Public Programs and Learning wrapped up 2020 with a third edition of the AGO’s popular online Senior Social video on December 18, featuring Information Guides Charlotte Young-On ( Saturday morning) and Lucie Sparham (Sunday afternoon) . We asked them about their experience making the videos with staff members Doris Purchase, Art Educator, and Lauren McKinley Renzetti, Art Instructor. You can watch the three-part video featuring works by Mary Wrinch here.

What inspired you to sign up for the Senior Social online video?

Charlotte: I wanted to stay engaged as an AGO volunteer and this seemed like a really fun program to be a part of. I had never done anything like it before, so I thought, why not! Social isolation has also been an urgent issue throughout the pandemic, and I was inspired to help address this problem in our community with the Senior Social videos.

Lucie: I signed up for the Senior Social because I love discussing art and I thought painting on line sounded like an interesting challenge. I liked the idea that I’d be painting with others too. 

Did you have any previous experience with art interpretation or art making?

Lucie: I was a high a high school art teacher and after retiring I’ve continued to supply teach in Art. I’ve missed my favourite classrooms due to COVID so it was great to be involved in a project aimed at encouraging and inspiring others to make art. Also I love learning myself! I’d forgotten how much you can do with two complementary colours plus black and white. It was so interesting to see everybody’s works in the critique. They were all  lovely!

Charlotte: I enjoy getting creative and making art when I can. I have tried painting and drawing in the past and have some experience talking about art from studying art history in school. This was my first time interpreting art for a public audience though. I was nervous at first and worried I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything interesting to say about the art. We didn’t know what artworks we would be discussing beforehand, so this encouraged us to say whatever came to mind in the moment. I like this approach, because it shows that you don’t need to be an expert to think and talk about art.

What surprised you (good or bad) about the experience?

Charlotte: I was surprised by how this experience sparked my own creativity. I haven’t made art in a while but painting along with everyone for the Senior Social videos made me remember just how much I love it. I was inspired to keep painting and ended up painting another landscape after.

Is there anything you would change about it?

Charlotte: I wish we could have talked for longer over Zoom. The videos are 15 minutes long, which sounds like a lot of time, but it flies by so quickly.

What would you like people watching online to take away from the video?

Lucie: I hope viewers will understand from the video that it is actually easier and a lot of fun to work with a limited palette. You don’t need a ton of expensive supplies to create a painting you’ll be happy with. 

Charlotte: I hope people watching these videos feel more connected and included in a broader community. When you can’t see or interact directly with people out in the world, it’s easy to feel like you’re all alone. I would like people to take away the sense that they’re not alone, that we’re in this together, and the good parts of life, like enjoying and making art together, are still here.

What else have you been doing to stay occupied during the pandemic, art-related or otherwise?

Charlotte: I’m taking a few courses part-time at the University of Toronto right now. In one class we’ve spent the whole semester looking at a medieval manuscript called the Utrecht Psalter, which has been really interesting. Beyond that, I’ve done my fair share of COVID baking and Netflixing these past several months and stay active by doing yoga and going out for walks with my dog Otis.

Lucie: To stay sane during lock- down I made small clay sculptures: CoVid Creatures! Then I had them fired at a place nearby during the summer. My husband and I have also taken to biking. We often cycle to a secluded pond in the city where I attempted  small watercolours of a marsh and where we look for birds and other wildlife. Visiting this wetland area from Spring to Fall has been a revelation.

Beyond that I occupy my time with reading novels, and now, Obama’s latest book; baking for the homeless once a week; and obsessively following the news. 

Thanks very much to the AGO for this opportunity to volunteer during COVID. I’ve got my acrylics out again and I arranged with another AGO volunteer another Zoom painting session today as a result of the Senior Social. I’d be very happy to participate again if you plan to continue with them. I love feeling like I’m a little part of the arts  community! 

You can read about the August Seniors Social session here and the November one here. The next ones are scheduled for January 15, February 19 and March 19. More info here.

Hello everybody!

