In celebration of Oshawa’s centenary, the Oshawa Camera Club is proud to present Oshawa100, a photo contest and exhibition featuring images by local amateur photographers.
Please join us to experience the vibrancy and diversity of Oshawa through photographs at the opening reception and prize presentation.
This event is free and open to everyone. For information on our facilities, please click here. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Sonya at [email protected].
Come together to celebrate cultural diversity in Durham Region!
The RMG invites you to attend the opening reception of Unity Through the Arts: Juried Exhibition 2024 presented in partnership with Cultural Expressions for CHANGE Inc.
Several awards will be presented to adults and youth ranging from $100 to $1000. Refreshments will be provided.
This event is free and open to everyone. For information on our facilities, please click here. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Sonya at [email protected].
Join us to learn about the life and art of Jack Bush. Guest lecturer Sarah Stanners, art historian and Director of Jack Bush Catalogue Raisonné Project, will share her extensive knowledge and research about Jack Bush to complement the exhibition “Jack Bush: Breakthrough”. Registration encouraged.
Dr. Sarah Stanners is an independent scholar and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Art History. She has lectured extensively on modern and contemporary art within an international context, and her career as a curator has specialized in celebrating the art of Canada. She began curating exhibitions in 2003, as Assistant Curator of the Hart House Permanent Collection, and by the end of her tenure as Chief Curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, in 2018, she had curated forty exhibitions and collaborated in the publication of ten catalogues; notably Passion Over Reason: Tom Thomson & Joyce Wieland (2017), as well as two nationally touring Jack Bush solo exhibitions: the Jack Bush retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada, which she co-curated with Marc Mayer in 2014, and Jack Bush: In Studio, organized by Calgary’s Esker Foundation in 2016. For the past thirteen years, Dr. Stanners has served as the Director of the Jack Bush Catalogue Raisonné Project, culminating in the release of the four-volume publication in summer 2024, which now stands as the definitive record of Jack Bush’s painted oeuvre.
Artists have often played with scale to convey significance or to demonstrate their painting abilities. Similarly, abstract artists have used large-scale art to create striking visual impact and to highlight the physicality of the process. Whether to inspire awe or elevate abstraction to new levels, the artists in this exhibition have worked at a larger-than-life, even monumental scale.
Abstraction is an important part of the RMG’s story. While the gallery frequently exhibits work by Painters Eleven, it also has an extensive collection of artworks by other important Canadian abstract artists. This exhibition brings together large-scale abstract paintings from the RMG’s permanent collection some of which have rarely been exhibited – mostly due to their sheer size. The big and bold artworks are expressive and joyful, showing that great art comes in all colours, shapes and sizes.
Come join us in the Backyard for an August retreat for some easy vibes with performances from Moonfruits and Cale Crowe. Just hang with some new friends or bring some old ones with you.
Enjoy food from local restaurant, Mathilda’s.
Order of Events:
7PM: Doors Open
7:35PM: Moonfruits performance
8:45PM: Cale Crowe Performance
9:30PM: Performance ends
Moonfruits—led by Ottawa-based partners Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy—craft contemporary folk, organically alternating between French and
English, that addresses our collective humanity with heart, wit, and wonder. This Stingray Rising Star, SOCAN, and Trille Or award-winning group has
toured their transportive live show across Canada, the US, France, Belgium, and Germany.
Moonfruits’ lushly orchestrated sophomore album, Salt (2022), is a 12-song suite that explores what it means to the band to live, dream, and raise a
child in an era of climate change and deepening inequality. It tells the stories of their families and the kinds of communities they hope to help build.
Cale Crowe has been fueled by music since he was a toddler in the back of his dad’s Ford Bronco and has been taking audiences on an emotional journey since he first picked up a guitar at 12 years old. His performance started with an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal and has evolved to implement powerful melodies and moving rhythms for a deep, emotional experience.
