It’s summer at the RMG! We have five wonderful new exhibitions to share with you, including solo exhibitions with Stephen Andrews, Oliver Husain, and emerging artist in residence, Austin Henderson. Come celebrate with us!
Curatorial and artist remarks will be delivered at 1:30pm followed by three artist-led exhibitions tours.
Pick up will be at 100 McCaul St (OCADU) at 11:45 am. The bus will leave the RMG at 4pm.
Please RSVP for the opening and/or reserve your spot on the bus here. This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].
Producers of decorative domestic objects have long borrowed from across cultures and time to create their designs. Attentive to that history, Sukaina Kubba draws from various sources in her own textile-based practice, layering and experimenting with materials and motifs. In her solo exhibition, Not Soft by Nature, she oscillates between research and free-association, weaving together fragments from a range of textiles, including a family rug and multiple artefacts from the Permanent Collection of the Textile Museum of Canada.
In this event, the artist will walk through her exhibition with the Textile Museum’s Senior Curator, Roxane Shaughnessy. Together, they will reflect on the historical and contemporary threads that are alive in this exciting new work and the selection of artefacts on display from the museum. Telling stories and posing questions, Sukaina and Roxane will explore the artist’s approach to archival engagement and draw connections between the creation, care, and presentation of the objects belonging to the museum and those produced by Sukaina and her collaborators.
The talk will begin in the exhibition and conclude with continued conversation over tea and treats. Participants are invited to listen, learn, and share alongside our guests.
Seating will be provided.
This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected]. Please register for this event here.
Sukaina Kubba is an Iraqi Toronto-based artist whose work is rooted in material and cultural research, material experimentation, storytelling and drawing connections. Kubba has exhibited at Oakville Galleries, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Western Exhibitions, Chicago and Patel Brown, Montreal. In Toronto she has shown work at Venus Festival, two seven two gallery, Patel Brown, Greater Toronto Art Triennial at MOCA , Mercer Union SPACE Billboard Commission, the plumb, The Next Contemporary, Art Gallery of Ontario, and Aga Khan Museum. She has also exhibited in Scotland at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Glasgow International and Kendall Koppe, Glasgow. Kubba has attended residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York and La Wayaka Current, Chile. She is a sessional lecturer in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto, and was previously a curator and lecturer at The Glasgow School of Art.
Roxane Shaughnessy, Senior Curator and Manager of Collection at the Textile Museum of Canada, leads the strategic development and advancement of the Museum’s permanent collection of over 15,000 textiles, and promotes public access and engagement, both digitally and through a community-focused approach to object display. She has over twenty years of experience curating exhibitions from the collection, including Printed Textiles from Kinngait (Cape Dorset) Studios (2019) whichwonthe 2021 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums. She is the project lead on the articulation of the Museum’s Collection Development Strategic Plan, developed with a commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and centered on community consultation. She holds a Master of Arts in Anthropology.
Artist Talks (2025) with Durham College students at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, May 14, 2025.
Join us at 1pm on May 13th 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].
The RMG is pleased to present Emerging Visions, an annual thesis showcase featuring work by the graduating class of the Fine Arts Advanced program at Durham College! Join us for an evening of celebration to mark the opening of the exhibition.
Doors at 6:45pm
Remarks at 7:30pm
Refreshments served. Cash bar. This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].
Curatorial and artist remarks will be delivered at 1:30pm in the exhibition Not Soft By Nature.
Refreshments served.
Take the shuttle bus from Toronto! We’re excited to partner with Mercer Union (1286 Bloor Street West) on this opening event. Starting at 11am sharp, you can join a tour and screening of Alvin Luong’s solo project DEPHINITELY PARADISE at Mercer Union. The film has an approximate run-time of 20 minutes. You’ll also have a chance to purchase a recent publication of Sukaina Kubba’s work, published alongside her exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) and limited-edition laser etchings by the artist.The bus will leave Mercer Union at 11:45am, returning around 5pm.Be sure to check out Alize Zorlutuna’s billboard installation facing St. Clarens Ave where the bus will pick-up and drop-off.
