Convergence Music and Art Festival

Kick off Oshawa’s Convergence Music and Art Festival at the RMG! The launch party will be taking place at the Gallery on Friday, September 20. During the Festival on Saturday, September 21, find us at the ARTBLOCK and at the Family Zone.

RMG Friday: Convergence Launch Party

September 20, 2024
7-10pm
Location: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

Join us to celebrate the launch of the Convergence Music & Arts Festival. Enjoy live musical performances by Joel Anderson, Christina Smith, and Desarae Dee* as well as art-making activities, exhibitions, and food from local restaurants.

* Please note: due to unforeseen circumstances Desarae Dee is unable to perform.

Joel Anderson is a songwriter with a rich, smooth tone that fuses elements from R&B and Gospel. His music, characterized by heartfelt storytelling and passionate delivery, deeply resonates with listeners through its authenticity and emotional depth.

Scarborough-born, Jamaican-raised Christina Smith’s unique sound is a combination of elements. Some of her musical influences include FKA twigs, Halle Bailey, Kathleen Battle and Qveen Herby. She describes her sound as classical fusion, pulling from the vocal technique and delivery of classical music, and the instrumentation of contemporary music (including, R&B, pop, house and rock).

Join local guest artist Chelsea Frattura in the art studio to get your geek on! Dive into the nostalgic world of 8-bit artwork as you design and create your own custom magnet. Using the grid method, you’ll bring your favourite pop culture icons to life—or invent your own design! Perfect for beginners.

ARTBLOCK

September 21, 2024
11am-7pm
Location: Former Oshawa GO Bus terminal

At the Convergence Music & Arts Festival, the City of Oshawa and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery are co-presenting ARTBLOCK, an art-centered festival Zone showcasing local artistic talent. This area will include a public art exhibition in the former Oshawa GO Bus terminal, art by local artists, participatory art activities and more!

Feature in ARTBLOCK: Points of Connection

For over 20 years, the Oshawa Bus Terminal served as the site for countless homecomings, goodbyes, greetings and adventures. Now no longer in use, it stands like a monument to past memories while awaiting its future redevelopment. For Convergence Music & Arts Festival, the terminal returns to its former glory, packed with people and stories, as the site of the art exhibition Points of Connection.

Points of Connection brings together work by locally connected artists to explore how our personal histories are tied to collective experiences and settings. The exhibition gathers us to reflect on the ways we seek connection; through personal histories, community, technology and nature.

This Bus Terminal connected Oshawa’s communities to and from, far and wide, making it a fitting location for an exhibition that considers how we as a community flourish through connections.

Presented by the City of Oshawa and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

Family Zone

Saturday, September 21, 2024
11am-7pm
Location: Family Zone

Join us in the Family Zone at the Convergence Music and Art Festival! We will be designing our own unique band t-shirt art using watercolour resist techniques to create awe-inspiring creations.

This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

The RMG reserves the right to modify or cancel this event due to circumstances beyond RMG’s control or not reasonably anticipated, including but not limited, to weather, or inability of Facility to host Event.

Backyard Movie Night

Join us on September 7th for a Backyard Movie Night!

Order of Events:

7PM: Doors open + art activity starts

8PM: Art activity ends + Movie starts

9:50PM: Movie ends

Starting at 8PM, the RMG, in collaboration with DRIFF, will be showing Chandler Levack’s, “I Like Movies”, a comedy-drama based in the 2000s about a teenage cinephile who works at a video store, is eager to be a filmmaker and let’s everybody know it. 

Bring a chair or a blanket and get cozy for a night at the movies. Enjoy good eats from Bollywood Tacos.

Chandler Levack grew up in Burlington, Ontario and lives in Toronto, where she studied cinema at the University of Toronto and screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre. She has directed numerous music videos, earning two JUNO nominations, and was a veteran music writer and a current film critic for the Globe & Mail. In 2017, her short film We Forgot to Break Up premiered at TIFF and went on to play SXSW. In 2022, her debut feature film I Like Movies premiered at TIFF, was selected for Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival and won prizes around the world. She is currently working on her second feature Anglophone, a casual hang out movie full of ill-advised sex, drugs and rock n’ roll in the Montreal music scene circa 2011, with Zapruder Films and Banner House Productions.

