Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition: Info Session & Exhibition Tour 2026

Calling all senior artists! We invite you to take part in this two-part event at the RMG, which begins with an overview of the Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition, including competition categories and judging criteria, and concludes with an optional tour of some of our current exhibitions.

Come get your questions answered! Please register for this free event here.

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 “That Summer”.

Local residents 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 14 – September 24, 2026, and artwork drop off and registration will take place on Tuesday, August 11 from 10 am-4 pm. More information is available in the program brochure.

Register

The Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition is co-hosted by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa Senior Community Centres, and the Oshawa Public Libraries. Seniors programming has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Sienna for Seniors Foundation.

This event is free and accessible, if there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected]

In Conversation: Scott Rogers and Cole Swanson

In the first of two events featuring artists Scott Rogers and Cole Swanson, this talk invites the artists to respond to the installation Mutualism (Fixed Assets) on view at the RMG until April 12, 2026. Building on Rogers’ interest in human-built infrastructures for the care and support of non-human beings, this work takes the form of a site-responsive bird feeding station. Assembled from broken automobile parts scavenged from roads and highways, Mutualism (Fixed Assets) connects with the industrial history of Oshawa, while proposing possibilities of ecological renewal out of the wreckage. Drawing on the resonance between their respective practices, Rogers and Swanson will explore a range of questions and reflections brought forward by this installation.

Let us know you’re coming!

We are pleased to present this artist talk in partnership with the Art Gallery of Peterborough (AGP). Cole Swanson’s solo exhibition, Lithic Life, will be on view at the AGP until March 29, 2026. On March 7, the artists will travel to the Art Gallery of Peterborough to reflect on and respond to Swanson’s work in an artist-led exploration of his exhibition. Visit the AGP website for more info.

Scott Rogers was born in Mohkinstsis Calgary Treaty 7 and lives in Tkaronto, Canada. His practice negotiates the complex relationships between humans, other living beings, and land. Notable recent projects include Ormston House (Limerick, IR), ATLAS Arts (Skye, SCO), Pink Snow (Berlin, DE), Nuit Blanche (Toronto), Koraï Project Space (Nicosia, CY), Kunstverein München (DE), Ivory Tars (Glasgow, SCO), Kamias Triennial (Manila, PH), and Franz Kaka (Toronto). In 2017 Rogers co-edited “Recognition”, the 14th issue of the journal FR DAVID, in collaboration with Will Holder and published by KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin, DE). Scott’s audio installation Songs to the Sun was recently acquired for the Circulating Public Art Collection of Markham (CA). In 2025 he organised Affinities, an exhibition with two seven two gallery (Toronto), and presented Between Leaf & Light, a new site-specific sound installation for the Cancer Program at Barrie Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre.

Cole Swanson is an artist and educator based in Toronto/Tkaronto. Through an interdisciplinary and materially focused practice, he explores emerging relationships between species living together in a time of environmental crisis. Exhibiting at institutions across Canada and abroad, Swanson often engages with conservationists, scientists, and community partners to integrate advocacy, education, and access into the creative process. Swanson is a PhD candidate in Environmental Studies at York University. For his research on Toronto’s double-crested cormorants, he was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship — the nation’s highest doctoral research prize. His work has been supported by private and public agencies including the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. He is a faculty member in the visual arts programs at Humber Polytechnic (Toronto).

Presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

The Neighbour’s Art Hive Artists Activation

Join us for artmaking and community connection in The Neighbour’s Art Hive!

Each session is led by a passionate and talented local artist-educator who will guide creative exploration while fostering a warm, inclusive, and welcoming space for all participants. All experience levels are welcome.

Sessions are hosted from 11am–2pm in Gallery A.

Sessions
🟆 Saturday, January 17, 2026: Collage & Zines with Hayde Esmailzadeh

🟆 Saturday, January 24, 2026: Expressive Arts: Exploring Paper Sculpture Techniques with Carol Knowlton-Dority

🟆 Saturday, January 31, 2026: Storytelling Drawing: Comic/Zine with Anoosh Mubashar

🟆 Saturday, February 7, 2026: Collage & Zines with Ruckus Art Collective

🟆 Saturday, February 14, 2026: Learn How to Bead on Fabric with Leequette Santiago-Hinds

🟆 Sunday, February 15, 2026: Acrylic Pour Painting with Melissa Dipchand

What to expect:

These drop-in events are free.
You’re welcome to come and go as you please.
Engagement is flexible. Participants may take part in the artist-educator’s activity or engage independently within the Hive.
Everyone is welcome; no art experience required.
Participants are welcome to take their projects with them or hang them up for everyone to enjoy!

