We had a lecture today from Daina Augaitis, curator of the upcoming Ron Longstaffe collection, Determined Pursuit. She gave an excellent overview of the works in the collection, as well as many interesting anecdotes about Longstaffe, his life, methods of collecting and his love of art.

Ron Longstaffe studied law at UBC and there met artist BC Binning. He founded the Alma Mater society and convinced the university to spend 10 cents per student on an art collection. His collecting focused on Canadian Modernism, Quebec Abstraction, Inuit drawings and International Pop Art graphics, the latter which was developed when Longstaffe lived in London in 1969-72. His business travels often directed his collecting, as travels to Toronto, New York, and Montreal opened Longstaffe's vision to artists other than those living in British Columbia.

He often lent works from his collection, which he developed with the VAG in mind, so the VAG could explain the developments of art history.