March Break Art Camp 2024

This camp is full.

Ages 5-8

Ages 9-12

March 11 to March 15 – 9am to 4pm

$200 Members | $210 Non-Members

Do you want your kids to dive into creativity? Are they looking for exciting new adventures? Our popular camp encourages campers to explore and interact with art in fun and playful ways as they share their thoughts, and express their ideas. We will create messy and imaginative artworks with fine art materials that will truly inspire all budding artists. Spaces are limited.

Here’s how Camps will look:

Drop-off between 8:45am and 9am
Small camp cohort
Mask friendly camp for staff, volunteers and participants
Rigorous cleaning throughout the day
Pick-up at 4pm

Sign up here!

COVID-19 protocols and guidelines

If we must cancel camps due to public health restrictions, we will issue full refunds. Cancellations by participants will be subject to our cancellation policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have questions or concerns that aren’t addressed here, please feel free to contact the Learning Department. More detailed information about camps and the Learning Team will be sent to registered families prior to the first day of camp.

I see that you do online registrations, can I register in-person or over the phone?

While we prefer online registrations, we do accept in-person (cash, debit, VISA and Mastercard) and phone registrations (VISA and Mastercard). There is a mandatory registration form that needs to be completed fully for each camper at the time of payment. These forms are reviewed by staff and documented in order to ensure we know pertinent information. We may reach out to families if we have follow-up questions prior to camp.

Families who choose to make payment over the phone will be emailed a copy of the registration form. The form must be filled out and sent back before the start of camp.

What is your maximum capacity?

15 campers maximum.

What if I have a child that is outside the age range, can they still join?

All of our camps are geared specifically for children within the designated ages. In order to ensure the best experience for everyone, participants must fall within the indicated age range.

Are pre- and post-care available?

No, unfortunately, we are not able to offer this service.

What type of activities have you planned, are campers outside at all?

We will have a gallery portion of the day where campers get to explore our exhibitions, get an exclusive tour and participate in an exhibition activity! In the studio, we will get messy and play around with a variety of art-making projects. We have a fenced in backyard, if weather permits we may spend some time outside to play.

Do you provide snacks/lunch?

Parents are asked to pack a water bottle, peanut free snacks and lunch daily. There are two snack breaks and lunch is from 12-1pm.

What else might my child need to bring?

If you believe your child may need a change of clothes please provide that. The studio has fluctuating temperatures, and your child may feel comfortable in layers. Please ensure your child wears art friendly clothing and comfortable footwear. If weather permits we may spend some time outside to play.

What is the staff to camper ratio?

We aim for a minimum of 1 to 7 ratio.

Do you provide a “kiss and ride”?

Not at this time. Drop-off takes place from 8:45am – 9:00am. We ask campers are signed in with a staff member in the front lobby. Families can choose to escort their camper to the studio, or a camp staff member can ensure your child gets there!

We require all families to pick up their camper at the end of day at 4pm. Only authorized adults will be allowed to sign out campers.

P.A. Day Camps 2024

This camp is full.

Ages 5 to 10

$45 Members/$55 Non-Members

PA Day camp is all about creativity and art adventuring! Campers are encouraged to interact with art in fun and playful ways as they share their thoughts, and express their ideas through art. We will get hands on with some messy and imaginative art making activities that will truly inspire all budding artists.

COVID-19 protocols and guidelines

If we must cancel camps due to public health restrictions, we will issue full refunds. Cancellations by participants will be subject to our cancellation policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have questions or concerns that aren’t addressed here, please feel free to contact the Learning Department. More detailed information about camps and the Learning Team will be sent to registered families prior to the first day of camp.

I see that you do online registrations, can I register in-person or over the phone?

While we prefer online registrations, we do accept in-person (cash, debit, VISA and Mastercard) and phone registrations (VISA and Mastercard). There is a mandatory registration form that needs to be completed fully for each camper at the time of payment. These forms are reviewed by staff and documented in order to ensure we know pertinent information. We may reach out to families if we have follow-up questions prior to camp.

Families who choose to make payment over the phone will be emailed a copy of the registration form. The form must be filled out and sent back before the start of camp.

What is your maximum capacity?

15 campers maximum.

What if I have a child that is outside the age range, can they still join?

All of our camps are geared specifically for children within the designated ages. In order to ensure the best experience for everyone, participants must fall within the indicated age range.