Join us for an art activity in the lower level of the backyard. We will use acrylic gouache paint to depict iconic movie moments and capture the essence of cinema sights. No experience required!

Fall Seniors Social Event

Back by popular demand! This free event encourages seniors (age 55+) to spend the afternoon curating their own program. We will offer refreshments, tours and drop in art making sessions.

1PM and 2PM: Tours of the RMG current exhibitions

Meet in the lobby of The RMG to tour our new permanent collection exhibitions Resistance, Jack Bush: Breakthrough and Pegi Nicol MacLeod: Unforgettably Hers.

Light Refreshments in Arthur’s

Take the elevator to Level 4 to enjoy refreshments in the lovely Arthur’s. This area is only open during special events, please enjoy the exclusive views from above Oshawa.

Drop in art making workshops

Two different hands on art making opportunities available on RMG’s lower level! Drop in, no registration required, while supplies last.

Flower Pot Painting:

Let your creativity flow or have us guide you to create a bright succulent planter to admire. Beginner friendly, no experience required!

Pyrography with guest artist Victoria Grant:

Participants embark on their creative journey by practicing with the pyrography tools on scrap wood under personalized guidance from Victoria herself. Once participants feel comfortable and confident with the technique, they transition to designing their own mini canoe paddles. This part of the workshop encourages personal expression, allowing each individual to imbue their creation with elements that resonate with their unique identity and creativity.

Throughout the workshop, Victoria provides hands-on assistance and expertise, helping participants refine their designs and execute them to perfection. By the end of the session, each participant will have crafted a personalized pyrography design on a mini canoe paddle that they can proudly take home, showcasing both their newfound skills and personal artistic vision.

Victoria’s workshops not only foster artistic skill development but also celebrate cultural heritage and personal expression, making them an enriching experience for all involved.

Beginner friendly, no experience required!

Seniors Programming has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Sienna for Seniors Foundation.

Transference: A performance by Vanessa Godden

Transference is a performance by RBC Emerging Artist in Residence Vanessa Godden. Throughout the performance, Godden will submerge their body in containers of different sizes filled with salt water. The artist’s movement, and the resulting sounds, will interact with a sound composition produced in collaboration with Markham-based Visual and Sonic artist, James Knott. The composition includes audio collected by Godden during their residency at the RMG, field recordings from Trinidad and Tobago, experimental steel pan recordings, and a choir of sounds collected from Queer and Trans loved ones. The performance serves as a bridge between Godden’s Non-Binary Queer diasporic existence in the West and the lineages of movement instigated by colonization of South Asia and the Caribbean.

Vanessa Godden, Transference (2024), performed at the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, October 13, 2024. Image by Henry Chan.

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

The artist thanks the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of this work.

Christina Leslie: Likkle Acts Opening Reception

Help us celebrate the opening of Christina Leslie’s solo exhibition Likkle Acts!

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

Christina Leslie is an artist based in Pickering, Ontario. She earned her BFA in 2006 at OCADU in Toronto and her MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, USA in 2022. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications and exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her latest series “Sugar Coat” has been exhibited virtually on Ain’t Bad Magazine (2021), Featureshoot.com (2022), PetaPixel.com (2022), and in-person at BAND Gallery (2023). She has exhibited nationally and internationally at GAMU (2009), Royal Ontario Museum (2010), Pier 21 (201, Art Gallery of Windsor (2017), Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (2020), Prefix ICA (2021), and McMaster Museum of Art (2022). Much of her photographic practice revolves around the themes of de-colonialism, identity, immigration, issues of marginalization, history, memory, race, and her West Indian heritage. She often utilizes text and alternative and historical photographic processes to produce her photographs. She is a member of an all-female photography collective, Silver Water Collective and is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.

Oshawa100 Photo Contest Opening Gala

In celebration of Oshawa’s centenary, the Oshawa Camera Club is proud to present Oshawa100, a photo contest and exhibition featuring images by local amateur photographers.

