Interview with artist Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock

In the lead up to her solo exhibition Familiarity in the Foreign (on view from April 30 – June 5) at the RMG, we sat down with artist Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock to ask her a few questions about the show and her practice.

The RMG: Hi Lindsay! Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock: Hi RMG! I’m a young Canadian photographer and artist. I grew up in London, Ontario where I had the pleasure of attending the amazing BealArt program. While there I really discovered my love of photography as well as the darkroom. I then earned a bachelor of fine arts from York University in Toronto. I minored in psychology at the same time, which I feel has influenced my artistic practice. After graduating I continued to pursue my art practice, having occasional shows and being awarded grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council. Concurrently, I began working in editorial and commercial photography- first as a photo assistant and then as a photographer. In 2014, my husband and I decided to throw all our things in storage and try something new. We’re currently using Mexico City as our base which is giving us the opportunity to spend more time travelling and doing artistic work.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Mezcaleria, Digital C-Print, 2014

RMG: What materials do you work with?

LLG: As I mentioned, my photographic practice has two wings so to speak. A gallery based practice and editorial work. However these two ends compliment and inform one another. I’ve learned skills from my experience in editorial that have aided my art, and vice versa. It’s difficult to truly divide one from the other.

These days I primarily shoot with a digital-SLR. Although, whenever I have the chance I like to shoot medium format film. I really love photographing portraits with a medium format camera. I feel like I get to connect with the subject in a different and perhaps more intimate way.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Wind on the Ferry, Digital C-Print, 2015

RMG: Let’s go back to last fall. Why were you interested in submitting to our fundraising auction RMG Exposed? Please let us know a little more about the piece you submitted, Wind on the Ferry.

LLG: A few years ago I came across the RMG fundraiser, decided to submit and was awarded the documentary prize. I had heard of RMG before but living in Toronto and without a car, I had never been. When I was there for the Exposed event I was blown away by the space and the work there. Toni Hamel’s The Lingering was on exhibition. It was beautiful and captivating and I still think about it regularly. After my initial experience at RMG I of course wanted to support the gallery and submit again.

The piece I submitted in 2015, Wind on the Ferry, was taken last summer during a trip to Ucluelet, BC. While on the ferry I felt a slight nostalgia with faint, and possibly imagined memories. Twenty-five years prior to taking this photo I made the same journey via ferry from mainland British Columbia to Vancouver Island. There was a feeling of the sublime onboard the ferry. An enormous vessel dwarfed by great waters and powerful winds. The curtain caught my attention as it had been pulled out of the window by the wind and was fluttering on the exterior of the ferry. There was something very comforting and domestic about the fabric curtain and at the same time its position was unnerving.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Coin Operated Binoculars, Digital C-Print, 2015

RMG: What are you most excited about showing to our audience in your exhibition Familiarity in the Foreign? What do you hope visitors get from viewing your photographs?

LLG: For me, the photographs in this exhibition have a quiet, emotive aspect to them. I think they often suggest a story of something that has just happened, or is just about to take place. My hope is that visitors who see my exhibition will find a photo that speaks to them. Something that reminds them of a time or place in their lives, or even a story they’ve heard. I want viewers to be able to enter my photos and be taken somewhere else, to have an emotional response that’s detached from where they in that actual moment. I suppose these are rather lofty goals, but it would be nice.

RMG: One of your works, Coin Operated Binoculars, will be on view in downtown Oshawa in the Core 21 windows. Can you please tell us a bit about that photo and why it was selected it for that space?

LLG: This photo was taken August 2015 at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. I took this at the end of a two week trip that started in Edmonton, Alberta, went to Vancouver Island in British Columbia and ended back in southern Alberta. It was really exciting to see just a fraction of the beautiful and diverse landscapes that exist in Canada. During our trip we had been to some very remote areas, so Lake Louise was a change of pace with so many tourists there. I liked it though, and was drawn to the binoculars because they were a reminder of the history there. No matter how much the world has changed, we still love admiring scenic views. At the same time, focusing on the binoculars blocked out all the other chaos that was happening around me.

This image was chosen for a couple reasons. Aesthetically, I thought it worked well on a large scale and was intelligible from a distance too. Also, I’ve had lots of reactions to this specific photo. The two lenses give the binoculars a humanoid appearance which viewers seem to be intrigued by.

Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock, Coin Operated Binoculars, 2015. Installed at CORE21 Oshawa

RMG: What inspires you? Is there a particular artist’s work that has influenced your practice?

LLG: A lot of my inspiration comes from novelty; seeing a thing or place for the first time. When I’m shooting, a lot of intangible things influence me; an electric feeling in the air, the calmness of a place, the warmth of the morning sun. I’m driven by affect and invented narratives. As far as artists influencing me, it’s hard to choose just one. I spend a lot of time looking at imagery and photo essays. These can be on photo blogs, in magazines, or the websites and Instagram accounts of other artists. I’m also lucky enough to belong to a community of photographers who are also friends. I’m constantly being exposed to new work and ideas.

Their Stories: Final Stories

For the last blog posting featuring three Their Stories submissions, it includes 2 of the most popular portrait subjects. In choosing the unidentified portraits that would be the options, I was looking for ones that were intriguing or suggested a narrative. I was at times surprised at the amount of submissions received for some portraits while others weren’t as popular, which just goes to show that the process is very subjective. Everybody is going to relate to a portrait differently depending on their own experiences. Thanks once again to everyone that participated! – Sonya Jones, Associate Curator and Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection

Portrait 2:

Roderick

This 1921 picture of Roderick, shows him recently arrived from England, where he was an avid cricket player.

Here he always chose to wear the post game attire typical of a gentleman; he eschewed clothes that made him look scruffy. Always the gentleman.

Roderick was a triplet in an age when these family birth groupings were a relative oddity in the pre invitrio fertilization age. Rodney and Rupert remained in England.

Roderick first stayed at the Queens Hotel in Oshawa. No records of just how long he chose to live here are to be found.

Queens Hotel, Oshawa

Now in Canada, Roderick chose to try tennis and to continue to wear the post game attire. He was not stodgy per se, but he did have personal standards.

Along with tennis, he decided to give sailing a go, and revive a passion long ago put aside.

The oval picture lends a sense of formality to Roderick and it quietly pleased him.

I wonder who “my Roderick” really was, and what was his real story

By: Donna George
Portrait 2

Daniel Underhill

If you were to ask any resident of Hampton, Ontario, what they thought of Daniel Underhill, you would always hear the same thing: “A nice lad. A bit slow, but he means well”. Raised by his doting mother and stern father, Daniel was the second of three sons, and by all accounts, the least impressive. His older brother, Richard, was an athlete without equal in the small town, breaking school and regional records in most disciplines of track and field. Steven, the youngest, was as brilliant a scholar as Richard was a sportsman. Following in his father’s footsteps, the boy courted the world of academia, becoming a lawyer, and eventually a judge. Daniel, on the other hand, stuck out by not being extraordinary at all. Awkward and uncoordinated in athletics, and more than a little slow in school, the poor boy was often ridiculed for his inability to step from behind the shadows of his far more successful kin. A constant headache to his father and an embarrassment to his brothers, Daniel felt most at home in the company of his loving mother, the only person who truly understood him. A kind boy, Daniel was happiest making others smile.

By: Spencer Baron

Portrait 1

Unidentified Portrait from the Thomas Bouckley Collection. Collection of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

Wanderlust

He was a farm boy, resigned to stay in Columbus for all his days. He was never a wanderer; his younger years were filled with hot summer days in the fields, and cold winters in the kitchen by the fire. A trip to the Falls changed him. At sixteen, in search of a thrill, he set forth to conquer Niagara. The traveller—he boarded a westbound train at Oshawa with a roundtrip ticket in the pocket of his shirt. It was four years before he returned to the farm to console his father, and grieve his mother. Wanderlust, he spent his mornings on Clifton Hill, spinning mystical tales of adventure to wide-eyed people, and his afternoons on the water, amid the shadow of the mist. In 1922 he followed the tourist boom south to the Florida Keys. Land speculator by day—drinker, talker, and dreamer by night. A tycoon by forty, he lost it all in the crash. He made the trek home to Columbus, riding the rails with the rest. A farmer by day, a writer by night. He settled into his life, welcoming the pace of a place set apart from the rapid changes of a new age.

By: Amanda Robinson

Reflections on The Other NFB

A note from visitor Peter Young and his reaction to The Other NFB and the “Bren Gun Girl” Veronica Foster.

