Our educators have been very busy with
daily online school classes, which continue to grow to sizes of 1,000+ per
class in some cases. Honestly, this is massive. As well, our AGO educators
recently hosted an
art-making workshop for Camp Ooch campers and their families. Camp Ooch is
a privately funded, nonprofit oncology camp that brings laughter and joy to
kids and families affected by childhood cancer.
With
44 families zooming in, artist-instructors Amanda Arcuri and Olia Mishchenko
drew on K.M Graham’s artworks in our collection, https://ago.ca/collection/browse?keys=k.m.%20graham
for inspiration. Families with children ages 5-10 learned how to make drawings.
Check out some of the amazing work at #AGOmakes.
Art continues to bring joy and learning
opportunities to those staying at home. At the AGO, I know that
experiencing our first COVID-19 is stressful for everyone. It’s worth repeating
that this is our first case in 10 months. We have good protocols in place. We
will continue to follow guidance from our health provincials. We will open
again soon to our public.
Julie Crooks shared this article with the IDEA Group earlier this week, which is especially timely as we prepare to welcome Cian Knights, our new Manager, Diversity and Inclusion, to the AGO on Monday. The key point here is that it is all of our responsibility to help make our museum more diverse and inclusive. The responsibility does not solely rest on Cian’s shoulders. We all have a role to play.
I wanted to let you know that an employee at the AGO
has tested positive for COVID-19. I am thinking of the employee and wishing
them a quick recovery. I ask that everyone respect their privacy during
this time.
I want to assure all of you that we have taken all the
necessary measures to control any potential means of transmission. We have shut
down certain areas and are doing deep cleaning through internal and external
resources. We have notified any individuals who may have had any contact with
this employee and have asked them to go and remain home. We are monitoring the
situation closely and will send out further communication if needed.
I know that this news is concerning. It’s why we
developed strict safety protocols and have limited access to the building to as
few employees as possible. The COVID team has done everything that they can to
ensure we have a safe work environment. We will not allow any work to
re-commence until we are confident that there is no longer any risk of
infection. It is also a reminder to us all to closely follow the strict
protocols that we have put in place.
Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we have not had a
positive case in 10 months. Our protocols are working. Let’s continue to be
vigilant.
I am pleased to announce that Cian Knights will be joining the AGO on Monday, January 25th as our new Manager, Diversity and Inclusion. Cian will be part of the Director’s Office team and work closely with myself and Stephan, the Leadership Team, the People team, and others in the organization to advance our Diversity and Inclusion strategy throughout the museum.
This is
very exciting news and I hope you will all join me in welcoming Cian to the
AGO. We all have much to learn from Cian, and to share with her.
The
Manager, Diversity and Inclusion position aligns with Cian’s professional
experience, passion and commitment to developing and implementing strategic
initiatives that explicitly address equity, diversity, inclusion and
accessibility. Cian has a degree in Women’s Studies & Caribbean Studies and
also a master’s in Business Administration. She has a background in healthcare,
education and the arts, having worked at Unity Health Toronto (Hospital network
of Providence, St. Joseph’s, St. Michael’s driving health equity strategies),
Harmony Movement (building the capacity of Ontario school boards to address
racial equity, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-oppression, and inclusive education
and work environments) and Scarborough Arts (developing inclusive community
arts programming). She also has vast stakeholder engagement, community and
volunteer experience.
Thank you
to the IDEA Group for their suggestions and support regarding this position
along with Letecia Rose, who provided consultation and those who served on the
hiring panel: Jessica Bright, Alain Graham, Audrey Hudson, Wanda Nanibush,
Michelle Noel and Nathalie Sato.
Diversity
and Inclusion is one of our key strategic drivers. Cian, the IDEA Group, the
new Diversity and Inclusion Working Committee of the board – as well as all of
us – will continue to work together to help make the AGO more inclusive,
welcoming and reflective of the people who live in our city.
Cian’s
email is [email protected]. She will
report to me with a dotted line to Alain in People.
Earlier this week I spoke to managers about planning
underway for our amazing upcoming exhibitions including Warhol, Fragments of
Epic Memory and Picasso. We are well positioned to bounce back strongly once we
can safely re-open again.