Please RSVP for the opening and/or reserve your spot on the bus here.
This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].
In recent decades, public art has evolved far beyond static objects and monuments—it can be playful, participatory, community-centred, deeply contextual, and sometimes even a little weird (in the best way!). Using The Bentway (a public space with year-round programming underneath the Gardiner Expressway) as a core case study, this workshop peeks behind the scenes at how public art is evolving in Canada, and how creative interventions can shape the ways people move, gather, and connect in shared spaces.
In what ways can creative interventions transform how people behave, gather, or perceive public space? How can art foster belonging, dialogue, moments of delight and connection? How do artists and institutions responsibly (and imaginatively) show up within their community? And ultimately: what might the future of public art look like—or what do we hope it could become?
This presentation is for artists and arts workers with an interest in producing, curating, or thinking about public art. Grounded in real project stories, this session offers practical insights into designing responsive public art initiatives. We’ll look at emerging approaches through the lenses of community engagement, social impact, and civic imagination—and consider how artists can help shape more vibrant, connected, and participatory communities in the public realm.
This event is free and will be held online. Please register to attend. If there is anything we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].
Speaker Bio: Megan Kammerer(she/her) is a curator and writer based in Toronto, Canada. She has held various positions with the Blackwood Gallery, Jackman Humanities Institute, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Robert McLaughlin Gallery and the Art Gallery of Guelph, where she worked to support critically engaged exhibition programmes across Southern Ontario. Her work has been shortlisted for three exhibition awards, winning an Exhibition of the Year prize from Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries in 2023. Kammerer’s research is published by the University of Toronto, where she holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art History. She currently works as a Programming Associate at The Bentway.
The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.
In March, we are hosting a workshop that looks at trends in contemporary public art. Megan Kammerer will offerThe Bentway as a case study to explore how public art is evolving in Canada, illustrating how creative interventions can shape the ways people move, gather, and connect in shared spaces.
With this workshop, we are pleased to welcome Dani Crosby to lead a local conversation about public art in Oshawa and Durham Region. She’ll begin by sharing her own experiences, offering valuable insight gleaned through trial and error and by aligning her values with her artistic practice. Then, through a series of facilitated exercises, artists will be invited to define their own points of view and generate ideas for bringing creativity and connection to public spaces.
The intention with this workshop is to create a supportive opportunity for local artists to develop ideas together and to form or strengthen professional bonds. It is designed for anyone who is curious about bringing their artwork into public spaces and those seeking inspiration or motivation to get started.
This event is free and will be held in-person at the gallery. Please register to attend. If there is anything we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].
Dani Crosby is an artist, community-engaged project builder, and arts educator with over 15 years of experience working across illustration, studio art, and public art. Dani’s creative process is rooted in play, exploration, and curiosity, and her work often explores themes of identity, place, illusion, nature, and connection.
Since 2011, Dani has taught part-time at Durham College in the Faculty of Media, Art & Design, where she has built strong relationships with community partners to expand experiential learning opportunities through collaborative service learning projects. Her practice is deeply grounded in community engagement and collaboration, with a focus on creating work that responds to the social and environmental contexts of the region.
1. Dani Crosby, digital drawing for Turning The Wheel Mural (detail), 2024, McMillan Parkade, 110 King St W, Oshawa. 2. Dani Crosby, SUSO Skate Banner, 2024, 419 King St W, Oshawa. 3. Dani Crosby, Turning The Wheel Mural, 202 McMillan Parkade, 110 King St W, Oshawa.
The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.
Come together to celebrate student art in Durham Region!
The RMG invites you to attend the opening reception our bi-annual Durham District School Board Exhibition: For Art’s Sake. Showcasing artworks from nearly every high school in the region, this event recognizes our local budding young artists.
This event is free and open to everyone. For information on our facilities, please click here. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Leila at [email protected].