Cale describes the songs that make up his discography as “Moments of vulnerability & (sometimes painful) honesty, captured and thinly veiled by upbeat tempos and textured sounds.” These moments have shown his increasing potential and have granted him stages from Nova Scotia to New Mexico and opportunities including sharing stages with Ron Sexsmith, Scott Helman, cleopatrick, Cinzia & The Eclipse, and countless others.
Gathering inspiration from Dermot Kennedy, City & Colour, Ed Sheeran, and the rolling hills of his home territory of Alderville First Nation, Cale seeks to connect listeners to a sense of boundless sincerity and authenticity; “I’ve always wanted my music to be a place in time where & when people might allow themselves to truly feel free.”
Victoria Grant, an esteemed Indigenous artist residing in Durham Region, Ontario, brings over 2 years of experience instructing engaging pyrography workshops suitable for participants aged 12 and above. Each workshop begins with a comprehensive introduction, including an inspiring address and thorough safety protocols to ensure a safe and enriching experience for all.
Participants embark on their creative journey by practicing with the pyrography tools on scrap wood under personalized guidance from Victoria herself. Once participants feel comfortable and confident with the technique, they transition to designing their own mini canoe paddles. This part of the workshop encourages personal expression, allowing each individual to imbue their creation with elements that resonate with their unique identity and creativity.
Throughout the workshop, Victoria provides hands-on assistance and expertise, helping participants refine their designs and execute them to perfection. By the end of the session, each participant will have crafted a personalized pyrography design on a mini canoe paddle that they can proudly take home, showcasing both their newfound skills and personal artistic vision.
Victoria’s workshops not only foster artistic skill development but also celebrate cultural heritage and personal expression, making them an enriching experience for all involved.
Victoria Grant is a Durham Region, Ontario-based Indigenous artist of Anishinaabe, Mi’Kmaq, and Métis heritage, who also acknowledges her non-Indigenous ancestry from France and Scotland. Throughout her life, Victoria has dedicated herself to formal and informal art training across various mediums, ultimately specializing in pyrography. Each piece she creates incorporates natural materials, is ceremonially smudged with sage, and crafted with the intention of bringing positive energy into the homes they adorn.
Dwelling Stains II, 2023. 16″ x 20″. Henna & Ink on Wood.
Guest artist Judith Grace Vijaysenan will be joining us in the backyard. Try your hand at henna art on wood and take home your finished product. No experience required!
About The Artist
Judith Grace Vijayasenan is an Indian-born, Toronto-based visual artist. Her medium styles incorporate oils, acrylics, ink and henna on Wood. Judith likes to base her pieces on memory, land, and small connections that she has to her past and present land (India and Canada).
She is graduated in June 2023 with a BFA in Drawing and Painting and minoring in Social Science from OCAD University. Judith’s work has been exhibited in Ada Slaight Gallery: Gathering Divergence (2022), OCAD University’s GRADEX 103 (2023) and The Clarke Center for the Arts in “Marinating in our Surrealistic Land” (2024) group exhibition.
Learn more about the Convergence music and art festival.
This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.
The RMG reserves the right to cancel this event due to circumstances beyond RMG’s control or not reasonably anticipated, including but not limited, to weather, or inability of Facility to host Event.
Join us for lecture on Jack Bush on November 7, 2024 at 7PM.
A founding member of Painters Eleven, Jack Bush (1909-1977) was one of the first Canadian painters of his generation to achieve international success. Considered a late bloomer with abstraction, Bush found his voice as an artist in his late forties. His exploration with abstract expressionism provided him with an outlet to express his feelings and moods. By the 1960s, he had a breakthrough with painting – applying paint thinner and more simplistically. Bush would shift towards Color Field abstraction which gained him international fame. Drawing primarily from the RMG’s permanent collection, this exhibition pulls together works that reflect the scope of Bush’s artistic career and the self-expression he found in art.
