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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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/

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From the desk of Linda Jansma, our curator.

We had a great day at the RMG on April 2^nd. We were hosting COCHA, as well as the newest members of OSNAP. You may be thinking: “what the heck?” Two seemingly disparate groups like COCHA and OSNAP meeting on the same day, and, for half that time, together?

Oh… you’re wondering what COCHA and OSNAP actually are…

COCHA is the former group known as CHAPS. Since 2009, we’ve been trying to agree on what that stands for: Canadian Historical Art Projects? Canadian Historical Art Professionals? Despite loving the acronym, in the end it really didn’t say who we actually are. So, on Monday we decided it was COCHA: Curators of Canadian Historical Art. We’re a group of 13 Ontario-based curators who are passionate about historical art and get together twice each year to discuss our collections, the projects we’re working on and any possible collaborations between its members.

As the host institution for this meeting, we decided to put our social media guru, Jacquie Severs, on the hotspot to give our group an overview of what she does on a daily basis (including posting blogs, of course!). We also invited the social media types of the COCHA galleries to join us.

Jacquie did a brilliant job of presenting the fast paced, ever changing world of social media, and how through it, we hope to capture the hearts, minds and imaginations of a generation who derive much of their information through social media sites. The medium certainly continues to be as important as the message, and the community that it helps build will be the backbone of our galleries moving into the future.

Jacquie was able to recruit the newest members to OSNAP, the Ontario Social Networking Arts Professionals. This is a group that started in 2011 as a way for marketing and communications professionals in the arts community to come together to explore social media best practices and build alliances for collaboration in galleries, museums and other arts organizations.

At Monday’s meeting, OSNAP worked on strengthening the links between Ontario’s art galleries, while COCHA members discussed presenting the past in meaningful ways. Many of us work in relative isolation, so days like Monday are not only rejuvenating, but inspiring – and yes, just plain enjoyable – there are some great arts professionals in this province.

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The RMG’s ArtReach department funtions as an educational outreach program which brings understanding and passion for art to our community. ArtReach, in collaboration with our music event series RMG Fridays, is pleased to present this opportunity for illustrators, graphic artists, musicans and others to participate in showcasing the talent in the music promotion community in Durham Region.

Posters are an art medium with a rich history. Many well known fine artists have completed famous examples: Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s ads for theatre productions are art history staples, while more recently notable graphic designers such as Milton Glaser created designs for rock icons like Bob Dylan. 

We're very excited to see this exhibition of posters by local talent come together in May. For the past few months, we've been seeking submissions from graphic designers, artists, painters, illustrators and other creatives who have designed posters advertising musical performances. We were pleased to receive diverse entries and our jury has made their top 15 selections.

Meet our jury:

Jenn Shadbolt, RGD is a Toronto-based graphic designer with a specialty in delicious food & beverage retail package design. Her work can be found in groceries & drugstores across Canada and the US. She loves to see how good design improves our everyday lives.

Luke Despatie is an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator and printmaker living and working in the bucolic town of Port Hope, Ontario. A true design nerd, Luke is inspired by all things aesthetic – art, architecture, film, theatre, food, toys and comics. His past and present clients include Survivorman, The Northern Pikes, Oak Heights Winery, Random House, Harper Collins, PEN Canada, Yahoo! and Chatelaine, among others.

Chad Mitchell started his career in the music industry 13 years ago at BMG, building websites and riding the social media wave. Eventually he moved into his current position, Video Production Manager at Sony Music Canada, where he has been filming and editing Canadian and International talent for the past 9 years. He has also done gigs with CRIA, Universal Music and The Songwriters Association of Canada.

In addition today we were able to announce our prizes. They are:

The JMS Audio Best Overall Prize
$150 cash, $100 Oak Recording Studios gift certificate, 
membership to the gallery & RMG Fridays swag bag 

The Aked Second Overall Prize
$100 cash, $25 Long and McQuade gift certificate, 
membership to the gallery & RMG Fridays swag bag

The RMG Fridays Third Overall Prize
$50 cash, membership to the gallery & RMG Fridays swag bag

(Winning entries will be announced on the evening of the event.)

