The Curator’s View: Holidays

This post comes from the desk of Linda Jansma, Curator

Mt. Chocohura, NH

Some of my holidays are purposefully full of art. This past March’s trip to New York City and last summer’s long weekend in Chicago are two examples of such trips. Plans are made according to the opening hours of museums and galleries and what special exhibitions are being shown. These are great trips, but aren’t necessarily relaxing.

(image of TOAE via BlogTO)

This past week’s vacation started off with art, but, after that, was deliberately meant to be a no- art holiday. The first Saturday saw us heading to the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE), an annual ritual. Along with the wonderful art by both emerging and established artists, it’s always interesting to see what’s trending—in the past, it’s been “Marcel Dzama” style drawings; painting on wall paper, and there’s always loads of painting with encaustic (the smell of wax being particularly aromatic on hot days in July). This year the trend was anthropomorphic drawings and paintings— animal heads on humans. Animals have been somewhat topical over this past year—the RMG hosted the exhibition Animal that dealt with our relationship with animals, while Montreal’s musée d’art contemporain is hosting Zoo this summer, an exhibition about the place of animals and nature in the universe.

Our non-art holiday began on Monday. We headed out on the 401 east bound to Vermont and the next morning got up to make the rest of the drive to New Hampshire and a few days of hiking, golfing and reading. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping for breakfast at the Dancing Goat Cafe in Plainfield, Vermont. Our meals ordered at the counter, we turned to find a seat. Imagine my surprise on seeing four framed lithographs on the wall: two by Inuit artist Ashevak Kenojuak and two by West coast artist Bill Reid. Plainfield, Vermont has a population of around 1300 people and it wasn’t a place where I expected to see some really wonderful Canadian prints. The proprietor, who was scrambling up our eggs, said that yes, they were part of his collection.

A conversation followed with his childhood recollections of standing in line in the 1970s with his parents when he was a small boy, waiting for the coming editions of prints to be released at their local gallery. He was both passionate and knowledgeable about his collection speaking about his preference for myth-related imagery in the works he owned. His wife took over the breakfast-making duties while we chatted about the RMG collection and the 2013 exhibition that will feature some of its Kenojuak prints.

It’s great when a non-planned art moment can sneak into a no art holiday.

Making History

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is pleased to invite young writers and artists to enter our MAKING HISTORY: Youth Art & Writing Contest. Candidates will submit a creative writing or art project inspired by an historical image in the Thomas Bouckley Collection.

Here are some options to give you some inspiration:

Many more options can be found by browsing our online database. Click here.

Click here to download our entry form, which must accompany entries.

This event is open to all students in the Durham Region from Grades 7 through 12, and the chosen students’ work will be included in an exhibition alongside Thomas Bouckley Collection photographs at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in 2013. There will also be cash prizes of $200 each for the best overall writing and best overall art submissions. The contest will be adjudicated by the Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection, Sonya Jones, and Curator of the RMG, Linda Jansma.

Submissions must be received at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery no later than December 10, 2012 at 5pm. Chosen submissions will be notified by December 12.

General Guidelines

Entries must be inspired by a specific image from the Thomas Bouckley Collection. Participants are asked to choose from 30 images available to view here, or can explore the collection which is searchable online.

Participants must be enrolled in Grades 7 through 12 in the Durham Region.

The deadline for entry is December 10, 2012 by 5pm.

Submissions will be accepted at the lobby of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery located at 72 Queen Street West, Oshawa, Ontario no later than 5pm. Writing submissions may be submitted by email to [email protected]. Late entries will not be accepted.

As well as being included in an exhibition alongside the corresponding Thomas Bouckley Collection image, the best overall art submission and the best overall creative writing submission will each receive a cash prize of $200.

Prizes will be awarded at the judges’ discretion. The decision of the judges is final.

Failure to follow the guidelines and to provide complete, legible and accurate information on the entry form will disqualify the submission.