I visited the RMG on Sunday to take in The Other NFB, and I’d like to say that it’s just a great exhibit. The photographs portray such a wonderful variety of life in Canada over 30 years between 1941 and 1971. I understand it’s curated by Dr. Carol Payne from Carleton University who has also authored a comprehensive book “The Official Picture” on this subject, published in 2013.

I have some information for you, along with a few visuals, that I thought you’d enjoy which relate to a selection of the photos.

There were a number of photographs in The Other NFB depicting “Bren Gun Girl” Veronica Foster, very effective shots portraying women’s roles in munitions factories in Canada during WWII. Seeing Veronica was so coincidental because I recognized her name, having used a photo of her (not in the exhibit) on the cover of one my books “Let’s Dance – A Celebration of Ontario’s Dance Halls and Summer Dance Pavilions.”

Bren Gun Girl Ronnie Foster with son Thomas 1973

The photograph I used is one of a series taken at the Glen Eagle Country Club on May 10, 1941, where she’s dancing with Michael Craig. I obtained it from the National Archives and have included the related info. This is the same date the other shots in the exhibit were taken, and at the same locale. In fact you can see the chandelier and the French door in the background, and there’s a juke box in mine.

After a little research, I discovered that Veronica, or “Ronnie” as she seemed to be called, was also a Big Band singer. She performed with the Mart Kenney Orchestra as well as Trump Davidson. Mart’s band was known across Canada, doing regular radio broadcasts and performances. He was based in BC but toured the country relentlessly for over 60 years and was heavily involved with raising funds for bonds during WWII as well. Trump Davidson was also one of Canada’s best jazz arrangers, composers and band leaders. He led the house band for years at the Palace Pier in Toronto.

Ronnie met her future husband, trombonist George Guerrette who performed with Trump. They had 5 kids and from what I can determine, George passed away and Ronnie moved back to Toronto when her family was rather young. One of her sons, also named George, followed in his Dad’s footsteps and has been involved with music for most of his life.

Bren Gun Girl Ronnie Foster

My book “Let’s Dance” covers many of the venues in Ontario where people met, socialized, enjoyed entertainment and often formed life-long relationships from the late 1920’s up to the early years of rock & roll. You might be interested to know that the Jubilee Pavilion in Oshawa’s Lakeview Park, built in 1927, is one of the few original dance pavilions remaining in the Province. It successfully made the transition from Big Band to Rock music under the management of Owen McCrohan – affectionately known as “Onie McCronie” around town – who ran the place for 50 years!

I thought you’d like to read this “story behind the photo.” It’s always interesting to learn more about subjects in photos that captured a moment in time.

Bren Gun Girl Ronnie Foster in Chester NS 1999

During the 1960’s and 1970’s Peter Young used to work in a number of rock and roll bands, playing in many of the dance halls and summer dance pavilions throughout the province. Most of these venues have disappeared over the years.

He has written three books about this subject, the most recent one is “Let’s Dance,” published by Dundurn. Writing the books has been part of Peter’s interest in nostalgia and pop culture. He researches destinations where people went for their entertainment and to socialize, including small town movie theatres, drive-in movie theatres, older diners and other aspects of life from the post-war era, particularly places which have survived and continue to operate. Peter runs his own business, PDA Communications Ltd in Oshawa, where he works as a freelance writer.

Curator’s Choice: Holly King

In 2012, the RMG was gifted Solitude by Holly King. I placed the work in the permanent collection exhibition Objects May Be Closer Than They Appear, the following year. Now, we have an opportunity to celebrate King’s work in a larger way with the mid-career retrospective Edging Towards the Mysterious.

Solitude is earlier than any of the work in the new exhibition. King practices mise en scène photography. Her process begins by staging her landscape settings in her studio using various props and materials. She then photographs the theatrical fabrications—the end result is the creation of “imaginary landscapes that hover between reality and fiction.” In Solitude, a horizon line helps to differentiate the dominating sky and the water. Two small islands, made of found foliage, are surrounded by the immense, never ending blue sky and water, giving, as the title suggests, a sense of remoteness. The island’s remoteness prompts thoughts of untouched/unexplored nature—a welcomed retreat. However, the materiality of the staged setting in this photograph—the painterly quality of the sky and the foliage used to suggest land—reminds the viewer of the artificiality of the waterscape. King’s sharp focus photography does not allow the viewer to mistake the landscape as real, but encourages instilling their own personal experiences through their memories and imagination with both the objects used and the constructed environment. The tension between illusion and reality in King’s work becomes a journey for the viewer to explore.-

– Linda Jansma, Senior Curator

A look through the lens…

This winter, the RMG shifts its focus to exploring how artists view the world through images. Photography is used to document history, to capture a memory, to tell a story or to create an imaginary landscape. We invite you to consider capturing these moments and the role of the artist behind the lens when you visit.

