Interview with Art Lab artist Jessica Field

Jessica Field is our Art Lab artist in residence from April 25 until July 10. During her residency in the Art Lab, Jessica Field will be experimenting with relational aesthetics and drawing to create a body of work that focuses on the influences that technology and science have on the way people socially develop their identities. Through her performance research, she will be creating fictional spaces and developing relational encounters with participants to create maps of how they relate to technology and science and attempt to place how their subjective values and feelings are connected. Most of Field’s works are parodies on the scientific methods, gender issues and the tension between subjective values, feelings, prestige and how these function in the technological complexity of our current culture. We sat down with Jessica to learn more about what she has been up to in the Art Lab…

The RMG: Hi Jessica! Please tell us a little about yourself.

Jessica Field: I am an artist who has lived in the Durham region for most of my life. Growing up in Pickering and then starting my own family here in Oshawa. I am a very curious person who enjoys spending an exorbitant amount of time trying to answer big questions. I am most fascinated by human nature in how complicated we are, on one hand we can be very dismissive and selfish, yet vulnerable but we have the capacity to choose to be very empathetic, imaginative and offer a safe unbiased space for others depending on how life is effecting us.

Jessica Field in the Art Lab. Photo by Lucy Villeneuve.

RMG: Why did you apply to the Art Lab artist in residence program?

JF: I applied to the Art Lab to experiment with new materials and interact with the public to create interesting conversations and learn more about how we are programmed. I am also very interested in doing research in the RMG’s library and with the collection to assist in informing my work. I am also very excited about working in a large gallery to be inspired by a space designed for exhibiting work and becoming more involved with the Oshawa art community.

RMG: What will you be creating during your residency? What can visitors expect to find in the Art Lab or during one of your performance events?

JF: I will be creating a series of drawings that will attempt to grapple the impossible question of “how we are programmed.” Visitors can expect to see a room full of large format drawings that address these questions. In the coming weeks, there will be glass markers and chalk available for visitors to contribute their impressions of the drawings in the studio. Any visitor will be very welcome to interrupt my work and offer their insights into this impossible question of “how we are programmed” as these interactions are a crucial part of my residency. In this upcoming month, my focus is in the collection of information. Then the work will become about editing and fine tuning the drawing content, this is a space for visitors to enjoy viewing complicated maps and moving or adding their interpretation of what these drawn landscapes could represent.

RMG: Tell us a bit more about your artist workshop on June 12. What will students learn?

JF: The workshop on June 12 will be offering a technique for students to use to help them learn about creating systems and see how a system or methodology can eliminate such creative challenges as creative blocks, the stress of how strong an idea is and to find methods of expanding a personalized idea into something that becomes larger than the person who imagined it in the first place. The strategy of the workshop focuses on utilizing the student’s imagination, ability to empathize and drawing attention to the importance of developing impartial judgment. These values allow people to think in larger terms then their individual selves and thus learn an ability to create artworks that speak to the larger picture of what life is all about which is something everyone has invested interest in understanding on some level. The workshop will offer an activity to help students engage in this space to find their own important contribution to this large discourse that others will value and have the added effect of enriching their own creative goals and interests.

Photo by Lucy Villeneuve

RMG: In a nutshell… what is “relational aesthetics” and how does this principle impact your practice?

JF: Relational aesthetics is rooted in a dissatisfaction in the art market where art is bought and sold. Those who work in this practice are really focused on the experience of art, the experience of seeing something that has qualitative value and can be enriching to a persons life whether this is an experience of awe, revelation or a strong emotional experience that becomes a lasting memory. The art as an object is always in danger of being superficialized by popularity or become convoluted and intimidating by our stress of how the art institution values the work.

Relational aesthetics is an attempt to bring a genuine and meaningful experience between the artist and the viewer where the viewer becomes a collaborator in the experience of the work and integral to its validity. There is an equitable exchange between the artist and viewer where the viewer in their participation receives an experience of value that they should feel compelled to cherish and the artist is given material to assist in creating a project that is larger than themselves and not limited by their personal biases and experience.

The use of relational aesthetics in my project is an honest art practice that can allow me to grapple an impossible topic like “how are you programmed.” I can set up a performance which is really a collaborative exercise with the people who wish to participate and in these actions we carry out together. The objective is to really become aware of human diversity and celebrate these differences as being something valuable and important rather than peculiar or unusual. This creates a space for people to feel comfortable with enjoying the pleasure of imagination, empathy and impartial judgment in a safe space to do so which is my responsibility in executing the performance.

Jessica Field. Photo by Lucy Villeneuve.

RMG: What inspires you? Is there a particular artist’s work that has inspired your practice?

JF: I have many references that inspire me and my inspirations are always changing and are very fluid. For this residency, I am focused on Yoko Uno’s drawings and instructions from the RMG library, the pilgrimage drawings mapping the roads of life, illustrations of human life created by Christian artists in the 1800s, the Zen Ox herding drawings, and the youTube channel the School of Life. In looking at these very diverse sources, I hope to find commonalities and create maps and flow diagrams. I am also very curious in receiving input from the public on how they relate to these maps and will hopefully offer insight into what this landscape could look like.

