The Métis artist discusses using family photo albums to explore her identity in new exhibition

A stroll through the latest exhibition in the AGO’s J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous + Canadian Art is an intimate experience, almost like you’re walking through a family photo album or a personal journal. That’s because, in a sense, you are. Portraits of Desire features 22 photographs and three oil paintings by Métis artist Rosalie Favell. With the works on view spanning 24 years of her portfolio, Favell’s solo exhibition highlights her career-long diaristic exploration of sexual and Métis identity.

Illustrating Favell’s personal approach to photography, this exhibition features works incorporating Favell’s family photo albums, self-portraits, and the artist’s own handwriting brought together in her signature collage style. The exhibition also features three oil-painted self-portraits of Favell, which were recreated from earlier photography work.

Favell’s collage technique began with I Dreamed of Being a Warrior (1999) (image at top), currently on view in this exhibition. After being taught Photoshop by a friend, Favell collaged her head onto the body of Xena from the TV show Xena Warrior Princess.

“I was a ‘straight’ photographer in that I learned photography formally and for me, the idea of defacing an image was problematic,” she said. “But in this work, I took a leap and started collaging on the computer. That opened a whole new world for me.” Read more, in this week’s Foyer profile, linked HERE.

Hello Everyone,

I am pleased to let you know that we’ve hired our new Chief, Finance & Operating Officer. This is a very large and important portfolio that comprises Financial Services, Information Technology, Protection Services, Facility Services, and Plant & Building Infrastructure.

Linda Coslovi will be joining the AGO on Monday, September 18^th. She holds a CPA designation and is deeply experienced in both finance and operations within the broad corporate and public sectors, including a significant leadership role at McMaster University where she contributed to the construction of two buildings while leading the Faculty of Engineering. Linda is very highly regarded by her peers as an exceptionally talented and sincere leader, adept at supporting and bringing team members together to innovate and solve problems. She is excited about coming to the AGO and I’m confident she’ll be a stellar contributor.

Earlier today I met with Linda’s direct reports to share some background on her. I also thanked them for the amazing job they’ve all been doing in the absence of a permanent CFOO. Our interim CFO, Refat Jiwani, will be available over the next few weeks to help orient Linda and work with me on a couple of projects until he departs the AGO in November. I’m grateful to Refat for the valuable contributions he has made to the AGO since the beginning of the year.

We are still in the market for our new Chief, Brand & Business Officer. I want to make sure we find someone with the right skill set and passion for art. Herman Lo, who has represented Communications & Brand on Leadership Team (LT) for the past few months, will continue to sit on LT until we’ve hired our new person. I should say that Herman’s team is performing very well on all fronts. As you might recall, it is my intention to move Retail and Food & Beverage into the Chief, Brand & Business Officer portfolio so that all aspects of the visitor experience are aligned within the same area. Last week, I decided to move Retail into this area now, rather than wait. Retail is playing a very active role in terms of revenue potential with our upcoming slate of exhibitions, and I want the team to be closer to the work we are doing with our brand revitalization. Carlos Mera, Director of Food & Beverage, will continue to report to Linda in the meantime.

Welcome, Linda!

Take care,

Stephan

A new release on the National Film Board’s online site, watch this documentary about incredible Toronto ink maker, Jason Logan.

Hello volunteers! I thought you might all enjoy this amazing documentary about how ink is made! 1 hr, 49 minutes, of pure wonder. Enjoy! – Holly

Click on the link, HERE to watch at your leisure!

Produced in 2022, this article by CBC delves deeper into the movie’s content, and filmmaker’s motivation (read, HERE)

Artist Otobong Nkanga highlights the cost of deep-sea resource extraction  

Around four degrees Celsius, pitch-black, and unbearable pressures — the ocean’s bathypelagic zone seems inhospitable.  

Yet, life persists in what is more commonly known as the midnight zone, an ocean area 1,000 to 4,000 meters below sea level. In Unearthed – Midnight (2021), currently on view on the fourth floor, multidisciplinary artist Otobong Nkanga transports viewers underwater into the transition to the midnight zone, the background of the 11 x 18-foot tapestry a gradual gradient from light to dark blue. This underwater scene is filled with multi-coloured jellyfish and air bubbles.  