Please join us to experience the vibrancy and diversity of Oshawa through photographs at the opening reception and prize presentation.

This event is free and open to everyone. For information on our facilities, please click here. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Sonya at [email protected].

Unity Through The Arts Opening Reception

Come together to celebrate cultural diversity in Durham Region!

The RMG invites you to attend the opening reception of Unity Through the Arts: Juried Exhibition 2024 presented in partnership with Cultural Expressions for CHANGE Inc.

Several awards will be presented to adults and youth ranging from $100 to $1000. Refreshments will be provided.

This event is free and open to everyone. For information on our facilities, please click here. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Sonya at [email protected].

RMG Friday: Backyard Bliss

Part of the RMG Fridays Transcending to Convergence Series.

Come join us in the Backyard for an August retreat for some easy vibes with performances from Moonfruits and Cale Crowe. Just hang with some new friends or bring some old ones with you.

Enjoy food from local restaurant, Mathilda’s.

Order of Events:
7PM: Doors Open
7:35PM: Moonfruits performance
8:45PM: Cale Crowe Performance
9:30PM: Performance ends

Moonfruits—led by Ottawa-based partners Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy—craft contemporary folk, organically alternating between French and
English, that addresses our collective humanity with heart, wit, and wonder. This Stingray Rising Star, SOCAN, and Trille Or award-winning group has
toured their transportive live show across Canada, the US, France, Belgium, and Germany.
Moonfruits’ lushly orchestrated sophomore album, Salt (2022), is a 12-song suite that explores what it means to the band to live, dream, and raise a
child in an era of climate change and deepening inequality. It tells the stories of their families and the kinds of communities they hope to help build.

Cale Crowe has been fueled by music since he was a toddler in the back of his dad’s Ford Bronco and has been taking audiences on an emotional journey since he first picked up a guitar at 12 years old. His performance started with an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal and has evolved to implement powerful melodies and moving rhythms for a deep, emotional experience.

Cale describes the songs that make up his discography as “Moments of vulnerability & (sometimes painful) honesty, captured and thinly veiled by upbeat tempos and textured sounds.” These moments have shown his increasing potential and have granted him stages from Nova Scotia to New Mexico and opportunities including sharing stages with Ron Sexsmith, Scott Helman, cleopatrick, Cinzia & The Eclipse, and countless others.

Gathering inspiration from Dermot Kennedy, City & Colour, Ed Sheeran, and the rolling hills of his home territory of Alderville First Nation, Cale seeks to connect listeners to a sense of boundless sincerity and authenticity; “I’ve always wanted my music to be a place in time where & when people might allow themselves to truly feel free.”

Victoria Grant, an esteemed Indigenous artist residing in Durham Region, Ontario, brings over 2 years of experience instructing engaging pyrography workshops suitable for participants aged 12 and above. Each workshop begins with a comprehensive introduction, including an inspiring address and thorough safety protocols to ensure a safe and enriching experience for all.

Participants embark on their creative journey by practicing with the pyrography tools on scrap wood under personalized guidance from Victoria herself. Once participants feel comfortable and confident with the technique, they transition to designing their own mini canoe paddles. This part of the workshop encourages personal expression, allowing each individual to imbue their creation with elements that resonate with their unique identity and creativity.

Throughout the workshop, Victoria provides hands-on assistance and expertise, helping participants refine their designs and execute them to perfection. By the end of the session, each participant will have crafted a personalized pyrography design on a mini canoe paddle that they can proudly take home, showcasing both their newfound skills and personal artistic vision.

Victoria’s workshops not only foster artistic skill development but also celebrate cultural heritage and personal expression, making them an enriching experience for all involved.

Victoria Grant is a Durham Region, Ontario-based Indigenous artist of Anishinaabe, Mi’Kmaq, and Métis heritage, who also acknowledges her non-Indigenous ancestry from France and Scotland. Throughout her life, Victoria has dedicated herself to formal and informal art training across various mediums, ultimately specializing in pyrography. Each piece she creates incorporates natural materials, is ceremonially smudged with sage, and crafted with the intention of bringing positive energy into the homes they adorn.