A Blast From The Past Through the Eyes of an Intern

Alex Ross is a second year Journalism student at Durham College. He is completing his placement at the RMG as a communications intern.

Over the past two years in my program I have started to narrow down my niche as a reporter for the school newspaper, the Chronicle. I have taken the spot as an arts reporter in the class and even my teachers have gotten in contact with me about artistic events happening around town.

I had never been to the RMG before I started at Durham College because I only moved to Oshawa three years ago. Living in a new city can be difficult because I didn’t know anybody from Oshawa and all of my friends from my old town were away at university in places like Waterloo, Windsor and Kingston. Being a part of the arts scene in Oshawa, and the RMG, helped me make contacts I never had the chance to before.

The RMG is a local treasure that some people don’t even know about. There are so many important connections the Gallery has that help bring people from the community together.

Part of my job here was to schedule some special day posts for May. These special days included a Throwback Thursday for each week of May, as well as a Window Wednesday for each week. For the Throwback Thursday, the gallery has chosen to dig into its extensive collection of the Thomas Bouckley Collection. There is no theme to the Throwback Thursday so all I had to do was go through the collection and pick some of my favourite photos.

After scrolling through the thousands of photos in the Thomas Bouckley Collection, it soon became one of my favourite collections in the gallery. A couple images stood out to me in particular, one of an “amusement device” sitting on the lakefront in Oshawa and another of a plane crash right downtown at King and Simcoe.

“Ocean Wave” At The Lake
Thomas Bouckley, 1912.

These images caught my attention because of their oddness. Ocean Wave is odd because the men on the ride are all wearing suits, despite the leisurely activity. The plane crash is astonishing because of the proximity to the community. If a plane crashed today there is no way it would simply be suspended in the electrical wires running along the street and only knock a few bricks off a building.

Plane Crash on King Street West
Thomas Bouckley, 1918.

The Thomas Bouckley Collection is one of my favourite collections because it gives young people like me a look into the past. Being young makes me feel like I don’t have a connection to the history of the town because as far back as I can remember is the old Famous Players and Zellers that used to be in the Oshawa Centre. Being able to look back at specific events through the Thomas Bouckley Collection gives me a sense of community and connection to the history of my town.

The late Thomas Bouckley donated the Thomas Bouckley Collection to the RMG. He was a collector and history enthusiast of Oshawa and Durham Region. The collection contains more than 3,000 photographs of Oshawa and surrounding communities. The collection is a good source for understanding Oshawa’s past and helping people engage with the history of Durham Region.

The RMG is an integral part of the Oshawa community and it is certainly a great place full of great people, not only staff, but the visitors as well. Being an intern at the RMG is a great experience for anybody that has an interest in arts, in any department of the Gallery.

Museum Month: Visit our Neighbourhood Museums

In celebration of Museum Month, we’re shining a spotlight on the other galleries and museums around Oshawa and the Durham Region.

The Whitby Station Gallery and the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington also play important roles in the cultural community of Durham Region. The Oshawa Community Museum and Archives(OCMA), Parkwood Estate, the Canadian Automotive Museum and the Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum are sharing the cultural history of Durham Region.

The Oshawa Community Museum and Archives:

Oshawa Community Museum and Archives, Guy House.
Photo courtesy of the OCMA

The Oshawa Community Museum and Archives works to preserve and present Oshawa’s history and help the public better understand and appreciate the City’s heritage. The OCMA tells Oshawa’s story from the first native settlements and to the present day.

The OCMA holds a photograph collection from Thomas Bouckley, artifacts from the Henry, Robinson and Guy families, a medical instrument collection and vast artifact and photograph collection showing historic Oshawa. The Oshawa Historical Society administers the OCMA to ensure all funding received from the City of Oshawa goes to support the operation and administration of the OCMA.

The OCMA is a leader in promoting Oshawa’s history and connecting people and communities with their past. Now that the weather has gotten nicer the Heritage Gardens are perfect place to go to enjoy the history behind some of Oshawa.

Parkwood Estate:

Parkwood Estate, Oshawa.
Photo courtesy of Parkwood Estates.

Parkwood Estate is a mansion located in the heart of Oshawa, decorated in classic period representation of the early 20th century design. The rooms are made to highlight the lifestyle of a wealthy family and their guests. The collection is so complete it gives an impression that the family still lives there!

In 1915, the McLaughlin family had gained notability and achieved “First Family” status in Oshawa. They purchased Prospect Park to be the site of their new home, Parkwood Estate. The mansion was designed by Darling and Pearson, a team of architects who had a large influence on Canadian institutional architecture. The mansion began construction in 1915 and finished in 1917.

The gardens around the house provide an elaborate distraction for families and visitors to the estate. Parkwood Estate offers an opportunity to see the last and finest remaining residential gardens designed by Harries & Hall, Dunington-Grubb and John Lyle.

