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:

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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.

Thomas Bouckley Collection: Share Your Musical Memories of Oshawa

Music

As the popularity of RMG Fridays–a night of free music and culture at the RMG every first Friday of the month–can attest, Oshawa’s music scene is thriving. The current Thomas Bouckley exhibition, Music to Our Ears: Oshawa’s Music History, looks back at Oshawa’s history of producing both homegrown talent as well as musical instruments.

Included in the exhibition is a bulletin board where visitors can post and share their musical memories of Oshawa. The response has been great! Here are a few examples of memories shared on the bulletin board:

Busker Bros. performance @ RMG blew me away with their talent & use of delay pedals.

I got my first black eye at a Sloan concert at the Moon Room when I was 13.

I have fond memories of both performing and listening to music at the Memorial Park Band Shell.

I saw Mendelson Mainline at the Polish Hall in the 60s.

Oscar Wilde said that “Music was the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.” We invite you to continue to share your music memories of Oshawa either online here in the comments section or in person at the gallery, on our bulletin board.

Join us on Thursday, 7 June  at 7pm for a lecture about the history of music in Oshawa, followed by a performance by the Oshawa Civic Band—the earliest musical group in Oshawa’s history (formed in 1870). Free to attend.

 

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.

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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.

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Beach Activities, Oshawa on the Lake 1915

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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.

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

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Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Reader  c. 1776

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On the Oshawa Creek, 1900

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir The Skiff (La Yole)  1875

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Oshawa Junction, 1912

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Claude Monet Gare Staint-Lazare  1877

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Newton Home, located at 246 Albert Street, 1880 

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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 Intern Files: Amy Weir

In this edition of The Intern Files, we hear from Amy Weir. Amy is a library and information science graduate student from the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. In the past, Amy has interned at the RMG Library and Archives, and is currently working on a special project for the Thomas Bouckley Collection.

Compiled by local historian Thomas Bouckley, the Thomas Bouckley Collection at the RMG depicts the history of the City of Oshawa – providing visual insight into Oshawa’s past. The collection’s catalogued component consists of over 2280 photographs and negatives, but in addition, the RMG possesses a wide range of supporting files from Thomas Bouckley’s personal collection: over 2000 items including uncatalogued photographs, documents, artefacts and ephemera.

            As some may be familiar, much of the catalogued component of the Thomas Bouckley Collection has been organized and filed in proper storage, frequently displayed in exhibitions and accessed for research purposes by the public. However, the other items that make up the collection currently remain in the condition received in 1985, with little organization, improper storage, and a lack of archival-quality housing. The uncatalogued materials, while stored in folders that have been numbered and named, are also difficult to locate due to a lack of description in the accompanying finding aid. This is where I come in. Over the course of three months, I’m working toward the goal of establishing order and appropriate storage for the uncatalogued portion, with the ultimate objective of facilitating ease of access, longevity, and ongoing preservation for the entire collection.

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Re-housing files in archival-quality folders, before and after.

            Currently, the project’s first stage is just wrapping up: the records within nearly all of the files have been ‘re-housed,’ and placed in archival-quality storage to enhance their preservation. Some files have simply required new, archival-quality file folders, while others have required more careful intervention – removing damaged photos from dated photo albums, for example.

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Damaged photos to be removed from unstable photo albums.

Doing so has involved an analysis of every item in the collection, which has provided a great opportunity to discover the treasures that Bouckley collected as part of his research. Items, such as the original postcard with inscription shown here, tell the stories of the families who lived in early Oshawa.

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1917 postcard and note on verso. Man in photo is identified as Frank Mallet of Mallet House Hotel, Oshawa. 
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What’s more, some of the items within the collection speak to not only the history of Oshawa, but the history of other areas in Ontario, with research and artefacts dating as far back as the aboriginal settlements of today’s Durham Region and Southern Ontario. Once the collection has been properly re-housed, organization and the eventual production of a digital finding aid (and collection inventory) is created, access to the collection will be significantly enhanced while contributing to Bouckley’s endeavour to continually augment and to preserve our knowledge of the region’s history.