The Neighbour’s Project, installed at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (February 2024).

The RMG is located at 72 Queen Street, Civic Centre in Oshawa, across from the McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries. The Neighbour’s 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 safe, accessible spaces that enable people of all ages to participate in free public relaxation. In an Art Hive, traditional hierarchies, processes, and ways of being can be deconstructed and re-imagined in playful, personal, and compassionate ways.

The Neighbour’s Art Hive is a temporary installation at the RMG that transforms the gallery into an active studio space with help from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio. Outside of these facilitated sessions, we also invite all our neighbours to drop in any time during operating hours to make use of the free art materials on their own time.

January 17
Collage & Zines with Hayde Esmailzadeh

Join us for a creative and collaborative day of collage and zine-making. We’ll dive into zine-making and use drawing, writing, and collage to create your own self-published piece to share beyond the workshop. In addition, you will have the option to contribute to a collective group zine that will be kept at the Art Hive. All materials included. No experience necessary.

Hayde Esmailzadeh, also known as Zadeh, is a ceramicist, sculptor, and mixed-media creator. She is the editor-in-chief and co-creator of Zene Magazine, an independent publication focused on self-publishing and platforming emerging and underrepresented voices in contemporary art and culture. With a background rooted in hands-on making and storytelling, Hayde’s work focuses primarily on material exploration and community-driven publishing.

January 24
Expressive Arts: Exploring Paper Sculpture Techniques with Carol Knowlton-Dority

Participants are encouraged to explore their own voice as they experiment with a wide variety of paper sculpture techniques. Through guided discovery and problem solving challenges participants can discover many ways to cut/tear, curl, roll, fringe, fold, pleat and attach paper.

Participants are welcome to explore the techniques and materials as they choose, or they may make a piece of artwork in response to prompts such as: create an expressive face, an alien or a magical garden.

Carol Knowlton-Dority is a Toronto-based visual artist whose work explores the evolving nature of emotional experience. Themes of love, loss, desire, resilience, and hope shape her practice, inviting viewers into a compassionate and reflective encounter with the deep interior life we all share.

In addition to her studio practice, Carol creates Expressive Art experiences for children, adults, multi-generational and special interest groups. She has led workshops for Government of Canada: New Horizons for Seniors, INNoVA: Inclusive Solutions for an Enhanced Workforce, City of Toronto: (Clark Centre for the Arts, Public Health, Shelter, Housing and Support Division, Special Events, Cedar Ridge Creative Centre), Scarborough Arts, Friends of Guild Park and Gardens, University of Toronto, St. John the Divine Convent, Jaya Yoga and throughout the Toronto District School Board.

January 31
Storytelling Drawing: Comic/Zine with Anoosh Mubashar

Learn how to create a mini zine or regular zine for a creative storytelling outlet with a wide variety of materials to fit your artistic expression!

Anoosh is a Toronto-based artist and a recent graduate from OCAD University. She enjoys working in many media, especially painting, printmaking and storytelling. The human mind inspires her and expresses her art through familial stories of nostalgia and growing pains. Her large-scale paintings often draw inspiration from her Pakistani background, particularly through the intricate scarf patterns found in traditional Pakistani scarves, which expose areas of culture that impact identity, relationships, power dynamics, and self-expression. She enjoys incorporating bold, vivid colours into large-scale, multi-panel paintings, featuring delicate images that explore the contradictions found in everyday life.

February 7
Collage & Zines with Ruckus Art Collective

Artists will have the opportunity to explore an array of materials, techniques and themes through the resources of the Art Hive and the skill sharing of their peers. Participants are welcome to work on their solo practice, but are encouraged to contribute their creative vision to a community collage destined to join the artworks living within the Art Hive. Whether you’re a collage fanatic looking for inspiration, a creative curious to explore a new medium, or simply searching for a lively studio to be enveloped in, come buzz with Ruckus at the Art Hive!