Whitby Station Gallery:

Train car outside the Whitby Station Gallery.
Photo courtesy of the Whitby Station Gallery.

The Whitby Station Gallery started as a community gallery run by a group of art enthusiasts in Whitby as Whitby Arts Incorporated. The group, along with benefactors and supporters, purchased Whitby’s Grand Trunk Railway Station in 1969. The station was set to be demolished, but the purchase by the group saved the building and it was moved in 1970 and given the name Whitby Station Gallery.

The gallery’s permanent collection houses more than 300 original pieces, including works by Anne Meredith Barry, David Blackwood and Kim Ondaatje. The gallery is also about to start its SG Pop-up Studio, which brings free art experiences to events in the community. The events start on the weekend of May 14 at the Food Truck Frenzy in the Iroquois Park Sports Centre and Artfest on the Esplanade in Pickering.

Visual Arts Centre of Clarington:

The original Mill that was later turned into the Visual Arts Centre.
Photo courtesy of the VAC.

In 1973, the town of Bowmanville purchased the Mill, a historic landmark of Bowmanville with rich history, and council agreed to turn the building into a Visual Arts Centre (VAC). Mills were seen as a life source for towns in the past, and now that hasn’t changed, except the type of life it brings to the town. The VAC still brings life to the community in the form of art, something that most people didn’t have the luxury in taking part of in the past.

The VAC of Clarington is located along Soper Creek, along a path through the Rotary Centennial Gardens and along the Soper Valley. The VAC is currently exhibiting Maralynn Cherry’s Water Stations (a pilgrimage). Cherry is a non-status indigenous artists of Odawa heritage.

Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum:

A CVRT Scorpion on display at the Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum.

The Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum is home to Canada’s largest collection of operational military vehicles. They host a program called ‘Tank Sundays’ which lets visitors of all ages experience the world of tanks first hand.

The museum also hosts a static display to display their collection, including medals, manuscripts, photos, uniforms and more. The display tells the story of the Ontario Regiments 150 year history, spanning through the World Wars, the Cold War and modern times. The museum also focuses on the Militia’s evolution from the early 19th century, while highlighting the historical relationship between the industrial development of Oshawa, General Motors, and the Regiment.

Canadian Automotive Museum:

The historic Canadian Automotive Museum.
Photo courtesy of the CAM.

The Canadian Automotive Museum maintains a former car dealership from 1921 at 99 Simcoe St. South. While the main floor holds mostly European vehicles, the second floor keeps the history of automotive manufacturing in Canada. The museum is also home to an extensive library, and a lot for drive-ins and car shows.

The CAM currently has the European Masterpieces from the McDougald Collection on display on the main floor and the Cars Built in Canada – 1900-1980 exhibit on the second floor. Also the exhibit A Rolls-Royce for Royalty: Canadian Aristocracy after the Great War opened on May 5. The exhibit shows the story behind the 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, the vehicle Edward, Prince of Wales used during his 1919 Royal Tour of Canada.

Celebrating Museum Month with our Painters Eleven Collection

William Ronald conceived and founded the Painters Eleven in 1953 with fellow artists Jack Bush, Oscar Cahén, Hortnese Gordon, Tom Hodgson, Alexandra Luke, Jock Macdonald, Ray Mead, Kazuo Nakamura and Walter Yarwood. The Roberts Gallery in Toronto was home to the Painters Eleven first exhibition in 1954. It was also the first major commercial abstract art exhibit in Toronto. (painterseleven.com)

It is Museum Month and we are celebrating our collection of Painters Eleven works.

The RMG proudly holds Canada’s largest collection of works by Painters Eleven, primarily as a result of significant donations to the permanent collection from Alexandra Luke. At least eleven of these works are on display at all times in our Painters Eleven gallery.

Learn more about the artists!

Jack Bush:

Jack Bush

Jack Bush was born in Toronto, but studied art at the Royal Canadian Academy in Montreal. Bush drew his inspiration from Charles Comfort, a Group of Seven protégé and one of his instructors at the Ontario College of Arts. Bush painted landscapes in the Group style.

After his first trip to visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1950, Bush redirected his vision and efforts to large-scale expressionist paintings. Bush found Clement Greenberg, a New York art critic, to become his mentor and encourage him to narrow his sight. Bush later simplified his compositions and abandoned his abstract expressionist style. He represented Canada in 1967 at the Sao Paulo Art Biennial, and later retired as a commercial artist in 1968.

Oscar Cahén:

Oscar Cahen

Oscar Cahén (Canadian, b. Denmark, 1916 – 1956)
Small Structure, 1953/55
Oil on canvas board
Gift of Alexandra Luke, 1967

Oscar Cahén was born Copenhagen, Denmark and studied drawing, painting, design and illustration in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. Cahén became a professor of design, illustration and painting at the Rotter School in Prague after receiving a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from Kunstakadekamie in Dresden.

