Join us in the backyard for a celebration of storytelling, dance and world cultural expressions from artists and groups in Durham Region.
RMG Friday: From the Ground Up
Par Nair Artist Residency Exhibition
During her residency, Par Nair will experiment with new techniques, processes, and materials to create a variety of textile works and paintings. Drawing on decolonial research methods and personal experiences, she will dive deeper into the questions that drive her art practice, including: How do ancestral craft traditions produce and protect cultural heritage? How do they relate to individual stories of migration and longer histories of people and places? And how can dominant narratives of Indian women and the South Asian diaspora be rewritten in thread, text, and installation?
Par Nair (she/her) is an Indian born artist and educator who lives and makes in the GTA. Par’s art practice pays tribute to ancestral and cultural roots, while intimately and speculatively reimagining diasporic futures through oil paintings, hand embroidery, installation, and creative writing. Par earned her Master’s in Interdisciplinary Arts from OCAD University and has shown her works nationally and internationally. Notable showings include Art Museum at University of Toronto, Craft Ontario, The Textile Museum of Canada, Nuit Blanche, The maritime Museum for the Atlantic, Rajiv Menon Contemporary (LA) and The Kochi Biennale (India). Par currently holds the position of Sessional Faculty at OCAD University, where she teaches painting and art theory.
Fall Seniors Social
Back by popular demand, this free event encourages seniors (age 55+) to spend the afternoon curating their own program. We will offer refreshments, tours and drop in art making sessions.
Guided tours of the RMG current exhibitions at 1pm and 2pm.
Drop in art making workshops.
Details to come.
Tea and Coffee in our onsite Arthurs Restaurant 1-3pm.
This event is supported by Sienna for Seniors Foundation.
Georgia Fullerton: Opening Reception
Join us in celebrating the opening of Georgia Fullerton: Being In and Moving Through! The artist and curator will be in attendance.
Refreshments provided.
Read more about the exhibition here. This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Sonya at [email protected].
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
Homage
Paying homage is an artistic gesture rooted in respect—an acknowledgment of influence, inspiration, and memory. Artists often respond to what has come before: people who shaped them, places that left a mark, and ideas that continue to resonate. By honouring these connections, artists use tribute not just to look back, but to build something new.
This exhibition, drawn from The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s Permanent Collection, explores the ways artists pay homage to those who shaped their lives, significant events, or shared experiences. Together, these artworks remind us of the enduring power of art to honour, remember, and connect.
Hortense Gordon: Towards the New
Hortense Gordon (1886–1961) was an important figure in Canadian modern art. Towards the New traces Gordon’s artistic evolution—from her early traditional influences to her embrace of abstraction later in life. Throughout her career, she remained committed to staying current in both her painting and teaching. Despite resistance from her husband and the art establishment, she taught design and abstract principles for decades before adopting them in her own practice. Renowned American abstract expressionist teacher, Hans Hofmann, wrote that Gordon was “…always directed towards the future and progress in life and art.”
As a founding—and the oldest—member of Painters Eleven, Gordon valued the group’s shared energy and experimentation with abstraction. This exhibition highlights her stylistic transformations and tireless pursuit of the new, celebrating her lasting impact on Canadian art.
Georgia Fullerton: Being In and Moving Through
Georgia Fullerton’s art tells her story of healing and self-discovery. Art has helped Fullerton navigate trauma, change and personal growth, and now, as a practitioner of expressive arts therapy, she helps others discover the transformative potential of art. 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.
Fullerton knows firsthand the therapeutic power of artmaking. In 2010, she was the victim of intimate partner violence, a pivotal moment that profoundly impacted her life. In the aftermath of this trauma, she turned to abstract art as a means of healing. Through her artistic exploration, Fullerton discovered that the process of creating allowed her to rebuild, repair, and rediscover herself. She believes that sensory experiences can be transformed into art and that creative expression facilitates emotional healing. Fullerton says: “Through my art, I hope to inspire others to trust their process, embrace their unknown, and find their own path to self-discovery, acceptance, spiritual healing, and change.”
Fullerton is a visual artist, expressive arts therapist and arts educator based in Ajax, Ontario. Born in Portland, Buff Bay, Jamaica, Fullerton moved to Canada in 1967. She studied visual arts at Red Deer College (Alberta) and earned a Bachelor of Arts from York University. She graduated from the CREATE Institute’s Expressive Arts Therapy program in 2017.
Zine Machine Workshop
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]
Noticing and Sensing: An Experimental Exhibition Tour with Abedar Kamgari
This unique exhibition tour of We are ten thousand hands that plant seeds prompts participants to approach artworks in new ways. If you find the experience of viewing contemporary art uncomfortable or intimidating, this is the tour for you.
With exhibition curator Abedar Kamgari as our guide, we will consider how we perceive, react, and make sense of what is before us. Allowing all of our senses to guide us, we will explore strategies for slowing down and remaining curious. Together, we will reflect on our collective experiment and what we may have discovered about the art, and ourselves.
This event is free and open to adults and youth aged 16+.
Limited spots; advanced registration requested.
Participants are encouraged to bring a notebook or sketchbook. If you have any questions or there’s anything we can do to support your participation in this event, please email Hannah Keating at [email protected].
