OPG Sunday: Sleepy Animals

In the Studio
This month we explore the works in Olivia Whetung: inawendiwok. We will take note of the artist’s experience working on and with the land. The artworks speak of the interdependence and relationality within our ecosystem. We will be using acrylic paint to mimic textured bark on paper. The studio activity and lobby activity will then be pieced together to create one artwork showing cozy hibernating animals, showing the importance of woodland environments.

In the Isabel Gallery
We will create sleepy animals, curled up in hibernation using oil pastels. Hibernating animals in Ontario include foxes, squirrels, skunks, snakes and more!

Olivia Whetung: inawendiwok installation at AGM, 2024.

About Olivia Whetung: inawendiwok
Whetung’s poignant works solicit our attention and reconsideration of spaces and species that are crucial to biodiversity and to sustainable food production. Tenderly foregrounding our more-than-human neighbours, they remind us that we are not the only ones to benefit from the land’s gifts, nor to suffer from ecological ruin. The exhibition’s Anishinaabemowin title, inawendiwok, loosely translates as “they are related to each other,” emphasizing the ways in which coexistence within the ecosystem is mutually linked.

Click HERE to learn more about this exhibition, and view related events!

Suitable for ages 3+
Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

OPG Sunday: Creative Castles

In the Studio
Let’s take inspiration from Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships by creating our very own treasure maps. Using the ideas of voyaging and fantasy, we will create our own diverse and epic worlds.

In the Isabel Gallery
Inspired by the fantastical architectural landscapes evident in Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships, we will craft our own castles using paper collage techniques.

Ekow Nimako, Wawa Aba, The Sunrise Dancer (circa 1358), 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

About Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships
The projects this month are inspired by the exhibition, Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships. Combining architecture, historical accounts, and fantastical possibilities, Ekow Nimako transcends the geometric form of LEGO® to recreate the 14th century sea voyage of Abu Bakr II.

Learn more about the exhibition, the artist and view related events HERE.

Suitable for ages 3+
Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

OPG Sunday: Vibrant Music

Suitable for ages 3+
Free admission, no registration required.

In the Isabel Gallery
This month we are joining forces with Making Music Together!

They will be bringing a live, interactive activity into our gallery space. Children will explore music with instruments and props, engaging with trained specialists for a fun morning filled with tunes.

In the Lobby
Inspired by Georgia Fullerton’s watercolour abstract art we will try our hand at creating expressive and vibrant patterns! Paint using the wet on dry technique, then cut your art into a leaf shape to commemorate the season.

In the Studio
Using gelli-plate leaf printing with real preserved leaves, we will take imprints of their texture capturing the essence of fall with warm colours!

About Making Music Together
Making Music Together is a recognized, research-based early-childhood music program with over 20 years of experience. We specialize in bringing the joy of music, movement, and education to children from birth to 8 years old. Our mission is to foster musical growth, essential life skills, and a lifelong love of music in young learners through engaging and developmentally appropriate activities.

About Georgia Fullerton: Being In and Moving Through
This exhibition showcases Fullerton’s well-known abstract expressionist watercolours and collages as well as invites viewers into her creative process. For Fullerton, the act of artmaking is just as significant as the final piece, with both working together to illustrate how art serves as a vital tool for processing and moving through emotions. Learn more about this exhibition, and view related events HERE.

Georgia Fullerton, Candy Coated 2019, watercolour and mixed media.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

Being in the Dream, Moving Through the Awakening: An Expressive Arts Workshop Inspired by Georgia Fullerton

Join us for a free expressive arts therapy-based workshop that invites deep reflection and creative exploration in response to the work of artist Georgia Fullerton. Through guided movement, intuitive artmaking, and reflective writing, participants will journey through themes of emotional memory, ancestral connection, and personal transformation. No art experience is necessary—just a willingness to trust the process. Come as you are and leave with a renewed sense of self-awareness and creative insight.

FREE
Registration required

Zine Machine Workshop

All spots for this workshop have been filled.

