pitch, slip: Opening and Artist Talk

Please join us to celebrate the opening of pitch, slip, a new exhibition by RBC Emerging Artist in Residence, Alex Close.

Through her work, Close explores how our experiences in public spaces are shaped by our fragmented, layered, and ever-changing memories. From public performance venues to virtual reality, she is drawn to question engineered experiences and the role that trust plays in our day-to-day lives. This body of work is reflective of Close’s evolving approach to abstract painting and her bold embrace of experimentation in the RMG’s artist residency studio, which is supported by the RBC Foundation’s RBC Emerging Artist Project.

Refreshments will be served. Join us in the exhibition space at 7pm for a conversation between the artist and RMG Associate Curator, Hannah Keating.

Seating will be available. If there is anything else we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

Let us know you’re coming with an RSVP (not required, but encouraged).

RMG Fridays: The Backyard Opening

We’re excited to celebrate the opening of The Backyard at the RMG with our community! Be one of the first to experience our reimagined greenspace that is community focused and rooted in creativity.

Throughout the evening we’ll have lots of activities on the go:

Meet the designers
Help us plant our raised beds with the Oshawa Garden Club
Paint a rock – yes, that pandemic tradition – with our L&E staff for our garden
Partake in refreshments from local vendors
Enjoy brilliant musical performances.

7:00 pm Doors open

7:20 pm Welcome, Introductions + Thank Yous

7:30 pm Performance by Tania Joy

8:30 pm Performance by the Professors of Funk

10:00 pm Doors close

The Professors Of Funk is a powerhouse 9-piece band that plays the classic funk, R&B, soul, and Motown music of the 1960s and 70s – music meant to get people to move. This sizzling high-energy ensemble features elite professional musicians with a wide range of experience in groups large and small and backing up artists across a broad spectrum. The presence of a 3-piece horn section, added percussionist, and both male and female lead vocalists ensure that they deliver the authentic flavours found in that era’s timeless sound.

Folk-roots musician, Tania Joy has been using the last few years hone her songwriting, finally following up her 2013 EP, I’ll Be Around, with the release of her EP I Will Stand, produced by 2022 Juno Award winner Hill Kourkoutis (SATE, Digging Roots, Leela Gilday, Madison Violet), a multi-talented artist who played with Serena Ryder and was in The Weeknd’s original backing band.

This project is funded in part by: the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and the Enabling Accessibility Fund; the Ontario Trillium Foundation Community Building Fund; and The City of Oshawa.

Funders

Project Partners

Event Sponsors

Exhibitions Opening: Fountain of Dreams and Topographies

Join us on June 10, 2023 to celebrate two solo exhibitions at the RMG with brand new work by Aaron Jones and Anna Binta Diallo. Fountain of Dreams is an installation of audio, video, and photos by Aaron Jones that considers the spatial and multi-sensory qualities of haunting and remembrance. In Topographies, Anna Binta Diallo brings an assortment of image fragments into strata-like installations. Playing with physical and conceptual layers, these exhibitions share an interest in the interplay between permeable borders, whether geographical, geological, or generational.

Refreshments will be provided. Please join us for remarks at 2pm, followed by a tour of Topographies with artist Anna Binta Diallo.

Coming from Toronto? Sign up to ride our bus from OCADU to the RMG. The bus will depart OCADU at 12pm, with anticipated arrival at the RMG between 1 and 1:30pm. The bus will leave Oshawa at 3:45pm and return to OCADU for 5pm.

Anna Binta Diallo, *Those mountains of shadows and valleys of light*, from the *Topographies* series, 2023. Digital collage. Courtesy of the artist.

Aaron Jones, *Wandering*, 2023. Film still. Courtesy of the artist.

This weekend is also the 19th Annual Peony Festival and The RMG Spring Artisan Market! Check out the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens at 155 Arena St. (just a 12 minute walk from the RMG) between 10 am to 4 pm on June 10th and 11th for family friendly activities and displays.Come back to the gallery on Sunday, June 11th from 11am to 4pm to shop for unique gifts and products by local artisans.

We’d like to thank TD Bank Group for their support of these exhibitions through the TD Ready Commitment.

Fragments: An Artist Talk with Hangama Amiri, Preston Pavlis, and Jagdeep Raina

This event is free, but registration is required.

Gathering to discuss family histories, migration, and home in the context of their expansive textile-based practices, the RMG invites you to join us for an online conversation with HangamaAmiri,Preston Pavlis, and Jagdeep Raina. The artists will share how they created their works of portraiture currently on view in Piecework and reflect on what it means to weave fragments into visual stories as textile artists.

Piecework is on view at the RMG until September 3, 2023.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Hangama Amiri holds an MFA from Yale University where she graduated in 2020 from the Painting and Printmaking Department. She received her BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian Fulbright and Post-Graduate Fellow at Yale University School of Art and Sciences (2015-2016). Her recent exhibitions include A Homage to Home (2023) at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023), Sharjah, UAE; Reminiscences (2022) at Union Pacific in London; Henna Night/ Shabe Kheena (2022) at David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO; Mirrors and Faces (2021) at Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto; Wandering Amidst the Colors (2021) at Albertz Benda, New York, NY; Spectators of a New Dawn (2021), Towards Gallery, Toronto; and Bazaar: A Recollection of Home (2020) at T293 Gallery, Rome, Italy.

