RMG Teen Art Zone: Winter 2025

Ages 13-17

Come hang out at the art gallery!

These sessions offer a welcoming space for teens to express their individuality, share new ideas, and try out a variety of art materials in a low-pressure environment. With a new theme each month, they’ll discover new ways to unleash their creativity, whether it be through painting, sculpting, mixed media or something else!

Free drop-in: Please pre-register using this form if possible. Physical copies will be available at the program to complete.

Upcoming Sessions:

January 30, 2025 @4:30PM-6:30PM

February 27, 2025 @4:30PM-6:30PM

March 27, 2025 @4:30PM-6:30PM

FAQ

Do I need to sign up ahead of time?

As a drop-in program, you do not need to sign up, come on in! We will have registration forms available onsite to complete by an adult when you arrive to the program. An adult can pre-register using this form including emergency contact information ahead of time if they do not plan on dropping you off directly. It will be easier to pre-register!

If you would like to communicate with the organizer directly, please contact Farah at [email protected]

What is the space like?

You are encouraged to either come alone or with friends! Plug into your own music or listen to the chatter. Materials and refreshments are provided. As a drop-in, you can come for a little time or a long time.

Where is it happening?

The studio on the lower level. The gallery is free to visit. Walk in through the front doors, turn right and go down the stairs, turn right again once you see the door to the studio. Or, take the elevator near our gift shop to level 1.

Is the environment low-sensory friendly?

We tend to keep the lights dimmed but they are still on. We play music on a medium volume, however this can be turned off upon request. The noise level in the room is about medium. For a pause from the art-making, the exhibition spaces offer quiet seating.

For more details on accessibility, visit this link: https://rmg.on.ca/visit/accessibility-and-accommodations/

Do I need to know how to do art ahead of time? Do I need to be an artist?

No! The art activities are beginner friendly. We offer all the necessary materials and instruction to complete a project. We also value abstract art, ugly art, and silly art. Feel free to try new things.

OPG Sunday: Colourful Collage

Collage with us! Join us to create colourful stripes, funky blobs and wild splashes. Tie it all together with a fancy silhouette topping to make your masterpiece POP out!

Suitable for ages 3+

Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

Family Day: Peculiar Portraits

Update: Due to weather, this program has been canceled

This family day, explore the portraits in Resistance, then join us in the studio to create your own! There are many ways to do things in a unique way. Your self-portrait will be weird and wacky.

Suitable for ages 3+

Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

OPG Sunday: Be BOLD

Inspired by the bright bold colours in our current Permanent Collection Exhibitions Resistance,and Go BIG we will be creating BOLD textured abstracts to overcome the dull of winter.

Suitable for ages 3+

Free admission, no registration required.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a proud participant in Ontario Power Generation’s Power for Change Project, supporting the areas and people where OPG operates.

Expressive Arts Workshop: Transformation Collage

“Make Art. Feel Better.“

Presented in partnership with PeaceLove and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, join us for an Expressive Arts Workshop focused on how art can promote mental well-being. The evening will start with a tour of the exhibition Breakthrough featuring the art of Jack Bush who found healing and joy through his art. The workshop will provide a safe space for participants to share, self-reflect, grow and heal through artful collage. No art experience is required. All materials and aprons will be provided.

Registration is required.

Register

About PeaceLove
PeaceLove promotes mental wellness by using creativity and expression to inspire, heal, and communicate. We believe everyone deserves a safe space to share their emotions. Our workshops are a place to create fearlessly and honestly without judgement. A place to be vulnerable, celebrate, and empower each other.

About Ontario Shores
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences is a leader in mental health care, providing a range of specialized assessment and treatment services for people living with complex mental illness. Patients benefit from a recovery-oriented environment of care, built on compassion, inspiration and hope. Ontario Shores engages in research, education and advocacy initiatives to advance the mental health care system.

In Conversation with Christina Leslie

Come out to hear Christina Leslie share insights and reflections on Likkle Acts with exhibition curator Hannah Keating. The talk will shine a light on Leslie’s practice, research, and the innovative photographic processes that she used to create the works in Likkle Acts.

Join us at 1pm for a reception catered by Starapples. The artist talk will begin at 2pm.

Likkle Acts is an exhibition by Pickering-based artist Christina Leslie featuring three recent projects inspired by Leslie’s relationship to Jamaica and the medium of photography. In this work, Leslie embraces experimentation and seeks to represent Jamaica and its history through the people, places, and experiences that are personally significant to her and her family.

This event is free and open to everyone. Seating will be provided for all guests.

For more information on our facilities, please click here. If you have questions about the event or other requests, please email Hannah at [email protected].