Ruckus Art Collective is an Oshawa-based group dedicated to supporting and uplifting the local arts community in Durham Region. Through the hosting of events, exhibitions, and collaborative projects, Ruckus provides a platform for artists to share their work, connect with peers, and engage with the broader public. The collective’s mission is to foster creativity, inclusivity, and dialogue while helping to amplify the voices and talents that define the region’s artistic landscape.

February 14
Learn How to Bead on Fabric with Leequette Santiago-Hinds

Using bead on fabric, participants are invited to explore their own patterns and ideas.

Leequette “Lala” Santiago is an American Canadian visual artist and founder of Santiago Studios. Her work explores her southern identity, spirituality and familial dynamics through a mixture of traditional mediums and textiles.

She uses her craft as a means of storytelling and personal reclamation, especially following her postpartum identity loss. Her process consists of meticulously weaving together mediums, playing with compositions and fiddling with light until she finds something that plays on the viewers senses.

She has been awarded the Emerging Artist Award (2021), The Robert McLaughlin Gallery Award (2023), The Robert McLaughlin Award Gallery (2024) and The Visual Artist Creation Project Grant from the Ontario Arts Council (2025).

Her work has been featured by Pampers, QuickBooks Canada, and in public art across Ontario. She is focused on expanding her exhibition and public art practice.

February 15
Acrylic Pour Painting with Melissa Dipchand

This activity will introduce participants to acrylic pour painting, also known as fluid art, an abstract technique where thinned acrylic paints are poured onto a surface to create dynamic patterns, cells, and marbled effects without traditional brushwork. Accessible to beginners, the process encourages playful experimentation with colour, flow, and movement, resulting in striking and unpredictable outcomes.

Melissa is an experienced arts educator and community-focused facilitator based in Durham Region. Over the past two years, she has served as a Lead Instructor for the Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s March Break programming, where she designs and delivers fun, highly engaging creative experiences for children and families. She also brings more than twelve years of teaching experience through Crayola: IMAGINE Art Academy. Deeply committed to building meaningful community connections, Melissa believes art is a powerful vessel for bringing people of all ages, abilities, and lived experiences together. Her practice centres on creating welcoming, inclusive environments where creativity becomes a shared and connective experience.

In partnership with The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, The Neighbour’s Art Hive is generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Opening Celebration: Haley Uyeda and Natural Curiosities

Help us celebrate the opening of Haley Uyeda’s solo exhibition featuring new works from the artist’s residency at the gallery!

We’re also celebrating a recently opened exhibition of floral and botanical art from the RMG’s permanent collection. Check out Natural Curiosities on Level 3!

Artists and curators in attendance. Remarks begin at 1:30, followed by an artist talk with Haley Uyeda.

This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

In Conversation with Ekow Nimako

Join us for an exciting conversation between exhibiting artist Ekow Nimako and local writer, educator, and researcher, Ashley Marshall. Together, Ekow and Ashley will discuss how the exhibition Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships re-imagines ancient African kingdoms through an Afrofuturist lens. Digging into histories of the African diaspora and envisioning abundant Black futures, this conversation will shed light on Ekow’s artistic practice and the inspiration and imagination that produced the exhibition.

This event is free and open to everyone. Seating will be provided for all guests.

Read more about the exhibition, Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships, here.

For more information on our facilities, please click here. If you have questions about the event or other requests, please email Hannah at [email protected].

Register

Ekow Nimako, Wawa Aba, The Sunrise Dancer (circa 1358), 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

Ekow Nimako is a Toronto-based, internationally exhibiting LEGO artist who crafts futuristic and whimsical sculptures from the iconic medium. Rooted in his childhood hobby and intrinsic creativity, Nimako’s formal arts education and background as a lifelong multidisciplinary artist inform his process and signature aesthetic. His fluid building style, coupled with the Afrofuturistic themes of his work, beautifully transcend the geometric medium to embody organic and fantastical silhouettes.

