Public Art as Social Practice: Place-Making, Community Building, and the Possibilities Ahead

In recent decades, public art has evolved far beyond static objects and monuments—it can be playful, participatory, community-centred, deeply contextual, and sometimes even a little weird (in the best way!). Using The Bentway (a public space with year-round programming underneath the Gardiner Expressway) as a core case study, this workshop peeks behind the scenes at how public art is evolving in Canada, and how creative interventions can shape the ways people move, gather, and connect in shared spaces.

In what ways can creative interventions transform how people behave, gather, or perceive public space? How can art foster belonging, dialogue, moments of delight and connection? How do artists and institutions responsibly (and imaginatively) show up within their community? And ultimately: what might the future of public art look like—or what do we hope it could become?

This presentation is for artists and arts workers with an interest in producing, curating, or thinking about public art. Grounded in real project stories, this session offers practical insights into designing responsive public art initiatives. We’ll look at emerging approaches through the lenses of community engagement, social impact, and civic imagination—and consider how artists can help shape more vibrant, connected, and participatory communities in the public realm.

This event is free and will be held online. Please register to attend. If there is anything we can do to support your participation, please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

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Speaker Bio: Megan Kammerer(she/her) is a curator and writer based in Toronto, Canada. She has held various positions with the Blackwood Gallery, Jackman Humanities Institute, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Robert McLaughlin Gallery and the Art Gallery of Guelph, where she worked to support critically engaged exhibition programmes across Southern Ontario. Her work has been shortlisted for three exhibition awards, winning an Exhibition of the Year prize from Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries in 2023. Kammerer’s research is published by the University of Toronto, where she holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art History. She currently works as a Programming Associate at The Bentway.

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.

Reflections On An Emerging Art Career with Karen Kar Yen Law

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

Free. Registration is required.

Join artist, and former RMG artist-in-residence, Karen Kar Yen Law for an evening of reflection and discussion on her emerging art career. From graduating during a pandemic to applying to open calls to creating new artwork, Karen will speak on the ways she has navigated the early and ambiguous stages of the profession, outlining what has worked for her and what she’s learned along the way, including:

How she cultivates internal motivation as a self-employed artist
How she keeps track of her administrative work and opportunities
How she structures her time and strives for sustainability in her practice (i.e., prioritizing studio time, balance, and managing burnout)
How she has learned to lean into her strengths to build a career that makes sense for her
And so much more!

Is there anything we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

About the Artist:

Karen Kar Yen Law (b. 1997) is a second-generation Cantonese-Chinese artist based in Markham, Ontario. With an interest in food and domestic culinary practices, Law utilizes printmaking and painting to explore cultural practice and diasporic identity. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) and Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. Law was the 2021-2022 Emerging Printmaker Scholarship Residency holder at Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre where she now practices as an artist member. She was the winner of the 2023 Untapped People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s independent artists fair, Artist Project. Law’s artwork has been exhibited throughout Ontario including Modern Fuel, United Contemporary, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Union Gallery, the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts, Gallery 1313, Myseum Toronto, and Open Studio.

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.

Artist Residency Information Session + Application Workshop

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Register by clicking here.

In this virtual gathering, RMG Associate Curator Hannah Keating will provide an overview of the RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program application, sharing tips for preparing your own application. Following a short presentation, she’ll answer questions from the audience.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by May 1, 2025. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place. Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

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Curating Climate Crisis: Sustainable Exhibition-Making

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required.

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Contemporary visual art exhibitions are well poised to contribute to conversations about climate change, yet too often they are part of the problem they critique. Independent Curator Katie Lawson will present reflections on both practical and theoretical considerations of how exhibitions are shaped by climate change discourse and address key knowledge gaps that remain in creating, caring for, and presenting art in sustainable ways. As a team member of the Centre for Sustainable Curating, Lawson will share accessible resources to lessening the environmental impacts of exhibition making. A question and answer period will follow.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by October 16, 2024. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place.

Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

About the presenter:

Katie Lawson is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She has curated exhibitions for City of Barrie (2024); Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2024); Images Festival (2023); Toronto Biennial of Art (2022 + 2019); MacLaren Art Centre (2021); the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2018); the Art Gallery of Ontario (2018); Y+ Contemporary (2017), and RYMD Reykjavik (2017). Lawson was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023.

Katie is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies Curatorial program at the University of Toronto, where she previously completed her Master of Arts in Art History. She is currently working towards a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University, and a team member of the Centre for Sustainable Curating. She contributes to a range of print and online publications. She was the Editorial Lead for the Toronto Biennial’s double catalogue Water, Kinship, Belief (2022) and was the Art Editor for the Hart House Review (2016-2019).

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Cultivating Artist-Curator Relationships and Collaboration

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ld-qgqz4rHdG2xKxA30ZO5KuknnSluwr5.

As the role of the curator becomes increasingly diffuse and expansive, Katie Lawson will reflect on the exhibitions she’s worked on recently to explore the questions, challenges, and best practices that have informed her work as an Independent Curator. Sharing examples from personal experience, she will explain how she has cultivated collaborative relationships with artists, with a focus on new artwork commissions that have been iterative and/or site-responsive. Following Lawson’s presentation, audience members will invited to contribute to a guided discussion period.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by October 16, 2024. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place.

Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

About the presenter:

Katie Lawson is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She has curated exhibitions for City of Barrie (2024); Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2024); Images Festival (2023); Toronto Biennial of Art (2022 + 2019); MacLaren Art Centre (2021); the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2018); the Art Gallery of Ontario (2018); Y+ Contemporary (2017), and RYMD Reykjavik (2017). Lawson was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023.

