“All of my art is about lived experiences—mine and my community’s.” – Gloria Swain
Toronto artist Gloria C. Swain is living a full life. She is a multidisciplinary artist and social justice advocate who’s been creating for the better part of 50 years with installation, painting, performance, writing and photography. Her work examines ongoing colonial violence and centres her own experience as Black feminist artist, with invisible disabilities, navigating through unwelcoming spaces. Her most recent exhibition of abstract paintings, A Burst of Colour, was on view (before the recent lockdown) at 401 Richmond in Toronto.
And in an installment of AGO Art in the Spotlight, Adelina Vlas, AGO Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, connected with Swain to find out more about her impactful work in both the art and community spheres. It’s a wonderful conversation! Watch now, here.
Stay tuned for more from AGO Art in the Spotlight series featuring local artists throughout 2021. While you’re at it, take a look at some of this year’s past installments, including features with Rajni Perera, Tanya Talaga and Charles Officer.
The multitalented Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham join us for a conversation about their new book, Black Futures.
Photo of Jenna Wortham by Naima Green. Photo of Kimberly Drew by Tyler Mitchell.
What does it mean to be Black and alive right now? That’s the question Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham were seeking to answer when they teamed up to compile Black Futures—a powerful collection of images, photos, essays, memes, dialogues, poetry and more, aimed at telling the story of the radical and imaginative world Black creators are bringing forth today.
On December 15, you can join Drew and Wortham for a conversation with Madelyne Beckles, AGO Curatorial Assistant, Youth, about the book. Sign up, here.
Want to be the first to hear about AGO talks? Make sure you’re an AGOinsider subscriber. Join, here.
We are awaiting word from the Provincial Government on what will happen once the 28 lockdown period is over (December 21). We have been focused on being as prepared as possible for the inevitability of opening. The coat check is currently undergoing some final touches of a renovation to provide a safer environment for staff and visitors. The Studio 54: Night Magic installation should be near completion and we are also training staff via Zoom so we can pivot to a gallery setting once it is determined we can return. That being said, we are appropriately skeptical that we will re-open once these 28 days are over, with covid -19 cases being on the rise. Patience is a virtue and time will tell.
We all want to wish you Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! We know these holidays will look drastically different for so many of us, but we hope that you are able to enjoy simple pleasures of the season. For some added festive cheer, please enjoy Cornelius Kreighoff’s winter scene Breaking up of a Country Ball in Canada, Early Morning (1887), below:
Read on:
Mary Hiester Reid and Helen McNicoll
Join author Molly Peacock and curator Renée van der Avoird as they discuss historical Canadian artists Mary Hiester Reid and Helen McNicoll, linked here. Two of the first women to achieve success as professional artists in Canada, Hiester Reid and McNicoll radically broadened traditional concepts of femininity, domesticity and the potential for women to pursue careers as artists. This Close Looking talk accompanies the exhibition The Open Door: Mary Hiester Reid and Helen McNicoll. I have included some interesting highlights from the talk below:
Mary Hiester Reid made a big move from “ladies painting” (which generally involved watercolours) to “real” painiting (oils)
Helen McNicoll was Canada’s most wildly acclaimed Impressionists
McNicoll grew up in Montreal and lost her hearing at a young age due to scarlet fever
Before McNicoll died at the age of 36, she was on the verge of major artistic recognition
Both artists where considered to be radical (by living radical lives) back in the day
I also wanted to highlight another interesting talk, Close Looking: Georgiana Uhlyarik on Bertram Brooker, on Monday, December 14th at 11am (view here).
Studio 54 The Documentary
While we are in lockdown, I’m going to suggest a great documentary, Studio 54 The Documentary (2018) which serves as a primer for our upcoming special exhibition, Studio 54: Night Magic. The Documentary which is directed by Matt Tyrnauer, follows the incredbile rise and fall of the greatest night club ever! (Watch the trailer, here). You may think you know the story of the club, but this documentary reveals how little we truly knew. Ian Schrager (the quieter of the two partners) had never previously spoken on Studio 54 out of shame but now gives compelling interviews on those 33 months when Studio 54 was the most famous club ever until it’s collapse in 1980. Filled with great visuals and story, this documentary will give you a solid base of information for when the special exhibition eventually opens! The film is available on Netflix and Kanopy – which is a free streaming platform through the Toronto Public Library.
Stress Relievers: Kiko Sounds
Today I am sharing one of our Friday Night programing from back in June which features Curator, sound bath conductor and healing practitioner Kiko Sounds, to help ease us into the ongoing lockdown and holiday season. Before the performance starts, the artist will be in conversation with Bojana Stancic, Assistant Curator, Live Projects & Performance at the Art Gallery of Ontario (click here to view).
