Gallery A

Things are changing around here.

As some of you may have heard, we’re undergoing renovations right now and one of the biggest changes is the creation of Gallery A.

Aileen’s Legacy

The space is named for one of our major funders, the Aked Endowment, which was created from funds donated by the late artist Elizabeth Aileen Aked, who lived in Tyrone, Ontario. Aileen and her parents frequently traveled between Tyrone, Bermuda, Florida and England and Aileen documented every moment of it. Throughout the spring, I worked with Christine our Special Projects Assistant, to go through Aileen’s archive which totaled over 10 banker boxes filled with a lifetime of slides, photographs and 16mm films. (Aileen’s gift also included her 1928 Kodak Kodascope, which was lovingly restored to full working order by Pickering Audio Visual). The films, which date as far back is the early 1920’s, are probably my favourite – these rich black and white silent films, depict her and her family on long rambling road trips in their classic antique Buick, pet parrot in tow. The films include scenic vistas of Gaspe, a road trip to Banff National Park, road-side picnics and sun-filled summer swims.

During all of these trips, Aileen spent a lot of her time painting, and she was an accomplished painter. As an artist, her donation to The Robert McLaughlin Gallery was quite purposeful – she wanted the endowment to support local artists in their professional development and provide opportunities for them to advance their practice.

A Place for Artists

In addition to being the Manager of Public Programs here at the RMG, I’m also an artist and when I came into this position almost 2 years ago, we started thinking about how best to achieve Aileen’s vision. I know that for myself, professional spaces to exhibit are not easy to come by and are often programmed far in advance. I’m always looking for opportunities (and space!) to experiment with new ideas and work with large materials and I want more opportunities to talk with other artists critically about my work.

After surveying and speaking with local artists, the concept of Gallery A was born. We decided to keep the use of the space flexible, to allow artists options in how they wanted to use it. I am imagining most will want to use it for solo or group exhibitions, but there is room for creativity, and thinking outside of the box. We also set up the Art Lab artist residency program so artists can use the space for experimentation, collaborations, new directions and this will hopefully lead to some new exciting work. Gallery A artists will be invited to give public lectures and tours, and we’ll be hosting a slew of professional development workshops, including grant writing, documenting your work, peer-to-peer feedback sessions and hands-on studio retreats.

The letter A is a starting point. It represents a new beginning, and a priority.

It represents our commitment to supporting local artists, which are at the center of Durham Region’s arts community. It all starts with artists. Gallery A can be a starting place for emerging artists as a new generation emerges from Durham Collage’s Fine Arts program. It can be a place for established artists, to exhibit their work, collaborate with peers, and perhaps even take some risks. And it can be a meeting place for communities to work with artists to engage in the arts in ways they had never imagined before. The possibilities for the space are wide open – all you have to do is get started.

APPLICATION DEADLINE NOVEMBER 15, 2014

Information Sessions:

Thursday 18 September 7pm

Sunday 19 October, 1pm

To find out more and to access the guidelines and application form, please follow this link: https://rmg.on.ca/gallery-a.php

Sneak Peaks: Pan Am Games!

“Hot Topics” blog posts come from the desk of Sarah Felgemacher, our
Communications & Social Media Co-ordinator.

In 2015, Toronto will be host to the Pan American/Parapan American Games, the third largest international multi-sport tournament behind the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. Six thousand athletes from 41 participating countries will compete in 36 sporting events at over 30 venues across 16 municipalities.

That’s a wonderfully wide scope, and the General Motors Centre (GM Centre), Oshawa, will be a host venue for a one month period over July and August, 2015. The stadium at the heart of the City will be the competition grounds for the boxing and weightlifting events. This means the next 15 months will be a thrilling time of preparation, and the RMG is excited to be involved in such a momentous event!

Be sure to save Friday, 11 July on your calendar! The City will be hosting a one-year countdown event at the GM Centre – children’s activities, boxing and weightlifting activation stations and live musical performances are just a few of the events scheduled for the evening. Join us as we countdown to the festivities! The event kicks off at 5pm.

