Community Curates Week 9

While you may assume that because an artwork is in our collection, that we have ownership of it and can use the image as we see fit, this is incorrect. Artists still maintain copyright of their work and we must seek permission to use it. As a result, copyright is a huge factor in everything we do online. Some artists have given us permission to use their images for educational or promotional purposes, others have given us full permission, while in other cases we have gained full permission as the copyright has expired (as it does 50 years from the death of an artist.)

Our collection has recently been digitized (meaning it has been carefully photographed and recorded digitally) and is now available to be searched online, yet not all images have been cleared to be published online. As a result, it is an ongoing project for us to obtain permission to use works of art in our online directory and in projects such as Community Curates. It is our hope that someday the majority of our collection will be approved for viewing online so that a more comprehensive view of our holdings is easily accessible for all.

In selecting works for Community Curates, we are limited to using works that we do hold copyright to. Here are five more works for you two choose from. With just one week left, week 10, we’re nearing completion of the project. We’re very excited to debut the results in the coming weeks.

1. Michael Behnan (Canadian, b. Pakistan, 1947 – 1982)

Spadina and Dundas 1974

ink on paper

Gift of the artist, 1975

2. Charles E. Heil (American, 1870 – 1953)

Haystack at Bourg-la-Reine 1896

watercolour and graphite on paper

Gift of the heirs of the Hortense Gordon estate, 1976

3. Lynda Hayward (Canadian, b. 1941)

Weedscape I 1977

photo-serigraph monotype on paper

Purchase, 1977

4. Susan Low-Beer (Canadian, b.1943)

Untitled 1993

watercolour and graphite on paper

Gift of the artist, 1994

5. Michael Snow (Canadian, b. 1929)

Carla Bley 1965

photolithography and relief printing on paper

Purchase, 1970

Community Curates Week 8

Crowdsourcing is defined as, “the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a “crowd”), through an open call.” The term, coined in 2006 has become a shorthand to describe the ability to leverage mass collaboration that has been made easy because of the speed of communication created by the internet.

The Community Curates exhibition is a crowdsourced art show, where the community who follow us online are acting as our curators. What we learn from this and how we interact with the community as a result of the information we gather by creating the project are the benefits to us, while to you it might be the opportunity to see more of our collection that is often hidden from view. We also think it is interesting to hear when you feel the choices are difficult to make; we experience this often when curating exhibitions.

Here are the selections for Week 8:

1. Joan-Marie Dean (Canadian, b.1934)

Isis 1977

etching and aquatint on paper

Purchase, 1977

2. Fred Haines (Canadian, 1879 – 1960)

The Harvest Moon c. 1922

aquatint on paper

Gift of Charles Goldhamer, 1983

3. Kent Monkman (Canadian, b.1965)

Untitled c.1993

watercolour on paper

Gift of the artist, 1994

4. L. A. C. Panton (Canadian, 1894 – 1954)

Christmas Card c. 1940

woodcut on paper

Gift of Charles Goldhamer, 1983

5. Mary E. Rawlyk (Canadian, b. 1934)

Wringing Shirt 1974

relief etching, screen process and card relief

Gift of the Ontario Arts Council, 1974

Community Curates Week 7

Summer rolls on and our Community Curates project is soon to wrap up, with only two more weeks of voting to go after this week. We are beginning to plan the installation of the works you have chosen. We plan to include a QR code on the text panel of the exhibition. A QR code is a matrix bar code that can be scanned by a smart phone. The code will lead to you a place where you can leave comments on the works that have been chosen. We hope you’ll continue to participate with us on this project in this manner!

Presenting your images to select from for Week 7:

1. Charlotte Brainerd (Canadian, b. U.S.A., 1921-1995)

Sun Roots 1965

etching and aquatint on paper

Purchase, 1968

2. Ron Eccles (Canadian, b.1944)

Time of Aphelion 1975

etching, aquatint and engraving on paper

Purchase, 1977

3. F. W. Jopling (Canadian, 1860 – 1945)

Whirlpool Rapids Illuminated – New York Side 1916

mezzotint and drypoint on paper

Gift of W. Ross Murray, 1976

4. Jock Macdonald (Canadian, b. Scotland, 1897-1960)

Untitled 1954

watercolour and ink on paper

Gift of Mary Hare, 1990

5. Rick Zolkower (Canadian, b. U.S.A, 1950)

Reclining Statue #1 1988

toned silver print

Gift of Ernie and Rivette Herzig, 2000

August First Fridays

We had so much fun at our August First Fridays event. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

(Click to follow links for more info!)

