Since the late 19th Century, Oshawa’s shores along Lake Ontario, that currently make up Lakeview Park, have been a popular summer destination. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Lakeview Park. Presented in partnership with the Oshawa Museum, this exhibition features historical photographs from the Thomas Bouckley Collection, looking back at the park’s rich history. Presented in tandem with the Oshawa Museum’s online exhibition Lakeview Park Oshawa, together these shows capture many important milestones of the last century in the park: www.lakeviewparkoshawa.wordpress.com

Part of the traditional hunting grounds of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, the land in this area was divided after the arrival of European and American settlers in the late 1790s. In 1840, the first efforts were made to develop the Oshawa Harbour with the construction of the pier and breakwaters by the Sydenham Harbour Company.  The opening of the Harbour brought further settlement along the lake, including the construction of the homes that comprise the current Oshawa Museum.

As early as 1890, the area by the lake, referred to more generally as “Oshawa-on-the-Lake,” was used for summer recreation. In the summer, the Oshawa Railway ran an open aired streetcar from downtown to the lake, that transported beachgoers with 11 trips per day for a fare of 5 cents. In 1920, the McLaughlin family purchased the 44 acres of lakefront property in the name of General Motors of Canada. On July 16, 1920, General Motors then sold the land to the Town of Oshawa for $1, contingent that the land become a public park. While the area along the lakeshore had long been used as a park, this gift made the area public parkland and accessible to all. The name, Lakeview Park, was selected from approximately 240 submitted names and officially opened in late September. The occasion was presided over by Mayor Stacey and was marked with live music and free transportation to the park from the Oshawa Railway.

Lakeview Park has been enjoyed by citizens of Oshawa and beyond for over a century, and as we look back at its history to celebrate its 100th birthday, we are reminded of summer days gone by, cold wintry winds off the lake, and are filled with excitement for the future of this waterfront park.

Aberrations is the first major exhibition at the RMG dedicated to the wonderful range of photo-based work in the collection. Like many public galleries our size, our photo collections have not been given the same attention as other media, and the collecting histories have been relatively short.  This exhibition explores our rich holdings through four frameworks: strange secrecy, trick mirror, shifting ground, and ordering the world. These propositions act as guideposts to view the works in new ways, inviting new connections and ways of understanding.  The selected photographs represent vastly different time periods and locations, as well as wide ranges of scale, colour, and material.

With the prevalence of photography in everyday life, photographs have a unique ability to shape the way we see and understand the world. The term aberration means something different from the norm. We invite you to lean in to these differences, relish in the juxtapositions, and bring fresh eyes to these incredible works.

Virtual Tour

Aberrations

Photos by Toni Hafkenscheid

On now until September 25, 2022.

In countless literary epic journeys, the hero(ine) encounters trials and adventures along their path, which ultimately lead to personal growth and transformation. While these mythic stories are fictional, they can reflect our common experiences. Over the course of our lives we too embark on both physical and emotional journeys that lead to new perspectives. Drawing together works to explore how the journey can often be more important than the destination, this Permanent Collection exhibition is divided into four sections: Going Places, Movement of Goods, Wandering Artists, and Spiritual Explorations.

Our Permanent Collection holds over 4,700 artworks and is continuously evolving through both the exploration of fresh narratives as well as the acquisition of new artwork. As the world experiences restrictions on physical travelling, we invite you to let the collection take you to new places and consider the journey we are all on together.

Experience an exciting NEW 360 tour of Journeys here. 

Journeys

The RMG’s collection of works by Painters Eleven has grown to over 1000 works. The gallery’s first mandate emphasized collecting and exhibiting the work of the group, and we remain committed to this by showing works by members of Painters Eleven at all times. Each exhibition often brings together different works along a common theme. The current exhibition focuses on works that depict organic forms or include representations of nature.

Born in 1928 in Drummondville, Quebec to Abenaki and Quebecois parents, Rita Letendre moved with her family to Montréal in 1941. After attending Montreal’s École des Beaux-Arts in 1948, she left the following year finding the school’s teaching style too conservative. “To make a painting showing a little house on a street, that doesn’t show life” she said, “I wanted to show the joy of life, its difficulties, its power.” Abstraction allowed her to do just that, and soon she caught the attention of the artist Paul-Émile Borduas, a founder of the Automatiste group. She blossomed from there and soon found her own direction.

Letendre describes her long career as a continual progression, claiming, “in my case, one tiny step leads to another.” Works in this exhibition, from the RMG’s Permanent Collection, capture Letendre’s ever-evolving style of abstraction. It includes paintings from her abstract expressionist beginnings, her crisp hard-edged abstractions, as well as the vibrant and dynamic gestural works from her most recent series.

The Joy of Living

Photos by Toni Hafkenscheid

Beyond a necessity, food is pleasurable, brings people together, and is a reflection of culture. Some of the most heated discussions about food take place in reviews on Yelp or Google and focus on taste, quality, and service, but we seldom consider the implications of the role of food in society from a broader cultural context. This exhibition explores the food scene in Oshawa during the 1890s-1940s, including photographs from the Thomas Bouckley Collection and archival documents on loan from the Oshawa Museum. It reveals how food is always more than a fundamental need or a commodity—it is an indispensable part of our socio-cultural evolution.