Beginning in May 2015, the RMG presents an exhibition featuring contemporary works focusing on the theme of boxing. What better way to get in the spirit of the games than to see a creative view of athletics?

Pete Doherty, Niagara Falls Memorial Arena, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 2003.

The next year will be in inspirational time in Oshawa. This is an opportunity to showcase what our City and community is about and we are excited to be a part of it all!

For more information about the One-Year Countdown and future events: http://www.oshawa.ca/panam/default.asp

For more information on the Pan American/Parapan American Games in Toronto 2015: http://www.toronto2015.org/

For volunteer information: http://www.oshawa.ca/panam/join.asp

DATCA 2013

This month’s RMG Fridays is moved back a week and hosted on the second Friday in November. It is for a great reason! For the second year in a row, the RMG has partnered with the Region of Durham and Durham Tourism to present the Durham Art of Transition Creative Awards (DATCA).

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/73012045]

The event is sure to be busy and attended by many! The event blends the familiar format of RMG Fridays, an event that includes live music and a cash bar, with the DATCA event, which includes an inspiring awards ceremony, honouring the best in creative achievement from 2013.

“Durham Region’s creative talent is thriving, and our judging committee was impressed by the quality of nominations submitted for this year’s Durham Art of Transition Creative Awards,” said Kerri King, Tourism Manager. “Our rich heritage, dynamic attractions, and thriving arts and culture scene make up a quality of life in Durham Region that is second to none.”

Awards to be presented are:

Best creative collaboration
Best story about Durham Region
Best entertainment in Durham Region
Best creative innovation
Best use of creativity to advance social and environmental sustainability
Best example of philanthropy in the arts

Congratulations to the nominees:

Blue Heron Books; Shelley Macbeth
Broken Arts/Fallen Love; Harley Pageot (Three Nominations)
City of Pickering
Draughthorse Productions; Diana Lopez Soto
Durham Improv; Stephanie Herrera
Edward and Marla Schwartz
Geetika Dance Co.; Geeta Leo
Herongate Dinner Theatre; Ann Ward
Highest Level Entertainment; Marko Ivancicevic
Janice McHaffie
Jay Yerema-Weafer
Municipality of Clarington, Mayor Adrian Foster
Oshawa Space Invaders; Steven Frank (Two Nominations)
Peacefully Productive Studios; Darrin Davis
Pickering Museum Village; Katrina Pyke
Social Solutionz, Abilities Centre, Accessible Arts; Adam Wilkinson
SOUND TEAM Team Building Events; Rob Hanson
The Table; Carol Cavallari

The event is free and open to all! Please come out on Friday night and celebrate creativity with us. Doors open at 6:30pm and the awards start at 7.

Read an article in the Oshawa Express about this event.

The Curious Curator: Toni Hamel

In this new blog series, our Senior Curator Linda Jansma or Assistant Curator Sonya Jones email artists with questions about their creative experiences. The emails are sent after the opening of the artists’ exhibition, and strive to reveal the experience of showing works at the RMG. In this edition Sonya Jones emailed Toni Hamel about her exhibition, The lingering, on now until the 24 of November, 2013.

SJ: What artists have influenced you and why?

Toni Hamel: There are many. Stylistically, I am attracted to the work of Michal Borremans, Joseph Cornell, Amy Cutler and Marcel Dzama. Conceptually, I love Mona Hatoum and Annette Messenger, both installation artists, for their choice of subject matter. Their work addresses the same issues I investigate in The lingering, such as gender role and discrimination, identity and self-acceptance. I also adore Betty Goodwin because I feel that her life story, much like mine, has been marked by serious struggles and heartaches, and I feel somewhat connected to the biography of Mary Pratt, although for different reasons. Married to the better known Christopher yet equally talented, Mary had to put her career on the back-burner while raising her family, her work considered more a hobby than a necessity during those years, and was able to re-focus on her practice only much later on in life. It is interesting to me to see how much I have in common with other women artists of my generations. Our biographies at times read very much as one: attempted our rise in the art world fresh out of art school, had to step away from it for two decades or so for familial commitments and obligations, and returned to it as middle-aged women. I wonder how many male artists have had to place their careers on such long hiatus because they had to dedicate the best years of their lives to caring for others…

Toni Hamel The Improvement 2013

SJ: Women often struggle with guilt at feeling discontented with their domestic existence. What would you say to these women?