Read More:

Oshawa Express Article: Posters Foster Artistic Expression

RMG Fridays Event- Friday 2 May, 7pm: Facebook
Event features performances by Marvelous Beauhunks, Viva Mars.
Book launch: Do Not Resuscitate: The Marvelous Beauhunks: Cautionary Tales from the Best-Looking Band in the World  by Stephen C. Wright 
Art opening: Adrian Norvid: Showstoppers, Whoppers, Downers & Out-of-Towners 

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The Durham Region Area Archives Group (DRAAG) is an advocacy and support group for the history of Durham Region and surrounding areas. The group, made up of Durham’s archives and libraries, works to promote and preserve the shared documentary heritage of Durham Region along with some neighbouring communities. This press release announces their upcoming Archives Awareness Week.

For Immediate Release 20 March 2012

Oshawa – Are you the unofficial family archivist? Join the Durham Region Area Archives Group (DRAAG) as we celebrate Archives Awareness Week (April 2-6) with our Preserving Your Family History event on April 4 at the Northview Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries from 2:00pm – 8:00pm.  Professional Archivists and Local History Librarians will be on hand to answer questions on genealogy, document and photograph preservation, digitization, and document repair. Residents of Durham Region are invited to drop in for digitization and encapsulation demonstrations. There will be helpful information on how best to store your family collection to ensure it lasts for generations to come! Residents are encouraged to bring along their photographs and documents.

For more information please contact the Oshawa Community Museum and Archives at 905-436-7624 ext. 100.

Become a fan of DRAAG on Facebook.
Visit DRAAG on the Web to see participating institutions and partners. 
Follow on Twitter @DurhamArchives 

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In this edition of The Intern Files, we hear from Taylor Short. Taylor is fourth year Communications student at Oshawa's University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). This week Taylor completed her internship with us. Here is her blog post about her experience working in an art gallery for the first time.

In attempting to conceptualize the space of an art gallery, I typically picture paintings hanging on blank walls with people browsing through works as they please.  My recent experience as an intern at the RMG has changed my perspective of the use of gallery spaces.  I have come to the realization that art, and gallery spaces alike, are creative tools for gaining a better understanding of various environments.

Having the chance of exploring works within the gallery and working with individuals who share a passion for art has been an eye opening experience.  It has been exciting to learn about artists, attention-grabbing mediums, and the messages associated with various creative pieces. 

The RMG gift shop has been one of my areas of focus during my time as an intern at the gallery.  Norah O’Donnell and I have enjoyed exploring exclusive products beautifully crafted by local artisans. It has been exciting to be educated about the ways in which pieces are crafted and developed, to create exclusively striking jewellery, pottery, glass ware, and fine art alike.

Art has a curious way of reaching into the deepest corners of our imagination.  It seeps into our souls and allows us to experience a simple sense of bliss.  I hope that the rest of my time at the gallery continues to allow my imagination to be exhilarated.

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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.

            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.

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.

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.

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Ashley Craig is an Public Relations Intern working in our communications department as part of her program at Durham College. This is a blog post about her experience working here in the past few weeks.

I am a public relations intern at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and up until this year, the only other art gallery I have ever been to was the ROM. I went when I was six and I don’t remember seeing any of the exhibits. I just know that I held a snake while I was there. The majority of the artwork I have ever been exposed to were the paintings hanging in my grandmother’s old apartment. The paintings were mainly scenery, flowers and one of a little girl that looked like she belonged on a Cottonelle ad.

So it is safe to say, I have no artistic background. I can draw a stick person, if that. Now interning at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery once a week, I am exposed to all forms of art. Instead of thinking art was just paintings and photographs, I now see art comes in all different styles. I sometimes feel I don’t understand the art, however I am able to appreciate it for what it is, for instance, this piece from the new Micah Lexier & Kelly Mark: Head-to-Head exhibition.

So far my experience interning at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery has been educational, since I am gaining knowledge in the PR industry. It has also been interesting to see all the works, which I probably wouldn’t have thought of as art if I didn’t come here. I would say my experience so far, has allowed me to open my mind to different things. 

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Hot Topics—Micah Lexier & Kelly Mark: Head-to-Head

We are pleased to introduce a new blog category this week called Hot Topics. These posts come from the desk of Jacquie Severs, our Manager, Communications & Social Media. 

Most of the invitations we produce for our exhibitions are created in my office. We have a standard size and shape and more often lately, we’ve been using e-vites. Communicating what we do and the various events we have going on at the RMG is always a challenge because there are so many. So when I was told artist Micah Lexier would be creating the invitation for Head-to-Head and it would be delivered to me, complete with envelope, I have to admit I was more than excited to see what would arrive.