Winners will be asked to provide an electronic copy of their submission to be used for promotional purposes only.

Guidelines for Artwork Submissions:

Each participant may enter one 2-dimensional work of art, no larger than 24” by 30”, in any medium (e.g. graphite, watercolour, ink, acrylic, oil, pastel and charcoal.)

Entries must be the original work of the submitting student.

Pastel and charcoal works should be protected with a fixative.

Artworks must have hanging hardware on the back for exhibition purposes.

All works on paper must be framed.

The completed entry form must be included with the artwork.

Submissions will be returned after exhibition.

Guidelines for Creative Writing Submissions:

Each participant may enter one poem, short story or non-fiction essay.

Entries must be the original work of the submitting student and may not have been previously published.

Entries must be no longer than 500 words and must not exceed one page of a standard 8.5” x 11” sized paper

If an entry is handwritten, it must be legible and fit onto a standard 8.5” x 11 sized paper

Submissions must be submitted unfolded.

Submissions can also be sent by email to [email protected] no later than December, 10, 2012 by 5pm.

The Curator’s View: Revealing Spaces

Sonya Jones is the RMG’s assistant Curator and Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection. In this post she shares a reflection from artist Kate Wilhelm.

Revealing Spaces, is a current exhibition featuring three emerging Durham Region artists, Kate Wilhelm, Shaun Downey and Andrea Carvalho. One of the woman depicted in Kate Wilhelm’s photographs of derby girls sadly passed away just this past April.

Here’s the artist’s reflection about Kiss My Ashlinn:

Kiss My Ashlinn
July 2, 1957 – April 5, 2012

She was in treatment when we first connected by email. We had to keep rescheduling visits because my family was a walking petrie dish all winter and her immune system was in no shape to protect her. If it wasn’t me suffering pinkeye, it was my six-year-old’s scratchy cough and runny nose or my baby’s diarrhea. When I finally managed to squeeze a visit in between illnesses, she told me her lung cancer was incurable. She also said she would skate again. “I just need to get off this damn oxygen, and then I will.” The way she said it, I believed her.

I photographed her and Thom just before Christmas. I was about to reschedule because I was still coughing, but she encouraged me to just wear a mask. She couldn’t keep her eyes off my baby, and she wrote me about a month later to tell me how much she enjoyed having him in her home. She had one granddaughter, whom she adored, and she couldn’t wait for more.

I did see her once more, before she died, at a party. I hadn’t been expecting her or I’d have brought the copy of Spontaneous Healing I’d been meaning to give her for months. The book sat on the floor by my front door for ages so I wouldn’t forget. Around the end of March, I dreamed about her. I can’t remember now what happened in the dream, but I know I didn’t want to tell her the details. I think I dreamed she died before I gave her the book and I felt awful. I woke up determined to give it to her that week and thinking of another woman’s miraculous recovery from cancer. I tried to make a time to drop the book off, but she never replied. I found the silence ominous, and sure enough, 5 days later she had passed.

I only put the book back on my bookshelf a couple of weeks ago. As I type this, the mask I wore when I photographed her hangs on the window right next to me. I don’t know why I’m keeping it.

Revealing Spaces is on at the RMG until August 26.

Hot Topics – Artists Come Home to Durham Region

Hot Topics come from the desk of Jacquie Severs, Manager of Communications & Social Media

Durham Region is home to a multitude of artists, craftspeople, designers, and musicians. With a blossoming creative community gaining momentum, it is interesting to see artists and musicians who have moved to other communities return to their roots, even if for a brief visit.

Artists move for many reasons; post-secondary education, adventure, to seek new audiences, for love, for opportunity. Rare is an artist who stays in one place their whole career, though equally rare is an artist that doesn’t have a fondness, of one sort or another, for their home town.

Tonight the RMG officially opens Revealing Spaces, Curated by Sonya Jones, that is an exhibition of works by three artists who each have personal ties to Durham Region. Andrea Carvalho spent her formative teen years in Uxbridge, where her parents still reside today, though she now lives and works in Montreal. Carvalho’s work is contemporary and highly conceptual installation work that explores space and human relationships within it.

