Hello everybody!
Have you heard? Foxes are all the rage! With so many things closed right now, our attention has been turned to the wilds of the city. Whether it is the pack under the Gardiner Expressway, in the Beach or this very sweet family in Jonathan’s backyard in Barrie (they have grown so quickly). Have you spotted any wildlife during these times and captured them on film? Please share as we would love to see them!
While keeping your eye keen to the forest and sky, make sure to stay on top of the website as events and fresh content are being posted daily. Whether you are interested in artist talks like the one that came up on Thursday with artist Diane Borsato, or discussions with cultural leaders. It’s an opportunity to feel connected to the space we love and miss so much!
Finally, I want to wish many of you a happy Mother’s Day! I hope it’s full of virtual flowers and zoom chats!
Please read on!
Favourites from the Collection
This week we have invited Tamara Villagomez, team lead of the Saturday Alpha Information Guides, to discuss some of her favourite works from the collection.
Having been volunteering at AGO for over 20 years – the perfect balance with my full-time job mainly in the engineering field – undoubtedly, I have a plethora of favourite art works, including the Thomson Collection,Cornelius Krieghoff’s copious works, John William Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott, James Tissot’s The Shop Girl, Christi Belcourt’s Wisdom of the Universe and Norval Morisseau’s Man Changing into Thunderbird, just to name a few! However, I would like to hinge on Jacopo Tintoretto’s Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet not only for its representation of exemplary humility and spiritual cleansing of sins act, described in the Christian Bible to have occurred on Holy Thursday, before the Last Supper, but for the rich art depicting many characters in a variety of poses and motions in vivid colours and use of “chiaroscuro” or strong contrasts between light and dark in it, effecting the floor pattern in the painting to follow the direction in the angle of the viewer. Something that most patrons do not realize, until we point that out – making them love this art work even more!
AGO from Home: Live!
The AGO hosted another AGO from Home Live event on Thursday. Stephan interviewed Glenn D. Lowry, Director of MOMA in New York City, and it was an illuminating, honest and surprisingly optimistic outlook on the current times!
If you missed the talk, click on the youtube link, here. We have also summarized some highlights from the discussion:
-Stephan and Glenn discussed the questions of how do we re-open and what values come into focus right now
-the importance of digital tools that have always been there – pivoting to using the virtual space while the physical space is closed
-changes in exhibitions as loans will be hard to secure right now
-Glenn discusses the re-opening of of the new MOMA in October 2019, and how under 6 chief curators and and 70 curators they re-imagined each of the gallery spaces
-each director spoke of Canadian artists that we need to know right now (Jeff Wall, Janet Cardiff and Patterson Ewen to name a few)
Armchair Traveller – Let’s visit the Royal Collection in England
Trish here! This week come with me to look at some of what the Royal Collection in England has to offer. When I was first out of my museum studies program I worked for the Royal Collection in London as an Operations Supervisor for the ‘Annual Summer Opening’ of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. We welcomed upwards of 6,000 people per day and I learned my love for welcoming lots of visitors and all things logistics! Then, I was made the first Education Coordinator for Buckingham Palace, where I developed all the Public Programming. It’s a vast collection, which early in my career allowed me a lot of on-the-job professional development in art history and ignited a now life-long love for art history and making what may be daunting places to visit more accessible.
The Royal Collection comprises the three Official Residences of The Queen: Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and, Windsor Castle; including the paintings and drawings, works of art, cars, carriages, buildings and furniture, jewelry etc. In addition to the Residences, there are two Queen’s Galleries that are open to the public year-round, as well as the Royal Mews. More and more of the collection is online – you can search here or you can take a virtual tour here. One of the questions I am most asked, is did you meet The Queen? I did! As one of the employees of the Royal Household, in addition to meeting members of the Royal Family during the course of our duties, we were also given a present by Her Majesty The Queen each year at Christmas. When I was there (some years ago now, things may have changed) the gifts were presented in the White Drawing Room. I remember nervously practicing my curtsy – worried I might fall over! You can tour the White Drawing room here (there’s a secret entrance in and out of the room – anyone want to take a guess where?). In addition to the White Drawing room, you can tour other rooms including the Throne Room and garden (where I was once chased by a Canada Goose, but that’s another story). When scrolling, don’t forget to look up – the ceilings, particularly in the Throne Room are pretty remarkable.
Be well and stay healthy.
Jonathan, Christine, Trish and Nicole