Aquatic life is not the only thing adapting to the conditions in the midnight zone. Humans are also present at these depths in deep-sea mining, adapting technology to extract minerals from the ocean floor. While the nature and location of deep-sea mining renders it unseen, in this work, Nkanga brings visibility to the exploitation of underwater resources.  

Resource extraction foregrounds the tapestry — a large fishnet spans much of it and two orange ropes suspend vertically into the midnight zone, each carrying what looks like clusters of minerals. Another rope crosses the scene horizontally, hands and spears resembling fishing lures attached to it. The hands on the rope look rusted, two already broken off and slowly disintegrating as they fall to the ocean floor. 

What a wonderful work to base a Walking Chat, or Dot conversation around! Read more in this week’s Foyer, linked HERE.

Hello everyone,

As we get ready for a busy fall season I am reflecting on the change that is happening at the AGO. Five years ago we launched our 10-year strategic plan. Think about what we’ve accomplished in the past 5 years in terms of collection growth, changes to our exhibitions and programs, and the development of the Dani Reiss Modern & Contemporary Gallery. Perhaps the most significant change is reflected in our audience. The launch of the Annual Pass and other strategies we’ve acted on have helped shift our audience to become much younger and more diverse. All of this change is tremendously relevant to achieving our vision of leading global conversations and reflecting the people who live in our city. Now we must focus on the next 5 years, including revitalizing our brand and deepening relationships with our audience. At a Town Hall to be scheduled later this Fall I will talk more about AGO 2028 and where we are going from here, the half-way point.

One thing I know for sure is that there will always be change. Carol Rapp and Phil Lind embraced change and thirsted for fresh ideas and contemporary thinking. They also represent part of our loyal audience that has been with us for decades, like many of our trustees, volunteers and members. Carol and Phil believed in the AGO and its promise for the future. Since the AGO was founded, it has gone through extraordinary change as our city grew – numerous expansions, thousands of high quality acquisitions, pivoting when needed during challenging and opportunistic times alike. The AGO has always changed as Toronto has changed.  

We will continue to rely on our core values of being inclusive, adaptable and flexible. I am tremendously excited about this upcoming fall season. If we stick to our mission of great art and focusing on our audience, I’m confident we’ll succeed together.

Take care,

Stephan

We invite you to be a Part of NDSAtl24!

Join us at the 2024 National Docent Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, USA as a Breakout Session or a Sip & Share table talk presenter. We’re accepting proposals now through October 15, 2023. Take advantage of these two opportunities to share your experience, knowledge, and touring and engagement strategies with your peers.

Breakout Sessions, the traditional 60-minute workshop, will feature up to 3 presenters sharing innovative touring and engagement strategies to engage with various audiences or ideas on expanding, training, or diversifying your docent corps. Click here for Breakout Session ideas and how to submit a proposal.

Sip & Share is an exciting new program initiative featuring table presenters sharing best practices in 15-20 minute sessions. In this two-hour program, docents and guides will rotate among the tables, beverage in hand, connect with their colleagues, and learn new ways to enhance their docent practice. Click here for more information about Sip & Share and how to submit a proposal.

Consider sharing your topic in both! Your Sip & Share presentation could hone in on one aspect of your Breakout Session topic. Or consider expanding your Sip & Share into a Breakout Session.

Act now! Session proposals are due October 15, 2023!

Questions? Email us at [email protected] directly, or please reach out to Shelagh Barrington, AGO Gallery Guide and NDS (National Docent Symposium) Director for Canada at [email protected]

Please note: participation in the National Docent Symposium is at volunteers’ own expense

Hello Everyone,

Many of you knew Phil Lind, a long-serving Trustee, from his decades of involvement at the AGO. Phil loved chatting to Curators and Protection Services Officers alike. He loved visiting to the AGO for board committee meetings, and was often in attendance at exhibition openings. He encountered many staff at such activities and always shared a smile and a kind word.

Sadly, Phil passed away yesterday. The message below was sent to our board earlier this morning. I thought you would appreciate hearing this news, too. We will miss Phil deeply.