Shaun Downey, Oshawa born-and-raised, paints portraits of people in his life, in spaces he inhabits, in incredible colour, light, and realism. His artistic practice is now located in Toronto, though his work has taken him as far abroad as the BP Portrait Gallery in London, England. Some of his works in this exhibition directly reference his former and current homes, for example his self portrait, titled Oshawa Shirt, Toronto Jacket. Shaun made a video promoting this exhibition:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebOLBrtIDH0?wmode=transparent]

Kate Wilhelm, who grew up with her family in Orono, is a photographer who offers a glimpse at the public and private lives of the women of Roller Derby. Now living and working in Guelph, Kate’s photographs explore how public identity is constructed, while domestic private lives can present an entirely different picture.

Each artist’s work can be viewed within a concept of space; physical space, private space, public space, our relationship to spaces past and present, even our relationships to spaces we transition through. The artists will be present tonight (Friday 6 July, 2012) at the opening reception event for Revealing Spaces, held from 7 to 10pm as part of the monthly RMG Fridays event series.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydx2-bzN0rs?wmode=transparent]

Two bands are performing at the event, each with their own links to Durham Region. SPORTS are a four piece band that play out of Toronto, but members of the band grew up in Bowmanville. They play swirly pop-rock that some have compared to Fleetwood Mac or Flaming Lips. In addition, The Mark Inside, a four piece rock band originally from Whitby, but who are now based out of Toronto, are visiting the RMG event to play a set, bringing their rock and roll energy home again.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZF4-I-ir5A?wmode=transparent]

But what is the message of this return-to-roots story? I believe it is the creation of opportunity and the offering of inspiration. By creating spaces and venues for artists and musicians to return home to, we help to encourage our community development. We show that not only is there something to return for, but we also show that there is a world beyond our door step. For young artists this is an essential message; and in turn it encourages emerging local talent by providing motivation and a foundation for their careers.

Can’t make it? Revealing Spaces is on at the RMG from July 6 to August 26.

Missed the bands? Follow them on facebook to stay up to date with their upcoming shows:

the mark inside

SPORTS

Hot Topics – Creative Social comes to the RMG

Hot topic posts come from the desk of Jacquie Severs, Manager, Communications & Social Media

The RMG was proud host to Creative Social: Oshawa, last Thursday, 28 June. This came as a result of a conversation I had with Dana Jackson, the very first time I met her at an RMG Friday event. She was enthusiastic about that event series, and knew the RMG would be the perfect Oshawa host for this event that travels through the Region of Durham. Dana told me that Creative Social events encourage entrepreneurs, artists and other members of Durham Region’s creative community to come together to connect, inspire one another and develop new business opportunities.

The Oshawa event was fortuitously timed. Our CEO Gabrielle Peacock, along with RMG Curator Linda Jansma, City of Oshawa staff, engineers and City Council had been working on a plan to arrange and accept an extended loan-to-gift of a significant outdoor sculpture called Upstart II by Clement Meadmore. For my part, I had been using Photoshop to imagine where the sculpture might end up and how it would look. Also, I was doing my best not to spoil the surprise by telling, or tweeting, the news to anyone. Here’s one of those photo composites.

The sculpture will be conserved and prepared for installation over the summer, with its official unveiling during Culture Days this fall, on Friday 28 September at 2pm. It will be approximately located as pictured above.

Photo by Marina Osmond: Gabrielle Peacock announcing Upstart II

The event was jam packed, with presentations from Oshawhat Magazine editor Erin Elliott, Oshawa Downtown Development Office David Tuley, Members from the Spark Centre, Skopworks, and of course Dana from Creative Social and Kerri King, Tourism Manager for Durham Region, who partnered in the event.