In 1940, Cahén came to Canada as a war internee, the son of a German diplomat turned anti-Nazi. When he was released he moved to Toronto and met Walter Yarwood and Harold Town. Cahén aligned himself with the avante-garde art in the city and became one of Canada’s leading magazine illustrators. He started as a dark expressionist painter, but later changed his style to bright coloured abstractions.

Hortense Gordon:

Hortense Gordon

Hortense Gordon
(Canadian, 1887 -1961)
Horizontals and Verticals, 1955
Oil on canvas
Gift of Charlie Dobbie, 2000

Hortense (Mattice) Gordon was born in Hamilton and studied under John Sloan Gordon at the Hamilton Art School. She later married John Gordon in 1920. Gordon taught at the Hamilton Technical School from 1916 – 1951.

Gordon was the first Canadian to study with Hans Hofmann, along with fellow members Alexandra Luke and William Ronald. She was a proponent of Hofmann’s “push and pull” theory, which shows in her geometric abstractions. Gordon began experimenting with abstractions in the 1930’s and was drawn to Piet Mondrian’s style of pure design and colour. She was inducted into the Painters Eleven by Ray Mead.

Tom Hodgson:

Tom Hodgson

Tom Hodgson
(Canadian, 1924 – 2006)
Flowers, 1962
Watercolour and ink on illustration board
Gift of Alexandra Luke, 1967

Tom Hodgson was a Canadian representative at the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Olympics as a sprint canoer. Hodgson grew up on Toronto’s Centre Island, where he learned to paddle as a child, leading to his Olympic participation.

As well as being an international athlete, Hodgson was also a gifted artist from an early age. He studied with Arthur Lismer at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now known as the Art Gallery of Ontario), the Central Technical School and like other members of the Painters Eleven he also studied at the Ontario College of Art. Hodgson’s work was chosen for exhibition at the 1955 Pittsburgh International Exhibition. At the exhibition, Hodgson was amazed by the large size of the canvases used by other abstract painters, which paved the way for his own large-scale spontaneous gestural works.

Alexandra Luke:

Alexandra Luke

Alexandra Luke
Blythwood
1965
Watercolour and ink on paper

Alexandra Luke was born in Montreal, but moved to Oshawa in 1914. She was enrolled in the Banff School of Fine Arts, where she met Jock Macdonald in 1945. Jock Macdonald took Luke under his wing, she also studied with American abstract artist Hans Hofmann.

Macdonald introduced Luke to Surrealism and Theosophy: a spiritual dimension that was significant to Luke’s work. Luke was instrumental in the creating the Painters Eleven by organizing the Canadian Abstract Exhibition in 1952, the first all-abstract Canada wide exhibit. Members of the future group were present at the exhibition.

Jock Macdonald:

Jock Macdonald

Jock Macdonald
(1897 – 1960)
Polynesian Morning
1953
Lithograph on paper
Purchased, 2009

Jock Macdonald was born in Thurso, Scotland and graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art in 1922. Macdonald later moved to Vancouver to teach at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts.

With traditional influences by the Group of Seven, after his move to Vancouver, Macdonald he developed a surrealist style through Grace Pailthorpe. His meeting with Pailthorpe inspired him to start making large-scaled abstractions. Macdonald started teaching at the Ontario College of Art in 1947. His position as a professor at the college gave him an influential part on fellow Painters Eleven members William Ronald and Alexandra Luke.

Ray Mead:

Ray Mead

Ray Mead
1956
Tide #22
Oil painting on canvas
Gift of Avrom Isaacs, 1987

Ray Mead was born in England, but was stationed in Hamilton as a part of the Royal Air Force. Eventually he immigrated to Hamilton, where he met Hortense Gordon. Mead’s connection to Gordon was strong and very influential to his work. Mead said, “she educated me more than any art school.”

Mead worked for the MacLaren Advertising Company in Toronto, now known as MacLaren McCann and Montreal as a commercial artist, but he returned to Toronto in 1987 to paint full time. Nicolas de Staël, a European abstract artist, heavily influenced Mead’s work. His personal style is often characterized by the use of rich fields of colour.

Kazuo Nakamura:

Nakamura

Kazuo Nakamura
1964
Lake B. C.
Oil painting on canvas
Gift of Ron and Mary Tasker, 1991

Kazuo Nakamura was born in Vancouver, but was interned with his Japanese family in Hope, British Columbia during WWII. After the war, he moved to Hamilton and met Hortense Gordon for classes before enrolling at the Central Technical School in Toronto.

Nakamura uses a simpler style in his work, with less complex structures and monochromatic colours, as compared to the expressionistic work of other Painters Eleven members. Nakamura’s work is evident of his fascination with science and mathematics. His use of patterns, linear perspectives and processes. Nakamura has said, “In a sense, scientists and artists are doing the same thing. This world of pattern is a world we are discovering together.”