The Other NFB: The National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division, 1941-1971 is an exhibition exploring our national identity and history by showing how Canada was presented to the world. Through this collection of images, we see a slice of Canadian life at this important time in history. This exhibition serves as a reminder of how photography informs our national identity. How do you relate to these images? How does the photograph relate to your personal narrative or family story?

In Their Stories: Unidentified Portraits from the Thomas Bouckley Collection we are taking a different approach to historical photography. In this exhibition, we put out a call for writers to create narratives for a selection of unidentified portraits from our collection of historical Oshawa photographs. The stories we received were varied, creative and shine a new and exciting look into the possible lives of these people. We encourage you to think about these unidentified subjects and the lives they may have lived.

We take another look at the photographic image in Holly King: Edging Towards the Mysterious. In this mid-career retrospective, the artist presents a series of idealistic and beautiful landscapes. At first glance, you hope these are real— possible utopian escapes. But at second glance you feel a sense of loneliness and anxiety from something unsettling in the landscape. This feeling is caused by King’s use of staged photography. By manufacturing her landscapes, we are forced to question the image we are presented with— is it real, is it fake, or are we lost in our imaginations?

In April, we will celebrate the CONTACT Photography Festival with an exhibition by RMG Exposed winner Lindsay Lauckner Gundlock entitled Familiarity in the Foreign. The images represent the quiet moments that she found among the chaos of travel, as well as memories of places visited.

In conjunction with our photography exhibitions, we are excited to offer accompanying programming. Please join us for a symposium, featuring The Other NFB, that will examine Canada and Canadian identity through visual image. A tour of the exhibition will be given by curator Carol Payne, followed by an interactive discussion with 5 panelists. This will be an invigorating day so register early to guarantee your spot!

SPIN II by Katrina Jennifer Bedford

Guests at RMG Exposed, the annual juried photography auction and fundraiser for the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, will walk directly into one of the evening’s works of art: a large-scale projection installation entitled SPIN, by photographer and Durham College Professor, Katrina Jennifer Bedford. We sat down with Sam Mogelonsky, the RMG’s Manager of Marketing and Communications, to learn more about SPIN.

SPIN was first exhibited in 2012 at Nuit Blanche. How did it come to the attention of the RMG, then become part of RMG Exposed 2015?

Katrina Jennifer Bedford is an artist I have been following for a few years. Her work with photography had always interested me, in particular the SPIN project which was presented at Nuit Blanche Toronto and also at Cambridge Galleries Unsilent Night. This project activates the space in such a dynamic way that when we began considering RMG Exposed 2015, I immediately thought of this project and suggested it as an artist project for the event. Katrina was on board and excited about the possibility of re-staging it at the RMG and the collaboration went from there. We were thrilled to receive support from Durham College, where she teaches in the Digital Photography and Video programs, as well as Ed Video for technical support and Posterjack for the production of the SPIN limited edition print.

What’s the significance of installing SPIN in the lobby of the RMG, rather than in a gallery?

We like to think of the entire RMG building as a whole – the experience begins when you walk up the stairs and isn’t confined to one particular gallery space. As much as I enjoy seeing art presented in the “white cube” gallery space, I am equally thrilled and engaged when art is presented in unexpected places, such as corners, hallways, and in this case, our lobby. Besides, the ironic limestone wall in the lobby space is a perfect canvas for a temporary art installation!

How to you hope visitors will feel, or “take away” from SPIN?

I hope people will be as captivated by the project as I was when I first saw it. The simple action of the disco ball rotating in stop motion is almost hypnotic and certainly visually stunning when presented at such a large scale. Since it’s presented at RMG Exposed, I hope people will recognize the significance of both the analogue and digital in photography and video and be inspired to purchase a photograph during the auction, or one of the limited edition prints of SPIN. I know I will.

How does SPIN enhance the viewing experience of RMG Exposed? Should it influence how guests look at the photographs in the exhibition?