Photo by Marina Osmond: Erin Elliott talks about the immediate and overwhelming popularity of Oshawhat.ca

David Tuley has been working on bringing a Creative Centre to downtown Oshawa for some time. It first hit my radar two years ago when the RMG hosted a workshop by Artscape, who are a Toronto-based organization who help transform old properties (like the Wychwood Barns for example) into new, creative spaces. I was able to participate in this event and some of the discussions that have followed, and have been hoping and wishing the right pieces would fall into place. These sorts of spaces allow for small not for profit organizations, artists, craftspeople, designers and others to rent small spaces for varying amounts of time. There are examples across the world of successful shared spaces like this. It’s exciting to see one come to Oshawa.

With the addition of Independent Project Managers, David was able to announce the shared space would become a reality. A naming competition was announced, and the $500 prize was awarded at the event to the winning entry from local artist Margaret Rogers, for her name The Core.

Photo by Marina Osmond: David Tuley talks about his big ideas.

After the talks, a film collective called The Goldfish Pool showed their time lapse film of Oshawa called Oshawacentric.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/44571321 w=500&h=283]

The crowd stuck around to mix and mingle, share ideas and come up with ways to collaborate. And eat some of Mad Café’s treats.

Photo by Marina Osmond: Treats from Mad Café

The next Creative Social is to be held in Ajax at another creative space reuse example, the St. Francis Centre for Community, Arts & Culture. This centre, built in the former St. Francis deSales Church (built 1871) is newly retrofitted and can serve as a community performance, meeting, and reception space. I am looking forward to attending to check out the beautiful building it all its restored glory. This community project had team members two years ago at the Artscape event I mentioned. They were excited to launch this space.

Photo of the St. Francis Centre via Toronto Observer

In industrial communities, creative thinking about space reuse serves as just one symbol of transformation. Public sculptures serve as symbols as well. These symbols aren’t just visual references though. They are physical examples of revived communities, ones whose members pull together to create action, to improve lives, and to bring arts in culture into the day-to-day experiences of all community members. It’s an exciting time to be involved in the revitalization of Oshawa, especially in the downtown core. See some of the links below to learn more about some of these projects.

Learn about the artist Clement Meadmore and Upstart II

Creative Social

Oshawhat.ca

Artscape

The Art of Transition

St. Francis Centre for Community, Arts, and Culture

Spark Centre

The Goldfish Pool

Marina Osmond Photography

Mad Café

Archibald’s Estate Winery

Downtown Oshawa in Transition:

Downtown Oshawa Farmers’ Market

Downtown Oshawa Sidewalk Sale

Downtown Oshawa BIA

The City of Oshawa

Volunteer Buzz: A Research Trip

Volunteer Buzz posts are from the desk of Norah O’Donnell, Volunteer Coordinator and Gallery Shop Operations Manager

Visiting a new gallery is an exciting experience! This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the AGH in Hamilton ON and The Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY. The goal of the trip was to learn more about their gift shops, so I planned to meet with staff to talk about best selling products, display ideas, custom products, point of sale systems and more. After planning the route, arranging meetings and packing snacks for the car trip I headed on the road with my coworker Jacquie Severs, Manager of Communications and Social Media.

Working at the RMG has enhanced the way I visit galleries and museums. I no longer just look at artwork and artifacts. Now I am curious about displays, wall labels, and my experience as a visitor. I am always taking mental notes and sharing what I have seen with my coworkers. I’ll save the nitty-gritty details of ordering product and sourcing goods, and show you pictures that I took on my journey, and a little bit about what is showing at these fantastic galleries. Consider visiting them over the summer on your road trips!

First Stop: The AGH

The art we saw:

Nature and Sprit: Emily Carr’s Costal Landscapes. Traces Emily Carr’s evolution as an artist and includes many of the painter’s recognized masterpieces.

By Popular Demand presents works from the AGH collections, which are well-known and recognizable.

The Shop:

We have Hilborne Pottery too! And it is very popular in Hamilton as well.

