Please join us to celebrate the opening of, Commonplace, a new exhibition by RBC Emerging Artist in Residence, Kendra Yee. Let us know you’re coming with an RSVP.
Refreshments will be served. Join us in the exhibition space at 2pm for an artist talk with Kendra Yee.
Kendra Yee’s residency exhibition features an installation of over 100 clay tiles inspired by memories. During her time at the RMG, Kendra Yee put out a call for collaboration, inviting her friends, supporters, and RMG community members of all ages to share a personal story with her in the medium of their choice. Her tiles represent the way she received, and will continue to hold, each memory, while the installation, which takes the form of a large dining table, points to the spaces where we gather and share stories with one another.
Seating will be available. If there is anything else we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].
The artist gratefully acknowledges support from the Canada Council for the Arts for this exhibition.
This program is supported by the RBC Foundation’s RBC Emerging Artist Project.
Join curator Erin Szikora and artists Alex Jacobs-Blum, Kat Brown Akootchook, Kay Nadjiwon, Natalie King, Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft, Sheri Osden Nault, and Raechel Wastesicoot for an online round table discussion. This conversation will unfold as we digitally move throughout the exhibition spaces, inviting the artists to reflect on their individual projects and the empowering collaboration that produced World-builders, shapeshifters and Kenatentas. Click here to register!
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 March 6, 2024. 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].
World-builders, shapeshifters is supported by the Maada’ookii Committee, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and the Downie & Wenjack Foundation and Hudson Bay Foundation through Oshki Wuppowane: The Blanket Fund, and the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.
Join Senior Curator Sonya Jones for a casual guided tour of the exhibitions About Time and Painters Eleven: The Greenberg Effect, featuring a range of artworks from the RMG’s permanent collection. Everyone is welcome!
If there is anything we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Sonya at [email protected].
Join Associate Curator Erin Szikora for a casual guided tour of Raechel Wastesicoot:Kenatentas and World-builders, shapeshifters, featuring new beadwork by Oshawa-born artist Raechel Wastesicoot and a wide selection of new work by World-builders, shapeshifters artists Alex Jacobs-Blum, Kat Brown Akootchook, Kay Nadjiwon, Natalie King, Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft, and Sheri Osden Nault. Everyone is welcome!
If there is anything we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Erin at [email protected].
World-builders, shapeshifters is supported by the Maada’ookii Committee, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and the Downie & Wenjack Foundation and Hudson Bay Foundation through Oshki Wuppowane: The Blanket Fund, and the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.
Join Couzyn van Heuvelen at the RMG to learn about how his personal experiences led him to create the monumental new artworks in CAMP. Let us know you’re coming with an RSVP.
Sharing how Inuit hunting camps are sites for shared learning and joyful community-building, this interactive talk will allow participants to explore the critical role of land-based practices in Inuit self-determination, food sovereignty in the North, and the pleasures of celebrating around food. Couzyn welcomes questions and conversation throughout.
You can read more about Couzyn van Heuvelen: CAMPhere.
Seating will be available. If there is anything else we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].
The artist gratefully acknowledges support from the Canada Council for the Arts for this exhibition.
Couzyn van Heuvelen: CAMP is supported by the Ontario Arts Council.
Refreshments will be served. Join us in the exhibition space at 2:15pm for remarks and an exhibition walkthrough with the artist and RMG Associate Curator, Erin Szikora.
Raechel Wastesicoot is a mixed Kanien’kehá:ka beadworker born and raised in Oshawa and currently based in Toronto. In her debut exhibition, Wastesicoot has created twelve beaded artworks in response to paintings and drawings from the RMG’s Permanent Collection. Working with upcycled, vintage, and harvested materials, her pieces are personal reflections on family and community, inspired by the rich colours and abstractions of Ontario’s abstract collective Painters Eleven.
Seating will be available. If there is anything else we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Erin at [email protected].
This exhibition is presented with support from the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.
Back by popular demand! This free event encourages seniors (age 55+) to spend the afternoon curating their own program. Participants may choose do the exhibition tour then have tea and snacks, do one or both of the workshop activities, do one of the workshops and then go on an exhibition tour, it’s a matter of preference.
Event options include:
Tours of the RMG current exhibitions at 1pm and 2pm
Two different drop in art making workshops
Light refreshments available in our onsite Arthurs Restaurant 1-3pm
In the Lookout (lower level) join guest artist instructor, Jade Wysotski from 1:30pm-2:30pm to create an adorable realistic kitten!
Working with black and white drawing media on toned paper, this piece will have a soft and realistic look. Participants will be provided with simple line art and use mark making techniques to communicate texture and form. This activity is suitable for all drawing abilities!
In the studio, participants are encouraged to make unique cards! Create stamp printed leaves on a watercolour background. This workshop is supported by the Learning and Engagement team!
