[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Museum08.jpg” caption=”The McMaster Museum of Art was presented with the Curatorial Writing Award by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries on Friday, Sept. 16. Photo by Matt Terry.”]The McMaster Museum of Art was honoured on Friday, Sept. 26 when it received the prestigious Curatorial Writing Award from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) at their 31st Annual Awards ceremony.

Recognizing the Museum's research efforts, as well as its contributions to the discourse on art in Ontario, the peer-nominated prize was handed out in front of a filled-to-capacity crowd at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Toronto.

The McMaster Museum of Art earned the recognition for an essay by Mark Cheetham, found in its 2007 catalogue, entitled Robert Houle: Troubling Abstraction.

This is not the first time the OAAG has awarded the McMaster Museum of Art for its excellence in the arts community, however. In 2007, the Museum won a Design Award for the Arnaud Maggs' catalogue that was jointly produced with the Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery in Oshawa.

The Ontario Association of Art Galleries, established in 1968, encourages the ongoing and cooperative development of Ontario's public art galleries, art museums, community galleries and visual arts organizations. It currently has over 200 members.

Open to the public since 1994, the McMaster Museum of Art houses a collection of almost 6,000 works dating from ancient times to the present. It is recognized internationally for its specialist collection of early 20th century German prints, as well as its European paintings, drawings and prints.