We’re going back to the roaring 20’s! Come out to continue the celebration of Oshawa’s Centennial and travel back in time with us. Show off your hats inspired by a time when glitz, glamour, and the evolution of a new city was about to take place.
This month, we’re also celebrating a brand new exhibition at the RMG! Please join us in the RSM gallery at 7:15pm for opening remarks to recognize the opening of his solo exhibition, The Big Hat.
Order of Events
7:00pm: Doors Open
7:15pm-7:30pm: Opening Remarks
7:15pm: DRIFF screening in the Lookout
7:15pm: Art Activity with Farah in the Studio
7:30pm-8:30pm: Oshawa Music Week performances
8:15pm: DRIFF screening in the Lookout
Image in the artist’s studio, 2024. Courtesy of Tony Romano.
Tony Romano creates sculptures and videos that playfully reimagine found objects and rework raw and recycled materials. Rooted in a family tradition of carpentry and ironwork, he has long been interested in the endless recyclability of metal, the narrative possibilities it offers, and the memories it holds onto. In The Big Hat, Romano has created a new series of sculptures that tell a cautionary tale of an imagined whirligig community reckoning with the arrival of a greedy professor.
Oshawa Music Week, presented by Durham College, will be featuring music from Acoustic performers in the Isabel as part of their series of musical performances throughout the week.
When the young, white and unencumbered Steve (Sean Depner – Riverdale, Deadly Class) is hit by a truck, he awakens in a cavernous and decaying opera house. There he meets The Ticket Taker, a shape shifting bureaucrat of death who explains that Steve must be sent back to perform one influential act before enjoying a life of guaranteed privilege and luxury. Steve must decide whether or not to uphold a status quo that benefits only him.
Join us in the studio to create your very own musical inspired magnet. No art experience required!
This polymer clay project is suitable for visitors 12+
Calling all senior artists! We invite you to take part in this two-part event at the RMG, which begins with a short tour of some of our current exhibitions 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 reflect.
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 17 – September 29, 2024 and artwork drop off and registration will take place on Tuesday, August 13 from 10 am-4 pm. Read more in the program brochure.
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.
“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.
