. She is a member of the Women’s Art Council at the McMichael, and is also on the Board of Artworks for Cancer. 

Christopher Bredt is a Senior Litigation Counsel in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP where he practices in the areas of administrative, constitutional and corporate/commercial litigation.  He is the past-Chair of Borden Ladner Gervais’ National Public Law Group, and was selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada (Administrative and Public Law) and recognized in Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.  He has a B.A. and LL.B. Western University, an LL.M. from Yale, and a D.S.U. (Droit Administratif) from the Université de Paris II.  From 1979 – 1980 he clerked for Mr. Justice W.R. McIntyre of the Supreme Court of Canada.  He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1984, and has appeared as counsel at all levels of the courts in Ontario and at the Supreme Court of Canada.  He was on secondment to the Government of Ontario from 1989 – 1993, where he served as Assistant Deputy Minister, Office of Federal Provincial Relations, and as Assistant Deputy Minister, Constitutional Policy and Special Counsel.  He taught Advanced Administrative Law at the University of Toronto Law School 1984 – 1990, and currently teaches a seminar on Freedom of Expression and the Media at Osgoode Hall Law School. He served as a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario from 2008 – 2019, and as Vice-Chair of the Law Society Tribunal (Appeal Division) from 2014 – 2019. In 2022 he was awarded the Law Society Medal for his contributions to the legal profession in Ontario. Together with his spouse Jamie Cameron, he is a passionate collector of Canadian Indigenous art.

Since 1987 –about 35 years now– Chris Bredt and Jamie Cameron have been dedicated art collectors. Their collection and art-related interests are a passion and consuming interest. The collection is centered in Inuit art (comprising graphics, sculpture, and textiles), and includes other Indigenous art (primarily Northwest Coast and Woodland communities), the Aboriginal Group of 7, Quebec artists (i.e., Dallaire, Beaulieu) and Wolf Kahn (an American colourist). The Bredt-Cameron collection includes glass art from US, Czech, Australian, Venetian, and Canadian artists, among others. They also have a substantial and wide-ranging library of art books.