Gallery A: April 5-23, 2017
Reception: April 7, 7-9pm
Artist Talks: April 9, 1-3pm

The students in Durham College’s Fine Arts Advanced program are, like all creatively engaged artists, involved in the continual process of identifying and perusing meaningful subjects that pertain to their own evolving bodies of work. Utilizing experimental freedom and the research and development of distinct strategies relevant to their practice, the student artist learns to further define and focus their unique interests and engage in ever more profound studio work.

This winter, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery hosted its inaugural Junior Curator program. Over the course of two months, 10-year old Sigourney Baker was able to explore our vast permanent collection’s works on paper and create an exhibition of her own design. Her discovery of Pineapple Cat, a 1989 lithograph by artist Barry Smylie, confirmed her focus: animals.

As part of her curatorial journey, Sigourney’s love of animals, and concern for the continual and frightening extinction of various animal species around the world was made meaningful. In her own words, “it was really important to me, and coming here was really cool”.

Sigourney’s own confidence and curiosity for the inner workings of a gallery were invaluable qualities as she investigated various curatorial processes. She herself selected works online and then in person in our vault, learned about mounting and framing, and determined the layout of her exhibition in Gallery A.

In addition to selecting ten pieces by five artists from our permanent collection, Sigourney has included the  works of  two artist from her greater community, as well as one of her own. Her work with The Robert  McLaughlin Gallery is a poignant reminder of art’s function as a community connector, and its ability to reach all ages in a way that is valued and relevant.

In Collaboration with the Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Camera Club

Then and Now: Oshawa at Play marks the 4th installment of the Then and Now series a collaboration between the Camera Club and the RMG. Using images from the Thomas Bouckley Collection as a starting point, the Camera Club explores the evolution of fun through sports, entertainment and leisure activities in the Oshawa community.

Whether by participating in or watching, sports have been an important part of life in Oshawa. Sports such as lawn bowling and hockey are deeply rooted in Oshawa’s history, acting as popular past-times since the late 1800s. As Oshawa grew into a City in the early 1900s, its citizens benefited from its growth and industrialization which allowed for less time spent working and more for free time. Leisure and entertainment venues such as bowling alleys, billiards halls, theaters and roller rinks lined the City streets and quickly became favorable past times for the community. Along with business owners, the City of Oshawa recognized the need for leisure locations, creating municipal parks such as Alexandra Park in 1908 and Lake View Park in 1920. Home to many events, Oshawa’s parks have continued to be favourite places for the community to spend their free time.

Today, we continue to see Lakeview Park full on summer days, crowds pouring out of the movie theatres and the community enjoying parades down King Street. This exhibition serves to explore the evolution of fun through sports, entertainment and leisure activities in the Oshawa Community.

I have an interest in rubbish, the detritus humans create and the various ways we deal with, or ignore, it. And what that says about how we see ourselves, our communities and our role in society. When did we begin throwing so much away?

Abandoned couches especially intrigue me and I wonder: why couches? No other piece of furniture so often appears at the curb. (Where do the dressers and coffee tables go?) I suspect it has something to do with upholstery—fabric carries things with it, both tangible and intangible.

I became curious about the stories attached to these soft furnishings, the comfort food of furniture... not only the pieces on the street, but the couches, sofas, chesterfields, loveseats and armchairs in our lives, in general. So I asked everyone I knew and a few people I didn’t, for their ‘couch memories’ and was gobsmacked at how quickly they came up with one.

It seems we are deeply connected to our upholstery, even as we abandon it.

UpholSTORIES explores aspects of our increasingly disposable society by tapping into memory through visual prompts and asking: what do we throw out and why and, more importantly, what part of ourselves is lost or kept in the process?

Its intention is to invite conversation. As any good couch so often does.

Reception: March 3, 2017, 7-10pm

Artist Talk: Mar 19, 1-3pm

Twice Removed is a collection of recent work that considers the potential of found objects. The origin of the objects remain unknown and unsought, generating dialogue and associations beyond the objects intended use.

The sculptural works develop intuitively, constructed using magnets and string allowing for revision, modification and experimentation with catenary forms.  The process is intuitive with constant review and interplay giving some pieces a provisional quality. The consideration of inferred and intrinsic value offer connections to industrial processes, economies, astral events, metallurgy and socio-political situations that may inform the work, or translate directly into a work.

Artist Biography

Kristine Mifsud is an interdisciplinary visual artist based in Toronto. After receiving a BA Visual Studies from the University of Guelph, Kristine lived and worked overseas in Europe and Japan, returning to Canada in 2008. She continued her studies 2010-2012 at OCADU. Her work and methodology consider materials, structural forms and found objects.  Currently her practice continues explorations with found metal and rubber objects. Recently Kristine’s work was included in Get Noticed, Redhead Gallery in Toronto, Re:res Contemporary Interpretations of the Cravens World Collection, UB Art Galleries in Buffalo and SHOW15, Idea Exchanges’  biennial of Ontario’s emerging artists in Cambridge.