They came in the mail by mid-October. There were two parts, one part was a printed envelope that included the dates of the exhibition and opening reception, the other a folded poster, which I was told was an artist multiple. An artist multiple is a series of identical art objects, usually produced in limited quantities. This multiple was a folded poster that advertised the upcoming exhibition that would be seen at both Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in Halifax, as well as in our own space.

I was thrilled with the design and I knew it would be something unusual for our members and friends to receive in the mail. Because the exhibition was opening in January, I decided to hold off and mail them just before we closed over the holidays, hoping it would arrive in the midst of holiday cards. I thought this meant it would get a little bit more attention and raise curiosity about the exhibition.

What happened next was not what I expected.

In life we sometimes fail to see things from others’ perspectives. I had failed to see that some might not understand or appreciate receiving this package in the mail. It is also true that sometimes a bit of controversy can be a good thing: as has been said “no press is bad press”. As a communications manager, dealing with controversy is part of my job, but it can also help raise discussion and that can be invaluable.

We received three calls in one day from people asking to be removed from our mailing list.

One caller left a lengthy message questioning why he had received something so wasteful. Coming at the issue from an environmentalist perspective, he wasn’t clear on the point of the package or its contents. I did return his call and left a message explaining the contents, and he was satisfied by the explanation. But not all were: some insisted they be removed from the RMG list and receive no more communication from us in the mail.

I started to wonder if this had happened at Saint Mary’s end, so I got in touch with them. They too had been contacted with a similar complaint. Curator Robin Metcalfe, in an email, replied: 

While I myself am very concerned about the environment and rather obsessive about reducing my carbon footprint, it often strikes me as curious how people focus on one small item rather than the big picture. The arts are particularly susceptible to this, since people tend to think of them as frivolous and expendable. Compare the furor around Jana Sterbak's Vanitas (the so-called "meat dress"), over its supposed waste of food. The average McDonald's throws out more food than that every day, but they don't get picketed. 

The posterwork… is meant as a permanent keepsake, more of an artists' multiple than an ephemeral invitation.

I continued on my quest for feedback, and our curator contacted the artist himself. He explains the idea behind the poster,

It is strategy that I have used many times before—printing an envelope with the technical information and logos, and then placing something inside that envelope that is a multiple or stand alone work. Basically we are both telling the audience about the event and giving them something that only exists in that form. It is intended as a stand alone item that commemorated the exhibition. The poster was supposed to be this special, surprising, minimal record of the one work in the show that we worked on as a collaboration. It was also about taking something that we all see every day (an email) and giving it some presence and special treatment.

As the installation continued last week, I started to learn more about the works in the exhibition, and started to think that if the package had made people a little bit confused or concerned that perhaps it was a fitting introduction to the experience. Art isn’t always about beauty and clarity; at its best it can be about raising debate, either with others or with oneself.

The idea of the artist’s multiple is central to this exhibition. In one work, titled Gallery Hours, Micah Lexier quantifies, through minted coins, visitors to the gallery. There is one coin available for each hour the show is open. Yesterday I went down to take a walk through and saw the small sign that read “Please ask for this hour’s coin at reception.” So I did. I received a small envelope with a coin inside. In return, I had to initial a form indicating I had taken that hour’s coin. If the coin is not requested during that hour, it is added to a piggy bank in the installation. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Exploring ideas about interaction, participation, the comfort levels people have with art, procedures of counting and other repetitive functions are at play here. The poster invitation is an introduction to that and perhaps was more effective than could have been anticipated.  If you had an interest in the poster concept, I encourage you to come to the RMG and see if this hour’s coin is still available. If it isn’t, you may have to wait until next hour. It isn’t often that we are given artwork for free (or anything for free, for that matter) and that in and of itself is an intriguing concept to me. 

The exhibition Micah Lexier & Kelly Mark: Head-to-Head is at once witty, challenging and even disturbing. Mark’s Public Disturbance might make you as uncomfortable as a poster made from an emailed argument. The interplay between genders and personalities can create unease. It is that feeling of unease that makes me excited about this exhibition, and I’m curious to hear feedback from our visitors about how it makes them feel.

Next Steps: 

Did you receive a poster? What did you think when you opened the envelope? Leave a comment.

Come to the Head-to-Head Artist Walk & Talk at RMG First Fridays, 3 February.

Tired of getting paper in the mail? Join our e-news list.

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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?