Talks & Tours
Nov 7, 2024, 07:00 PM – Nov 7, 2024, 08:30 PM
Join us to learn about the life and art of Jack Bush. Guest lecturer Sarah Stanners, art historian and Director of Jack Bush Catalogue Raisonné Project, will share her extensive knowledge and research about Jack Bush to complement the exhibition “Jack Bush: Breakthrough”. Registration encouraged. Dr. Sarah Stanners is an independent scholar and Adjunct Professor […]
Art has the power to inspire change and challenge norms. It can evoke emotions, spark conversations, and create a sense of community and solidarity. Featuring a variety of artworks from The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s (RMG) Permanent Collection of over 4,700 pieces, this exhibition explores how artists throughout history have used art to resist and disrupt social and political structures– including within the art world.
The RMG is a space for many to reflect, learn, engage in dialogue, and connect. During these complex global times, we believe art can play an important role in understanding our world and in healing. We are responsive to contemporary issues and see this exhibition as an opportunity to engage in the discourse on freedom of expression. Recently, there has been a number of high-profile incidents of censorship of artists and arts workers in our sector worldwide. In response, this exhibition features art that courts controversy, comments on contemporary issues, and generally pushes back on the status quo.
Join us for a performance of Transference on Friday November 1, 2024 at 7pm.
Transgressive Passages is an exploration of, and love letter to, queer and trans experience, especially as it intersects with Caribbean-diasporic identity. This exhibition presents two projects, Transmission (2024) and Transference (2024), that seek to bridge individual experiences of queerness with community and intergenerational kinship. Godden expresses this effort both visually and sonically as well as through the collaborative nature of the projects’ production.In both works, water emerges as a symbol for migration, fluidity, and transformation.
The photographic portrait series, Transmission, is displayed across the walls of the gallery. For this project, Godden invited queer members of the Caribbean diaspora living in the GTA to share their stories, asking about the role that specific myths and traditions from the Caribbean have played in their lives. Inspired by their conversations, Godden created colourful textiles for each sitter that reference their individual stories, and then photographed them. Whether draped over a shoulder or tied across a waist, the textiles are a tool for grounding the photographs in these bonding conversations and proclaiming belonging in cultures that have at times excluded or threatened queer and trans identities. Each sitter is staged like a heroic figure or elder with the same reverence one might find in similar tableaus enshrined in hallowed halls.
At the centre of the room is a group of plastic, aluminum, and glass containers holding salt water. The largest vessel sits in the corner, with progressively smaller vessels winding towards the entrance to the gallery. A looping audio track, created with the help of James Knott, fills the space with a chorus of sound, including steel drums, splashing water, field recordings from Trinidad and Tobago, and vocalizations from queer and trans loved ones. This forms the setting for Transference, a performance by Godden presented at the gallery on November 1, 2024. Moving from the largest vessel to the next in an outfit made of thetextiles from Transmission, Godden eventually reaches the smallest vessel, which cannot contain them. The work is a visual metaphor for a journey of self-discovery, a passage witnessed and cared for by the elders and future elders whose portraits watch on and whose personal mythologies are woven into Godden’s patchwork garment.
The RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.
The artist thanks the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of Transgressive Passages and 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art for their support of Transference.
For their contributions to this project, the artist also thanks: Adrienne matheuszik, Alyssa Bistonath, Amina Ramcharitar, Amirah Star, Andil Gosine, Anesha Godden, Asmath Majarali Khan, Azim Khan, Brent Baillie, Brigita Gedgaudas, Brigitte Sampogna, Camila Salcedo, Cazim Khan, Claudia Edwards, Dev Ramsawakh, Dion Khan, Duane Khan, E Cheung, Emah Fox, Francis Almendarez, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Hannah Keating, Ivetta Sunyoung Kang, James Knott, Jess Pinney, Joyce Troy, Kate Just, Kate Welsh, Kirby Rose, Lan Florence Yee, LeZlie Lee Kam, Lingxiang Woo, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Natalia S. Hall, Natalie Wood, Nisa Singh, Ouma Amadou, Pearly Seulakhan, Phon Baillie, Queen Kukoyi, Reema Mahadeo Brahim, Richard Fung, RTS Plastics, Ruby Khan, Samuel La France, Sarah Mohammed, Shara Khan, Shinnelle O’Gilvie, Sonya Jones, Thembi Soddell, and Zinora Ferreira.