Happy New Year! It’s unbelievable how much has changed from this time last year (we would have just closed Early Rubens to enormous Christmas crowds!!!)! I know we are happy to see the end of 2020 (was it the longest year ever?!). With a new year, comes a renewed sense optimism – which is complicated by a worldwide pandemic and serious political upheavals.

Normally, we keep this email light – choosing to highlight online content from the Gallery, however, I think it’s important to acknowledge the impact of these world events on our health and wellbeing. Which is a good reminder that now more than ever, we mindfully curate things that bring us joy (like art!) as an important form of self care. Whether it is as simple as reading the AGO Insider on a weekly basis, watching one of our many online talks or perhaps even trying your hand at one of the AGO’s online courses. While the Gallery is closed, we will continue to share interesting talks, articles and links as a way to provide connection.

Read on!

Close Looking: Gustave Caillebotte

Join Caroline Shields, Associate Curator and Head of European Art, as she discusses a 2019 acquisition by French Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte (linked HERE). We will take a close look at his painting Blue Irises, Garden at Petit Gennevilliers, and explore what Caillebotte and fellow artist Claude Monet saw as the interconnectedness of art, life, and gardening.    I know many of you were enthusiastic about the training session Caroline Shields provided back for Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet, Pissarro and more exhibition, so consider this talk a must watch! While sadly we can’t currently enjoy this painting in person, Caroline examines the work closely in the digital medium right up to the brush stroke! You may also want to delve further into this article from the CBC on the (super interesting!) acquisition of this piece.

Art in the Spotlight: Margaret Priest

Join Toronto artist Margaret Priest for an illustrated talk about her drawings, sculptures, paintings and prints to coincide with the exhibition of The Monument to Construction Workers (which closed back in September) and a selection of related drawings and sculptures from the late 1980s to mid-2000s.

Margaret speaks of being born in industrial outskirts of London (Dagenham to be exact) and how this had a great impact on her as an artist. Make sure to check out this incredibly captivating talk, HERE.

Be well and stay healthy. 

Christine, Trish and Nicole

[email protected]
416-979-6660 ext 397

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to 2021! It will be a year of great change and I fully expect it to bring change for the better.

Yes, these next couple of months will be difficult, perhaps the toughest we are to endure since the pandemic hit. My main priority is that you do what you need to do to keep yourselves and those you love safe and healthy. But one thing I know for certain is that the pandemic will end. Stay focused on that. We will get there. It’s a good time to start thinking about what we’ve learned from COVID that we want to continue to practise post-COVID. For example, what changes in technology do we want to keep? Our shopAGO had success this holiday shopping season because staff were able to pivot to online sales. Should we continue aspects of working remotely – is Zoom here to stay? How will you adapt to these changes and others in your work? Effective, meaningful change requires commitment – and resiliency. Resiliency is something we can all build. Here is a video on the topic of building resiliency during difficult times:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/video-how-to-build-your-mental-resilience-for-difficult-times/

I am optimistic about 2021 and the changes to come. It will not be easy but things will get better.

Stephan

In the fall of 2020, the AGO began holding a series of diversity and inclusion training sessions for all employees, led by expert facilitators, including equity advocate Letecia Rose—who gave us new insight on how to create a more equitable workplace. These sessions will be shared with volunteers starting in January, along with opportunities to connect and discuss via our Volunteer Connector calls.

In recent years, many organizations and institutions worldwide have been faced with confronting  systemic oppression. As the public call for progressive policies and practices has amplified since spring 2020, many organizations have pivoted to help usher in this new frontier of equality and inclusion–the AGO included. 

Behind the scenes at the AGO, we’re embarking on our own journey which includes listening, reflecting and embracing an ongoing, refreshed approach to diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility. As part of this, in September 2020 we kicked off an ongoing monthly series of mandatory employee diversity and inclusion training sessions facilitated by distinguished guest instructors. Equity advocate and community engagement specialist Letecia Rose led two sessions on anti-Black racism and consulted with AGO leadership during the hiring process for a new Diversity and Inclusion Manager, set to start in 2021. 