Are pre- and post-care available?

No, unfortunately, we are not able to offer this service.

What type of activities have you planned, are campers outside at all?

We will have a gallery portion of the day where campers get to explore our exhibitions, get an exclusive tour and participate in an exhibition activity! In the studio, we will get messy and play around with a variety of art-making projects. We have a fenced in backyard, if weather permits we may spend some time outside to play.

Do you provide snacks/lunch?

Parents are asked to pack a water bottle, peanut free snacks and lunch daily. There are two snack breaks and lunch is from 12-1pm.

What else might my child need to bring?

If you believe your child may need a change of clothes please provide that. The studio has fluctuating temperatures, and your child may feel comfortable in layers. Please ensure your child wears art friendly clothing and comfortable footwear. If weather permits we may spend some time outside to play.

What is the staff to camper ratio?

We aim for a minimum of 1 to 7 ratio.

Do you provide a “kiss and ride”?

Not at this time. Drop-off takes place from 8:45am – 9:00am. We ask campers are signed in with a staff member in the front lobby. Families can choose to escort their camper to the studio, or a camp staff member can ensure your child gets there!

We require all families to pick up their camper at the end of day at 4pm. Only authorized adults will be allowed to sign out campers.

Holiday Tea at the RMG

$62/adult, $28/child 12 and under

Join Berry Hill Co. for Holiday Tea at the RMG! On Saturdays & Sundays from November 18th to December 17th, Berry Hill Co. will be upstairs in Arthur’s hosting high tea. There are separate menus for children and adults.

Reservations and any queries must be made directly through Berry Hill Co.

Reserve your spot!

The Neighbours Project ART HIVE with the LivingRoom

“We can only learn about creativity through our own experience of it.”
Shaun McNiff

The RMG and the LivingRoom Community Art Studio welcome all of our neighbours to help us activate The Neighbours Project ART HIVE. This is a drop in art studio. There are tables and chairs and lots of free art supplies. We have areas for folks to leave their artwork if they want to, or they are welcome to take what they make home with them. As a warm invitation to participate, we have hired Mary from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio to facilitate six sessions on Friday afternoons. With nearly a decade of experience under their belt, the LivingRoom is well equipped to offer fun and accessible art experiences for everyone.

The Neighbours Project ART HIVE is part of The Neighbours Project. To learn more about the project, please visit the exhibition page.

This event will be facilitated at the following times:

Friday January 12, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday January 19, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday January 26, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 2, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 9, 2024, 12-3:30pm
Friday February 16, 2024, 12-3:30pm

What to expect:

These drop-in events are free.
You’re welcome to come and go as you please.
Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be served.
Everyone is welcome; no art experience required.

The RMG is located at 72 Queen Street, Civic Centre in Oshawa, across from the McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries. The Neighbours Project ART HIVE is in Gallery A, which is located on the lower level of the RMG. It is accessible by stairs or elevator. Between the elevator and Gallery A, you’ll pass our public washrooms. We have an accessible single-stall washroom as well as gender-inclusive multi-stall washrooms. Read more about our facilities here.

What is an art hive?

Art Hives are spaces that enable people of all ages to participate in free public relaxation. They are safe, accessible spaces that support creative community development through art-making experiences that foster connection and personal well-being. In an Art Hive, traditional hierarchies, processes, and ways of being can be deconstructed and re-imagined in playful, personal, and compassionate ways.

“At the center of everything we call ‘the arts,’ and children call ‘play,’ is something which seems somehow alive.”
Lynda Barry

The Neighbours Project ART HIVE will be facilitated by The LivingRoom’s Mary Krohnert and the RMG’s Hannah Keating and Erin Szikora.

Mary is an actor, art therapist and social arts practitioner with over 25 years of experience in intersectional community engagement through the arts. Founder of the LivingRoom Community Art Studio, she is a graduate of The Toronto Art Therapy Institute, Toronto Metropolitan University, and has studied Art Hives at Concordia University under the founder of the movement, Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos. Her work is driven by a deep appreciation of the human story, and the many ways it can be communicated, acknowledged, and honoured in our efforts to live, learn, work, and engage with greater authenticity, sustainability, and joy. The LivingRoom and its related projects offer practical opportunities for citizen artists of all ages, abilities and walks of life to explore how processes of creative self-expression can be integrated into day-to-day life for the benefit of all.

