Reflect: Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition 2024

Exhibition Opening and Awards Reception: Wednesday, August 20, 2:30 pm

The Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition is a showcase of creativity and technical skill among members of the Oshawa Senior Community Centres, Oshawa Public Libraries, and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture, and more, this annual community exhibition is structured around a competition theme. This year, the theme is reflect.

The Sienna For Seniors Foundation Award Winners are:

In the NOVICE category…

The RUNNER UP is Rhia Balz for her painting Reflection of My Heritage, which the jury described as “a quaint meditation on lives lived and familial connections.”

The WINNER is Mayra Martinez Chiong. The jury described Mayra’s painting, titled Balance as “a beautiful, rhythmic, and gestural contemporary work that successfully combines folk art elements and contemporary language.”

In the HOBBY category…

The RUNNER UP is Karen Moran for her painting Catch Me If You Can. The jury described this work as“a skillful, illustrative work that submerges the viewer.”

The WINNER is Martin Nasager. Described by the jury as “an emphatic statement that leaves viewers much to contemplate,” his sculptural work, Defiance has “a powerful dynamic of manual gesture and dexterity.”

In the OPEN category…

The RUNNER UP is Ruth Greenlaw for her watercolour Midsummer Garden. The jury loved this “sensitive and contemplative reflection on nature. It is a sophisticated use of colouration and observation.”

The WINNER is Augusto ‘Sonny’ Dimalanta for his work titled Shattered Reflection,which the jury describes as “skillfully executed with a daring composition that isn’t afraid to push compositional boundaries. It is a philosophical meditation with psychological charge.”

Congratulations to all the winners!

The Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition is co-hosted by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa Senior Community Centres, and the Oshawa Public Libraries. Download the program brochure for more information, including eligibility and contest categories.

Seniors Programming has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The Sienna For Seniors Foundation.

Ioana Dragomir: Exhibition Opening Reception

Help us celebrate the opening of Ioana Dragomir’s solo exhibition! Produced during her residency at the RMG, this installation will feature drawings and textiles inspired by the gallery’s archives.

Learn more about the exhibition here.

This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].

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

Ioana Dragomir: not quite ever only

Adorned with drawings, trinkets, textiles, and text, not quite ever  only is an exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Ioana Dragomir. This new work, created by the artist during her residency at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG), is anchored by a homey set situated on a quilt of worn moving blankets, enclosed on three sides by a skeleton of stud walls. Hand-drawn wallpaper, sewn pockets, stickers, and research fragments form delicate layers around and within the exhibition’s central structure. Using materials she found at the gallery, including scrap wood, artist files, and exhibition catalogues, Dragomir’s work is a reflection of the transitory nature of relevance and proximity. Held in temporary and site-specific compositions, each moment in the installation is a poem for viewers to discover, in a pocket in a room inside a room, hidden in plain sight.

Over nearly six decades, the RMG has played host to numerous artists, curators, administrators, and visitors, and its collection houses thousands of artworks and archived materials. The history of any gallery is made up of these things, tangible and intangible, that lend both structure and character to the idea of that place. This is also true in reverse. The people who have made the gallery what it is carry something of this place with them: home libraries hold old catalogues; the institution’s name is listed on artists’ CVs; colleagues who became friends reminisce about when they first met. As if picking up a romance novel, Dragomir chose to be swept up by the presence of these types of stories in the gallery’s archives, drawing especially from the Joan Murray artist files, assembled in large part, and named after, the RMG’s Director Emeritus. Focusing first on artist couples, then more broadly on the theme of friendship, Dragomir savours the way private matters and poetic coincidence inevitably leak into institutional histories and her own work.

Carefully sifted and crafted by the artist, the works in not quite ever only reflect Dragomir’s own imagination and point of view as much as they reveal (or conceal) anything about her source materials, which include additions from her own friends. To borrow from Sarah Ahmed’s writing, this work is an exploration of willful misuse as Dragomir pulls text, images, artworks, and ideas from one context to place them in another. This process is an invitation to consider what is lost, gained, and retained by such an act of creation. As a gesture of collaboration, it is also an opportunity to be attentive to the surprises of temporary proximity and discover delight in the relationships that make us who we are.

Ioana Dragomir is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Montreal, Canada. She holds an Honours BA in studio practice from the University of Waterloo, an MA in Art History and Curatorial Studies from Western University, and is currently an MFA candidate at Concordia University. Her artistic practice combines her interest in writing, literary analysis, and curation with drawing, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, and installation. In particular, poetic methodologies of juxtaposition, metaphor, and slippage are important to her practice. Her work has been exhibited at Cambridge Galleries, the plumb, Centre Clark, and Support, among others. She has organized curatorial and community-based projects for the Dundas Valley School of Art and the Landmarks Biennale in Cambridge.

Installation of not quite ever only at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2024. Images by Toni Hafkenscheid.

Related Programming

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

Backyard Story Time at the RMG: August

Experience the magic of outdoor story time at the art gallery! Through books, songs, games, and creative activities, storytellers from Oshawa Public Libraries will spark your imagination in The Backyard at the RMG! This event is free and no registration is required.

Offered alongside the exhibition Contemporary Kids, this year’s Backyard Story Time themes are inspired by the artists in that exhibition. Celebrating the unique perspectives and ingenuity of children, Contemporary Kids is an exhibition featuring a collection of collaborative artwork made by artists and kids and interactive installations that allow parents and children to explore and play together.

Backyard Story Time at the RMG is hosted by, and offered in partnership with, Oshawa Public Libraries.

Contemporary Kids 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.