Dwelling Stains II, 2023. 16″ x 20″. Henna & Ink on Wood.

Guest artist Judith Grace Vijaysenan will be joining us in the backyard. Try your hand at henna art on wood and take home your finished product. No experience required!

About The Artist

Judith Grace Vijayasenan is an Indian-born, Toronto-based visual artist. Her medium styles incorporate oils, acrylics, ink and henna on Wood. Judith likes to base her pieces on memory, land, and small connections that she has to her past and present land (India and Canada).

She is graduated in June 2023 with a BFA in Drawing and Painting and minoring in Social Science from OCAD University. Judith’s work has been exhibited in Ada Slaight Gallery: Gathering Divergence (2022), OCAD University’s GRADEX 103 (2023) and The Clarke Center for the Arts in “Marinating in our Surrealistic Land” (2024) group exhibition.

Learn more about the Convergence music and art festival.

This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

The RMG reserves the right to cancel this event due to circumstances beyond RMG’s control or not reasonably anticipated, including but not limited, to weather, or inability of Facility to host Event.

RMG Friday: Salsa Night!

Part of the RMG Fridays Transcending to Convergence Series.

It’s Salsa Night at Robert McLaughlin Gallery! Join us in the Backyard for free salsa lessons, good eats and a lively party under the night sky.

RMG’s Salsa Night will start off with two 25 minute lessons led by Kurt and Maria from The Love of Salsa. Learn the basics and then bring your moves to the dance floor where the live band, Farrucas Duo, will serenade our steps into the night.

Participants can register for a maximum of 2 people. Lesson 1 will be from 7:30-7:55pm and Lesson 2 will be from 7:55-8:20pm. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of your lesson.

Register here!

In the lobby, Anabella Cabrera Janer will be performing.

Enjoy food from local restaurant, Bollywood Tacos.

Canadian Blood Services will be on-site for those interested in blood donation.

Order of Events:

7PM: Doors Open

7:30PM: Dance lessons begin

8:20PM: Dance lessons end + Short performance by Instructors 

8:40PM: Band starts 

9:40PM: Band ends

Farrucas Duo draws its unique repertoire from many classic songs written over the past century, but is also influenced by modern musical styles such as Salsa, Rumba Flamenco, Bolero, Cha Cha Cha, Cuban, South American, Arabic and more! Farrucas Duo combines entertainment, musicality, professionalism, creativity and tradition in every concert for almost 20 years; a must see!

Teaching & dancing Salsa in Durham Region since 2007, The Love of Salsa offers weekly group and private classes. Our Mission: To enhance dancing by helping Durham residents embrace their Latin side. Come join us on the floor.

Let the music and moves inspire you! In the lower level of the Backyard, we’ll be decorating wooden maracas using acrylic paint.

While supplies lasts.

A scholarship recipient of Classic Piano at Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia, Anabella Cabrera Janer is a musician with experience performing classic piano in various formats, as well as guitar, percussion and voice in a wide range of genres such as tropical, popular and Caribbean folk.

Learn more about the Convergence music and art festival.

This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

Yoga at the RMG: November

CANCELLED: Due to low registrations, this event has been cancelled.

Breathe, stretch and flow at the RMG! We’re hosting Yoga with local instructors, Kimmel Alcide, The Everyday Yogi, and Jessi Hoey owner of Nirmana School of Yoga. They will guide you through 1 hour of a guided mindful experience.

$15/person. Ages 13 and up. Children aged 13 to 16 require parental supervision.

Rain or shine, experience our Isabel Gallery or Backyard on the 3rd Thursday of each month. We look forward to healing the mind and body through breath and stretch with you.

Reserve your spot!

Limited spaces available. Bring your own mat. Water is not allowed inside gallery spaces during indoor events. All sales are final, no refunds. If event is cancelled, registrants will be contacted and refunds will be issued. Ticket sales close at 4PM the day before the event.

*We kindly request a minimum attendance threshold of 20 participants to ensure the successful execution of the session, otherwise the event will be cancelled