On to The Albright Knox Art Gallery

Modern_wing_albright_kno-albright_knox_art_gallery-3000000016701-500x375

The art we saw:

The AK has a stunning collection of post-war American and European art. Exceptional works by Brancusi, Warhol, Judd, Pollock and more!

Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avant-garde in the 1970s explored the creative community of Buffalo in the 1970s. Interesting work by Cindy Sherman!

The Shop

And us, reflected in a sculpture by Brancusi!

The Curator’s View: Maralynn Cherry’s Retirement Farewell

From the desk of Linda Jansma, Curator.

Hospitality

It’s a word that Maralynn Cherry brought up different times in her talk at Bowmanville’s Visual Art Centre last Friday evening.

The context was Maralynn’s farewell fête as she is retiring from her position as the art centre’s Curator. I felt privileged to be one of some 75 people who came to wish Maralynn well and thank her for what she brought to the visual arts in the Durham Region.

I’ve known Maralynn for many years having curated her work into a two-person exhibition, as well as engaged her as a writer for one of our publications. We also participated in a series of Curatorial workshops many years ago that were held at the VAC. Maralynn is an intelligent, creative, inquisitive and compassionate individual and all of those attributes were made clear through the work of the artists she brought into the VAC and the beautifully crafted essays that she wrote.

Maralynn speaks with Sean McQuay at her farewell event. Photo by Jean-Michel Komarnicki

Back to hospitality. Maralynn has made the VAC a place where both artists and visitors are made to feel welcome. She was able to encourage and accommodate visions and share those with the curious, the inquisitive and the knowledgeable. She finished her talk by stating that in the end, it’s about the artist. It sounds obvious, but in the midst of grant writing, fund raising, facility management, programming, etc., we can lose sight of the fact that without the artist and the art, there’s not much for us to work with. Maralynn understands that and deeply values and respects the artistic vision. As an artist herself, this may be one of the reasons she’s moving beyond the VAC—she has spent years encouraging artists and now needs to more fully and deeply engage with her own artistic practice.

From one Durham Region curator to another: thank you Maralynn.

Hot Topics: Museum Education & Social Media

Hot Topic posts come from the desk of Jacquie Severs, our Manager, Communications & Social Media.

Last night I went to Whitby to meet with a group of art gallery and museum workers known as the Museum & Art Gallery Educators Collective – Durham, or MAGEC-D. This collective is aimed at those who live and work in Durham Region in the Museum and Art Gallery field, but it is open to all who are interested and includes members from Peterborough as well as recent graduates from programs such as Fleming College’s Museum Management.

I attended the meeting last night at the request of Christine Castle, a Museum Education Consultant and publisher of the Museum Education Monitor. I was pleased to lead a discussion on social media within educational efforts at museums and galleries. It was a fun, chatter-filled night with each institution who attended sharing their ideas and progress, challenges and triumphs.

From my perspective social media can offer insight into what happens behind-the-scenes and bring the collections out to the community in new and engaging ways. It helps us open up our vaults, so to speak, to show what it is we do and educate our friends locally, regionally, nationally and even internationally about our collection and historic significance. Social Media is often thought of as purely marketing but the educational components are so inspiring as well.

Two examples of using social media in the education department here at the RMG are our Youtube page, which offers behind the scenes looks at installations and the projects that our summer campers create, and our Facebook fan page, which shows student work from our many classes and camps each Tuesday.

Here are all the institutions that participated last night and their various homes on the web. If you are interested in history, culture and the arts in Durham Region, following along with each profile will provide you with loads of interesting and educational content.

Museum Education Monitor

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Blog

Station Gallery, Whitby

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Blog

Oshawa Community Museum

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Foursquare
Pinterest

Art Gallery of Peterborough

Website
Facebook

Pickering Museum

Website
Tumblr
Flickr
Youtube
Facebook
Twitter

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Blog (you’re here!)
Youtube
Foursquare
About.me

What would you like to see your local gallery and museum do using social media websites? What kind of content interests you? We’d love to hear from you in our comments section.

