There is nothing quite like holding an entire exhibition in your hands; works of art that could fill a room are instead nestled into the spine of one book. Art books are wonderous, but their lives are not merely contained in their pages. Autism Arts and Future Possible are our latest art titles, and we wanted to share a little more from them.

Autism Arts: A Partnership between Autism Nova Scotia and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Before partnering with us to bring you this wonderful book, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Autism Nova Scotia teamed up to develop Autism Arts: a recreational art program that provides a safe and supportive environment for participants to express themselves creatively. The book showcases the collaborative nature and profound impact of the program, a program that is on-going and starting to grow.

Their Spring 2021 application has just been posted, inviting children, youth, and young adults ages 5-25 who are on the autism spectrum to apply. Click here to find the application. You can also follow the ongoing journey by clicking here to check out their blog or here to follow them on Facebook.

Future Possible: An Art History of Newfoundland and Labrador

You would think there would be a comprehensive art history for every Canadian province by now, but that is not the case. In fact, there wasn’t even a Wikipedia entry for Art of Newfoundland and Labrador until Future Possible’s curator and editor Mireille Eagan wrote one. Click here to visit the entry. Future Possible might possibly be Canada’s first book dedicated to the art history of a single province. And like many great art books, it started out as an exhibition. The exhibition Future Possible: Newfoundland and Labrador Art from 1949 to the Present was featured at The Rooms in St. John’s. When the exhibition was on view, Mireille Eagan was interviewed by CBC. The resulting article gives a behind-the-scenes look at how an exhibition comes to be. It asks what to include in an exhibition, and even how to display one. Click here to read the article.

Of course, you can always find out more about these titles by picking up copies of the books yourself. Both are filled with wonderful full-colour images and great stories and essays to boot.

Click here to find Autism Arts and here for Future Possible.