Linda Jansma wins a writing award for Jock Macdonald: Evolving Form

The 2015 Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Awards were presented on 18 November, 2015 at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. The Awards are annual, province-wide, juried awards of artistic merit and excellence. They recognize the new exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships commissioned and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries over the previous year.

During the ceremony, Linda Jansma, the RMG’s Senior Curator, received the Curatorial Writing Award, Major Text for the essay entitled “Jock Macdonald, Dr. Grace W. Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff: A Lesson in Automatics” for the exhibition Jock Macdonald: Evolving Form. The 208-page catalogue features essays, as well as full-color photography, and was printed by Black Dog publishing. The publication also features texts by co-curators Ian M. Thom and Michelle Jacques, an essay by scholar Dr. Anna Hudson, excerpts from Macdonald’s correspondence and a diary the artist kept while living in Nootka Sound from 1935 to 1936.

“The OAAG awards are important because they represent the best in work from Ontario art galleries, as reviewed by our peers. I am thrilled to receive this award. – Linda Jansma, Senior Curator, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

The exhibition Jock Macdonald: Evolving Form was organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and was curated by Ian M. Thom, Michelle Jacques and Linda Jansma. The exhibition was held at the RMG from 3 February to 24 May, 2015. For more information about the exhibition, please visit the project’s website at jockmacdonald.org.

Gabrielle Peacock gives keynote address at Sustainable Economies: Regional Public Art Galleries and Art-Vibrant Scenes

On Friday, 27 March, the RMG will send two team members to the Art Gallery of Windsor to speak at Sustainable Economies: Regional Public Art Galleries and Art-Vibrant Scenes, a one-day professional development exchange presented by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG). This event gathers directors, curators, and emerging arts professionals together to explore the role and sustainability of public art gallery collections in today’s fluctuating economies.

With a focus on gallery impacts arising from the 2008 and 2009 recession in the automotive-based economies of Oshawa, Windsor and Detroit, presenters and panelists will share examples of ongoing and sustained artistic innovations undertaken during depressed and changing economies. Gabrielle Peacock, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of the RMG, will present Making Culture Count: A Case Study in the Role of the Museum Leadership and City Revitalization.

Communications and Social Media Coordinator, Sam Mogelonsky, will present on the gallery’s monthly program, RMG Fridays. For four years, on the first Friday of the month, the gallery comes to life at night with musical performances and interactive art experiences. With continued support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, this free program showcases local talent while providing an avenue for the RMG to expand its audiences and engage with community partners.

OAAG aims to empower Ontario public art galleries through advocacy, professional development, and network building. Attendees of OAAG’s event will have the opportunity to discuss how galleries have adapted, opportunities and barriers for artistic innovation existing in each community, as well as share regional funding and revenue strategies that can help sustain public art gallery collections. Joining Peacock as a keynote speaker is Catharine Mastin, Director, Art Gallery of Windsor, who will speak on support for arts and culture through municipal funding.

PHOTO CREDITS
(Left) Border Cultures part 3 (security, surveillance), 2015, installation view, Art Gallery of Windsor.
(Right) Exterior view by Michel Cullen, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

We’re Pleased to Announce Two OAAG Awards!

The 2013 Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Awards were presented on September 27 at the University of Toronto Art Centre. The Awards are annual, province-wide, juried awards of artistic merit and excellence. They recognize the new exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships that have been commissioned and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries over the previous year.

Our Senior Curator, Linda Jansma commented “The OAAG awards are particularly important as they represent the best in the work that Ontario art galleries are doing as reviewed by our peers. We are very pleased to have nominated Stuart Reid for the writing award and congratulate him on being chosen as the winning recipient.”

We’re thrilled to announce that we were named as partners in two exhibitions that won Curatorial Writing Awards:

Simone Jones All That Is Solid Catalogue Cover

Essay
Stuart Reid
“Simone Jones: The Image Stream”
Simone Jones: All That Is Solid
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catharines, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham-Kent, and The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, 2012

The exhibition Simone Jones: All That Is Solid was at the RMG from 17 November, 2012 to 13 January, 2013.
Click to learn more.

A Vital Force Catalogue Cover

Major Essay
Alicia Boutilier
“A Vital Force: The First Twenty Years”
A Vital Force: The Canadian Group of Painters
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 2013

The exhibition A Vital Force: The Canadian Group of Painters opens at the RMG on November 30th and is on view until February 9^th, 2014. The opening reception is held at RMG Fridays on Friday December 6 from 7-10pm.

For more information on the OAAG Awards and to read more about all of the recipients in 2013, click here.

If you’re interested in reading these essays, the catalogues are available for purchase at the RMG Shop or through ABC Books Canada.

Hot Topics: The 2012 OAAG Awards

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

Last Friday, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) hosted the 35th annual Ontario visual arts awards. Thirty-two visual art galleries from 19 cities across Ontario were nominated this year, and the RMG was included.

The OAAG Awards recognize artistic merit and excellence in nine major categories: Exhibition, Curatorial and Art Writing, Public Program, Education, Art Publication, Design, Partnership, Colleague and Volunteer. The Awards are an annual, juried program.

I’m pleased to be able to announce today that the RMG won in two categories!

(Here’s our CEO Gabrielle Peacock accepting an award! Photo by Roberta Baker)

Samuel Roy-Bois: Polarizer was at the RMG in November 2009-January 2010 and continued to travel to galleries across Canada through 2011. You may remember the long claustrophobic passage punctuated with a bright boat installation.

Exhibition Design and Installation Award

Samuel Roy-Bois: Polarizer
Ryan Doherty, Curator
Samuel Roy-Bois, Artist and Exhibition Designer
Samuel Roy-Bois, Marcie Bronson, Danny Custodio, Matt Harley, Gallery Team
Rodman Hall Art Centre/ Brock University, Southern Alberta Art Gallery and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2011

In late 2009 and early 2010, Underline Studio studied our existing identity, and then underwent a design process to renew it, resulting in a new logo identity program. Pictured below are some samples of how that identity has been used in printed items such as newsletters, letterhead and business cards. We have continued to infuse everything we do with our new brand identity and are very pleased Underline Studio was honoured for their work in conceiving a welcoming, friendly, expressive logo for our use across many platforms.

Design Award

Identity Renewal
Underline Studio
Identity Renewal for The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

Learn more!

Check out OAAG:

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Check out Underline Studio:

Online

On Twitter

Read about Samuel Roy-Bois:

Online – Personal Site

Canadian Art Magazine