Toni Hamel: It is ultimately a matter of choice. Guilt has many roots. It might stem from religious beliefs, from the social dictum, or from psychological predispositions. It is important to state at this point that this type of guilt is only experienced by women. Since for millennia we have been told to place our value as individuals on our ability to care for our families, it is quite understandable to feel guilty when our aspirations differ from those dictated by our society and/or culture. We are then confronted with an existential dilemma: do we continue living and behaving the way we have always done? Or do we break away from the norm and carve our own path? It is ultimately an issue of self-preservation and survival as guilt, in the long run, may also lead to more serious psychological complications.

An easy fix to this dilemma would be to physically remove ourselves from the context in which our guilt finds its fertile ground, to ultimately lead a life that is shaped by ourselves and for ourselves. When this option is not possible, I strongly believe that one way to alleviate one’s own discontent is to express it through a creative process. Such output not only has the power to sooth our soul, albeit momentarily, but it will also allow others to understand how we truly feel.

Our creative output, in fact, most times is able to succeed when simple words may otherwise fail. It is a form of communication that bridges the gap amongst us and brings us closer: as couples, as families, as communities, as human beings.

Toni Hamel Attachments 2012

SJ: You are refreshingly open about your personal struggles. How has the response from this exhibition been?

Toni Hamel: The response has been unimaginably positive, beyond my expectations in fact. A much welcome and collateral benefit of this exhibit has been that it is encouraging other women to come together and share their life stories, to speak about their own personal struggles and collective experiences, and find constructive ways to re-direct their psychological uneasiness.

The lingering might be my story, but it is also the story of countless other women, therefore it is very easy for them to recognize their own lives in these works.

SJ: What do you hope people will take from the exhibition?

Toni Hamel: I hope that The lingering will guide its female viewers through a journey of self-empowerment and self-realization, and direct its male visitors toward a path of understanding, appreciation and admiration for all women. As artists and intellectuals we are called upon to shape the culture of the society in which we live, and I strongly believe that exhibitions like The lingering lead us all in the right direction.

Read an article by Will McGuirk in the Durham College Chronicle.

Visit the artist’s website.

Visit the artist’s tumblr page.

Making Methods at RMG Fridays

Our fall RMG Fridays event series has been announced. The lineup includes exhibition openings, book readings and launches, short film screenings, and more, all set alongside the incredible live music performances you’ve come to expect! We’ve got even more in store, so stay tuned as we add new components to each event as we move closer to the date.

Friday 6 September is our first fall RMG Fridays and it is another busy event!

The opening of the exhibition Making Methods is the centrepiece. The artists Becky Ip, Mark Stebbins and Sam Mogelonsky will all be present to discuss their work.

The event also celebrates the opening of Community Curates II, a new exhibition of works from our permanent collection that were recently selected by our community through an online survey!

The Isabel McLaughlin Gallery will host the musical guests Isla Craig and Native Other (formerly called The Louder Sounds). Isla was recently profiled by BlogTO as a “breakout band.” Read more about her work here.
Native Other are a young emerging band from Oshawa. We’re excited to host both of these performances.

At the event we’ll also help kick off the OshawaSpaceInvaders art exhibition pop-up event. OshawaSpaceInvaders places contemporary art is temporary spaces. In mid-September, six groups of artists will take over vacant retail spaces in downtown Oshawa and fill them with diverse artwork. You can learn more about this group by visiting their blog, and pick up a schedule of events and map at RMG Fridays in September.

As always, RMG Fridays is free to attend and is open to all ages. A cash bar is available at the event. The gallery is open 7-10pm, with a new Nutshell Tour (a quick 10 minute tour) each month, starting at 7:15pm.

Join the RMG Fridays September event page on Facebook for regular updates.

McLaughlin Day in Oshawa

This blog post is from Joan Murray, Director Emeritus.

Billiard Room. Image courtesy Parkwood Estate, copyright the Challener estate.