We recently connected with Rose for an important discussion on diversity and inclusion and what that looks like today in an organization like ours.  You can read the full interview, via AGOinsider, here.

For more updates on the the AGO’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and changes made by the Gallery to date, you can read more, https://ago.ca/our-commitment-diversity-inclusion-equity-accessibility

Hi friends! I’m Betty and I’ve been an evening/weekend Gallery Guide at the AGO since 2012.

About a year ago, I started a Podcast with a friend of mine from Chicago – Quinn Rose. It’s called “Pictorial Podcast” (https://www.relay.fm/pictorial) and we talk about … you guessed it – art! Anything and everything that you would consider art. We’ve talked about artificial intelligence creating art, the most expensive paintings ever sold, video games as an art form, how to experience art during a pandemic, art looting, postcards and mail art, as well as dive into specific artists like Carl Beam, Shelley Niro, Hank Willis Thomas, Jean Michele Basquiat, Ai Weiwei, Willem Kurelek and many more! We even have done a few interviews podcasts with well known Authors/YouTubers such as Sarah Urist Green from the Art Assignment. This past fall we even did a review of the Da Vinci code in our special membership episode. In the future – when we are out-the-other-side of this pandemic tunnel, Quinn and I may also explore art galleries and hangouts in and around Toronto and Chicago for future podcast episodes!

Some of you may know that I’ve hosted a YouTube art and architecture show called “ARTiculations” for years (https://youtube.com/c/articulations). I’ve always wanted to do a Podcast as well, but the only problem was – I had no idea how to start one! But about a year and a half ago, when I randomly met Quinn – a professional podcaster who also happens to be an art lover – it was like a match made in heaven! Thus Pictorial was born!

Pictorial is available wherever Podcasts are hosted, for example:

Pictorial on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1490090243

Pictorial on Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1490090243/pictorial

Pictorial on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7k6u0EIJIOWcN0GhCcYY67?si=gND60vL8Rg6WimfJDBWHyg

Pictorial on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCegn7iI-_sKZOCP3UA7PQw

Pictorial RSS Feed: https://www.relay.fm/pictorial/feed

You can also follow us on: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pictorialpod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pictorialpod/

Pictorial is hosted by the awesome RelayFM network and new episodes come out every other Tuesday! I would love it if you guys would give it listen, tell me what you think, and maybe even leaving an iTunes review!

Tuesday, January 19, 2 pm via Zoom (click here to register)

(Can’t make it? Don’t worry! Remember, most AGO talks are posted on the AGO’s youtube account, following initial broadcast)

Join artist Kapwani Kiwanga for a conversation with the AGO’s Devyani Saltzman about her recent work.

Kapwani Kiwanga is a Franco-Canadian (b. Hamilton, Canada) artist based in Paris. Kiwanga studied Anthropology and Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal and Art at l’école des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Kiwanga’s work traces the pervasive impact of power asymmetries by placing historic narratives in dialogue with contemporary realities, the archive, and tomorrow’s possibilities. Her work is research-driven, instigated by marginalised or forgotten histories, and articulated across a range of materials and mediums including sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance. In 2020 Kiwanga was awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize. In 2018 she was the winner of the Frieze Artist Award and the annual Sobey Art Award.

Devyani Saltzman is a Canadian writer and curator with a deep interest in relevant, multidisciplinary, programming at the intersection between art, ideas and social change. She was the Director of Public Programming at the AGO, and the former Director of Literary Arts at the Banff Centre, the first woman and first woman of colour in that role, as well as a Founding Curator of Luminato, North America’s largest multi arts festival.

via AGOinsider

Wednesdays, January 6 – February 24, 3 pm, via Instagram (click on the agoyouth instagram link on January 6 at 3pm to watch the first workshop, broadcast live)

Join Funky Facilitators for 8 weekly workshops on the Hustle and Whacking; two dance forms that came out of the disco era.

Hustle is a partner dance created by Puerto Rican teenagers in South Bronx in the early 1970s to disco music. It has common features of mambo, salsa and swing dance. The dance is designed to be dynamic and flashy traditionally with a lead and a follow.