Amiri works predominantly in textiles to examine notions of home, as well as how gender, social norms, and larger geopolitical conflict impact the daily lives of women, both in Afghanistan and in the diaspora. Continuing to use textiles as the medium, Amiri searches to define, explore, and question these spaces. The figurative tendency in her work is due to her interest in the power of representation, especially of those objects that are ordinary to our everyday life, such as a passport, a vase, or celebrity postcards.

Preston Pavlis’ work on canvas and fabric represents his interest in the fusion of painting and textiles as a means to explore narrative, form, and colour. Focused on poetic association and metaphor, the resulting works in oil, embroidery, and collage are personal charts for time and memory. The works situate solitary figures on often non-descript grounds, their gazes shifting between the viewer and somewhere beyond their space. Whether their expressions are pensive, ebullient, or intentional– they possess a palpable interiority. Pavlis’ figures convey a subtle energy and a deep sense of presence that is enhanced by their imposing scale.

Preston Pavlis currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he is completing his studies at the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design. Pavlis has presented his work in exhibitions at Half Gallery (New York), Guts Gallery (London), and at Spurs Gallery (Beijing). His work was also included in recent art fair presentations, notably Frieze New York and NADA Miami. Pavlis has recently been featured in publications including Esse and C Magazine, and is the most recent recipient of the 2021 Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize.Jagdeep Raina (b. 1991, Guelph, Ontario, Canada) received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Grice Bench, Los Angeles; Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto; Midway Contemporary, Minneapolis; and the Art Gallery of Guelph. Raina’s work has been included in exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; RISD Museum of Art, Providence; and the Rubin Museum of Art, New York. In 2016, he was included in the 11th Shanghai Biennale. Raina is a 2019 recipient of the Textile Museum of Canada’s Melissa Levin Emerging Artist Award, and a 2020 recipient of the prestigious Sobey Art Award in Canada.

Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition: Info Session & Exhibition Tour

Calling all senior artists! We invite you to take part in this two-part event at the RMG, which begins with a tour of Piecework, a new group exhibition inspired by quilts and quilt-making practices, and concludes with an overview of the Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition, including competition categories and judging criteria. Come get your questions answered!

The Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition is a showcase of creativity and technical skill among members of the Oshawa Senior Community Centres, Oshawa Public Libraries, and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture, and more, this annual community exhibition is structured around a competition theme. This year, the theme is nourish.

Local seniors who are 55+ and a member of the RMG, Oshawa Senior Community Centres, or the Oshawa Public Libraries, are invited to submit one artwork for the exhibition. The exhibition runs from August 19 – September 27, 2023 and artwork drop off and registration takes place on Tuesday, August 15 from 10 am-4 pm.

Durham College Artist Talks

Join us at 1pm on May 10^th for an artist-led tour of Emerging Visions, an exhibition that presents thesis projects by the third-year graduating students of the Fine Arts Advanced program at Durham College.

We welcome staff and students from Durham College and any members of the public who want to learn more about specific projects and hear about the journey from conception to fabrication to presentation. This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

This exhibition is generously supported by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Artist Residency Information Session + Application Workshop

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Register here.

In this virtual gathering, RMG Associate Curators, Hannah Keating and Erin Szikora, will provide an overview of the RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program application, sharing tips for preparing your own application and talking through strong samples from past applicants. This guidance will be applicable to the RMG’s active call for residency applications, but will also have broader relevance for other exhibition or grant opportunities. Following a short presentation, we’ll answer questions from the audience.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by May 16, 2023. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place.

Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

Mother’s Day Tea

$55/adult

$28/ child under 12

Come join us for tea on Mother’s Day at The RMG!

Berry Hill Food Co. will be hosting seatings on May 13th and 14th. Bring all the moms for delicious prix fixe with tantalizing teas. Then tour our exhibitions and a visit to the RMG Shop. Treat the special people in your life, to local artisan treasures. Guests in for Tea will receive a 10% discount at the Shop.

All reservations are managed by Berry Hill Food Co.

Book your seat!

The RMG Spring Artisan Market

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is very excited to host our first artisan market of the year in partnership with the City of Oshawa.

The RMG Spring Artisan Market will take place on Sunday, June 11^th from 11-4PM. Our market will be conducted indoors, alongside the Oshawa Peony Festival.

Featuring high-quality artisans from across the GTA, we strive to provide a unique and local shopping experience.

Curatorial Tours: Fountain of Dreams and Topographies

Join Associate Curator Erin Szikora for a guided tour of the exhibitions Fountain of Dreams, with work by Aaron Jones, and Topographies, with work by Anna Binta Diallo.

Thursday Curatorial Tours are free and open to everyone. They provide deeper insight into the themes, context, and content of our exhibitions. Seating options are available. For more information about access and our facilities, please visit rmg.on.ca/visit/ or contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] with any specific requests.

No advance registration required.

Part of the Curatorial Tours Series.