William Ronald:

William Ronald

William Ronald
1953
Slow Movement
Casein duco graphite on masonite
Purchase, 1971

William Ronald Smith was born in Stratford, graduated from the Ontario College of Art and studied with Hans Hofmann in New York in 1952. Ronald was inspired by the abstract expressionist movement happening in New York City, and brought it back to Toronto while working at Simpson’s Company as a display artist. Ronald organized the Abstracts at Home display at Simpson’s, which initiated the Painters Eleven.

Ronald moved to New York in 1955 and secured a spot in the Kootz Gallery. His spot in the gallery got him known for his central image paintings, which are expressionist painting that have immediate impact on the viewer. Ronald is known as one of Canada’s most significant international artists of the 1950’s.

Harold Town:

Harold Town

Harold Town was born in Toronto and studied at Western Technical School and the Ontario College of Art. Town’s early work contained distinctly spiky forms, showing influence from Graham Sutherland and Rico Lebrun. He worked in a variety of mediums and showed off his flamboyant and productive personality in his artwork. Town worked with collages, printmaking, drawing, painting and sculpture. “Absorb experience common to all and subsume it in uncommon expression,” wrote Town about his use of everyday items in his work.

Town was a Canadian representative in two Venice Biennales along with being gifted an Honorary Doctorate from York University.

Walter Yarwood:

Walter Yarwood

Walter Yarwood was born in Toronto and studied commercial art at Western Technical School. Yarwood considered himself largely self-taught. He worked as a freelance artist for advertising companies where he met Oscar Cahén and Harold Town.

Yarwood’s work is known for its rich and commanding sense of colour. He gave up painting to take up sculpturing, receiving commissions including work at the University of Toronto, Winnipeg International Airport and York University. After becoming an instructor at Humber College in the 1970’s, he resumed painting in 1980.

Visit the RMG to see works by the Painters Eleven, or browse our collection online..

National Museum Month is Here

The month of May hosts the celebration of the Ontario Museum Association’s Museum Month, with International Museum Day falling on May 18. This special celebration happens every year around the world and the International Council of Museums coordinates the day. Each year is home to a theme for International Museum Day, this year is museums and cultural landscapes.

We will be celebrating International Museums Day with a special mid-day tour of the gallery with our Senior Curator, Linda Jansma. The tour will give you a look at the permanent collection and the architecture behind the building, designed by Arthur Erickson. The tour is on May 18, drop in at noon to learn more about the Gallery

Linda Jansma leads a tour of The Other NFB at an RMG Friday

According to the OMA, Museum Month celebrates Ontario’s museums and history. The RMG will be giving you a look into the history of the building, as well as its cultural background and connection to the group of artists known as the Painters Eleven.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery exterior. Photo by Michael Cullen

The RMG is one of Oshawa’s cultural landmarks and it stands as the largest gallery in Durham Region with 36,000 square feet of notable Arthur Erickson architecture. We feature a permanent collection of over 4,500 works and five galleries of contemporary and historical exhibitions. Among the permanent collection, the RMG has the largest holding of works by the Painters Eleven. The Thomas Bouckley Collection is an archival record of over 3,000 photos of Oshawa and Durham Region, giving a look into the local history of our community.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery circa 1970’s

The RMG was founded in 1967 when Ewart McLaughlin and his wife Margaret, also known as Alexandra Luke the painter, saw a need for a permanent space for the arts. An exhibition of local artists held by Oshawa designer William Caldwell piqued the interest of the McLaughlin’s and spawned their idea for an expanded public art gallery.

The gallery took the name of Robert after Ewart McLaughlin’s grandfather, founder of The McLaughlin Carriage Company. Isabel McLaughlin joined the gallery as a life-long patron who provided generous financial support and gifts of over 100 Canadian and international works.

General Motors Strike, 1937

The RMG is also home to a large collection of archival photos from historic Oshawa and surrounding region. We received the Thomas Bouckley Collection from Thomas Bouckley, collector and history enthusiast of Oshawa. The computerized collection has over 3,000 photographs of historic Oshawa and Durham Region for over 100 years. The collection is a remarkable resource in understanding the past and engaging with the local history surrounding Oshawa.

Douglas Coupland Group Portrait 1957, 2011

The group, now known as Painters Eleven, first met each other at an exhibition of abstract and non-objective paintings held by Simpson’s Department store in Toronto. The exhibition, Abstracts at Home, only had seven participants: Jack Bush, Oscar Cahén, Tom Hodgson, Alexandra Luke, Ray Mead, Kazuo Nakamura and William Ronald. The additional four artists: Jock Macdonald, Harold Town, Walter Yarwood and Hortense Gordon met with the former seven artists to discuss becoming a group of artists. The eleven artists came together for the first time under the name of Painters Eleven at an exhibition in February of 1954 at the Roberts Gallery in Toronto.

Isabel McLaughlin

We are also celebrating important founders and influences of the gallery this month like Isabel McLaughlin and Aleen Aked.

Isabel McLaughlin was born in Oshawa, growing up in Parkwood Estate, but later moved to Toronto. She was the third daughter of Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, president of General Motors from 1918 to 1945. McLaughlin is considered one of Canada’s most important modernist painters.