Frederick Sproston Challener’s inspired mural paintings in Parkwood Estate, commissioned in 1924, are particularly well done. Located in the billiards room and hallway, the murals have a strangely perfect, yet ineffably wry quality which combines romanticism and history. His narrative includes the five daughters of Colonel Sam McLaughlin, including the patron of the Gallery, Miss Isabel McLaughlin, outdoor sports events engaged in by Mr. McLaughlin and his family, and a vision of arcadia with wholesome-looking young children, McLaughlin’s grandchildren. The entire effect is joyous, with just the right mixture of Twentieth-century details to balance the artifice before us with its woodland setting of birch trees and panel of Pan playing his pipe.

Enchanted Wood. Image courtesy Parkwood Estate, copyright the Challener estate.

Challener was an artist who returned from a trip to Europe in 1898-99 with a passionate desire—to make murals. Fortunately for him, his wish fell in with a period of expansion in the theatre and architectural scene in Canada and he soon found himself hard at work executing murals in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Winnipeg. At the same time as his architectural commissions, he painted many easel paintings.

In celebration of McLaughlin Day, we honour here not only Colonel Sam McLaughlin and his wife Adelaide, but Miss Isabel McLaughlin, who was always deeply interested in mural painting, as well as the McLaughlin family, our friends.

Visit Parkwood Estate on McLaughlin Day on the August long weekend, for their wonderful Basement Tours. The tours are held August 3, 4, & 5, do not require pre-booking and will be available from 10:30 to 5:00pm. Admission is $10.00 per person, regardless of age. ($11.30 with the HST)

Visit Parkwood Estate online.

Oshawa embarks on its first Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan

Today we received a Media Release from the City of Oshawa. It’s a project that we are proud to be part of. The release mentions opportunities to participate, and if you continue to visit this blog you’ll learn more about your opportunities here at the RMG in the coming months. Read the full details below.

Media Release
The Corporation of the City of Oshawa
For Immediate Release, July 26, 2013
Oshawa embarks on its first Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan
Community forums and surveys to begin this fall

OSHAWA – The City of Oshawa is embarking on the development of its first Arts,Culture and Heritage Plan aimed at guiding cultural development in the community over the next five to ten years.
A project team of City staff along with a steering committee comprised of members of the cultural community, City staff and a representative from City Council will collectively oversee the development of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan.

“To continue to encourage a thriving Oshawa economy, we need put a spotlight on our strong arts, culture and heritage communities. These people represent the rich cultural life which is essential to attracting high-paying jobs and investment in the new creative economy,” said Councillor Amy England, Council representative on the Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan Steering Committee.

The purpose of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan is to establish a longer-term vision and set of strategies and actions to guide cultural development in the Oshawa community. The Plan will support the City of Oshawa’s strategic plan, Creating our Sustainable Tomorrow, with a focus on economic prosperity, social equity, cultural vitality, environmental responsibility and accountable leadership.

A series of community engagement activities will gather community and stakeholder input into the development of the vision and the direction of the Plan. Community forums and surveys will begin in fall 2013.
“While the Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan Steering Committee has been working on the development of a vision and appropriate strategies, community and stakeholder input is critical to ensure the Plan will meet Oshawa’s needs,” said Councillor Bob Chapman, Chair of Community Services Committee. “I encourage maximum participation in our forums and surveys.”

The City has engaged the consulting firm AuthentiCity (a division of Millier Dickinson Blais) to support the City in developing the plan and to work collaboratively with Public Interest on upcoming community engagement activities. The City of Oshawa has received financial support from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s Creative Communities Prosperity Fund toward the development of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan. The project will conclude by March 2014.