Musician Jeff Leech of Jeff Leech and the Pepperbox Choir opened the evening backed by another well-known local musician Abel Renton. Jeff told the crowd he was happy to be performing at the RMG (though he may have stumbled over our acronym!) and suggested we take a listen to his new album, Pointin’ Fingers, produced by Abel.

Jeff is a friend of the gallery. An artist and local teacher, Jeff recorded a version of his song Soldier Boy in the RMG last winter with local videographer Mike Peleshok.

Next up was singer/songwriter Patrick Dorie, who is soon to perform at the Canadian Country Music Association’s new artist showcase. We’re thrilled to have had him at a free event. Patrick’s video for Hope in High Places was screened at a previous First Fridays event in an awareness raising effort for the Second Marsh. You can hear some more of Patrick’s music on his Facebook page.

Local artist and illustrator Dani Crosby led an interactive mural project, using ink, wood panel and the assistance of First Fridays guests to create an RMG themed three-panel work. We haven’t decided if we can part with the work just yet, but are considering auctioning it at a future event, or keeping it as a mascot. We love the collaboration the work symbolizes!

Local burger business The Patty Shack came to hand out free RMG Vanity Sliders. We were lucky enough to work with Dave from The Patty Shack to design this delicious treat. R stands for Roasted Red Peppers, M for Mozzarella and G for his signature Gardillic sauce. We loved the burger and we’ll be headed back there for a staff lunch soon.

Read More:

Reporter Nathan Mackinnon captured the event on his blog post for the Downtown Oshawa News Blog.
Columnist Will McGuirk mentioned the event in his article for Oshawa This Week.

We’re now looking forward to our next event in September with anticipation. It has a back-to-school theme and we promise it will be much more fun than actually heading back to school!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Community Curates Week 6

There are as many opinions as there are experts. – Franklin Roosevelt

Everyone has a different opinion about what they consider to be art and opinions vary on what galleries should hang on their walls (or display on the floor). This project has been very interesting to us as we watch the various views, (all correct of course), funnel through the polling process and curate an exhibition. After all, opinions and preferences when it comes to art are personal and are correct for each of us. It is one element of curating that is very interesting.

A work of art can be an emotional experience for one viewer, while the same work may leave another person cold. Have any of your own choices surprised you? Have you chosen a work that in another venue, you might not have liked? Is it hard to choose between a figurative or abstract work? We’re archiving all the comments made during this process, so please feel free to leave us any and all feedback you might have in the comments.

Here’s the Week 6 selections! Top 2 make it through to the exhibition.

1. Caroline Benedicks Bruce (Swedish, 1856 – 1935)

Untitled n.d.

watercolour on paper

Purchased with the assistance of the Government of Canada through the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, 1986

2. Gary Michael Dault (Canadian, b.1939)

Piano Lake 1983

collage on paper

Purchase, 1983

3. Brian Kipping (Canadian, 1953-2007)

Untitled 1973

mezzotint on paper

Purchase, 1977

4. Virginia Luz (Canadian, b. 1911)

Haunted Borley 1951

gouache, pen and ink and graphite on paper

Gift of Yvonne McKague Housser, 1977

5. Sydney H. Watson (Canadian, 1911 – 1981)

The Red Glass 1949

gouache, ink, graphite on paper

Gift of Alexandra Luke, 1967

Community Curates Week 5

Each week we have been striving to include works from local artists. By local we mean artists who either called Durham Region home, currently live here, or grew up here. Some examples include John Landers, Barry Smylie, Isabel McLaughlin and Linda Selbie Ward. This week, we include Jeff Morrison. You can learn more about Jeff Morrison by visiting his website http://www.jeffmorrisonart.com

Last week we had another tie. This is an unexpected hurdle for us with this project, but it is part of the fun as well. The tied-for-second-place images will be put in our Window Wednesdays album on Facebook (early in the day on Wednesday) and you can go there to vote in the tie breaker.

Week 5