Mendel art gallery gets makeover in Saskatoon: new home, new name

Saskatoon's Mendel Art Gallery will have a new location and a new name, directors announced Friday.

The gallery, founded in the early 1960s with donations from local meat-packing magnate, Fred Mendel, had long signaled it had outgrown its current space and that a new building was needed.

That was affirmed Friday when gallery officials unveiled plans for a $55 million building in Saskatoon's River Landing development, a residential and entertainment zone in the city.

"The planets are now aligned in favor of a totally new art gallery," Art Knight, chairman of the Mendel's board of directors, said at a news conference announcing their plans.

"Construction of a new and expanded gallery will make more financial sense and will deliver a better and more environmentally friendly end result than wrestling with renovations."

The new site will be next to Saskatoon's Persephone Theatre.

The board also said it would drop the Mendel name and become the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan.

The changes have been the buzz of Saskatoon's art community for several weeks. Among those praising the move is Bubs Coleman, a long-time supporter of the gallery and former employee.

"Retrofitting an old building like that is much, much more expensive than building a new building," Coleman told CBC News. "The heating system, I know, is the original one from 1964 and is just held together with good will."

While Coleman maintains affection for the original galley, she said a move was needed.

"The Mendel has been a wonderful, wonderful spot all these years but it doesn't work anymore," she said.

Others, including members of the Mendel family, were not so enthusiastic, and felt the plan was disrespectful to the gallery's chief benefactor.

Ray Martineau, a former board member and chair of the Mendel Foundation, said the plans seemed rushed to him.

"It looks to me as if  they're in a hell of a hurry to fill a space in south downtown," Martineau said. "I don't think they've had good planning in terms of that area and they are just looking to stuff something in the space."

The project would need money from various sources, directors said, including about $8 million from community donations.