Hannah is an Associate Curator at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery where she coordinates the RBC Emerging Artist Residency program, curates exhibitions and public programs, and works with community partners. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Art History from Carleton University and has previously worked at Artspace, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Hannah is curious about relationships of all kinds and passionate about supporting artists. She is a writer and deep thinker who believes in the power of art to forge connections, provoke conversation, and hold deep truths about the human condition.

Erin is an Associate Curator at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in Art History from OCAD University. She has previously worked at the University of Toronto, Art Gallery of Guelph, Art Canada Institute, OCAD University, the McMaster Museum of Art, and Brock University. Her work is motivated by a deep interest in how personal storytelling can lead to collective liberation. She believes strongly in the power of art to change the world and is excited to live into the future we dream up together.

Visit The Neighbours Project exhibition page to learn more.

We want to express sincere gratitude to our partners and collaborators for their support: The Back Door Mission, The Gap Committee, The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, April Hind, and Selena Hind.

Do you have any questions? Please get in touch by emailing [email protected] and [email protected].

The Neighbours Project: Community Celebration

Please let us know you’re coming! Click this link to RSVP: https://thermg.typeform.com/to/Dkm48KdZ.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery believes we have a responsibility to participate in the creation and maintenance of a healthy community. For over a year, we have been working with community members and partners on an initiative called The Neighbours Project to explore how we could extend care to some of our closest neighbours who have experience with housing precarity or homelessness, including those working to reduce barriers and offer direct support. The work itself was grounded in relationship building and took many forms, including closed onsite events and participation in community meetings and other offsite activities. From December 9, 2023 to February 18, 2024, The Neighbours Project will take up physical space at the RMG as an installation in Gallery A.

At this event, we invite the wider RMG community to join us in our creative visioning and accountability. Here’s what you can expect at this event:

Stories from community leaders with lived experience of homelessness
Interactive art-making with The LivingRoom Community Art Studio
Food + conversation with project partners, collaborators, and other community members

The Neighbours Project is co-produced by representatives of the RMG, Back Door Mission, The Gap Committee, and The LivingRoom Community Art Studio. It will be installed in Gallery A from December 9, 2023 – February 18, 2024.

To learn more about the project, please visit the exhibition page.

This event is supported by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment and The Regional Municipality of Durham.

Do you have any questions? Please get in touch by emailing [email protected] and [email protected].

The Neighbours Project

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery believes we have a responsibility to participate in the creation and maintenance of a healthy community. For over a year, we have been working with community members and partners on an initiative called The Neighbours Project. The goal was to explore how we could extend care to some of our closest neighbours who have experience with housing precarity or homelessness, including those working to reduce barriers to services and offer direct support.

In this phase of The Neighbours Project, we have created an installation that transforms the gallery into an active workshop space. It is a place to rest, make, reflect, and dream up better systems of care. The Neighbours Project aims to support creative community development through art-making experiences that foster connection and personal well-being.

We encourage drop-in art-making throughout the entire run of the exhibition and are thrilled to welcome the LivingRoom for facilitated art-making sessions on select Fridays; you can read more about The Neighbours Project ART HIVE with the LivingRoom by clicking this link. Come make art with us!

We want to express sincere gratitude to our partners and collaborators for their support: The Back Door Mission, The Gap Committee, The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, April Hind, and Selena Hind.

Installation of The Neighbours Project at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2023. Photos by Toni Hafkenscheid.

Our Project Framework

The Neighbours Project is…

A collaborative effort from within the gallery to learn about the networks of support that exist outside the gallery to support individuals who do not have safe or stable housing.
An expression of hope about the vital role of the art gallery in our community today and tomorrow.
A long-term commitment to trust and relationship building with our neighbours.

Starting in 2022, The Neighbours Project looked like…

Hosting onsite group tours + tea parties with the Back Door Mission’s Wednesday Women’s Group on September 28, 2022 and August 30, 2023.
Facilitating two internal conversations with RMG staff about homelessness and our intentions for this project in October and November 2022.
Attending monthly Gap Committee meetings throughout 2023.
Hosting two Meet & Greet Brainstorming Sessions with Gap Committee members and Back Door Mission staff and patrons at the gallery in January 2023.
Attending Changing the Face of Homelessness presented by the Gap Committee on April 21, 2023.
Visiting the Back Door Mission with art materials in May and June for drop-in art-making with the Games Club.
Hosting two closed community events, offering lunch + creative workshops, at the gallery on July 30, 2023 and October 4, 2023.
Hosting ongoing project development meetings with our core collaborators and many more conversations and strategy meetings with each other.