Ashley Marshall is a Durham-based writer, educator, and researcher. Their research critiques how power, economics, and politics influence social change, while advocating for imagination and creativity as alternatives to neoliberal market logics. Her work aims to use collaborative measures to dissect and render visible the various social and material flows that (re)produce hegemonic power structures and dismantle them. Marshall reviews art for Rungh Magazine, is a former Board member of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and is an advocate for the arts. With a penchant for Black surrealism, fabulism, the speculative, and foodie fiction, Marshall’s work is interested in what we can learn from nature to think towards humane frameworks.

Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships is organized and circulated by Dunlop Art Gallery.

Reflections On An Emerging Art Career with Karen Kar Yen Law

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

Free. Registration is required.

Join artist, and former RMG artist-in-residence, Karen Kar Yen Law for an evening of reflection and discussion on her emerging art career. From graduating during a pandemic to applying to open calls to creating new artwork, Karen will speak on the ways she has navigated the early and ambiguous stages of the profession, outlining what has worked for her and what she’s learned along the way, including:

How she cultivates internal motivation as a self-employed artist
How she keeps track of her administrative work and opportunities
How she structures her time and strives for sustainability in her practice (i.e., prioritizing studio time, balance, and managing burnout)
How she has learned to lean into her strengths to build a career that makes sense for her
And so much more!

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

About the Artist:

Karen Kar Yen Law (b. 1997) is a second-generation Cantonese-Chinese artist based in Markham, Ontario. With an interest in food and domestic culinary practices, Law utilizes printmaking and painting to explore cultural practice and diasporic identity. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) and Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. Law was the 2021-2022 Emerging Printmaker Scholarship Residency holder at Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre where she now practices as an artist member. She was the winner of the 2023 Untapped People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s independent artists fair, Artist Project. Law’s artwork has been exhibited throughout Ontario including Modern Fuel, United Contemporary, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Union Gallery, the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts, Gallery 1313, Myseum Toronto, and Open Studio.

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.

Unity Through the Arts: Juried Exhibition 2025 Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony

Come together to celebrate cultural diversity in Durham Region!

Cultural Expressions for CHANGE Inc., in partnership with The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, presents the exhibition “Unity Through the Arts”. This juried art exhibition features artists from Durham Region and the surrounding area.

This year’s theme celebrates cultural diversity—not just as identity, but as the lived traditions, creative practices, and community expressions that shape how culture is shared, interpreted, and passed on. We are seeking artworks that explore and honour diverse cultural experiences, including but not limited to: rituals, storytelling, textiles, food traditions, clothing, language, craft, spiritual practices, and intergenerational knowledge. We also welcome works that reflect lived experiences shaped by migration, displacement, diaspora, or community belonging.

Cultural Expressions for CHANGE Inc. is accepting online artist registrations now until October 3, 2025. Click here to register.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with Cultural Expressions for CHANGE

Par Nair: Exhibition Opening + Artist-led Tour

Help us celebrate the opening of Par Nair’s solo exhibition at the gallery, featuring a new series of large-scale landscape paintings and embroidered artworks.

Remarks will begin at 1:30pm with a musical performance by Hasheel followed by an artist talk with Par. She will reflect on her time in the RBC residency program and share insights into her new work in an artist-led walkthrough of the exhibition.

Learn more about the exhibition here. This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

Hasheel is a South Asian Queer Hindustani Classical Musician. He began training at the age of five under his father. He also started playing the bansuri under the guidance of his first teacher and original flautist on the Life of Pi score, Shri Jeetu Sharma. He quickly excelled in both Indian and Western music and started composing and writing his own pieces at the age of thirteen.

Hasheel lived in India to pursue his musical training and is currently a senior student of the legendary Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Hasheel has performed around the world and across Ontario. He is also featured in numerous albums and film scores and his collaborations include those with Balkan musicians all the way to electronic House and Drum and Bass artists.

Hasheel pushes gender fashion norms that exist in and outside of India. He often gender bends while wearing clothing inspired by Indian bridalwear. His music mixes hip-hop, electronica, R&B, and Bollywood with a steady undertone of traditional Indian Classical.