Kiko Sounds shares deep listening experiences through the subtle energetics of sound, meditation, plant medicine and restorative practices. With over a decade collaborating with artists to produce exhibitions, installations and publications through her art projects, Magic Pony and Narwhal, Kiko now combines her experiences in contemporary culture with holistic modalities. In doing so, she offers ephemeral, immersive and vibrational experiences that promote extended latitudes of mental and physical union. Through creating sensitive settings for connection and self-discovery, Kiko opens opportunities for individuals to access the infinite potential that exists within and with each other.
Earlier this week, the Auditor General’s “Value for Money” audits were published. I’d like to reiterate my thanks to everyone who was involved over the course of the past year. A lot of time and effort was devoted to auditors’ requests, which resulted in 19 recommendations, similar in size and scope to the ROM and McMichael Canadian Art Collection (the other two museums audited). All of the recommendations can be achieved within the next six months – some are even helpful! I am glad we can put the audit behind us and focus on continuing to make our museum as efficient and excellent as possible. You can read the full audit, here.
The AGO Bake Sale is back! Let us do the work for you this year so you’ll have more time to enjoy the season. As we’re not in the Gallery, we’ve put everything you need to know, online.
You’re invited to stock up on delicious holiday sweets and treats, created in-house by our culinary team. The hard work is already done so all you have to do is pop these treats in the oven.
Click HERE to read more, including all the frequently asked questions re: pick up, co-vid protocals etc.
You need to scroll down the page and
answer the questions in order to be taken to the order page and actually make
your selections. You should see this question on the page:
“These goods come ready to bake, do you have an oven? *”
You also have to input your pick up date,
And then you’ll be asked to identify if you are staff or volunteer
You will be asked to input your “AGO
membership # or staff #” – in this box enter: 1234567
Pre-order and pick up baked goods Wednesday – Saturday between December 3 and 24.
All items included in your total include HST.
QUESTIONS: Please reach out to us by email at [email protected] or from Thursday to Sunday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. by phone at 416-979-6688.
I’m sure you all join me in acknowledging
that it’s not a bad thing that we are almost at the end of 2020. What a year it
has been! Usually at this time of year we are planning for a staff and
volunteer party to come together and celebrate the holiday season and the many
successes we have accomplished together. Alas, we will not be doing so this
year. However, I can guarantee festivities are in order once we are advised by
health authorities that a massive party is safe! In the meantime, we must
continue to limit gatherings, practice social distancing, wear masks and wash
hands frequently. Here is the AGO’s annual holiday card, which this year
features a Studio 54 theme: http://happyholidays.ago.ca.
Please feel free to use this card to extend year-end wishes to your contacts.
I am very excited about Studio 54. The installation is
in full steam and is looking fantastic. Thank you to all the exhibitions staff
and others who are on-site putting it all together. I think this is something
our public will really enjoy once we can re-open. The themes of music, fashion,
art and celebrity culture – and disco! – are a welcome tonic as we begin 2021.
For this week’s D&I resource, continuing with a
focus on Indigenous perspectives, here is a video of artist, writer and curator
Rick Hill discussing the intersection of Indigenous and Western knowledge and
how treaties were developed based on an Indigenous philosophy of conservation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sp0aR7UHdI.
Holidays help us bust out of our rut – and goodness knows we need that more than ever this year, as we’re all quite literally in lockdown mode. Most of us can’t celebrate with our extended clan, so help spread a little cheer by sharing your holiday tradition – big or small – or maybe you’re trying something entirely new?
Holly’s on deck to share some holiday crafts. Join in the fun by sharing a favourite memory, ornament, recipe/beverage, book or new habit (the sky’s the limit) you’ve joyfully taken on in this pandemic year. Let’s start the Holiday season with a positive spin. See you there!
Groundbreaking African-American photographer Ming Smith canonizes Black culture with an abstract flair. Recently acquired by the AGO, seven stunning prints by Smith chronicle a diverse array of moments, including a romantic boardwalk stroll and an experimental jazz show. All are part of the powerful new photography exhibition, Documents, 1960s – 1970s.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Ming Smith was the daughter of a photographer. However, it wasn’t the family business that inspired her career as an artist. After graduating from Howard University in 1973, Smith moved to New York City to work as a model while making photographs in her spare time. There, on a go-see to the studio of Anthony Barboza, Smith’s career path and life would forever change. That day she was introduced to members of the iconic, Harlem-based, Black photographers’ collective Kamoinge (pronounced Kah-mong-gee), whom upon seeing some of her photographs immediately inducted her into the collective—she was its first and only female member. With a new-found artistic identity, she began exploring her fascination with street photography, creating some of the most stylistically interesting work known to the medium.