See the full gallery on Posterous

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 26^th. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

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

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From the desk of Linda Jansma, our curator.

On Monday, 28 November in the morning, I attended the official opening of UOIT’s Energy Systems and Nuclear Science Research Centre (ERC). Six years ago, we invested in a ground source heating system for our home, so I am excited to know that Oshawa’s university is a leader in research into innovation in clean and renewable energy as this is where the future is undoubtedly taking us. After the dignitaries spoke, they gathered in front of a sculpture to cut the ribbon and declare the building officially open. Yes, they stood in front of a sculpture!

And not just any sculpture but Geordie Lishman’s True Power, a magnificent 4.1 metre high stainless steel horse that I first saw at Geordie’s home and studio in Ajax. True Power was the central work in the exhibition Hidden Worlds held at the RMG this past summer and which I described in the catalogue essay as an “other-worldly creature of graceful power.” This exhibition was definitely a highlight in our 2011 programming year as shown by the hundreds of people who attended the opening and the number of repeat visitors we had over the summer months.

I was thrilled to hear of the community grass roots initiative to purchase the work for UOIT and specifically for the new research centre. Oshawa and its citizens continue to support this place as a creative city and it shows in how quickly they were able to raise the funds to make this initiative happen. Geordie describes his sculpture as symbol of untapped potential in harnessing energy. How perfect that it would become a centre piece for an institution that is also seeking to harness renewable energy sources! Congratulations go to Geordie, our tireless community supporters of the arts and UOIT in making this match possible.

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With just an hour or so to go in the Q in Oshawa campaign, we thought now would be a good time to reflect on what we've achieved in an incredibly short window of time. Oshawa's spirit for arts and culture is electric and we're thrilled to be part of it. Here's some links to things that have been suggested as reasons for Q to come to Oshawa. Win or lose, we've had so much fun working on this campaign and we are so proud of all of the supporters and friends we've made along the way.

Thanks Oshawa!

Our friends in Whitby the Station Gallery offered their vote of support. Thanks SG!

The Durham Shoestring Performers community theatre group.

The Get Bent Records Summer Solstice concert series

Oshawa saxophonist Matthew James

Our very own collection of works by Painters Eleven, the largest in the world.

The Ontario Philharmonic, based out of the historic Regent Theatre, Oshawa

Patrick Dorie's Hope in High Places kept us motivated....

World's Collide Spiderman Comic Cover!

Isabella's Chocolate Cafe loves Jian

Mad Cafe loves Jian (and so does Momma Mad Cafe!)

The Patty Shack offered Jian his very own namesake burger...

The Geek Freaks, Oshawa's award-winning hip-hop dance crew, two time OUCH champs!

Fiesta Week, the best week-long multicultural festival in Ontario

The Oshawa Express printed a story about the campaign 

OCVI alumni ...Shalom Harlow, Ed Broadbent, John Donabie & Olympic figure skater Donald Jackson and Isla Craig, among many others...

Neil Pashrica, author of 1000 Awesome Things grew up here.

Forest City Lovers supported the campaign, and offered to sing back up for The Stellas if they got to perform this:

The Oshawa Art Association would love it if Jian came!

Durham College Journalism Students created this roundup of Arts & Culture stories students have collected!! How awesome is it? Super awesome. SHWASOME.

We collected Q Portraits at First Fridays!

Durham Tourism jumped on board...and shared through their Art of Transition campaign

Randy Boyagoda was born and raised here, wouldn't he be an interesting guest?

Will McGuirk's love for Star Records, Oshawa's independant vinyl shop shone through

We'd love to hear supporters Cuff the Duke and The Stables play together again...an ode to Oshawa, "Rossland Square"

Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers, writers for the CBC and the Tonight Show heard about the campaign all the way in Los Angeles!

Durham College/UOIT Campus' famous O became a Q!

We found out that Moxy Früvous once played the Moon Room. Thanks Kerri!!

Steppenwolf? Two members, totally from Oshawa. Born to be Wild!

Our popular blog post "Top Ten Reasons Jian should visit Oshawa" helped get things rolling.

Oshawhat Magazine, a new alternative publication set to launch jumped on board the first day.

Oshawa's Mayor John Henry was the first notable to offer his support. Thanks John and the City of Oshawa for all of your support!

The Facebook page continues to buzz with posts as we type this. We've probably missed some friends and supporters! 