The Neighbours Project installation is an opportunity to…

Rest and reflect.
Invite more people into our creative visioning.
Offer warmth and connection in the winter months.
Share our work with you!

Some more context:

We started this project with an understanding that the gallery has a relationship with all of its neighbours. As an institution, we do not exist in isolation. Looking to our immediate surroundings, we started building relationships with two key partners:

Nearby, the Back Door Mission is a hub for support. Offering nourishing meals, access to washrooms and showers, as well as recovery programs and support groups, the Back Door Mission also hosts a range of social service providers who deliver programs directly to clients in a central location.

Meeting monthly in Oshawa and Ajax, The Gap Committee is a collective of individuals and public service organizations with a mission to prevent and end homelessness in Durham Region. It is led by folks who know what it’s like to be unhoused and are passionate about removing barriers and advocating for love and support.

We were honoured to work with community leaders in both of these organizations who are doing incredible grassroots work. This led us to wonder where, if anywhere, the RMG could fit within this system of support.

Inspired by our core collaborators, we learned to appreciate how our space could function as a node within an individual’s social network. We also saw first hand how art has the potential to meet, at least in part, some essential needs: the need for belonging and self-expression.

The gallery is a free space. It is a space to seek quiet and meet friends. It is a space to rest and a space to celebrate. A space to learn and unlearn. But it’s also a space with unwritten social codes. The RMG’s imposing concrete façade and the legacies of privilege and systemic inequity that shape all art institutions have made the gallery an intimidating space too.

With these truths in our pockets, The Neighbours Project has been an effort to listen and learn so as to better understand the needs and desires of our community and take steps towards building relationships grounded in trust.

This installation is inspired by the relationships formed through this process and what we learned over the last year. It also draws on the longstanding community-engaged work that The LivingRoom Community Art Studio has been doing in Durham Region for nearly a decade. We are grateful to have had their support in conceptualizing and making real this exhibition and ART HIVE programming.

Importantly, we entered into this project without a clear outcome in mind. In place of an end goal, we continue to hold the intentions that guided our decision making throughout this project. We want to:

Gain a better awareness of what our neighbours need and want from the gallery;
Develop new ideas about what it means to extend care to our audiences, new and established;
Explore models of partnership and collaboration that prioritize trusting and accountable relationship building above all else.

Do you have any questions? Please get in touch by emailing Hannah at [email protected] and Erin at [email protected].

World-builders, shapeshifters: Exhibition Opening + Odibaadodaan: Celebrating First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Storytellers

Join us in celebrating the opening of World-builders, shapeshifters, a group exhibition featuring works by Alex Jacobs-Blum, Kat Brown Akootchook, Kay Nadjiwon, Natalie King, Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft, and Sheri Osden Nault.

Remarks will take place in the exhibition at 6:15pm.

From 7-9pm, enjoy a variety of performances and interactive workshops happening throughout the gallery, led by various First Nations, Métis, and Inuit storytellers. Refreshments will be served.

This event is free and open to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

The RMG is an accessible venue. For full information on our facilities, please click here. If you have questions about this event or if there are other ways we can support your participation, please email Erin at [email protected].

The storytellers:

Elder Dorothy Taylor is a Mississauga Ojibwe Elder from Curve Lake First Nation. She is known for her work and traditional teachings about the sacredness of water. She is asked to share traditional knowledge and ceremony within her community and various organizations throughout Peterborough and the surrounding area. She is a hand drummer and singer. Elder Dorothy Taylor is the founder of the Sacred Water Circle, inspired by traditional Indigenous teachings and leading with hope and spiritual courage, the Sacred Water Circle sees a restored relationship between human communities and water. Currently, Dorothy is the Co-Chair of the local United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation sponsored through the Kawartha World Issues Centre. She lives in Curve Lake with her husband Mark and two sons.

Vivian Roy / Giiwed’no kwe (Northwind-Woman) is Wolf Clan and Odawa from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve. She speaks Anishnabemowin (Ojibway) and has graduated from Sault College of the Applied Arts with a Certificate in Addictions Counselling, Laurentian University with a Bachelor of Social Work, and Wilfred Laurier University with a Master of Social Work. Vivian is a registered social worker, a certified life skills coach, and trainer.