The Curator’s View: Thomas Bouckley Collection: Oshawa Then and Now

Sonya Jones is the Curator of The Thomas Bouckley Collection.

In looking at Oshawa through a “Then and Now” lens, it really puts into perspective how much Oshawa has changed in the last 100 or so years. The city continues to grow and seems to always be in transition. Consider, for example, UOIT’s continued expansion in the core of the city and how it is rejuvenating the downtown core; or the demolition of General Motor’s north plant to be replaced by a shopping complex. How do these physical changes affect how we think about our city?

Pictured:

Four Corners, 1911, Now. 

 Regent Theatre, 1936, Now

 

51 Nassau Street, c. 1890, Now

This idea of comparing history to present day is explored in the current Thomas Bouckley Collection exhibition in partnership with the Oshawa Seniors Citizens’ Camera Club titled Oshawa Creek: Then and Now. Using historical photographs from the Thomas Bouckley Collection as a starting point, members of the Oshawa Seniors Citizens’ Camera Club have photographed the Oshawa Creek as it appears today. The photographs examine the evolution of the creek and illustrate its continued importance to the foundation of this community. Please join us for the opening reception on Tuesday, February 7th, at 11:30am.  Oshawa Creek: Then and Now is on view until April 26th

Pictured:

 

Mouth of the Oshawa Creek, 1922

Oshawa Creek Today, Photo Credit: Don Wotton

Cedar Dale Dam Destroyed by Flood, c. 1900

Mill Street and Oshawa Creek Today, Photo Credit: Don Wotton

 

 

The Curator’s View: Office of Identity Collects

Sonya Jones is Curator of The Thomas Bouckley Collection. This collection of historical images of Oshawa and surrounding areas plays a vital role in the upcoming project held in Downtown Oshawa. In today’s Curator’s View, Sonya shares her experiences working on this project.

 

As the Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection, I’m able to discover and learn about the history of Oshawa on a daily basis. It has been an ongoing delight working with this outstanding collection of over 3000 images of historical Oshawa. Every four months I install a new Bouckley exhibition, most often focusing on a particular event, industry, individual, or theme of historical Oshawa. As much as the retelling of Oshawa’s history is important, it’s also fun to look at the collection in a contemporary light, which I try to do from time to time. Contemporary artists have done the same—for example in 2009, artist Brenda Joy Lem’s exhibition Homage to the Heart, explored her family’s history as owners of the first Chinese laundry in Oshawa, and Brenda looked to the Bouckley Collection for images of Oshawa incorporating them into her work. Seeing Bouckley images in contemporary pieces was inspiring.

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Brenda Joy Lem

A Clear Flame  2008

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Purchase, 2009

 

This fall the collection will once more be recontextualized in a contemporary fashion by Saskatoon artist Heather Cline using images from the Bouckley collection as a starting point for her work The Office of Identity Collects. 16 King Street East, in downtown Oshawa, will be the location for this community-involved installation/performance, happening from October 24-28th. During the week the artist and her assistant will be interviewing members of the community and documenting memories and stories about downtown Oshawa. In preparation, they have been exploring the Bouckley Collection online. (Click here to search the collection from the RMG’s website)

Oshawa’s story cannot be told without looking to the past, which the Bouckley Collection offers a window to.

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King Street East, 1911

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King Street East, 2011

 

 

When you visit the 16 King Street East location, you’ll feel like you are entering a 1950s government passport office. You’ll sign some “government” papers (permission forms), get your “passport” photo taken, fill out a survey of questions, and lastly you’ll be interviewed about your memories and thoughts about Oshawa. The whole process will take around 20 minutes. At the end of the week, on Saturday, October 29th,  the artist will conduct a Citizenship Ceremony where you’ll get your “passport” which will include a gift of a woodblock print by Heather Cline based on the King St. area. Heather will return home to Regina and begin work on a series of artworks specific to Oshawa and the stories collected with the end result being an exhibition at the RMG from September 1 – October 28, 2012. Be sure to take the opportunity to share your stories about Oshawa, and in turn participate in the creation of a community driven exhibition.

Location: 16 King Street East

Dates: October 24 – 28, Citizenship Ceremony on October 29

Hours: 11am – 4pm