Stephan

Dear Board of Trustees,

We are sharing some very sad news, as some of you might have read or heard, Phil Lind passed away yesterday.

Phil was a trustee for 18 years and, in light of his extraordinary contributions to the AGO, was invited to become a Trustee Emeritus at our last board meeting. He served on various board committees and contributed enormous amounts of wisdom and guidance over significant periods of change at the AGO.

Phil was a giant in the business world and worked hand-in-hand with the Rogers family to build one of the most successful companies in Canada. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2002 and inducted into the U.S. Cable Hall of Fame in 2012.

He was also very much a family man and would often bring his children, Sarah and Jed, and grandchildren to activities at the AGO. We all extend our deep sympathies to them and his long-time partner, Ellen Roland, a dear friend of the AGO.

At the AGO, Phil was particularly passionate about chairing the Modern & Contemporary Committee. During his tenure, the committee acquired several outstanding contemporary works including Adrián Villar Rojas, Today We Reboot the Planet, 2013; Tacita Dean, Antigone, 2018; and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, OPERA (QM.15), 2016.

Phil loved art – he loved learning, he loved ideas, he loved supporting artists, indeed art formed a major aspect of his life. Phil was incredibly passionate about his involvement at the AGO and made many, many important and lasting gifts. Some of them include:

– Stage III and Transformation AGO campaign gifts that resulted in the naming of the Anne Lind Artist-in-Residence Room and the Philip B. Lind Galleries

– Donations of art by Canadian artists Robert Fones, Iain Baxter & Stan Douglas, as well as significant works by Vija Celmins

– Exhibition support of many shows at the AGO reflecting his deep love for photography, including Scott McFarland: Snow, Shacks, Streets, Shrubs (2014), Thomas Ruff: Object Relations (2016), Mark Lewis: Canada (2017), Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory (2019), Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956–1971 (2020), and most recently, Wolfgang Tillmans: to look without fear (2023).

– In recent years, Phil generously supported the commission of Brian Jungen’s Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhch’ill, 2022, and the acquisition of the Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs. 

No doubt all of us hold special memories of encounters with Phil throughout the years. Phil always applied his mischievous charisma, sharp mind, and quick wit to every conversation. He was an amazing person and we will miss him.

We will share more information about a service for Phil once it is made public.

Rupert and Stephan

Hello Everyone,

I continue to poke my head into Zacks to see Cassatt-McNicoll whenever I get a chance. It is truly a beautiful paintings show. Do take a moment to see it, if you haven’t already, before it closes in a couple of weeks. It is my sincere hope that every staff member visits our exhibitions. Part of all of our jobs is to be informed about what’s on view in our galleries.

AGO camps will also be wrapping up soon. The youthful energy in the building has been amazing. It takes an extraordinary amount of work to make anything successful – AGO camps are a great success, thanks to the efforts of Education & Programming staff and all of you.

Take care,

Stephan 

We also want to take this time to thank our outgoing Volunteer Council. Much of the usual work of the Council was impacted by the pandemic, and we thank this group for their support as we all adjusted to the challenges of that time.

This Volunteer Council has years of volunteering experience between them, and came from all walks of the Gallery: prints and drawings, volunteer recruiters, information guides and gallery guides among them. Find our more about our Council members, HERE.

Thank you, Volunteer Council!

In her mixed-media ceramics-based exhibition, Heidi McKenzie enshrines collective memory

Some stories are told and re-told, yet still not widely known as they should be. In her solo exhibition at the Gardiner Museum, Heidi McKenzie aims to change that for Indo-Caribbean women, bringing centuries-old herstories into focus through a feminist lens. On view through August 30, McKenzie’s mixed-media, ceramic-based work is a record of the past and present lived experiences of Indo-Caribbean women from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries through to today. The Toronto-based artist is of mixed Indo-Trinidadian and Irish American heritage and explores themes of ancestry, race, migration, and decolonization through her practice. 

Read a full review of this moving exhibition in this week’s Foyer. Volunteers are reminded that they get free admission to the Gardiner, just by showing their volunteer badge at the front desk.