Who We Are
Founded in 1886 Zwicker’s has been serving the community for well over a century and a quarter.
What We Do
We offer a wide range of paintings, graphics and sculptures by a variety of talented local, national and international artists. We also carry a good selection of antique maps, charts and historical prints of Canada. There is also a selection of paintings, graphics, artefacts and sculptures by both Inuit and Aboriginal artists.
Zwicker’s offers a range of professional art-related services to its clients including museum quality conservation and archival framing, restoration, and crating and shipping. We also prepare properly documented appraisals for insurance, donation, estate disposition and family division purposes.
Staff
Ian Muncaster – Director and Appraiser
Andrew Muncaster – Co-Director
David Boutilier – Coordinator of Framing, Crating and Shipping
Rebecca Winn – Coordinator of Restoration and Records Management
Kittens
Eliot and Mingus have managed the Gallery for the past 12 years or so.
Eliot was named by his parents in memory of T.S. Eliot, the famed author of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Eliot’s ancestors were United Empire Loyalists during the American Revolution, who had little sympathy for the republican sentiments of the time. They were loyal to King George and came to Nova Scotia in 1775. Following his graduation from Dalhousie University. Eliot went to Harvard and obtained a combined graduate degree in Dentistry and Embalming (especially mice and squirrels) On his return to Halifax, he found little demand for his dental and embalming services, so that he turned his talent to Arts Administration and took over the management of Zwicker’s Gallery.
Mingus, whose parents named him after Charles Mingus, the noted bassist, is a Scottish Blue whose ancestors were ships engineers. They came ashore in Nova Scotia to strengthen the Scottish influence in the area following the lamentable influence of English immigrants who did not like either bagpipes or haggis. While Mingus was not a bagpiper, he was musically inclined and studied the violin at the Julliard School in New York. A loyal Nova Scotian, Mingus turned away from the fleshpots of Manhattan to pursue a life strengthening the cultural milieu of his native province. He is an admirer of both King James V of Scotland and Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist. As a result, Mingus has published articles in various journals on quantum mechanics and its application to Cape Breton industry. This has made him a household name in such places as the Falkland Islands and Togoland. These days Mingus has forsworn physics and joined Eliot at Zwicker’s to broaden his artistic horizons by working in the visual arts.