 

“Over the course of the residency I will create narratives with objects on shelves in the gallery.  I want these narratives to start a discussion.  I want to turn the gallery into an intimate space, so when people enter it they feel as if they are entering my story or me.

The discussion will examine objects as place makers and contextualize objects as shrines of ourselves, objects as ourselves, objects as performers, objects as honesty.  I will perform with my objects, performing my interactions with them.  The viewer will see how intimately I interact with my things and we will discuss our intimate interactions with objects.”

Artist Biography:

Jo Yetter’s artistic practice focuses on space, interpersonal relationships, identity and growth through printmaking, book arts and installation.  Documentation as an attempt to preserve an individual or relationship is both part of Jo’s practice and life.  Their constant migrating has brought forth their interest in preserving relationships because individuals are inherently transitory in our lives.  Jo exhibits in Toronto and internationally finding a home tabling at zine and book arts fairs.  Jo graduated from the printmaking program at OCAD U as winner of the Printmaking Medal 2016.  In addition, Jo studied at The University of The Arts in Philadelphia briefly on exchange.  They enjoy corners, writing and re-organizing their possessions.

Opening reception: Friday, May 5, 7-1opm

Exhibition catalogue available here.

The exhibition ab Next serves to check in on the continuum of abstraction in Canadian art through emerging voices from across the country. The work in this exhibition by artists Colin Canary, Kelsey Galbraith, Gillian King, Caroline Mousseau and Sarah Pupo is part of a resurgence in painting in Canada by artists who have embraced painting unapologetically.

Artist and critic, Pete Smith writes that this new generation of painters, “Rather than having the intellectual pressure of defending their medium with every brushstroke, they could entirely focus their energies on the equally difficult task of making a good painting.  Indeed, these artists are in a position that is not oppositional to, for example: representational painting, Pop art, or Post-modernism, but rather can concentrate on their individual practices and how they fit into current artistic/political/social/formal/environmental issues.

Curated by Linda Jansma and Simone Wharton

ab Next is supported by Total Transportation.

Opening reception: Friday, May 5, 7-1opm

This exhibition brings together five Ontario-based artists who engage with various photographic processes to investigate the social histories of land, architecture and institutions. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the RMG, the gallery invited each artist to produce a new project that grapples with the shifting nature of Oshawa’s social, economic and technological fabric.

Drawing from accounts of Oshawa that range from its under-acknowledged history as a site of Indigenous occupation to the inescapable dominance of the 20th century auto industry, from explorations of familial archives to representations of institutional tech hubs, this exhibition weaves together narratives of Oshawa that offer a distinct view of the city, one produced by its visitors and its residents alike.

This exhibition celebrates The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s 50th anniversary through the exploration of abstraction in Canadian art.

While the heroes of Canadian abstraction date back to the 1920s, the work of young contemporary abstract artists continues to be a vital part of Canada’s national identity and a source of celebration. We are, ultimately, our history, and that history includes the arts and important figures who produced abstract work across the country. Formerly  considered “rebels” for resisting traditional forms of art, artists whose work is abstract are now part of an ongoing tradition.

The trajectory of Canadian abstraction includes what Roald Nasgaard refers to as the “heroic generation”—the Automatistes, Painters Eleven—those mid-century modernists to whom we gravitate when thoughts of Canadian abstraction arise. But the history of Canadian abstraction is more than just groups or individual names. It encompasses the spirit of the decades through which it passed and, as such, proves to celebrate where we’ve come from and who we want to be in the 21st century.

The RMG is uniquely positioned to tell the continuing story of abstraction in Canada. A collection which began with a gift from Painters Eleven artist Alexandra Luke and which represents one of each of the members of Painters Eleven (P11), has grown to 2000 works. From that gift, the gallery’s first mandate from 1970 was directed towards collecting and exhibiting works by P11, and those across Canada that they had influenced. The gallery has deliberately worked to expand its collection of Canadian abstract works and have early works from the 1920s into the 21^st century. This exhibition is an overview of close to 100 years of Canadian abstraction.

Opening reception: April 6, 7-10pm

This year, the Oshawa Art Association is celebrating its 50th anniversary! In 1967 two aspiring artists, Audrey MacLean and Maureen Remington, formed the OAA and organized its first Annual Juried Exhibition.

Now in its 49th year, the juried exhibition continues to celebrate the artistic contributions of Oshawa artists, and reflects on the history of our community.