Our storied institutions Parkwood Estate, Oshawa Community Museums, the Canadian Automotive Museum, UOIT, Durham College, Trent University Oshawa, and of course all of us here at the RMG look forward to welcoming you to Oshawa Jian!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Friday night the RMG played host to a buzzing crowd for First Fridays. On the 4th floor committee members from the Art of Transition mingled, on the main floor the Gillian Margot Trio performed, while Marina Osmond snapped pictures in a photobooth. Artist Susan Dobson was in attendance, having travelled from Guelph to welcome Oshawa's crowd to see her exhibition By Design. On the lower level the AIDS Committee of Durham Region hosted POZitive Portrayals, an exhibition of works by HIV positive artists from the region. The atmosphere was electric, and so many people took photos with our big red Q in support of the Q Live in Oshawa Campaign! We're excited to share those with you in the morning.

The event had the kind of eclectic crowd you might expect, with mohawked teens seated next to seniors, mothers with babies in arms next to twenty-somethings on dates. Art has a way of bringing people of all stripes together. It is always a joy to see. February is the one year anniversary of First Fridays and so we think it would be a great time for Jian Ghomeshi and his show Q to come and check out Oshawa and see what we're all about.

Tonight, country/pop duo and hometown favourites The Stellas posted this video to show their support of the campaign! Thanks you two! We are honoured to have your support in this competition, which gets to be more fun with each passing day.  Learn more about The Stellas on their website www.thestellasmusic.com and be sure to 'like' the Q Live in Oshawa Campaign on facebook.

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Top Ten Reasons Jian Ghomeshi should visit Oshawa

10. It’s just 35km from Toronto. It’ll only use up a small portion of Q’s travel budget.

9. Everyone already knows about Hamilton, London, Stratford, Guelph and Kingston. What do people know about Oshawa? If your answer involves anything to do with cars, it doesn’t count.

8. Oshawhat!? magazine, Durham’s “Village Voice” or “Now Magazine” is launching and it needs a cover story.

7. Parkwood Mansion is here. They filmed Billy Madison and X Men there. Plus it’s super pretty and a national monument. But…BILLY MADISON!!

6. Because Jian and us have one friend in common on facebook and we didn’t ask her to ask him for us. We respect boundaries.

5. Our downtown core is being revitalized. UOIT (University of Ontario Institute of Technology for you non-locals) has set up shop and has renovated two beautiful historic buildings, the Regent Theatre and the Alger Press. They are really great examples of what historians and architects and universities can do if they all get together in one room. UOIT is a diverse university with students from over 65 countries, but we also have Durham College and Trent University in Oshawa, with a student population projected to reach 22,500 within the next three years. Oh, and Queen's University is setting up shop too.

4. We’ve got a bad reputation. We don’t have the Bard or the Beibs like Stratford. (In fact, what Shakespeare we do have, we take on the road with the Bard’s Bus tour by the Driftwood Theatre Company). We don’t have Margaret Atwood. We don’t have Sarah Harmer. Actually, we’re very punk rock and a lot of our arts events are grassroots, not for profit, unsponsored and totally local-focused. Oshawa is the unexpected and controversial choice.

3. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s First Fridays event series is the coolest thing happening in Durham Region right now. Bands play, artists make stuff, photos get taken, people drink beer, sometimes even dance crews show up and breakdance. All of this in a gallery that houses thousands of masterpieces of Canadian modern and contemporary art. It’s shwasome.

2. Speaking of live music; our music scene rules. Cuff the Duke, Diamond Rings, Timber Timbre, Anagram, Steppenwolf, Blue Rodeo, Hairy Holler, The Stellas, Forest City Lovers, Viva Mars, The Marvelous Beauhunks, The Purple Toads, Volcano Playground, Evening Hymns, Lori Yates, Bradley Boy, Sunbear, Durango 95, K-os, Patrick Dorie, Reign Ghost and The Stables all have ties here. (And if they don’t in your view, well…too bad. We’re claiming them anyhow, ‘cause we’re punk rock like that.) Meanwhile we have an independent record label (Get Bent Records) and an independent vinyl shop (Star Records) in town. We’ve got so many talented musicians here, we’ve probably missed some on this list.

1. We’re Shwasome. Calling us “the shwa” or the “dirty shwa” is soooooo 2001.

JOIN the campaign!! Like --> www.facebook.com/QinOshawa

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Oshawa, November 29, 2011

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery brings Oshawa into CBC Radio competition for live broadcast of Jian Ghomeshi’s “Q”.

