Special Project: Tea with the Queens
Tea with the Queens
featuring David Bierk’s “Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”
June 7 – 29, 2023
Join us for a special exhibition as we share the late David Bierk’s “Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” for the first time in its new home at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.
Made for the Peterborough Memorial Centre, the painting was installed on January 9, 1980, where it presided over countless sports games, concerts, and events until the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022. The painting was commissioned by the Major Bennett Chapter of the IODE for the Memorial Centre to commemorate the group’s 60th anniversary with matching funds from a Wintario Grant.
David Bierk was selected from an illustrious list of potential artists by jurors Illi-Maria Tamplin and Zoltan Temesy, then Director and Chair of the Board of the AGP. The original commissioning documents, which are held at Trent Valley Archives, state that if the painting ever needed to be removed it should be donated to the Art Gallery of Peterborough, or the Peterborough Public Library, whichever was preferred. The Art Gallery of Peterborough acquired the painting for the Permanent Collection earlier this year.
“Growing up, I saw my dad’s massive painting of the Queen at Pete’s games, high in the Memorial Centre. My brother Zac told me how players tried to aim for it with pucks during practice. I find it special how the painting intersects my dad’s love of sports and his life as an artist, and how it hung over my brother Zac’s head in goal as he played for the Petes. The public reacted strongly when it was taken down. I’m so happy that it ended up in the collection of the Art Gallery of Peterborough to be kept safe and continue to live on in our community.” – City Councillor, Alex Bierk
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