Backyard Story Time at the RMG: July

Experience the magic of outdoor story time at the art gallery! Through books, songs, games, and creative activities, storytellers from Oshawa Public Libraries will spark your imagination in The Backyard at the RMG! This event is free and no registration is required.

Offered alongside the exhibition Contemporary Kids, this year’s Backyard Story Time themes are inspired by the artists in that exhibition. Celebrating the unique perspectives and ingenuity of children, Contemporary Kids is an exhibition featuring a collection of collaborative artwork made by artists and kids and interactive installations that allow parents and children to explore and play together.

Backyard Story Time at the RMG is hosted by, and offered in partnership with, Oshawa Public Libraries.

Contemporary Kids 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.

Mother’s Day Tea 2024

Seatings at 10:30am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm

$55/adult and $28/kids under 12

Come join us for tea on Mother’s Day at The RMG. Farm + Wild will be hosting seatings for the whole weekend. Daniel and his team will be serving the best Durham has to offer, so bring all the moms for delicious prix fixe. Afterward, please tour our exhibitions and visit to the RMG Shop to make your day complete for a full experience at our gallery.

Reserve your spot!

RMG Friday: Emerging Visions

This month, we’re celebrating a brand new exhibition at the RMG! Please join us on the lower level in Gallery A at 7:15PM for opening remarks with Durham College students and staff to recognize the opening of Emerging Visions. Emerging Visions is an annual exhibition of thesis projects by the third-year Fine Arts class at Durham College.

Order of Events

7pm – Doors Open, Art Activity begins in Studio

7:15pm – DRIFF Screening in the Lookout

7:15-7:45 – Opening Remarks and Award Ceremony

8pm – Performance by BoluSings

8:15pm – DRIFF Screening in the Lookout

8:45pm – Performance by Simmone Mariah

Bolu Adefemi or “BoluSings” is a 16 year old girl from Oshawa, Ontario. Bolu uses songwriting to explore the issues that touch her world. Bolu’s mum likes to tell people “She’s been singing ever since she was in the womb”; and Bolu agrees she has always loved to sing. Bolu Adefemi has written, produced, and released three songs on important issues: including the “Corona-virus”, The importance of self care, and the “Black Lives Matter Movement”. Bolu has been featured in the following media: CityTV, CP24 News, AM960, 680 News, Clarington This Week, Orono Times, Durham.com, The RoundTable Talk show in Long Beach, California Toronto Caribbean Virtual Festival and Ticker TV, Australia etc. Bolu loves to follow her passion, while sharing messages that she finds crucial. 

Simmone Mariah is a Toronto-born and-raised singer/songwriter who has been captivating audiences with her powerful voice and emotive lyrics. Raised in church Simmone discovered her love for music at a young age and has been honing her craft ever since. Simmone’s music is both fresh and timeless exploring love, heartbreak and self-discovery. In 2018 Simmone released her debut single; Miles Between which showcased her signature sound and has set the tone for her future success. Since then she has continued to write and record music that speaks to the heart of her listeners. As she continues to pursue her passion for music, Simmone Mariah is poised to make a lasting impact on the North American music scene and beyond.

DRIFF Screening

Frida in the Sky | Directed by Dani Sadun | 6:14 minutes

Frida, an 8-year-old engineering prodigy, builds an airplane behind her mother’s back to follow in her Abuela’s legacy.

In the studio, create your very own D.I.Y. planter pot stake using polymer clay! No art experience required.

Ages 12+

Doors Open 2024

In 1987, architect Arthur Erikson was commissioned to design an addition to the RMG’s existing 1969 building. Erikson’s interest in the play of light and shadow is evident in the RMG’s large skylight and upper level curved windows. Join us at 2PM for a tour of the RMG building.

Let’s celebrate Arthur Erikson’s love of light and shadow! From 10:30AM to 12:30PM, join us for a hands-on art making activity encourage participants to use their imagination to create beautiful lighted sculptures.

Doors Open Oshawa is a free, annual event that provides an opportunity to explore Oshawa’s diverse heritage and cultural sites. Spend a day discovering local history first-hand and celebrating our community’s heritage.

Pegi Nicol MacLeod: Unforgettably Hers

Pegi Nicol MacLeod (born Margaret Kathleen Nichol, 1904-1949) was inspired by everyday scenes around her. Growing up in Ottawa, MacLeod studied art at the Ottawa Art School, and later at the École des beaux-arts in Montreal.  While her subjects were varied— children, bustling crowds, views from her window—her style was undeniably hers. Art historian Laura Brandon described MacLeod’s unique vision: “MacLeod’s paintings are like jazz. Whatever the subject, her colours and lines weave a complex and energetic or discordant harmony that is unforgettably hers.”  This exhibition pulls together works in the RMG’s permanent collection that capture MacLeod’s exuberant and spontaneous energy that she applied to her life and art. 

EMERGING VISIONS: Durham College Thesis Exhibition 2024

We are pleased to present the annual Durham College Thesis Exhibition! Like all visionary explorers, the students in Durham College’s Fine Arts Advanced program are involved in a continual process of identifying and studying meaningful subjects that pertain to their own evolving bodies of work. They first research then develop strategies unique to their practice through experimentation, all the while learning to define and focus their personal interests. This exhibition includes a wide range of subjects, interests, and mediums.

Celebrate EMERGING VISIONS with the staff and students of Durham College! The opening reception will be hosted during RMG Friday on May 3, 2024. Then, stop by the gallery at 1pm on May 15th for an artist-led tour of the exhibition. This is your chance to learn more about specific projects and hear about the journey from conception to fabrication to presentation.

Related Programming

This exhibition is presented with support from the RBC Foundation.