In collaboration with Ruckus Art Collective and Zene Magazine, we will be hosting a zine-making workshop for youth ages 16-29!

In this workshop, we will start with a brief introduction to zine history. Hayde from Zene Magazine will teach us the origins of zine-making and its importance both then and now. We will then delve into creating our own zines, with guidance from Ruckus Art Collective members. Let your creativity flow with us and even swap your creations at the end! Materials and refreshments provided. Beginner friendly.

Hayde Esmailzadeh, also known as Zadeh, is a ceramicist, sculpture artist, and mixed media creator. She is the editor-in-chief and co-creator of Zene Magazine, an independent publication focused on self-publishing and platforming emerging and underrepresented voices in contemporary art and culture. With a background rooted in hands-on making and storytelling, Hayde’s work spans material exploration and community-driven publishing.

Zene Magazine is an independent, artist-run publication dedicated to showcasing emerging talent and fresh perspectives across contemporary art, design, and culture. Founded and led by creatives, Zene centers community, experimentation, and accessibility—celebrating self-publishing as a powerful tool for storytelling, connection, and creative autonomy. Each issue captures a cross-section of the ideas, practices, and voices shaping today’s independent art scene locally and globally.

Ruckus Art Collective is an Oshawa-based group dedicated to supporting and uplifting the local art community in Durham Region. Through the hosting of events, exhibitions, and collaborative projects, Ruckus provides a platform for artists to share their work, connect with peers, and engage with the broader public. The collective’s mission is to foster creativity, inclusivity, and dialogue while helping to amplify the voices and talents that define the region’s artistic landscape.

Inspired by current exhibitions, this workshop will explore themes of resistance, change-making, protest art, collaboration, community and the power of the collective.

Preview our related exhibitions:
• RESISTANCE
• We are ten thousand hands that plant seeds
• Wish You Were Here!
• Painters Eleven: Abstract Bonds

Installation of “RESISTANCE” at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2025. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.

This event is free and open to youth ages 16-29. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Farah at [email protected]

Artist Residency Information Session + Application Workshop

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Register by clicking here.

In this virtual gathering, RMG Associate Curator Hannah Keating will provide an overview of the RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program application, sharing tips for preparing your own application. Following a short presentation, she’ll answer questions from the audience.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by May 1, 2025. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place. Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

OPG Sunday: Pretty Peonies

This time of year brings beautiful flowers! Create peonies, daisies, roses, sunflowers and happy pollinator bugs with clay in your very own plasticine garden.

Suitable for ages 3+

Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

OPG Sunday: Clay Creations

This month we’ll be getting our hands muddy with clay! In the studio, we are using clay to form coil pots, a popular method to create bowls and cups.

In the lobby, etch intricate patterns into scratch art paper, revealing metallic designs underneath. Patterning techniques and inspiration will be provided.

Suitable for ages 3+
Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

OPG Sunday: Dreamy Dragons

Join us as we design our very own fantasy creatures. Using acrylic paint and stamping we will create unique dragon collages that are cute and friendly.

Suitable for ages 3+

Free admission, no registration required.

We are using an art-technique called Abstract Art to create the texture, patterns and designs of our dragons. This project was inspired by the works of art in our current exhibition, Painters Eleven: Abstract Bonds

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

Show and Tell with Christina Leslie: Photo Emulsion Transfers and Gallery Representation

Free. Registration is required.

This is a how-to workshop for artists! Part creative workshop, part career conversation, we’re excited to have Christina Leslie lead a two-part session on photo emulsion transfers and gallery representation. Inspired by her Sugar Coat series in Likkle Acts, Leslie will show participants how to lift a photographic image from one surface to another to create interesting visual effects. Following this interactive demonstration, Leslie will share reflections on and answer questions about her experience gaining gallery representation, including what it is, why it was the right fit for her, and how her relationship with Stephen Bulger Gallery began.

Is there anything we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

About the Artist: 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.