My hope is that the projection will draw the viewer in form outside and they will be engaged and excited about the event from the moment they walk into the RMG. By changing the lobby through the video, I hope that guests will appreciate the transformative properties of art and consider purchasing one of the great photos up at auction to transform their own living spaces. It may or may not have any bearing on how guests view the photographs in the auction, but certainly will provide an amazing backdrop for visitors to enjoy the event!

Can you tell me about the limited edition of SPIN?

The RMG is thrilled to be collaborating with Katrina on a limited edition of SPIN. The artist print of the project will be available for $50 in support of the RMG’s community outreach programs. The 8×12″ fine art prints are printed with archival ink on 100% cotton Hahnemïhle photo rag. Prints can be purchased in advance at rmgexposed.ca or during the event. Support of this edition is generously provided by Posterjack.

RMG Exposed will be held at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (72 Queen Street), on November 14, 2015, from 7 pm to 10 pm. Tickets are $30.

About the artist:

Katrina Jennifer Bedford is a photographer, art educator and cultural advocate. She currently holds the position of Professor at Durham College teaching in the Digital Photography and Video Production programs. Jennifer has worked with notable not-for-profit organizations such as the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Cambridge Libraries and Galleries, Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener Area (CAFKA), Art Gallery of Burlington, and Oakville Galleries. Her photographs have been exhibited in Canada and the United States and her photos have been published in Azure magazine, Border Crossings, Canadian Art online, C Magazine and in numerous Canadian exhibition catalogues. For more information visit kjbedford.ca.

This article was originally written for What’s On Oshawa. Please visit http://whatsonoshawa.com/index.php/2015/11/10/behind-the-scenes-with-spin-at-rmg-exposed/

Hidden Mothers and “Tall Tale” Postcards

This post comes from the desk of Associate Curator and Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection, Sonya Jones.

Researching and selecting images for the exhibition Mindful Manipulation was fascinating! Not only did I learn about darkroom manipulation processes but I also discovered some interesting things about early studio practices. For example, hidden mother photography. In the Victorian era, with long exposure times, mothers would often disguise themselves in different ways to hold their children still. Photographers would try to put the focus on the children by camouflaging the mothers as chairs, couches or curtains.

John Aubrey Morphy Portrait, 1891, Oshawa Public Libraries

There is one example of this in Mindful Manipulation where the mother is draped to look like a chair. The photographer went even further in drawing attention away from the “chair” with a white vignette. This was done by dodging, a process that decreases the exposure for areas of the print that the photographer wished to be light. As a mom, I know firsthand how difficult it is to capture a squirming baby even with today’s technology, and I guess I’m technically hiding too, but behind the lens versus disguised as a couch! The example of the Morphy baby isn’t as creepy as other examples from this time period. If you Google hidden mother photography the results are hilarious and spooky.

“How We Do Things At Oshawa, ONT.”, 1911, Oshawa Public Libraries

The other subject I found interesting in my research was Tall Tale postcards. These postcards began around the turn of the 20th century, and were especially popular in smaller communities where they would exaggerate food sources specific to the region. In Oshawa’s case, the tall-tale is that Oshawa’s rich soil produces gigantic turnips, and that fish were an abundant food source. Photographers would take two prints, one a background landscape and another a close-up of an object, carefully cut out the second and superimpose it onto the first, and re-shoot the combination to create a final composition that is often ridiculous but fun.

Join me on November 17 for a lecture about the history of manipulated images as well as the emerging field of digital forensics by Deepa Kundur.

For more information please visit https://rmg.on.ca/mindful-manipulation-tbc.php

Top image: “How We Do Things At Oshawa, ONT.”, 1917, Oshawa Community Museum and Archives

My Curatorial Internship at the RMG

Alessandra Cirelli is a Museum Management and Curatorship student at Fleming College and this summer she completed her placement with the RMG.

During my undergrad, I completed a degree in art history and fine art, but when I finished I had that nagging question that most students have—what do I do now? I knew I wanted to work in an art gallery, but felt I needed the skills to do so. So back to school I went, to become a Museum Management and Curatorship student at Fleming College, a one-year program with a 14-week internship. There, I studied how to preserve and catalogue art, artifacts, and manage the daily operations of a Museum and Art Gallery institution. I learnt more than I could have ever imagined about the inner workings of a Museum and Art Gallery. The school year flew by and at the end of my second semester it was time for my internship. I changed my one-hour commute to Fleming College in Peterborough into a welcomed ten-minute drive to The Robert McLaughlin gallery where I spent the summer as a curatorial intern.