With the current stay-at-home order and school
continuing virtually for kids, I know many of us are balancing a lot on the
home front. There is quite a bit to cope with right now but don’t lose sight of
where we are heading. We will get there one day at a time. Incorporate as much
fun into your day as possible. Find those moments for levity and joy.
It really helps to talk to someone. Think of a
colleague or friend you haven’t spoken to in a few weeks or months – reach out
to them, see how they are doing.
One day at a time. Stay well and look after your own mental health needs.
Art and learning can help lift our spirits and support our well-being.
Although we are currently closed to the public, online learning and virtual events continue at the AGO. Join us from home; be artful, creative and curious!
STUDIO 54: BEHIND-THE-SCENES
Wednesday, January 20, 6 pm via Zoom (Register, HERE)
Join Studio 54: Night Magic curator Matthew Yokobosky for a conversation with the AGO’s Paul Mathiesen and Julian Cox about the look, design and vibe of the legendary Manhattan nightclub. Hear behind the scenes stories from Paul Mathiesen, who worked at Studio 54 during its heyday.
Matthew Yokobosky is Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.
Paul Mathiesen is a lighting designer who works in Logistics and Gallery Services at the AGO.
Join artist Martha Rosler in conversation with the AGO’s Sophie Hackett about Rosler’s five decades-long practice, including the foundational The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems (1974–75), currently on view at the AGO.
Martha Rosler works in video, photography, text, installation, and performance. Her work focuses on the public sphere, exploring issues from everyday life and the media to architecture and the built environment, especially as they affect women. Rosler has for many years produced works on war and the national security climate, connecting life at home with the conduct of war abroad, in which her photomontage series played a critical part. She has also published several books of photographs, texts, and commentary on public space, ranging from airports and roads to housing and gentrification. A retrospective of her work has been shown internationally, and her writing is published widely in publications such as Artforum, e-flux journal, and Texte zur Kunst. Rosler lives and works in Brooklyn.
Sophie Hackett has been a member of the AGO’s department of photography since 2006. She is currently an adjunct faculty member in Ryerson University’s Master’s degree program in Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management, and was a 2017 Fellow with the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Hackett’s areas of specialty include vernacular photographs; photography in relation to queerness; and photography in Canada from the1960s to the 1990s. Hackett’s curatorial projects include Barbara Kruger: Untitled (It) (2010); Max Dean: Album, A Public Project (2012); What It Means To be Seen: Photography and Queer Visibility and Fan the Flames: Queer Positions in Photography (2014); Introducing Suzy Lake (2014); Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s (2016); Anthropocene (2018) and Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956–1971 (2020).
How can artists and designers create more multisensory experiences? OCADU Graduate Students in response to an Inclusive Design Multisensory Museum Course share their co-creative process of translating artworks in the AGO collection into multisensory objects. Students explore a wide variety of techniques to create an inclusive gallery experience in a series of Multisensory Museum Moments.
Presenter Japjot Singh
In this program, Japjot Singh presents an inclusive multisensory translation of Kazuo Nakamura’s Inner Structure (1956). For the translation, Japjot has made a 1:2 scale 3D prototype of the artwork which will let the user experience the pattern present in the artwork by using the sense of touch. Unravel the mystery of Kazuo Nakamura’s art by taking a multisensory dive into curiosity.
Would you like notice of all programs and events delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe to the AGOinsider, here.
As many of you have likely heard,
yesterday Premier Ford declared a provincial state of emergency as well as additional
measures aimed at addressing the spread of COVID-19. The intent is to get COVID
numbers down so that our healthcare system and hospitals are not overwhelmed.
Leadership Team is looking into the
details of how this will impact our situation at the AGO, if at all. We have
taken many steps in recent weeks to accommodate the lockdown in our city and
there is minimal activity currently happening on-site. We will communicate with
everyone again later today regarding the stay-at-home order effective at
12:01am tomorrow. The situation is evolving and could shift quickly, depending
on how the COVID numbers grow.
In the meantime, the AGO remains a very
safe environment for those who are on-site. My priority above all is the health
and safety and each of you.
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.
(clockwise from upper left) Lucie Sparham, Lauren McKinely Renzetti, Doris Purchase, Charlotte Young-On
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.
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.
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.
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.
Image supplied by Letecia Rose
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.