The Curator’s View: Thomas Bouckley Collection, An Art Perspective

Today’s blog post comes from Sonya Jones, Curator of The Thomas Bouckley Collection.

When looking at images we bring our own history and memories to the experience. For me, coming from an art history background, there are times when I not only look at the images in the Thomas Bouckley Collection from a historical perspective, but also from an “art” perspective. There are many images in the collection that are not only historically significant, but aesthetically beautiful. The majority of the images were taken for documentation purposes—snapshots of events, buildings, or people—but there are many that were clearly taken by a skilled photographer. For example, the composition and lighting of this 1912 image depicting young men playing billiards at the YMCA is striking.

Other times I’m pleasantly surprised to be reminded of famous paintings when looking at images from the collection. There are a couple that have always reminded me of artworks, for example the Oshawa beach scene and Seurat’s painting below.

Beach Activities, Oshawa on the Lake 1915

Georges-Pierre Seurat A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 1884

However, in preparing this blog I put on my art history goggles and even more jumped out at me. Although there are differences, the similarities are what are enjoyable to discover.

T.N. Gibbs Daughter, c. 1850s, (detail)

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Reader c. 1776

On the Oshawa Creek, 1900

Pierre-Auguste Renoir The Skiff (La Yole) 1875

Oshawa Junction, 1912

Claude Monet Gare Staint-Lazare 1877

Newton Home, located at 246 Albert Street, 1880

Grant Wood American Gothic 1930

A new installation of photos from the Thomas Bouckley Collection opens Saturday 28 April. Music To Our Ears: Oshawa’s Musical History is on view until 23 August, 2012.

The Curator’s View: Meet me at the MoMA

From the desk of Linda Jansma, our curator.

I photocopied an ArtsNews article that appeared in the magazine this past winter. It described a unique program offered at the MoMA in New York City that brought patients with dementia and their caregivers into the gallery for tours and discussions on a monthly basis.

(all images via MoMA.org)

I contacted the woman who has spear-headed Meet Me at the MoMA, a program that started in 2006, and arranged to watch a tour during a recent visit to New York. I was one of 115 people who met at 2 p.m. on a warm Tuesday afternoon (the day the gallery is closed to the public, making it easier for the groups to move through the gallery spaces). We were divided into coloured groups: blue, purple, green, red, orange and yellow and given name tags and stools and then each group was led into the gallery spaces by an instructor and volunteer. Our group had a second observer – Ali, who works at the Alzheimer society in New York, helping patients paint – he sensitively equated the disease with art, calling it an abstraction of the mind.

Our leader, Meryl, stopped in front of two paintings by surrealist artist Yves Tanguy. We spent twenty minutes contemplating the colour and shapes in each painting, and listening to the comments of both patient and caregiver. No one was in a hurry and there were no wrong answers: what looked like a desert to one, reminded another of the board walk of Atlantic City, while many could see the “body” after it was described. Meryl worked her magic by coaxing patients to draw on past memories to bring meaning to the work. She did the same in front of Willem de Kooning’s Woman I (William kept coming back to just how large that woman’s arms were!), and the minimalist sculpture of Lynda Benglis (definitely looked like duck-billed platypuses). What everyone seemed to agree on was that none of them would actually want to live with any of the work they saw that afternoon.

The disease had progressed differently in many of the patients: I spoke with Karen on the way to the gallery, assuming that she was a caregiver, and was told that she has had Alzheimer’s for “a long, long, long time,” while other participants could only whisper simple answers to the questions asked. The caregivers were equal participants in the program, an acknowledgement to the difficulty inherent in their jobs and that this was an outlet for them, as well.

The gallery deserves the accolades and awards it has received for Meet Me at the MoMA, a program delivered with sensitivity, awarding each of its participants with dignity by drawing on memories that tell of lives that continue to be meaningful.

Read more on the MoMA’s website: http://www.moma.org/meetme/