Performances have included those with Kailash Kher, Hariharan, Karthik, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, Karsh Kale, and for academy award winner A. R. Rahman. He has also headlined stages at Pride Toronto, Small World Music Festival, Basement Bhangra Beyond in NYC, and Iceland Airwaves in Reykjavik. His most recent work includes ‘LIMCA’ and ‘RaagRani’. Released as a spin on Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’, ‘LIMCA’ is a celebration of Indian culture and queer expression. ‘RaagRani’ is a documentary style music video celebrating the union of his cultural identities.

The RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Closing Activities: We are ten thousand hands that plant seeds

Installation of We are ten thousand hands that plant seeds at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2025. Photos by Toni Hafkenscheid.

Free admission. Everyone is welcome.
Dive deeper into the themes, histories, and techniques behind the group exhibition We are ten thousand hands that plant seeds. Learn from the artists directly, enjoy a delicious lunch, and experience the exhibition before it closes on October 6.

11am-1pm – “Mapping with Embroidery”
Hands-on workshop with exhibiting artist Sharmistha Kar 16+
This workshop has limited registration, so please save your spot here!

12:30pm-2pm – Lunch
Join us for delicious food from local restaurants! Enjoy RMG’s backyard and meet the artists and curator.

2-4:30pm – “Sounds of Resistance”
Sound Talk + Listening Session with exhibiting artist Soledad Fatima Muñoz
All ages
Drop-in! No registration required.
Refreshments provided.

Sharmistha Kar, Soft Shelter IV (detail), bunka on tarpaulin, 2018.

Mapping with Embroidery
Hands-on workshop with Sharmistha Kar
11am-1pm
Ages 16+
Register here.

While learning the slow and meditative technique of Bunka embroidery, workshop participants will consider ideas of memory, mapping, migration, and movement. Together we’ll ask: how does it feel to experience a new place or to imagine a familiar place in a new way? Sharing stories, and travelling by way of thread across fabric, participants will encounter a unique pace of making, with support from artist Sharmistha Kar.

Sounds of Resistance
Sound Talk + Listening Session with exhibiting artist Soledad Fatima Muñoz
2-4:30pm
All ages
Drop-in! No registration required.

Led by artist Soledad Fatima Muñoz, let’s dive into the sounds of South American resistance. Featuring selections from her personal record collection, the session will focus on the groundbreaking Chilean label, Discoteca del Cantar Popular (DICAP). Founded in 1967 by the Communist Youth of Chile, DICAP became a vital voice for politically engaged musicians whose work was often silenced by mainstream outlets. It played a central role in the Nueva Canción Chilean (New Chilean Song) movement, offering a sonic platform for anti-capitalist expression and cultural resistance. Even after the 1973 military coup and the destruction of its Santiago offices, DICAP’s mission lived on—operating from exile in Paris and Madrid and continuing to release music under the sub-label Canto Libre for Chilean artists in diaspora.

Through an afternoon of shared listening, Soledad Fatima Muñoz will guide us through this sonic history—tracing threads of resilience, memory, and artistic defiance that resonate deeply in her own creative practice.

This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

Co-presented with SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre).

Opening Reception: Ekow Nimako: Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships

Join us in celebrating the opening of Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships, a solo exhibition by Toronto-based artist Ekow Nimako curated by Alyssa Fearon. We’re pleased to align this exciting event with Convergence 2025 in downtown Oshawa, featuring a performance by our very own artist in residence, Pixel Heller.

Please RSVP using this form.

Event details:

Remarks at 2pm
Artist Talk + Tour at 2:15pm
Hands-on LEGO activities for all ages
Light refreshments provided

Coming from Toronto? We’ll pick you up! Save your seat on the art bus
shuttle using the RSVP link. The bus will collect guests from the
ROM (100 Queens Park, Toronto) at 11:30am and return around 5pm.

RSVP

About the exhibition:
Continuing his afrofuturistic reimagining of ancient African kingdoms in the medium of LEGO bricks, Ekow Nimako explores the mysterious fourteenth century sea voyage of Mansa Abu Bakr II in Journey of 2,000 Ships. Combining architecture, historical accounts, and fantastical possibilities, Nimako transcends the geometric form of LEGO to recreate the epic voyage, presenting an uninterrupted and unco-opted narrative of Black civilizations and liberated futures. Visit the exhibition page for more information.

This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support
your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

Organized and circulated by Dunlop Art Gallery.