Psychedelic Oshawa recovers and reimagines a formative period in the city’s cultural awakening during the turbulent years of the 1960s and early 1970s. Contemporary artists from Durham Region and beyond were invited by guest curator Gary Genosko to use historical artefacts as springboards to create new works that bring past events and imagery into focus. These new works are paired with historical reference materials, including photographs, paper ephemera, and obsolete media such as 8-track tapes. Made with hand-knit wool, digital colour illustration, felt, screen printing, paint, yarn, and beeswax, these diverse works pay tribute to a poorly documented era, celebrating its strengths and underappreciated accomplishments.
Gary Genosko is an independent curator and professor at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa.
Participating Artists:
Alison Ariss, textile art historian and knitter
Monique Brent, portraitist and mural painter
Bob Bryden, musician and writer
Betty Carpick, community arts organizer and designer
Scott Cisco, amateur photographer
Desmond Clancy, pen and ink illustrator
Dani Crosby, illustrator and fine arts educator
Gary Gatti, painter and graphic designer
Gary Genosko, independent curator and professor
Hannah Genosko, printmaker and book artist
Len de Graaf, yarn painter and fibre educator
Doug Lewis, curator, videographer, arts educator
Nicole Marhong, painter and sculptor
Christof Migone, curator and sound artist
Martnya Pekala, student of painting
Kai Pinkerton, graphic designer
Thank you to Erin MacKeen, graphic designer and painter, for creating the exhibition logo.