Once described as the “Manchester of Canada”, Oshawa’s prosperity sparked comparison to the industrial city of Manchester in England. The selection of photographs in this exhibition gives a glimpse into Oshawa’s food landscape before the emergence of supermarkets and chain restaurants and answers questions like: How was food delivered back then? How was food perceived by people of different ages and classes? What was the food scene like during war time? This exhibition presents the role of food in shaping Oshawa’s industrial and technological innovation, cultural diversity, and the everyday lives of residents.

Art critics have the power to shape the discourse around an artist and act as mediators between artists and audience. Kay Kritzwiser, the Globe and Mail’s art critic from 1964-1980, developed close relationships with artists and used her role as critic to champion the arts. This exhibition explores some of the artwork Kritzwiser received as gifts through her friendships with artists.

In the period that Kritzwiser was working as a critic, there was less concern about conflicts of interest in having relationships with artists and accepting gifts from them. In fact Clement Greenberg (1909-1994), considered to be one of the most influential critics of the 20th century, had a close circle of artist friends as well as financial exchanges with artists. For Kritzwiser, friendship with artists created a more intimate dialogue that gave her further insight into their practices. At her retirement and 70th birthday party, 70 artists created miniature works of art as retirement gifts. This collection was lovingly displayed in Kritzwiser’s home for fourteen years before being generously gifted to The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Most of the miniature works are personalized with messages for her, and includes contributions from many important Canadian artists.

The first artist she interviewed at the Globe was artist Ken Danby, who said Kritzwiser “established a strong reputation as a knowledgeable and fair arts critic-reviewer.” At first, her post to the position drew criticism for her lack of experience with art, but she soon won the hearts of the Toronto art scene for her quick study and enthusiasm. Artists described her as a cheerleader, non-threatening, supportive and kind, and she was beloved by artists across Canada. This collection of gifts is a testimony to the relationships she built and her unwavering support for the arts.

Created using source material from the Thomas Bouckley Collection, Whitby-based artist Wes Peel’s cyanotype photomontages bring together various historical photographs of Oshawa to create new narratives and offer different perspectives. In describing the series, Peel says the works, “combine and unify different objects and moments together. As with other forms of collage and photomontage, new combinations [of images] create new ways of seeing, and our mind invariably looks for connections.” Here, the combination of different images create fantastical scenes where fact and fiction merge. For example, in Ghost Tuners apparitions of Williams Piano Company employees playing instruments appear floating in front of an interior view of the factory.

The Thomas Bouckley Collection, holds over 3,500 historic and contemporary photographs of Oshawa and the Durham region, providing a vital resource for connecting the community with local history. Thomas Bouckley’s goal in putting his collection together was to create a photographic archive documenting the evolution of Oshawa. Peel transforms the images in the collection to encourage stories that contribute to a shared history.

A hybrid of digital and traditional methods, Peel’s cyanotypes are created by collaging digital images which are printed as negatives. The negative is then placed on chemically-coated paper and exposed to light, creating the blue-hued image. Cyanotypes are an early photographic process dating back to the 1840s and their nostalgic quality is fitting for Peel’s historical reinterpretations. Alternative photographic processes continue to draw artists for their simplicity, expressive qualities and unique aesthetic. Born and raised in Oshawa, artist Wes Peel currently lives in Whitby and is an arts educator at Henry Street High School.

“Every work of art which really moves us is in some degree a revelation – it changes us.”
– Lawren Harris

What IMPACT can art have?

The word IMPACT is defined as a physical force, an influence, or a strong effect. Art has a unique ability to effect or influence our daily lives, challenging us and changing our perceptions, through a sensory experience. For the individual, art can affect you visually and emotionally, while collectively, it can have important broad social reach. Exploring the many ways art can impact us, this exhibition draws together works that consider human impact on the land, the effects of war, politically and socially engaged art, emotional storytelling, and visually compelling abstraction.

The RMG’s vision is to flourish through arts, culture, and community connection and resilience. With a mission to work together with our communities to create conversations through the arts, we encourage people to experience the world differently. We believe that art and culture can improve quality of life, act as a vehicle for public discussion, understanding, and connection, creating impact within our community and beyond.
The belief that art can better our community also shapes how we build our collection: the RMG is dedicated to collecting with intention in order to reflect diverse voices and contemporary issues, while continuing to tell the story of Canadian art. Drawn from our Permanent Collection of over 4700 artworks, the work in IMPACT reflects the depth and breadth of our growing holdings, and encourages conversations about the effects of art.

Artworks can make you look twice, scratch your head, or maybe chuckle. There are a number of works in the RMG’s collection of over 4,700 artworks that do just that; whether intentionally funny, a play on words in the title, or just plain odd, this exhibition explores a selection of humorous works.
Humour and art have a lot in common. Both can question or poke fun at the status quo, and both have strong persuasive power and the ability to engage with socio-political commentaries in an accessible way. Historically, humour has long existed in art in a nuanced form, but the art movements that placed humour at the forefront were Dadaism and Surrealism. Dada artists such as Marcel Duchamp used humour and absurdity to comment on the institution of art and the role of the artist in society. Similarly, in this exhibition, Donna Ibing’s Be an Artist Board Game makes light of the many challenges facing professional artists today. Surrealism took an approach to humour with a more bizarre and irrational tone, focusing on the subconscious, absurd and strange. An example of this type of approach is found in the print Down to the Corner Store for a Loaf of Bread by Kerry Joe Kelly, a self-described surrealist, who depicts a man smiling with an armful of feet.

Art does not always have to be serious–it can change your perspective in a light or amusing way. At their core both art and humour offer an escape from the weight of life, and this exhibition shows the many ways that art can use humour to engage viewers and provide respite from the everyday.