Whacking/Waacking/Punking was formed in the disco era, originated in LQBTQ LA club scene and was popularized by Soul Train. Dancers express themselves by embodying a character while throwing sharp hand and arm movements, striking poses, and using soulful footwork to move around the floor. The dance has a strong emphasis on musicality and interpretation of rhythm.

Funky Facilitators are a collective of dancers  that teach, create and facilitate practice sessions, workshops, and battles to help grow and build Toronto’s street dance and club dance culture. Their mission is to create accessible spaces for others to build relationships, self-confidence, and self-expression through dance and music. 

Happy New Year, volunteers! You are invited to attend this free online concert, in celebration of Black History Month, and organized by Joy Bullen, AGO volunteer and Volunteer Council member. Read on! – Holly

Every year since 2015, I have created a concert featuring extraordinary young Black Canadians excelling in areas where our voices and presence has often been silenced or ignored by history. And I have taken it to cities across Canada during Black History Month.

This year, we introduce,  with our first virtual concert, the music of little known Black classical composers, presented by four young Canadian classical musicians, whom we are determined that history will not forget.

This FREE concert will be streamed online from February 1, 2021 to February 28, 2021.

Plan your watch parties with your family and friends, and join us from the comfort of your home.

Just sign up from the convenient RSVP button on the homepage of www.joybullen.ca  and enjoy unlimited viewing

After you sign up we send an acknowledgement and then in January we will send the link for you to ‘attend’

The link will be good for unlimited viewing any day or time during the entire month of February.

You and all of your friends and family, and neighbours – in Canada all over the world!  …can be the first to sign up and reserve your place.  Please share widely.

(The concert will be on a dedicated YouTube channel so you can watch it on your smart television!)

Warmly, Joy

Stuck at home for New Year’s Eve? Join the Gallery’s New Year’s Eve Countdown, Thursday, December 31, from 4 pm – 5pm
Join amazing artists and friendly AGO families for this live virtual event, inspired by the new exhibition Studio 54: Night Magic.

You can join the livestream, or register here to attend.

Dear Everyone,

This afternoon, Premier Ford confirmed that the entire province of Ontario will be going into lockdown as of December 26. Restrictions for southern Ontario (including Toronto) will not be lifted until January 23 at the earliest. This means that the AGO will continue to be closed to the public until at least January 23.

Many of you have spent countless hours preparing to open Studio 54: Night Magic, and I’m disappointed that audiences won’t get the opportunity to visit over the holidays. However, we must follow the directive of our public health professionals and the government as the health, safety and well-being of our visitors, employees, volunteers and our extended AGO community is always our top priority.

Although the AGO is closed, we will still be serving our public in the following ways:

• AGOBistro will continue to offer takeout and curated dinners
• shopAGO will continue to take and fulfil online orders with curbside pickup
• Using Studio 54: Night Magic as the theme, we will be hosting an online New Years Eve Countdown, with family friendly activities and a countdown from 4 – 5pm.
• After the holiday break, on January 11 our virtual schools program will continue providing parents and schoolchildren with art classes every weekday.
• Our online courses and talks will continue as planned

This newest lockdown will have an impact on labour. After we closed in November, thanks to our union leadership and the Board of Trustees, a plan was approved to pay scheduled/active employees who work onsite for the initial 28 day closure. At that time, we stated that if the lockdown was extended past December 20, employees who did not have meaningful work beyond that date would be served temporary lay-off notices. Notifications have taken place. This is difficult news for our colleagues who have been impacted and we hope to be able to bring these team members back as soon as possible. I want to also take the opportunity to reiterate that the uncertainty of the spread of the virus can be stressful.

We are committed to following the advice of health and government officials and we will continue to communicate with you regularly during the closure. Please reach out to your manager or Leadership Team member if you have any questions or concerns.

Hang in there, everyone. 2020 is almost over. In the coming months, the vaccine will be here and we’ll turn the corner on COVID-19. Until then, continue to focus on your own health and safety.

Sincerely,

Mike Mahoney

Capital Projects & Operations