World-renowned artist and cinematographer Arthur Jafa considers Ming Smith to be “The greatest African-American photographer ever.” Smith’s style is marked by her use of intentional blurriness, giving the subjects she photographs a surreal and mystical quality. This elevates her documents of Black life into more emotional, philosophical or even spiritual expressions. Her body of work is an equal mix of community-focused street photography and portraits of influential Black artists, like jazz legend Sun Ra (pictured above) and pop icon Grace Jones. Smith’s work has been referenced by many, including Jafa himself, whose critically acclaimed cinematography in the film Daughters of the Dust was partially inspired by her.
Smith’s work has been exhibited and acquired by major museums (Tate Modern, MOMA, Brooklyn Museum), and her unique and gravely important contributions to the Black cultural archive and the art world at large are beginning to get the acclaim they deserve—albeit belatedly. Hopefully, through the continued erosion of barriers faced by Black women artists, Ming Smith will receive even higher praise in the coming years via major survey exhibitions and awards.
Seven of Smith’s recently acquired prints are part of Documents, 1960s – 1970s, located in the Edmond G. Odette Family Gallery on Level 1 at the AGO.
Those of you on social media might recognize the How It Started / How It’s Going meme in which people post an image representing a naively optimistic version of themselves , followed by one where life has taken them in a different direction. We’re starting to highlight a similar experience for volunteers, showing what was featured at the AGO when they first started volunteering, then what they are doing now that the pandemic has changed the art scene. First up: Shelagh Barrington, Gallery Guide.
Judy Chicago with The Dinner Party, 1982
How It Started: Viewing the AGO’s recently acquired (2018) six preparatory works, four ceramic test plates and 2 drawings made by Judy Chicago for the original installation of The Dinner Party brought back strong memories of my first volunteer experience. In 1982, I was among a group of young businesswomen and 50,000 other people who lined up to visit the AGO to view Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. This unusual work of art, now housed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, attracted our young feminist selves and prompted feminist dialogue in the Toronto press. Later, that afternoon over drinks and enthusiastic talk about the show we learned about the dire plight of our Toronto’s women centre, The Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre.
In the late 1970s, in response to the 1975 International Year of the Woman, the Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre came into existence in an imposing two-storey red brick building at 86 Lombard that had originally housed the Toronto City Morgue. Unfortunately, the Centre very soon ran into financial trouble through overly ambitious plans to run a for profit centre and restaurant.
After a few meetings and much input and discussion, a newly formed group of young feminist volunteers resolved to save Toronto’s Women’s centre and sketched out a rough business case to keep the doors of the PMCC open.
A fun but often tense few years learning to run a not for profit business by the seat of our pants. We charged smaller than usual commissions for art sales of new and developing artists, assisted new playwrights launch their work, offered the centre for very reasonable fees for women’s events, put on music nights and gambling fundraisers. We worked with the federally funded Katimavik youth employment program and often we and our better halves and friends volunteered to staff the rental and fundraising nights. We were saved financially many times by the fact that we could put off paying the very hefty heating/cooling bills as the buildings furnace/ac also looked after the attached ambulance centre next door!
(In 1984 I got married there and I believe I can claim that we are the only couple married in what had been, Marty Shulman’s 2nd floor Coroner’s Court in Toronto’s old City Morgue!)
In 1985 our group of volunteers decided to close the Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre as both for and not for profit institutions, around the city of Toronto were more efficiently handling the varied cultural needs of women. In 1996 I began my next volunteer experience with the AGO.
How It’s Going: Today because of COVID-19, many of us are visiting our favourite galleries, around the world virtually through internet connections. Here, in Toronto this past fall, together with a small group of friends I attended the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit at the old Toronto Star office and publishing plant at 1 Yonge St. The immersive exhibition is on a roughly 40-minute loop so if it suits, you can enter at any point and remain as long as you like. There are social distancing circles on the floor, but you can move around and there are a few benches for seating and an elevated platform for a different perspective.
We practised social distancing and wore masks. After a timed entry we followed the floor directions to the tunnel-like entrance way. Several wall screens on either side highlighted the different periods of Van Gogh’s artistic life with accompanying paintings. Once we leisurely absorbed the facts, a blackout curtain was raised for us and we entered a large lowly lit hall. It was like watching Van Gogh paint the walls and floor with his beautiful scenes accompanied by a great soundtrack. Immersive Van Gogh is an entertainment experience but also a unique introduction to the art of Van Gogh. Art does not need to just hang on gallery walls!
Would you like to share your own reflections on what was happening at the AGO when you started and what you’re experiencing now? Contact Anne Fleming at [email protected]. Any length is fine, as are image-based submissions.