Vivian currently works with First Nation communities around grief, specializing in adolescent and adult grief counseling. Her work is culturally based, using Anishnaabemowin teachings to teach about stages of grief, types of grief, grief circles, blanket exercise, working with traditional medicines, land-based activities, and ceremonies. In Vivian’s spare time she enjoys dancing, beading, and quill work, which she finds very therapeutic. Vivian teaches quillwork using different techniques.

Tamara Sarah Tikisa Takpannie is an artist and advocate originally from Iqaluit, NU, who specializes in beadwork, textiles and kattajaq (throat singing). An urban Inuk based in Ottawa, Takpannie’s bold and feminine artwork reflects her desire to represent the strength and resilience of Inuit women and uphold cultural traditions. Tamara has been throat singing since 2014 and enjoys sharing ancient songs with all peoples in the world.

Samantha Kigutaq-Metcalfe is 19 years old and born and raised in Ottawa. Samantha’s mom’s family is from Arctic Bay, Nunavut and dad’s side of the family is from Nain, Nunatsiavut. Samantha has been throatsinging all her life and it’s something she will continue to learn throughout the rest of her life. Learning new things and sharing them with the Inuit youth she works with in Ottawa is her passion. She will continue to learn every day.

Nikki Soliman is Métis from Sault Ste. Marie and the author of Bubbly Beth, Ants In My Pants, Indig-Enough and Magnificent Magnetic Me. Nikki is also a teacher and administrator with the Durham District School Board and understands the importance of students seeing themselves in the resources used. Prior to working in the DDSB, Nikki taught at Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and Moose Factory Island.

Nimkii (Thunder Man) Osawamick is an Anishinaabe dance artist from Wiikwemkoong, Unceed Territory, located on Manitoulin Island and is a member of the Wolf Clan. Nimkii has been dancing since the age of three years old. Now an active community member in powwow circles, Nimkii is well-known as a lead singer, hoop dancer and champion powwow dancer in the Fancy Dance category. He has travelled extensively across North America, sharing his gift of singing and dancing with the peoples of Turtle Island. Nimkii has previously worked with Nozhem Theatre, Trent University, as a dance artist, opening many doors for him into the performance world. Nimkii is dedicated to the preservation and awareness of his peoples’ culture and history, highlighted in his business DNA STAGE: Dedicated Native Awareness, which helps bridge the cultural gap between First Nations people and inhabitants.

Melody Crowe is a Michi-Saagiig Anishinaabe Woman from Alderville First Nation which is located on the South Shore of Rice Lake, Ontario. She has dedicated her life to creating a deeper understanding and appreciation of First Nation culture, knowledge, language, and history, and has more than 25 years of teaching the Ojibway language to children, youth, adults, and Elders. She works from the place of honouring her Ancestors and honouring the importance of Indigenous Peoples and ways of knowing. In 2007, Melody received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in the preservation of language and culture from the Union of Ontario Indians, and in 2015, the Honouring Our People Award from the Ogemawahi Tribal Council. Melody is also an eagle feather carrier, a jingle dancer, and a photographer.

Lena Recollet is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, she is Anishinaabe from Wikwemikong. Her directorial and writing debut won her the Cynthia Lickers Sage Award from ImagineNative Film + Media Festival. This recognition proved to her that she was a writer, she then went on to win a Native American Music Award for Best Spoken Word Recording. Her comedic debut was on “She Kills Me” aired APTN (2014) and at Camino’s Cabaret (2015) before becoming one of the founding members of Manifest Destiny’s Child. She now writes sketch comedy with four members of the former collective now known as The NDN Act. This decision was made after performing for SketchFest TO last year at the Theatre Centre. In August, Lena was host/MC for the “Anishinaabemowin Conference” in her home community of Wiikwemkoong, where she also featured in night comedy and storytelling. Most recent performances were at: “Indigenous Humour is Knowledge Comedy Night” at McGill University and ROM After Dark: Be Yourself at the Royal Ontario Museum. A mentor and a mentee, Lena was a secondary school teacher for 7 years at Toronto District School Board before deciding to lead the life of being an entrepreneur. She is now the owner of Assiginack Consulting & Training, inspired by the legacy of her ancestor who was a War Chief and Oratory. Lena’s poetry and filmmaking has led her to receive a mentorship from Buffy Sainte Marie (2011) before opening for the icon. She ended year 2022 off by being an opening act for Rupi Kaur at Massey Hall. Her comedy received a mentorship for the Indig-E Girl web series through mentorship with Second City which is what ignited her to explore more sketch comedy writing.