McLaughlin had a strong background in the arts with an excellent education. She studied in Paris, at the Ontario College of Arts under Arthur Lismer, at the Arts Student’s League in Toronto, and the Scandinavian Academy in Paris. She contributed to some Group of Seven exhibits, who had a large influence on her, and she later became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters after the Group of Seven disbanded.

Isabel has made large donations of artwork and books from her personal collection to the RMG and the RMG Library, as well as substantial monetary donations to help expand the gallery building and programs.

Aleen Aked

Elizabeth Aleen Aked was an accomplished artist and had a strong sense for the history and culture in the places she lived. Throughout her life, Aked maintained a rigorous practice for painting which let her expand her reach throughout North America.

Aked’s last important art exhibition was held at the RMG in 1989. She later died in 2003, but left a generous portion of her legacy as a gift to the RMG. Aked’s legacy to the gallery, called the Aked Endowment, permits exciting initiative for education and outreach, notably the Imagination Station for children.

To learn more about the gallery, join us for a special International Museums Day tour with Senior Curator Linda Jansma on May 18 at noon.

Mother’s Day is around the corner

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation for Mother’s Day, designating the second Sunday of May to be a national holiday. Since then, we have celebrated over 100 years of moms taking care of us 24/7, since we were born.

If you are looking to give back to your mother for all she has helped you with, join the over 80 countries who will celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.

To help repay some of the debt you owe to your mother consider taking her out for a Mother’s Day brunch on May 8th. Hosted by the RMG in Arthur’s on the 4th with catering provided by Pilar’s Catering. There will be two seatings at 10:30am and 12:30pm. Reservations are required, email [email protected] to secure your spot.

Photo by Brilynn Ferguson

There will be an assortment of fresh pastries and baked goods along with a variety of options for meals and a dessert buffet to follow.

Along with the brunch, we have our regularly scheduled OPG Second Sunday with a special Mother’s Day theme. Children will be creating a unique tile mosaic, a beautiful card and gift wrap for the special person in their lives.

There is no reservation required for OPG Second Sundays, just drop by the RMG from 1pm to 3pm.

Now let’s talk gifts for mom!

Don’t forget to stop by the RMG Shop before May 8 to check out some of these, and more, unique locally made gifts for the special lady in your life including:

Some new supplies for culinary endeavors.

One of these handmade Wizard of Oz themed editions by Kelly Grace.

Some of these fantastic body products by Aide Bodycare.

Or a great Canadian product for your Canadian mom.

Make sure to treat your mom extra special on May 8 and the rest of the year too! Don’t forget about Father’s Day on June 19! The RMG Shop has plenty of locally made dad-friendly gifts.

Spring into a Durham art gallery or museum!

This article was previously published on Oshawa This Week.

Donna Raetsen-Kemp, CEO of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, on cultural treasures in your backyard

Your Durham Region museums and galleries are gearing up for spring!

We’re all working hard to bring you the kind of programming you want — inspiring, challenging, engaging, thought-provoking and, heck yes, even entertaining. You might be surprised at the wild array of creative and cultural things to do right here in your own backyard.

At The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, we’re shining a bright light on our local community. We’re looking for meaningful, interactive ways to connect you with our arts programming and national calibre exhibitions. We’ve added unorthodox gallery programming like yoga and mindfulness sessions to our roster. Surprised? Surveys suggested it and we agreed — what better place than an art gallery for gentle movement and quiet reflection?

On a more traditional arts note, check out the meditative quality of working with clay at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington.

On the flipside, art galleries can be amazing places for social gathering. The all-ages, RMG Fridays, on the first Friday of each month, and Station Gallery’s April Drawing for Art are great examples of amped-up cultural events that bring people together in celebration of art. Whether you like your arts and culture experience served up slow and quiet, full of energy and enthusiasm, or somewhere in between, your Durham Region art spaces have something in store for you.

If you know your public art gallery well, visit soon. If you never thought a public art gallery or museum was the place for you, give it a try! You might be surprised to find that there’s a whole lot more going on behind those doors than you imagined.

Your Durham Region galleries are free to visit, so drop by for 10 minutes or stay for an hour. Sometimes it takes a few visits to feel a connection.

Consider a gallery hop. Start your day at the RMG, SG or VAC and plot your course from there. You may want to add a visit to Parkwood Estate, the Canadian Automotive Museum or the Oshawa Community Museum.

And, finally, it may not feel like it right now but summer is just around the corner. If you’re looking for ways your kids can flex their creative muscles, public art galleries across Durham Region have a plethora of summer art camp options. Be warned, programming is top notch, so spots will fill up fast.

Check out the websites for more details – and then jump in with both feet.

Interview with artist Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock

In the lead up to her solo exhibition Familiarity in the Foreign (on view from April 30 – June 5) at the RMG, we sat down with artist Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock to ask her a few questions about the show and her practice.