Seniors Programming has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Sienna for Seniors Foundation.
Join Berry Hill Co. for Holiday Tea at the RMG! On Saturdays & Sundays from November 18th to December 17th, Berry Hill Co. will be upstairs in Arthur’s hosting high tea. There are separate menus for children and adults.
Reservations and any queries must be made directly through Berry Hill Co.
“We can only learn about creativity through our own experience of it.”
Shaun McNiff
The RMG and the LivingRoom Community Art Studio welcome all of our neighbours to help us activate The Neighbours Project ART HIVE. This is a drop in art studio. There are tables and chairs and lots of free art supplies. We have areas for folks to leave their artwork if they want to, or they are welcome to take what they make home with them. As a warm invitation to participate, we have hired Mary from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio to facilitate six sessions on Friday afternoons. With nearly a decade of experience under their belt, the LivingRoom is well equipped to offer fun and accessible art experiences for everyone.
The Neighbours Project ART HIVE is part of The Neighbours Project. To learn more about the project, please visit the exhibition page.
This event will be facilitated at the following times:
Friday January 12, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday January 19, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday January 26, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 2, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 9, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 16, 2024, 12-3:30pm
What to expect:
These drop-in events are free.
You’re welcome to come and go as you please.
Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be served.
Everyone is welcome; no art experience required.
The RMG is located at 72 Queen Street, Civic Centre in Oshawa, across from the McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries. The Neighbours Project ART HIVE is in Gallery A, which is located on the lower level of the RMG. It is accessible by stairs or elevator. Between the elevator and Gallery A, you’ll pass our public washrooms. We have an accessible single-stall washroom as well as gender-inclusive multi-stall washrooms. Read more about our facilities here.
What is an art hive?
Art Hives are spaces that enable people of all ages to participate in free public relaxation. They are safe, accessible spaces that support creative community development through art-making experiences that foster connection and personal well-being. In an Art Hive, traditional hierarchies, processes, and ways of being can be deconstructed and re-imagined in playful, personal, and compassionate ways.
“At the center of everything we call ‘the arts,’ and children call ‘play,’ is something which seems somehow alive.”
Lynda Barry
The Neighbours Project ART HIVE will be facilitated by The LivingRoom’s Mary Krohnert and the RMG’s Hannah Keating and Erin Szikora.
Mary is an actor, art therapist and social arts practitioner with over 25 years of experience in intersectional community engagement through the arts. Founder of the LivingRoom Community Art Studio, she is a graduate of The Toronto Art Therapy Institute, Toronto Metropolitan University, and has studied Art Hives at Concordia University under the founder of the movement, Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos. Her work is driven by a deep appreciation of the human story, and the many ways it can be communicated, acknowledged, and honoured in our efforts to live, learn, work, and engage with greater authenticity, sustainability, and joy. The LivingRoom and its related projects offer practical opportunities for citizen artists of all ages, abilities and walks of life to explore how processes of creative self-expression can be integrated into day-to-day life for the benefit of all.
Hannah is an Associate Curator at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery where she coordinates the RBC Emerging Artist Residency program, curates exhibitions and public programs, and works with community partners. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Art History from Carleton University and has previously worked at Artspace, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Hannah is curious about relationships of all kinds and passionate about supporting artists. She is a writer and deep thinker who believes in the power of art to forge connections, provoke conversation, and hold deep truths about the human condition.
Erin is an Associate Curator at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in Art History from OCAD University. She has previously worked at the University of Toronto, Art Gallery of Guelph, Art Canada Institute, OCAD University, the McMaster Museum of Art, and Brock University. Her work is motivated by a deep interest in how personal storytelling can lead to collective liberation. She believes strongly in the power of art to change the world and is excited to live into the future we dream up together.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery believes we have a responsibility to participate in the creation and maintenance of a healthy community. For over a year, we have been working with community members and partners on an initiative called The Neighbours Project to explore how we could extend care to some of our closest neighbours who have experience with housing precarity or homelessness, including those working to reduce barriers and offer direct support. The work itself was grounded in relationship building and took many forms, including closed onsite events and participation in community meetings and other offsite activities. From December 9, 2023 to February 18, 2024, The Neighbours Project will take up physical space at the RMG as an installation in Gallery A.
At this event, we invite the wider RMG community to join us in our creative visioning and accountability. Here’s what you can expect at this event:
Stories from community leaders with lived experience of homelessness
Interactive art-making with The LivingRoom Community Art Studio
Food + conversation with project partners, collaborators, and other community members
The Neighbours Project is co-produced by representatives of the RMG, Back Door Mission, The Gap Committee, and The LivingRoom Community Art Studio. It will be installed in Gallery A from December 9, 2023 – February 18, 2024.