World-builders, shapeshifters is supported by the Maada’ookii Committee, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and the Downie & Wenjack Foundation and Hudson Bay Foundation through Oshki Wuppowane: The Blanket Fund.

This event is presented in partnership with:

Curatorial Tours: CAMP

Join Associate Curator Erin Szikora for a guided tour of Couzyn van Heuvelen’s solo exhibition “CAMP“.

Thursday Curatorial Tours are free and open to everyone. They provide deeper insight into the themes, context, and content of our exhibitions. Seating options are available. For more information about access and our facilities, please visit rmg.on.ca/visit/ or contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] with any specific requests.

No advance registration required.

HEAVY/ WATER/ MACHINE

In “HEAVY/WATER/MACHINE”, artist Noah Scheinman uses a variety of materials and research methods to explore the boundaries of Durham Region, offering a panoramic view of a landscape and community shaped by industry. Swimming along the region’s southern border in the waters of Lake Ontario and travelling by car across the region’s northern highways, Scheinman meditates on the ways humans relate to the lands we live on and the local and global industries that power our everyday lives.

“RIP/RAP” is a two-channel video, which documents the artist’s swim-performance adjacent to the nuclear power plant in Pickering and stitches together archival and present-day footage of the historic radioactive waste disposal site in Port Granby. In the former, Scheinman shows the shore of Lake Ontario to be a site of permeability. With each repeated breath, Scheinman takes in views of the land, power plant, and sky before immersing his sights in the water. Each is inseparable from the other, all part of the same system. The second film considers the contrasting timescales of a single human life and the lengthier cultural epochs associated with dominant sources of energy, including the levels of consumption they permit and the generational inheritance of energy-based waste.

Scheinman’s other works draw on a variety of industrial materials, including window vinyl, broken windshield glass, and architectural remnants to fill in his visual representation of Oshawa and Durham Region. The artist also collaborated with local clothing manufacturer Frère du Nord to produce two textile sculptures using geosynthetic fabrics, which are designed to stabilize terrain in large-scale projects, such as land rehabilitation. His appropriation of these materials offers moments of poetic reflection on the physical impacts and cultural influence of large-scale energy production. Indeed, as an expression of the artist’s ongoing research, “HEAVY/WATER/MACHINE” is a rumination on the past and present systems that fuel contemporary life and an invitation into a discourse about what the future has in store.

Installation of HEAVY/WATER/MACHINE at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2023. Images by Toni Hafkenscheid.

Related Programming

Watch the discussion panel with Katie Lawson, Ryan Osman, Dave Mowat, Laura Murray, Warren Harper, and Noah Scheinman that took place on October 14, 2023.

The RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

World-builders, shapeshifters

Dreaming of the worlds we want to live in allows us to take the first steps towards creating them. How can we use what we know today to collectively envision a better world for tomorrow? When you imagine the future, what do you hope to change about the past?

World-builders, shapeshifters is a group exhibition that invites us to gather, dream, and speak about love, grief, and togetherness. It braids together six early and mid-career Indigenous artists making speculative work about where they’ve been to better understand where, together, we can go. Exploring themes of decolonial love, joy, kinship, and abundance, the exhibition uses Indigenous Futurism as a device to imagine and believe into being, a world where everyone’s sovereignty is respected, our success is shared, and our flourishing is mutual.

Alex Jacobs-Blum is a Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) and German visual lens-based artist and curator. Her research focuses on Indigenous futures and accessing embodied Ancestral Hodinöhsö:ni’ knowledge. The core of her practice and methodology is a strong foundation in community building, fostering relationships, empowering youth, and Indigenizing institutional spaces. Her creative process is rooted in cyclical storytelling and challenging hierarchical power structures. Jacobs-Blum endeavours to facilitate transformative change infused with love and care, guided by anti-oppressive and anti-racist modalities.

Jacobs-Blum received a Bachelor of Photography at Sheridan College in 2015, where she was awarded the Canon Award of Excellence for Narrative Photography. Her work has been exhibited at the University of Ottawa, Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice, the Woodland Cultural Centre, and Critical Distance Centre for Curators.