For more information and updates, visit www.oshawaculturalplan.ca.
– 30 –
Media Contacts:
Councillor Amy England
Council representative, Arts, Culture and Heritage Plan Steering Committee
905-436-5614; [email protected]
Councillor Bob Chapman
Chair, Community Services Committee
905-436-5619; [email protected]
Jag Sharma
Commissioner, Community Services
905-436-3311 ext. 2259; [email protected]
Ron Diskey
Director, Recreation and Culture Services
905-436-3311 ext. 3880; [email protected]
Julie MacIsaac
Manager, Centralized Recreation Services, Recreation & Culture Services
905-436-5633; [email protected]

Hot Topics: Community Curates II

Hot Topics comes from the desk of Jacquie Severs, Manager, Communications & Social Media

At the RMG our statement of purpose indicates we are dedicated to sharing, exploring and engaging with our communities through the continuing story of modern and contemporary Canadian art. There are many ways in which we do this, but from my office, a large part of the sharing, exploring, and engagement I work on is digital and social.

I recently worked with Assistant Curator Sonya Jones on developing our second Community Curates project. Last time, we developed a weekly survey through our blog, and voting determined the outcome of an exhibition. We felt that approach was successful but getting people to come back and vote every week for ten weeks wasn’t the easiest task. When managing a social community it isn’t advisable to drown people in repetitive requests week after week! So this time, we decided to make the voting a one-time survey that we could host on our website.

We’re a few weeks into promoting the survey through social media and gathering responses. I love looking over some of the data that is collected. We’ve had responses from Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. That means we’ve engaged international audiences in our Canadian art collection, and I think that’s a very important part of what makes social media so powerful for museums and galleries. Going back to the original intent, engaging with our communities, it is important to recognize that for art museums our communities is defined not just as our local community of Oshawa, the Durham Region, the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario and beyond, it is also the larger international community of people interested in art.

Social media has changed how museums and galleries can communicate and share art with fans and friends around the world. And we want to hear from you!

Have your say in the Community Curates II survey, and help select the works for an exhibition at the RMG.

Community Curates II

The Curator’s View: Oshawa Then and Now

This post comes from Sonya Jones, Curator of The Thomas Bouckley Collection.

Recently the Toronto Star published an article called “Oshawa: the GTA’s final frontier for development”, which details how and why Oshawa has grown and changed so much in the last ten years. The change in economy from reliance on the auto industry to becoming a knowledge economy, through four universities, as well as Durham College, is credited as being the reason why more and more developers are seeing Oshawa’s potential. Exploring how much Oshawa has changed since it was first founded has always been a priority of the Thomas Bouckley Collection. Starting with Bouckley’s vision for documenting his changing city, to continuing that tradition through Then and Now projects, the collection visually tells Oshawa’s story. In continuation of the Then and Now series, the RMG has once again partnered with the Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Camera Club to show the area of Oshawa that perhaps has seen the most changes: the downtown.

: Looking north up Simcoe Street at Four Corners, c. 1920

: Simcoe St. at King St. looking North by Edward Warner

: Looking north up Simcoe Street at Athol Street, 1944

: Simcoe St. looking north from Athol St. by Graeme George

: King St. E. just West of Celina looking North West by Denis Lalonde

: Looking west on King St. E. at Celina Street, 1910

: Looking south down Simcoe Street at Four Corners, 1908

: Simcoe St. S. looking south from Four Corners by Alan Dionne

: Looking east on King St. W. at Prince Street, 1910

: King Street West looking East from Prince St.- by Graeme George

From its humble beginnings as a small settlement community to that of a large metropolitan city, Oshawa grew out of the intersection of King and Simcoe Streets known as the “Four Corners,” expanding and growing on all sides.

Similar to the Then and Now: Oshawa Creek project, members of the Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Camera Club used historical images from the Thomas Bouckley Collection as a starting point, and photographed the Four Corners as it appears today. This exhibition of side-by-side historical and contemporary photographs is also accompanied by a short video created by the club on the subject. On view until August 29, this exhibition celebrates our changing city!

Details about this exhibition on our website: click here.

Hot Topics: One Weekend in June

Hot Topics come from the desk of Jacquie Severs, the RMG’s Manager, Communications & Social Media

Oshawa’s Downtown revitalization project is an ongoing venture, one that has some starts and stops (as do most worthwhile projects) but it is exciting to watch. In the past three years I’ve worked at the RMG, I’ve seen dramatic change. In this post, I thought I’d share a to-do list for events this coming weekend in the downtown area, all free to attend, all artsy, and all incredible opportunities to participate in the transition of this community.

