This monthly drop-in hosted by AGO librarians and archivists gives visitors a first-hand glimpse of highlights from the AGO Library & Archives collection.
Kathleen Munn, Untitled (Two Figures in a Landscape) (detail), c. 1925. In normal light (left) and Infrared reflectance (centre) and the related preparatory sketch, Untitled (female nude) (detail), c.1920 – 1925, right
When: Wednesday September 25, 6-8 pm (drop in), talk at 7 pm Where: Marvin Gelber Print & Drawing Study Centre
This month’s event celebrates the Canadian modernist painter Kathleen Munn. Join co-hosts Stephanie Barnes, Koerner Fellow in Painting Conservation, and Amy Furness, Rosamond Ivey Special Collections Archivist and Head, Library & Archives, for a display of materials drawn from both the AGO’s art and archival collections.
Drop by the Print & Drawings Study Centre any time between 6-8 pm to enjoy a personalized encounter with this collection. There will be a pop-up talk at 7 pm.
In
this week’s AGOinsider, we created our own version of
“Mean Tweets” for all the nice comments we’ve
received about our new Annual Pass.
Plus
– learn more about the upcoming Picasso exhibition, get to know
shopAGO’s Deepak Chopra, and more – all in this week’s AGOinsider. Subscribe to
our e-newsletters and enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at news in and around the
AGO each week.
If
you’d like to submit a story to AGOinsider for consideration, complete
the submission form and follow the prompts.
The caféAGO team
kindly remind employees to return dishes, cutlery and glassware to the
café after each use. With another busy season underway, the café needs enough
dishes to serve our guests and to continue with our green initiatives to reduce
waste and disposable packaging.
If
you currently have dishes, cutlery and glassware from the café, please return
them as soon as possible.
A quick addendum – do you know where the most dishes from cafeAGO end up? In the volunteer lounge! We (i.e. Holly) is constantly returning dishes to the cafe, so please help us (me!) If you buy your lunch/snack from the cafe, please return your dishes there; many thanks!
We all need gentle reminders sometimes, so please take this one as such!
As temperatures begin to drop, mice and other pests are searching for warmer spaces. These pests are an annoyance but also can carry disease and cause damage to the building and our art collection. We encourage all employees and volunteers to practice vigilance with food storage and food waste throughout the building. Here are some tips to avoid unwanted visitors.
Food Storage Original food packaging is typically not enough to keep pests out of desk drawers. Food kept in office areas must be stored in hard plastic or metal containers to be safe.
Food Waste Food waste and recycling must be disposed of in the tall bullet cans located in common areas throughout the building. The smaller office cans located at most desks are for non-food waste only. Please note that coffee cups are considered food waste.
Clean-up If you eat your lunch in the office or in other spaces in the gallery (i.e. at your desk, the seating area overlooking the Gallery School, the tables in the Concourse corridor, in the Education Commons, outside Library & Archives) be sure to clean up any crumbs so as not to entice visitors.
Be Mindful Please don’t use the tables in caféAGO on Mondays or outside of regular café hours as it is not cleaned during off hours. Please avoid taking breaks in spaces such as Jackman Theatre and the Jackman Lobby. Café dishes with food residue need to be returned to the café right away to avoid attracting pests to your location.
Thank you for your help!
If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Noel, Manager, Facility Services at 416 979 6660 ext. 245 or Warren Wilson, Deputy Director, Facilities, ext. 466.
Mike Mahoney attended the Toronto Urban Design Awards ceremony
earlier this week to accept an award on behalf of the AGO. The Grange Park
Revitalization project won the Award of Excellence for Large Places and/or
Neighbourhood Design. Congratulations to everyone who helped with this
significant initiative – I know it was not an easy process!
It was wonderful to see so many AGO Members at Members’
Appreciation Night on Tuesday evening, which included activations in the Norma
Ridley Members’ Lounge and shopAGO. Approximately 1,200 Members attended out of
our base of nearly 100,000. Don’t forget that it is Members’ Appreciation week
at AGO Bistro through to Sunday.
This weekend, the AGO once again hosts Canzine, the festival of
zines and underground culture. More than 200 artists and vendors will be
on-site. It will be a busy weekend.
Another one of our core values is “achieve financial equilibrium.”
Basically this means that on an annual basis, we need to achieve a balanced
budget. This is important because it gives us stability, it allows donors to
feel confident we are living within our budget, and perhaps most importantly,
it means we are not saddling the AGO with debt.
Michael Bidner, Flavio Belli Photocopying his Face, 1973
In conjunction with Canzine, join Jason Dickson for a talk on Canadian indie xerox, artistamp, and serigraphy pioneer Michael Bidner. Bidner worked on the bleeding edge of emergent media from the 1970s until his death from AIDS in 1989. Dickson will draw on material from Michael Bidner’s personal archives, held in the AGO Library’s special collections, to discuss the work and legacy of the artist.
Materials from the Michael Bidner archives will be on display in the library reading room throughout the afternoon. Drop by anytime between 1-5 pm to view selections from the archive, presented by Rosamond Ivey Special Archivist & Head, Library & Archives Amy Furness.
Saturday September 14, 1 – 5 pm (Talk 3 – 4 pm in Seminar Room 1)
On September 16, shopAGO will host a special AGO Employee and Volunteer Appreciation Event. Stop by between 11 am and 3 pm for up to 70% off. Simply show your AGO badge and receive this special discount on all clearance item purchases or take 25% off all regularly priced merchandise.
For questions, please contact Deepak Chopra, General Manager, 416 979 6660 ext. 859
Hello September! The next few months are
among the busiest time of year for all of us. There is a lot to look forward to
in the coming weeks as we install Early Rubens – including the return of
one of the AGO’s best known works, The Massacre of the Innocents – and Hito
Steyerl: This is the future.
Last week, I mentioned our value of “lead
with contemporary relevance.” This week, I am focusing on “be adaptable and
flexible.” We are living this value in a very big way right now as we learn how
to respond to 70,000 people who have signed up for the annual pass in the last
four months. A good example is how Advancement and front-of-house staff are
being nimble and responsive to selling the new pass, dealing with long
line-ups, and providing a warm welcome to those who are new to the AGO.
Yesterday, the European Curatorial
Committee met. There was positive conversation amongst the group about how this
collection area will become even more relevant to our growing and changing
audiences. The committee also visited the Reuben Wells Leonard Rotunda to view
the Rebecca Belmore and Bernini works.
Enjoy
the weekend,
Stephan
PS.
I have been thinking about last fall’s Anthropocene
exhibit and how it portrayed the human impact on the natural world. The natural
world also has an impact on humanity and we are seeing a brutal example of this
in Hurricane Dorian and the devastating impact it has had on the Bahamas. Many
people in our community have ties to the Bahamas and are feeling this impact
closely.