It all started as a conversation at last week’s successful creative class event the Art of Transition Tourism Summit. With so much happening in Oshawa and Durham’s creative culture scene, the desire to bring attention to the various projects and opportunities in the area has never been greater. Staff from The Robert McLaughlin Gallery suggested this idea on twitter, and the tweet was recognized by CBC Radio 1 personality Jian Ghomeshi. The Q host has recently been promoting a campaign that cities could enter to bring his show to their community.

Never one to back down from a challenge, RMG CEO Gabrielle Peacock took up the cause, issuing more tweets and imploring staff to get on board. “We’ve got a lot happening here, just 35km from the city. Q shines a light on culture: music, art, theatre and more. This is why we want Oshawa selected -- it’s not about what people know about us, it’s an opportunity for Jian and the Q listeners to discover some cultural assets in their own backyards. We’re joining the contest later than other cities, but we’ve got a lot of heart and think we have a shot at winning,” Peacock told staff. Staff jumped on board in just a few days a Facebook page has emerged as well as the promise to guests at the RMG’s monthly cultural event series “First Fridays” that this week’s event (December 2, 7pm) will include a way to get involved and show support.

“First Fridays has become a staple in the local culture diet,” says RMG Manager of Communications and Social Media, Jacquie Severs. “It’s the right place to promote this campaign. This week we feature Jazz performers The Gillian Margot Trio, alongside the photography exhibition “Susan Dobson: By Design” and the AIDS Committee of Durham Region’s “POZitive Portrayals” that features work by HIV Positive artists. We’ll have a photo booth with local photographer Marina Osmond. The event shows how diverse our cultural offerings are here. We wish Jian could come and see it for himself, we aren’t just a car town anymore!”

The RMG needs community support to make the campaign more powerful. Having already received votes of confidence from PFLAG Durham and Durham College’s Downtown Oshawa News, the RMG now needs ‘likes’ on its Facebook page, tweets with the hashtag #QinOshawa and community partnerships.  Local record label Get Bent Records has offered to bring bands to perform for Q. The RMG hopes other local arts & culture staples will get on board.

Oshawa’s mayor John Henry issued a statement of support, highlighting the RMG as an important asset in the campaign. “With the public’s support we can bring into the light one of Oshawa’s best kept secrets.”

“This is a grassroots effort, we need all the support we can get! The RMG is prepared to donate 20 memberships to community groups and businesses who offer support and services,” says Gabrielle Peacock.

To stay on top of the campaign please visit and like: www.facebook.com/QinOshawa

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___________________________________________________________

THE ROBERT McLAUGHLIN GALLERY

72 Queen Street, Civic Centre, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 3Z3

905-576-3000 

www.rmg.on.ca

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Yesterday we were at the Art of Transition Tourism Summit and Creative Awards. An electric atmosphere was in that room; it was filled with like-minded individuals, those that care about Durham Region's transition from a manufacturing economy to a creative economy. Artists, business people, musicians, dancers, chefs, writers, art galleries, museums, crafts people, engineers, students, filmmakers, ski hill operators, sustainability advocates, farmers, designers, communicators and more came together to highlight the importance of arts and culture in our community.

It is appropriate that it was during this event that we decided to lead the charge to bring Jian Ghomeshi and his CBC show Q to Oshawa. 

Q is an energetic daily arts, culture and entertainment magazine that takes you on a smart and surprising ride, interviewing personalities and tackling the cultural issues that matter.

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This Friday staff from the RMG will be at the UOIT/Durham College campus in Oshawa at the Durham Region Tourism Summit, which is followed by the DATCA's, (Durham Art of Transition Creative Awards). We're proud to be part of this event as an exhibitor and a DATCA nominee!

Two of our projects were nominated this year. One is our First Fridays event series, the other our public art installation by Douglas Coupland. We are so proud of both of these accomplishments and we look forward to learning about all of the other interesting and exciting projects that have happened in Durham Region that led to other businesses, artists and organizations being nominated.

We hope you will be attending the event!

November 25, 2011
TIME: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
PLACE: Durham College/ UOIT Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre
ADDRESS: 2000 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, Ontario
ADMISSION: FREE

Links From the Art of Transition:

Summit and Awards

Nominees

YouTube Page with many speaking about the importance of this project

More:

The Art of Transition on Facebook

Facebook Event Page - Tourism Summit

Facebook Event Page - Creative Marketplace

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