Katie is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies Curatorial program at the University of Toronto, where she previously completed her Master of Arts in Art History. She is currently working towards a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University, and a team member of the Centre for Sustainable Curating. She contributes to a range of print and online publications. She was the Editorial Lead for the Toronto Biennial’s double catalogue Water, Kinship, Belief (2022) and was the Art Editor for the Hart House Review (2016-2019).

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Bead with us! An Online Artist Talk with Raechel Wastesicoot

Join artist Raechel Wastesicoot and exhibition curator Erin Szikora for a chatty and informal online conversation about the making of Kenatentas. Delivered in the format of an online beading circle, we invite audience members to tune in with a beading or crafting project of your own. Join the conversation and learn more about the materials, memories, and spirit woven into each of Wastesicoot’s work.

Click here to register. This event is free, interactive, and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please reach out to Hannah Keating at [email protected].

Raechel Wastesicoot: Kenatentas is presented with support from the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.

How to Document Your Artwork Workshop

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Register by clicking here.

This webinar will give you practical and accessible to help with the documentation of 2- and 3-dimensional artworks. Facilitated by artist and experienced documentary photographer Laura Findlay, the workshop will begin with a formal presentation (90 mins) and conclude with an open Q and A period.

About the presenter:

Laura Findlay is a Toronto based artist. Originally from Montreal, she received her BFA from Concordia University and MFA from the University of Guelph. She’s exhibited work and participated in artist residencies throughout Canada, the US, and Europe and she is represented by Norberg Hall Gallery in Calgary, Alberta. Laura has professionally documented artwork and exhibitions for clients throughout southern Ontario, Montreal, and abroad since 2009. Clients include The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), RBC Visual Arts Collection, Scotiabank Fine Art Program, TD Bank, The Art Institute of Chicago, MOCA Toronto, C Magazine, Oakville Galleries, Daniel Faria Gallery, Arsenal Contemporary, Franz Kaka Gallery, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Philip Martin Gallery, and Aargauer Kunsthaus, among many others. Her photographs of artwork have appeared in print in Artforum, Border Crossings Magazine, Canadian Art Magazine, C Magazine, Vogue Paris, and Chatelaine, among others. She has served on the juries for international residencies and scholarships.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by May 1, 2024. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place. Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected]

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Artist Residency Information Session + Application Workshop 2024

Artist Professional Development Workshop Series

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Register by clicking here.

In this virtual gathering, RMG Associate Curator Hannah Keating will provide an overview of the RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program application, sharing tips for preparing your own application and talking through strong samples from past applicants. This guidance will be applicable to the RMG’s call for residency applications, but will also have broader relevance for other exhibition or grant opportunities. Following a short presentation, we’ll answer questions from the audience.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by May 1, 2024. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place. Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

The Artist Professional Development Workshop series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.

Artist Round Table: World-builders, shapeshifters and Kenatentas

Join curator Erin Szikora and artists Alex Jacobs-Blum, Kat Brown Akootchook, Kay Nadjiwon, Natalie King, Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft, Sheri Osden Nault, and Raechel Wastesicoot for an online round table discussion. This conversation will unfold as we digitally move throughout the exhibition spaces, inviting the artists to reflect on their individual projects and the empowering collaboration that produced World-builders, shapeshifters and Kenatentas. Click here to register!

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by March 6, 2024. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place.

Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

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, and the Government of Ontario through the Tourism Relief Fund.

How to Price Your Artwork

This event will be held on Zoom. It is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Deciding how much you should charge for your artwork can feel like a shot in the dark, but artists Chrissy and Kyle of Spark Box Studio have developed a pricing system that dives into the nitty gritty. In this workshop, they will share how they determine fair prices for their work. With appreciation for the nuance of this complex topic, you’re invited to join our conversation. Chrissy and Kyle will answer questions about applying this system to your own practice and offer tips for talking about the value of your art with others.

About the Facilitators

Thirteen years ago Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping opened Spark Box Studio, a social enterprise, artist residency and community printmaking studio; committed to addressing cultural and social needs by fostering, supporting and promoting individuals working in the arts.

They created a practice rooted in resource sharing and collaborative exchange. They built a safe, nurturing environment that has hosted over 450 artists from around the world and brought together hundreds of community members to expand their understanding of creativity and professional practice.

Since the pandemic they have been re-envisioning their creative practice and learning how to nurture the shared sense of place virtually that was created in their studio and residency. They have been doing so through a variety of online programs: Artist Confessional, Flat Files, The Art Discourse and Love Letters. All of these video series open up the doors of their studio to the public, encourage collaborative exchange and build connections with artists in their community.

In addition, they are multidisciplinary artists who work collaboratively on community art installations and public art projects; most notably with organizations such as Crazy Dames, The Department of Illumination, Kick Start Arts, Critical Mass and the Gladstone Hotel.

Closed captioning and live transcription will be available through the built-in Zoom CC and Transcription features. ASL Interpretation can be arranged upon request. Please contact Hannah Keating at [email protected] to submit an interpretation request by November 8, 2023. All efforts will be made to fill a request, but if an Interpreter cannot be secured, we will let you know before the event takes place.

Is there anything else we can do to support your participation? Please reach out to Hannah at [email protected].

The RBC Emerging Artist Residency Program at the RMG is generously supported through the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artist Project.