Christina Leslie is an artist based in Pickering, Ontario. She earned her BFA in 2006 at OCADU in Toronto and her MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, USA in 2022. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications and exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her latest series “Sugar Coat” has been exhibited virtually on Ain’t Bad Magazine (2021), Featureshoot.com (2022), PetaPixel.com (2022), and in-person at BAND Gallery (2023). She has exhibited nationally and internationally at GAMU (2009), Royal Ontario Museum (2010), Pier 21 (201, Art Gallery of Windsor (2017), Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (2020), Prefix ICA (2021), and McMaster Museum of Art (2022). Much of her photographic practice revolves around the themes of de-colonialism, identity, immigration, issues of marginalization, history, memory, race, and her West Indian heritage. She often utilizes text and alternative and historical photographic processes to produce her photographs. She is a member of an all-female photography collective, Silver Water Collective and is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.

The gallery thanks Ontario Tech University’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities and Starapples for sponsoring this event.

Christina Leslie: Likkle Acts is presented by Partners in Art with additional support provided by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council and Alterna Savings.

Curatorial Tour: Christina Leslie: Likkle Acts

Walk through the exhibition Christina Leslie: Likkle Acts with exhibition curator Hannah Keating. Hannah will explain how the works were made and the stories and ideas that motivated Christina to create them.

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 this page or contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] with any specific requests. No advance registration required.

Christina Leslie is an artist based in Pickering, Ontario. She earned her BFA in 2006 at OCADU in Toronto and her MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, USA in 2022. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications and exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her latest series “Sugar Coat” has been exhibited virtually on Ain’t Bad Magazine (2021), Featureshoot.com (2022), PetaPixel.com (2022), and in-person at BAND Gallery (2023). She has exhibited nationally and internationally at GAMU (2009), Royal Ontario Museum (2010), Pier 21 (201, Art Gallery of Windsor (2017), Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (2020), Prefix ICA (2021), and McMaster Museum of Art (2022). Much of her photographic practice revolves around the themes of de-colonialism, identity, immigration, issues of marginalization, history, memory, race, and her West Indian heritage. She often utilizes text and alternative and historical photographic processes to produce her photographs. She is a member of an all-female photography collective, Silver Water Collective and is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.

Christina Leslie: Likkle Acts is presented by Partners in Art with additional support provided by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council and Alterna Savings.

The Neighbours Art Hive

The Neighbours Art Hive is a temporary installation that transforms the gallery into an active studio space with help from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio.

As a place to make, rest, and connect, the installation supports creative community development, social connection, and personal wellbeing through art-making experiences. We invite all our neighbours to drop in any time during operating hours to make use of the free art materials! Participants are welcome to take their projects with them or hang them up for everyone to enjoy during the run of the exhibition.

Every Friday from January 10 to February 14, 2025, volunteers from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio will be onsite to lead facilitated sessions from 12pm-3:30pm. This is your chance to make art in community with others. The sessions are free, open to all, and light refreshments are provided. Check out more details on our Event Calendar. Learn about how this program got started here

Presented by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation.

The Neighbours Art Hive with the LivingRoom Community Art Studio

The gallery invites you to join us for artmaking and community connection in The Neighbours Art Hive between 12-3:30pm every Friday from January 10 to February 14, 2025. Passionate and helpful volunteers from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio will be onsite to support your creative explorations and cultivate a warm and welcoming environment for all. Participants are welcome to take their projects with them or hang them up for everyone to enjoy!

The Neighbours Project, installed at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (February 2024).

What to expect:

Everyone is welcome; no art experience required.

These drop-in events are free.

You’re welcome to come and go as you please.

Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be served.

What is an art hive?

Art Hives are safe, accessible spaces that enable people of all ages to participate in free public relaxation. In an Art Hive, traditional hierarchies, processes, and ways of being can be deconstructed and re-imagined in playful, personal, and compassionate ways.

The Neighbours Project, installed at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (February 2024).

The Neighbours Art Hive is a temporary installation at the RMG that transforms the gallery into an active studio space with help from the LivingRoom Community Art Studio. Outside of these facilitated sessions, we also invite all our neighbours to drop in any time during operating hours to make use of the free art materials on their own time. The RMG is located at 72 Queen Street, Civic Centre in Oshawa, across from the McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries. The Neighbours 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.

Upcoming Sessions:

Friday January 10, 2025

Friday January 17, 2025

Friday January 24, 2025

Friday January 31, 2025

Friday February 7, 2025

Friday February 14, 2025

Presented by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation.

Oshawa Camera Club: Celebrating 100 Years of Oshawa with Pictures

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and the Oshawa Camera Club are pleased to present an exhibition in honour of the City of Oshawa’s 100th anniversary that celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of Oshawa through photos. This exhibition will feature photographs from the City of Oshawa’s 100 Centennial Photography Contest.

The Oshawa Camera Club was founded in 1938 as the General Motors Camera Club. It is one of the oldest camera clubs in Canada. They support photographers with skills ranging from novice to expert through exhibition opportunities, social connection and education. Join us for the opening gala on December 12th at 6pm to celebrate the opening of the exhibition and the prize winners!