The RMG: Hi Lindsay! Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock: Hi RMG! I’m a young Canadian photographer and artist. I grew up in London, Ontario where I had the pleasure of attending the amazing BealArt program. While there I really discovered my love of photography as well as the darkroom. I then earned a bachelor of fine arts from York University in Toronto. I minored in psychology at the same time, which I feel has influenced my artistic practice. After graduating I continued to pursue my art practice, having occasional shows and being awarded grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council. Concurrently, I began working in editorial and commercial photography- first as a photo assistant and then as a photographer. In 2014, my husband and I decided to throw all our things in storage and try something new. We’re currently using Mexico City as our base which is giving us the opportunity to spend more time travelling and doing artistic work.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Mezcaleria, Digital C-Print, 2014

RMG: What materials do you work with?

LLG: As I mentioned, my photographic practice has two wings so to speak. A gallery based practice and editorial work. However these two ends compliment and inform one another. I’ve learned skills from my experience in editorial that have aided my art, and vice versa. It’s difficult to truly divide one from the other.

These days I primarily shoot with a digital-SLR. Although, whenever I have the chance I like to shoot medium format film. I really love photographing portraits with a medium format camera. I feel like I get to connect with the subject in a different and perhaps more intimate way.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Wind on the Ferry, Digital C-Print, 2015

RMG: Let’s go back to last fall. Why were you interested in submitting to our fundraising auction RMG Exposed? Please let us know a little more about the piece you submitted, Wind on the Ferry.

LLG: A few years ago I came across the RMG fundraiser, decided to submit and was awarded the documentary prize. I had heard of RMG before but living in Toronto and without a car, I had never been. When I was there for the Exposed event I was blown away by the space and the work there. Toni Hamel’s The Lingering was on exhibition. It was beautiful and captivating and I still think about it regularly. After my initial experience at RMG I of course wanted to support the gallery and submit again.

The piece I submitted in 2015, Wind on the Ferry, was taken last summer during a trip to Ucluelet, BC. While on the ferry I felt a slight nostalgia with faint, and possibly imagined memories. Twenty-five years prior to taking this photo I made the same journey via ferry from mainland British Columbia to Vancouver Island. There was a feeling of the sublime onboard the ferry. An enormous vessel dwarfed by great waters and powerful winds. The curtain caught my attention as it had been pulled out of the window by the wind and was fluttering on the exterior of the ferry. There was something very comforting and domestic about the fabric curtain and at the same time its position was unnerving.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Coin Operated Binoculars, Digital C-Print, 2015

RMG: What are you most excited about showing to our audience in your exhibition Familiarity in the Foreign? What do you hope visitors get from viewing your photographs?

LLG: For me, the photographs in this exhibition have a quiet, emotive aspect to them. I think they often suggest a story of something that has just happened, or is just about to take place. My hope is that visitors who see my exhibition will find a photo that speaks to them. Something that reminds them of a time or place in their lives, or even a story they’ve heard. I want viewers to be able to enter my photos and be taken somewhere else, to have an emotional response that’s detached from where they in that actual moment. I suppose these are rather lofty goals, but it would be nice.

RMG: One of your works, Coin Operated Binoculars, will be on view in downtown Oshawa in the Core 21 windows. Can you please tell us a bit about that photo and why it was selected it for that space?

LLG: This photo was taken August 2015 at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. I took this at the end of a two week trip that started in Edmonton, Alberta, went to Vancouver Island in British Columbia and ended back in southern Alberta. It was really exciting to see just a fraction of the beautiful and diverse landscapes that exist in Canada. During our trip we had been to some very remote areas, so Lake Louise was a change of pace with so many tourists there. I liked it though, and was drawn to the binoculars because they were a reminder of the history there. No matter how much the world has changed, we still love admiring scenic views. At the same time, focusing on the binoculars blocked out all the other chaos that was happening around me.

This image was chosen for a couple reasons. Aesthetically, I thought it worked well on a large scale and was intelligible from a distance too. Also, I’ve had lots of reactions to this specific photo. The two lenses give the binoculars a humanoid appearance which viewers seem to be intrigued by.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Coin Operated Binoculars, 2015. Installed at CORE21 Oshawa

RMG: What inspires you? Is there a particular artist’s work that has influenced your practice?

LLG: A lot of my inspiration comes from novelty; seeing a thing or place for the first time. When I’m shooting, a lot of intangible things influence me; an electric feeling in the air, the calmness of a place, the warmth of the morning sun. I’m driven by affect and invented narratives. As far as artists influencing me, it’s hard to choose just one. I spend a lot of time looking at imagery and photo essays. These can be on photo blogs, in magazines, or the websites and Instagram accounts of other artists. I’m also lucky enough to belong to a community of photographers who are also friends. I’m constantly being exposed to new work and ideas.

