In 1985, the RMG was given over fifty prints by Laurence Hyde from the estate of his teacher, Charles Goldhamer, who had amassed an impressive collection of Hyde’s work, including the only known copy of the Seven Ages of Man series.

Born in England in 1914, Hyde came to Canada at the age of twelve. Two early encounters were of particular importance to his career: in 1928, he saw Lawren Harris’ paintings at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the AGO), and in 1932 he met the artist Thoreau Macdonald. These experiences led Hyde to Toronto’s Central Technical School where he took classes under Goldhamer, Robert Ross, and Carl Schaefer.

During his career, Hyde would primarily produce wood engravings, a method that uses hardwood blocks, cut across the grain. Because of the hardness of the wood, very fine, precise lines can be achieved and the prints are quite small.

After completing art school, Hyde worked for Golden Dog Press. There he worked on his own engravings, including a series on Macbeth and the unpublished Discovery series. He also produced illustrations as a freelance artist, and in 1942, began working for the National Film Board’s animation department where he worked until his retirement in 1972.

Hyde was able to convey powerful stories through compositions of light and dark imagery within a very small format. Each work has a strong, individual presence that shows the artist’s technical virtuosity and ability to convey emotion through simple imagery.

The Making History: Youth Art & Writing Contest gave young writers and artists creative freedom to express what their community’s history means to them. Youth were asked to submit an art or writing project that was inspired by a photograph in the Thomas Bouckley Collection.

Seven works were chosen to be included in a small exhibition in the Windfield Lounge, appearing next to the relevant photograph from the collection.

Congratulations to the winners Tara Zammit, for the Best Overall Writing prize, and Courtney Dainard, for the Best Overall Art prize.

 

Our modern world is one that is filled with screens. Computers, smart phones, digital advertisements; the world is now perceived through a rectangular frame. How does this experience augment our view of reality? Does it make the two worlds, the virtual, and the real, less separate than they once were? This exhibition is a response to some of those questions.

Simone Jones, a Toronto-based artist and professor at OCAD University, has been investigating the artistic application of robotics and technology for over two decades. An evolving practice, her work started with analog robots made from bits and pieces she could find at surplus stores and now includes CGI (Computer Generated Images) and video installation.

In All That Is Solid, Jones explores spatial contradictions; near and far, surface and depth, illusion and realism. Using photography, film, and CGI, Jones explores how we document, and how our perception of reality can shift through various applications of what we record. In the central work of the exhibition, four screens lean against the wall with images, both black and white and CGI, flowing one into the other. Jones, by conjoining images, is attempting to create a hybrid space—asking the viewer to focus their attention on the nature of the images themselves.

In a related work, Jones produces stereograms—images that allow us to see in three dimensions without the use of external visual aids. Alongside this, a video installation combines illusion and reality, and a dialogue is created between what is real and what is “fake”. However, for the viewer, just one single reality is the result.

Simone Jones’ installation is created specifically for the space at the RMG.

Oshawa’s waterfront has been a heated topic recently, with the placement of an ethanol refinery of particular issue to the city’s residents. It is of some well-timed coincidence that this exhibition looks at the issue of ethanol production. It is, of course, no coincidence at all: corporate intervention in nature is a global issue, internationally, as much as it is in our own backyard.

It isn’t only ethanol that is addressed here, as Prince Edward Island-based artist Gerard Beaulieu has set his sights on technological interventions that the industrial farming system has created. Raw & Cooked looks at the reconfiguration of nature, one that creates super-species, results in low (financial) cost, high-return products, and feeds a growing demand for more-for-less.

In one work, we encounter a field of corn not edible, but instead set for ethanol production. In another we experience a five foot tall rooster, which presents an aesthetic warning about genetic modification. In Drift, we’re forced to see, and process, the debris floating in our oceans (sometimes landing on our shores), through an installation of seventy-two jelly fish.

The work of Gerald Beaulieu is enmeshed in a belief that art should engage the world head-on, making a meaningful contribution for debate. In this exhibition, each work references real ecological issues; the “raw”, or sustainable, natural ecosystem, and the “cooked”, a world transformed to a machine that serves a purely corporate agenda.

 

Celebrations, milestones, key events, civic pride, and shared tragedies all bring a community together and shape its history. Today, news is updated instantly while at the turn of the 20th century, one had to wait 24 hours to read about historical moments.

Headlines have the ability to attract or repel readers to stories and play a significant role in marking history. What headlines helped shape Oshawa’s history? This exhibition explores important headlines of Oshawa’s past through photographs taken during or immediately after the events, alongside the newspaper headline that would have appeared in the newspaper the next day.