Artist Bio:
Vanessa Godden is a non-binary Queer Indo-Caribbean and Euro-Canadian artist, educator, and curator. They are a sessional lecturer at universities across the Greater Toronto Area and a cofounder of the curatorial collective Diasporic Futurisms. Godden holds a PhD from the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne, Australia; 2020), an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, USA; 2014), and a BFA from the University of Houston (Houston, USA; 2012). Their transdisciplinary practice explores how the relationship between the body, personal histories, and geographic space can be conveyed in multi-sensory performances, videos, and installations.
Image: Installation of “Vanessa Godden: Transgressive Passages” at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2024. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.
It’s Salsa Night at Robert McLaughlin Gallery! Join us in the Backyard for free salsa lessons, good eats and a lively party under the night sky.
RMG’s Salsa Night will start off with two 25 minute lessons led by Kurt and Maria from The Love of Salsa. Learn the basics and then bring your moves to the dance floor where the live band, Farrucas Duo, will serenade our steps into the night.
Participants can register for a maximum of 2 people. Lesson 1 will be from 7:30-7:55pm and Lesson 2 will be from 7:55-8:20pm. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of your lesson.
In the lobby, Anabella Cabrera Janer will be performing.
Enjoy food from local restaurant, Bollywood Tacos.
Canadian Blood Services will be on-site for those interested in blood donation.
Order of Events:
7PM: Doors Open
7:30PM: Dance lessons begin
8:20PM: Dance lessons end + Short performance by Instructors
8:40PM: Band starts
9:40PM: Band ends
Farrucas Duo draws its unique repertoire from many classic songs written over the past century, but is also influenced by modern musical styles such as Salsa, Rumba Flamenco, Bolero, Cha Cha Cha, Cuban, South American, Arabic and more! Farrucas Duo combines entertainment, musicality, professionalism, creativity and tradition in every concert for almost 20 years; a must see!
Teaching & dancing Salsa in Durham Region since 2007, The Love of Salsa offers weekly group and private classes. Our Mission: To enhance dancing by helping Durham residents embrace their Latin side. Come join us on the floor.
Let the music and moves inspire you! In the lower level of the Backyard, we’ll be decorating wooden maracas using acrylic paint.
While supplies lasts.
A scholarship recipient of Classic Piano at Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia, Anabella Cabrera Janer is a musician with experience performing classic piano in various formats, as well as guitar, percussion and voice in a wide range of genres such as tropical, popular and Caribbean folk.
Learn more about the Convergence music and art festival.
This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.
CANCELLED: Due to low registrations, this event has been cancelled.
Breathe, stretch and flow at the RMG! We’re hosting Yoga with local instructors, Kimmel Alcide, The Everyday Yogi, and Jessi Hoey owner of Nirmana School of Yoga. They will guide you through 1 hour of a guided mindful experience.
$15/person. Ages 13 and up. Children aged 13 to 16 require parental supervision.
Rain or shine, experience our Isabel Gallery or Backyard on the 3rd Thursday of each month. We look forward to healing the mind and body through breath and stretch with you.
Limited spaces available. Bring your own mat. Water is not allowed inside gallery spaces during indoor events. All sales are final, no refunds. If event is cancelled, registrants will be contacted and refunds will be issued. Ticket sales close at 4PM the day before the event.
*We kindly request a minimum attendance threshold of 20 participants to ensure the successful execution of the session, otherwise the event will be cancelled