Volunteer and Membership Event

Jessica Moffitt, RMG Communications Intern, spent her winter semester at Durham College working alongside Sam Mogelonsky, Manager of Marketing and Communications. Over the duration of her placement, Jessica learned about social media management, writing and marketing, but really found her niche in event management. Assisting our Manager of Community and Volunteer Development, Carla Sinclair, Jessica helped plan and orchestrate The RMG’s annual volunteer appreciation event. On April 17, the RMG celebrated our volunteers and members and Jess was there helping out and capturing the event during her Volunteer Week Instagram takeover.

Volunteers. They are the backbone of almost any non-profit organization and add so much heart and soul wherever they donate their time and talents. The volunteers at the RMG are a prime example of the dedication it takes to make an organization and community thrive, which is why we take the time every year to thank them with the RMG Volunteer Appreciation Lunch and Membership event.

This year’s event featured a delicious spread of spring themed salads and sandwiches from Pilar’s catering in Oshawa, along with thank you gifts from the RMG and an recognition scroll from Oshawa’s MP Colin Carrie. Volunteers of all ages and interests mingled as they enjoyed their lunch at Arthur’s on the 4th which was gleaming with the warm spring sunshine.

After lunch and speeches from Carla Sinclair, Manager of Community and Volunteer Development and Donna Raetsen-Kemp, CEO, guests headed down to the Isabel McLaughlin Gallery for the Membership Event featuring a presentation from Charlotte Hale, Toronto gallery owner and fine art photography collector. Introduced by Oshawa Mayor John Henry, Hale guided the audience through the art of purchasing and collecting fine art photography from a beginner’s perspective. The talk concluded with a spread of desserts, coffee, tea and a live acoustic guitar performance by Elijah Mabana.

The RMG is humbled by the energy and commitment our volunteers extend to the gallery each and everyday. We look forward to celebrating their involvement in the cultural community for years to come.

Get to Know Us – Sonya Jones, Associate Curator and Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection

At the RMG, we often get asked about what we do each day, how we got into the crazy museum world and also what skills would be needed to do our jobs. With graduation looming for many college and university students, we will be profiling members of our team to shed some light on what it is we do behind the scenes!

The RMG: What’s a typical day like for you?

Sonya Jones: What’s nice about having 2 titles and varied responsibilities is that no day is the same as the other! It’s refreshing to be able to wear many different hats doing what you love. Right now, I’m busy doing lots of studio visits, writing and prepping for the upcoming Jay Dart exhibition, working with a co-op student, volunteers and an intern, and trying to get everything for the next year in order (since I’m going on maternity leave in July). Some of my typical responsibilities are: curating contemporary art and historical photography exhibitions, collections management for all of our collections (permanent collection, Thomas Bouckley Collection, Library/Archives), managing and administrating our three collection databases, managing copyright and reproduction, facilitating art loans, and creating and implementing public programming activities.

RMG: How did you get into this field?

SJ: I originally went to Carleton University to study Journalism; however, all of my electives were art history courses. At one point near the end of my first semester of first year, I realized that I was putting all of my time and energy into my art history courses rather than on my major! Having grown up in a family who collected art, with my grandma and mom volunteering at the Burnaby Art Gallery, I was always exposed to art and galleries in general. I decided to switch my major in second year to Art History, and soon got a part time job at the Carleton University Art Gallery. This job opened many doors for me—whether inspiring me to pursue a career in an art gallery or giving me wonderful networking opportunities. It was a dream student job!

I did a practicum at the National Gallery of Canada in my third year, and after I graduated I got a job at the Canadian Heritage Information Network as a project assistant for an online new media art website. I later completed the Fleming College Museum Management and Curatorship program where I learnt many hands on collections management skills. During this program, I completed my full time summer internship at the RMG. It was hands down the best part of the program! Following my internship I worked for 3 years for a historical Canadian art dealer in Toronto until a job at the RMG was posted. I was absolutely thrilled when I was hired!

RMG: What skills or training do you need for your job?

SJ: Having a lot of experience in the field helped me get to where I am. Education is important too, but experience is key. I was also lucky enough to meet the right people and network a lot. Having an art history degree is useful for curating, and having museum studies for collections management is also helpful.

RMG: What’s your favourite part of your job?

SJ: Curating and working with artists! Also, I love connecting the community with its history and finding ways to interpret art or history in engaging and accessible ways.

RMG: What are 5 things you couldn’t live without in your job?

SJ: There’s so many but here’s my top five:

RMG Staff – what a team we have here! It’s such a pleasure working with the amazingly creative and talented staff.
Computer – I use it all the time, whether doing online research, managing the databases, emailing, writing essays etc.
Outlook planner – Keeps me organized and tells me when I need to be somewhere!
Scanner – I’m constantly scanning/digitizing historical images, documents etc.
Permanent Collection – It’s a treat having access to the vault and getting to work with the amazing RMG collection.

RMG: What do you get up to outside of the RMG?

SJ: I’m a mom of a 2 year old so my days are busy! We spend a lot of time outside at my parents beautiful property, visiting with friends, and are currently getting ready to move! It’s a busy time for the growing Jones’ family!