 

In the fall of 2011, Regina-based artist Heather Cline created an immersive experience as an artist-in-residence in downtown Oshawa, designed to draw out memories and stories from residents, which in turn, would be used as the basis for the exhibition The Office of Identity Collection (1 September – 28 October).

Using the Thomas Bouckley Collection as a starting point, Cline layered her
paintings with the various histories and stories she had collected, showcasing the community’s reminiscences.

The process in Cline’s artwork reminds us how interwoven our past, present and future is, and shows the continuity of time in a community’s collective memory. The photographs that were used as source material for The Office of Identity Collection make up this exhibition. They offer the viewers a look to the earliest layers of the Oshawa’s history.

In title, Decolonize Me references the 2004 Morgan Spurlock film Supersize Me, a film in which the director looked at themes of corporate responsibility alongside the experience of the individual. By riffing on the title, Decolonize Meseeks to emphasize the importance of recognizing the role an individual plays in larger discussions. The works not only look at specific issues, but also at the impact the processes of decolonization have on Aboriginal identity, both individual and collective. In Decolonize Me, the individual’s role is considered within the larger discussion of shared colonial histories and present-day cultural politics.

Bringing together the work of six contemporary Aboriginal artists, the exhibition challenges, questions, and reveals. In doing so, it makes visible a history and legacy of a shared colonial past. Visitors are encouraged to consider the ways in which they are implicated in this history. The works explore not only past wrongdoings, but also strategies for reclaiming Canadian Aboriginal voices and honouring traditions and ancestors whose memories have endured despite centuries of aggressive colonial practices. Included in the exhibition are works by Sonny Assu, Jordan Bennett, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Nigit’stil Norbert, Barry Pottle, and Bear Witness.

The six emerging, mid-career, and established Canadian Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) artists work individually interrogates the history of oppression, marginalization and disenfranchisement with grace, humour and dignity. Visitors are invited to consider the ways they are implicated in this history, not as perpetrators or victims, but as active participants with agency and shared responsibility.

Over five days in the month of October 2011, artist Heather Cline, with assistance from performance artist Michele Sereda set up in-residence in downtown Oshawa, working on a project called The Office of Identity Collection. The project involved setting up a 1950’s inspired “passport office” at 16 King Street East and collecting stories and photographs from participants. A range of ages and interests were sought in order to provide diverse impressions of the city and its history. The immersive experience was designed by Cline to draw out memories and stories from residents of Oshawa, which in turn would be used as the basis for this exhibition. The interviews and photos collected at The Office of Identity Collection, along with historical images sourced from the RMG’s Thomas Bouckley Collection, make up the source material and inspiration for this exhibition.

After returning to Regina, Cline began reviewing the stories and photographs she had collected, chronicling the project on a blog. In addition, Cline continued to follow Oshawa’s local media to gain greater understanding of the community. The works she has created for this exhibition include mixed-media paintings and multi-media presentations.

Heather Cline lives and works in Regina, Saskatchewan and has participated in group exhibitions throughout North America, with a solo exhibition at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. This project is supported in part by the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

The Optimism of Colour is a major retrospective of the works of renowned Canadian abstract painter William Perehudoff. It traces the evolution of Perehudoff’s approach from early figurative works and murals to radiant abstractions, their interplay of colour suggesting musical chords. The exhibition emphasizes the later works, which established the artist’s reputation nationally and internationally.

Known as a prominent colour field painter, Perehudoff’s artistic vision embraces a specific response to place, showing inspiration related to his native landscape in the prairies. It also demonstrates his belief in the evocative power of abstract form.

Perehudoff studied in both Colorado and New York, as well as at the University of Saskatchewan and has had a remarkable number of exhibitions. He has exhibited across Canada, as well as in London, England, and in New York, Chicago and Portland. He has been recognized for his remarkable contributions to art in Canada, and is a member of the Order of Canada and of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.  Organized and circulated by the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon. This project has been made possible through a contribution from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.

 

When we stop to look around us, art is everywhere. It can be found in our homes, our workplaces, cultural institutions, and the media.

Art has the power to transport us to other places and worlds. It also allows us to reflect upon ourselves, to make us think outside the box and question what we know.

But what happens when art refers back to itself as a subject within the frame? In this situation, when art is displayed within art, we are confronted with understanding how it can be perceived by the artist and in relation to the scene. This exhibition questions how we interpret what we see when art is integrated within the overall theme or message of another artwork.

Art: A Self-Portrait not only includes works where the primary subject is art itself but others where there are additional elements at work within the frame. In one case the viewer takes the place of a voyeur, in another, art within art takes centre stage.

In each case, Art: A Self Portrait asks viewers to slow down and look not only at the objects directly in front of them, but to focus in on how others see art as shown within the artworks. It is with this insight that we can look at our own viewing habits and uses for art, understanding how art fits within our own lives and how it becomes part of our personal stories.