FRIDAY 7 JUNE

Core21 Oshawa

Friday evening from 5:30-7pm, drop into CORE21. This new co-working space is the result of many years of discussions around arts incubators and collaborative work spaces, with participation from many community stakeholders and the City of Oshawa economic developers. After an extensive renovation to the former Honest Way department store, CORE21 is opening its doors for guided tours to the facility on Friday. While there you can enter to win a 25 Hour, One Month Co-working Membership.

Check out the facebook event for CORE21.
Visit CORE21 online.

The Coachlites

The draw for the CORE21 membership will happen at RMG Fridays, our monthly event held here at the RMG from 7-10pm. This event is themed “Welcome Summer”. It will feature live musical performances by Tim Watson and The Coachlites. I realized just today that The Coachlites are named after the Coachlite Roller Gardens, a roller skating rink downtown Oshawa. Have a listen to their debut performance this week and decide for yourself if the name fits! This event also celebrates the opening of two new art exhibitions, we’ll have interactive augmented reality posters from the War of 1812 Oshawa Project, and we’ll be talking about our Vintage Oshawa: Summer in the City project as well. It will be a busy and diverse night with an incredibly fun crowd. Remember, there’s a cash bar!

Check out the facebook event for RMG Fridays.
Check out the webpage for RMG Fridays.

After RMG Fridays, if you’re interested in seeing more art happening in the community, visit Wasted Space. It is a new art cafe and lounge located just a short walk from the RMG at 74 Celina Street. This comfortable venue is decorated with art by local artists, a plethora of lava lamps, and comfortable sofas. Chantelle Lacoursiere is showing her artwork there on Friday, and they’ll have live music, a DJ, and finger foods to keep your energy up. This is a licensed venue.

Check out the facebook event for this opening.
Become a fan of Wasted Space on facebook.

SATURDAY 8 JUNE

Saturday is the start of the Oshawa Valley Botanical Garden’s Annual Peony Festival! I’ve been told the peonies are perfectly timed this year and will be spectacular on the weekend. With over 300 varieties to view, this is the 9th Annual event, and it runs 10am to 4pm both Saturday and Sunday at 155 Arena Street. This festival was voted one of Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals and Events!

Learn more about the Oshawa Peony Festival.
There is also a Bomb Girls Garden Party at Parkwood Estate as part of the festival!

Sneak peek of Foreclosure at The Vault. Photo by Will McGuirk.

After a stroll in the gardens, stop by a new collaborative art space downtown Oshawa called The Vault. Located on the site of a former bank, the space became available to the Oshawa arts community when landlord Zal Press contacted City Hall to inform them he wanted to open the space to local artists. Opening at 1pm on Saturday, Transition Saturday will have a featured exhibition titled Foreclosure by Mike Berube, a photojournalist. Other artists participating in the show are Jay Dart, Dani Crosby, Grant Cole, Tammy Gay, Shannon Sosoon, Brian Vince, Steven Brown, Erica Podlowski, and Janice McHaffie. The event is at 19 Simcoe Street North and is a fundraiser for Feed The Need. Non-perishable food items will also be collected at the door.

SUNDAY 9 JUNE

Sunday the RMG hosts OPG Second Sundays. This is a monthly event for families of all kinds and sizes. Drop into the gallery from 1-3pm, explore our exhibitions, and try a hands-on art making activity! This month, inspired by the exhibition Falling in Place and the Oshawa Peony Festival guests can build their own cities and imaginary worlds in full bloom while making big beautiful paper peonies. This monthly series is generously sponsored by Ontario Power Generation.

Learn more about upcoming OPG Second Sundays.
Sunday will be a busy day downtown Oshawa as the Peony Festival continues.
Parkwood Estate’s Bomb Girls Garden Party continues to rage throughout the weekend!

Pride Durham is a non-profit organization that hosts Pride and social events in Durham Region. Sunday 9 of June is the final event in Pride Week, which includes the 3rd Annual Durham Pride Parade. The parade travels through the downtown area travelling on Centre Street starting at 2:30pm.

Get more details about this year’s Pride festivities at the website.
Become a fan of Pride Durham on facebook.