During my internship, I experienced a bit of everything, from cataloguing and rehousing photographic collections, helping create exhibition proposals, photographing and reorganizing the sculpture collection, I have been involved in it all. One of the many highlights of my internship was the chance to use my newly acquired artifact and artwork handling skills to take down and install new exhibitions. It was a proud moment seeing the loading dock full of multi coloured crates filled with artworks I helped pack and wrap waiting to be shipped to the next exhibition.

My main internship project was to reorganize and photograph the sculptures in the RMG’s sculpture collection. Sculptures were photographed using professional lighting equipment and Canon 5D camera. The pictures were then uploaded to the RMG’s online database for both internal use and, if copyright allowed, for the public to see and enjoy. After photographing, I reorganized and assigned locations to the sculptures in the vault. As good practice, each object should be locatable within 3-5 minutes and should be accessible by moving only one to two items to get to it. By reorganizing and assigning locations, the sculptures in the RMG’s sculpture vault are now more accessible for research and exhibition preparation.

I have learnt a great deal at the RMG, I now feel like I have the knowledge and the skills to work in a Museum or Art Institution. I extend a huge thank you to everyone here at the RMG for making me feel like a part of the team during my 14-week internship.

New Acquisition to The Thomas Bouckley Collection – Oshawa Strike

This post comes to us from the desk of Sonya Jones, Associate Curator and Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG) in Oshawa, Ontario holds the Thomas Bouckley Collection. The Collection was donated to the RMG by the late Thomas Bouckley, amateur historian and collector of Oshawa’s history. The entire computerized collection comprises over 2,300 historical photographs of Oshawa and about 100 works are featured in three exhibitions per year.

Earlier this year, the Thomas Bouckley Collection received a donation of images that capture the General Motors Strike of 1937. The gift, from the McGrath family, includes 57 images, 37 of which depict the famous strike. Prior to this wonderful addition to the collection, there were only 3 images of the strike in the Thomas Bouckley Collection.

General Motors Strike, 1937

What’s interesting about these images is that they capture candid moments between strikers on the picket line. They weren’t just taken to document the strike but seem to be snap shots between friends, giving a general sense of what the mood was like during this time.

On April 8, 1937, 3,700 GM workers punched in as usual and then walked off the job. They didn’t return to the assembly lines until a settlement was struck two weeks later.

For a little background as to why the strike began, an interview with Arthur Shultz, who had worked on the assembly lines in GM from 1922–1937, describes the conditions of the plant and community prior to the 1937 strike:

“Work on the assembly lines was hell, speed ups, no rest periods, afraid to complain for fear of permanent layoff. The pay was good while you worked but yearly earnings were in the $600 range. Work was only available for six to seven months of the year and many employees were forced to apply for City welfare.” – Arthur Schultz, 1951

Female Employees, General Motors Strike, 1937

The Toronto Star reports the strike as an orderly event:

“A stand-up strike not a sit-down strike” with 260 women joining the men on the picket line. It begins quietly with workers first filing into work as usual at 7 a.m. and then five minutes later, just as peacefully, exiting the plant. Simultaneously, 400 pickets are flung up around the works with pre-arranged precision” – Toronto Star, April 8, 1937

While these photographs depict an important event in Oshawa’s history, the smiling faces and sociable atmosphere give it a human side.

Top image: General Motors Strike, 1937

Reflections on the Thomas Bouckley Collection

Assistant Curator Megan White reflects on her year at the RMG and shared with us her favourite photos from the Thomas Bouckley Collection. For more photos from the collection, follow vintageoshawa.tumblr.com

Town Clerk’s Office, 1912
I love the photographs in the Thomas Bouckley collection that strongly capture a single fleeting moment. Even though this photograph was taken over 100 years ago, the connection made between the subject and photographer in this split second is so striking.

King’s Family Residence, 1890
There are so many great things about this photograph. The great outfits, the women posing with their bicycles, the beautiful house and plants on the porch, and of course the dog!

R.S. Williams Piano Workers, 1910
Oshawa has an incredible history of industry. The photographs taken inside some of the old factories, such as this one, are simply remarkable.

Looking East at Harmony Corners, 1909
This is a photograph that I can look at again and again- it reminds me of a still from an old film. Like many photographs in the collection, I would love to know the story behind why this photo was taken!