Kat Brown Akootchook is a Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe visual artist and educator belonging to the Oneida Nation of the Thames, Bear Clan. She is a multidisciplinary beadworker and creator known for her printmaking and design. She blends contemporary & traditional elements with a sense of humour and a heart for activism. She often uses her art to call attention to Indigenous rights movements and youth education.

Kat currently splits her time between Southern California and her homelands of Southern Ontario. She is most known for her “Land Back” design, which she created at the Native Action for Mauna Kea, and can be seen on t-shirts across Turtle Island. Her beadwork and designs are used for authentic contemporary Native representation on television and by musicians.

One of her biggest goals is to be that auntie who helps and breaks down the gatekeeping that can sometimes prevent Native people from accessing traditions which have been forcibly taken from us – reclaiming our land, ways, and expression is an honour and a joy.

Kay Nadjiwon is a two-spirit/non-binary Anishinaabe lens-based artist working in Treaty 13. They are currently completing their BFA in Photography at Toronto Metropolitan University and are an MFA candidate. Their artistic practice focuses on issues of identity, memory, trauma and belonging. Nadjiwon uses archival materials, alternative processes and interdisciplinary methods to situate feelings of grief as a site for social connection. Their practice includes photography, video, collage and installation.

Natalie King is a queer interdisciplinary Anishinaabe (Algonquin) artist, facilitator and member of Timiskaming First Nation. King’s arts practice ranges from video, painting, sculpture and installation as well as community engagement, curation and arts administration. King is currently a Programming Coordinator at Xpace Cultural Centre in Tkaronto.

Often involving portrayals of queer femmes, King’s works are about embracing the ambiguity and multiplicities of identity within the Anishinaabe queer femme experience(s). King’s practice operates from a firmly critical, anti-colonial, non-oppressive, and future-bound perspective, reclaiming the realities of lived liv es through frameworks of desire and survivance.

King’s recent exhibitions include Come and Get Your Love at Arsenal Contemporary, Toronto (2022), Proud Joy at Nuit Blanche Toronto (2022), Bursting with Love at Harbourfront Centre (2021) PAGEANT curated by Ryan Rice at Centre[3] in Hamilton (2021), and (Re)membering and (Re)imagining: the Joyous Star Peoples of Turtle Island at Hearth Garage (2021). King has extensive mural making practice that includes a permanent mural currently on at the Art Gallery of Burlington. King holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from OCAD University (2018). King is currently GalleryTPW’s 2023 Curatorial Research Fellow.

Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft is Kanien’kehá:ka from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She is a 2S queer, multi-disciplinary artist in a wide spectrum of mediums. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University in Theatre Production and Design.

She works in the theatre industry with a specialization in costuming. She is a mural artist working with StART as a project coordinator and an indigenous advisor. She is the Associate Programmer for the Toronto Queer Film Festival and has worked in programming for imagineNATIVE Media + Arts Festival. She continues to grow within her field and explore new opportunities.

Sheri Osden Nault is an artist, community worker, and Assistant Professor in Studio Arts at the University of Western Ontario. Their work spans mediums including sculpture, performance, installation, and more; integrating cultural, social, and experimental creative processes. Their work considers embodied connections between human and non-human beings, land-based relationships, and kinship sensibilities as an Indigenous Futurist framework. Methodologically, they prioritize tactile ways of knowing, and learning from more than human kin. Their research is grounded in their experiences as Michif, nêhiyaw, and Two-Spirit, and engages with decolonizing methodologies, queer theory, ecological theory, and intersectional and Indigenous feminisms. They are a member of the Indigenous tattoo revival movement in so-called Canada, and run the annual community project, Gifts for Two-Spirit Youth.

Recent notable exhibitions include bringing to light what came from inside, as part of the Images Festival, Toronto; BEHOLD|EN, at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Kwaatanihtowwakiw – A Hard Birth, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2022; Hononga at Hoea! Gallery in Aotearoa (New Zealand), 2021; Where the Shoreline Meets the Water, the ArQuives, Toronto, 2020; Off-Centre at the Dunlop Art Gallery, 2019; and Li Salay at the Art Gallery of Alberta, 2018.

Installation of World-builders, shapeshifters at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2023. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.

This exhibition is presented with support from the Maada’ookii Committee, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, the Downie & Wenjack Foundation and Hudson Bay Foundation through Oshki Wuppowane: The Blanket Fund, and the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.