Take a break and check out these new and old exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton!
Midterm season can be draining and taking a break to view exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton can be a great way to destress!
This exhibition features more than 70 works created over four decades by Shelley Niro, a Mohawk artist based in Brantford, ON. The first major retrospective exhibition of her work, 500 Year Itch highlights the following themes: matriarchy, past is present, actors and family relations. Niro aims to represent Indigenous women and girls while advocating for self-representation and sovereignty using parody, feminism and spirituality. The exhibit will be available for viewing from Feb. 10-May 26, 2024.
Alex Jacobs-Blum: Living and Lost Connections
Hamilton-based artist Alex Jacobs-Blum presents her first museum solo exhibition using photos and videos to portray the themes of continuity and legacy. "As part of her artmaking process, Jacobs-Blum immerses herself in Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) homelands, situated around one of the Finger Lakes in present-day upstate New York. There, she embodies Hodinöhsö:ni’ women across generations, connecting deeply with Creation. By documenting her presence in the landscape, she navigates historical narratives, displacement, responsibility, and the shaping of new futures," as mentioned on the AGH website. The exhibit will be available for viewing from Feb. 10-May 20, 2024.
RBC Artist In Residence: Melissa General
Melissa General is a Mohawk artist from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and is the 2023-2024 RBC Artist in Residence at AGH. Her exhibition involves using photography, audio, video and installation to explore the concepts of memory, language and land of the Six Nations of the Grand River, as well as her identity as a Mohawk artist. The exhibit has been around for a year and is almost over, so don't miss it!
Kim Adams is a Canadian artist who explores mobile and industrial societies through his work. "Blending humour, satire and seriousness, he builds “worlds” as a means of social critique," as mentioned on the AGH website. His exhibition portrays satirical dystopian pieces of work, as exemplified in Bruegel-Bosch Bus. His work has been showcased in both parks and museums. This exhibition will be around for a long time, but it won't be here forever.
Have fun checking these exhibitions!
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is now offering a lower sensory experience for those with dementia and other accessibility needs
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is now hosting Dementia-Friendly Days so that those affected by dementia or other sensory-sensitivity issues can enjoy the exhibits in a quiet, calmer environment during non-public hours.
The AGH is located downtown on King St. West. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month, the gallery reduces sound levels and sensory stimulation for drop-in, free, self-directed exhibition tours.
Laurie Kilgour-Walsh, head of Programs and Learning at AGH, explained this initiative's origin. Specialized programs for people living with dementia have already been implemented at the gallery for over 10 years, so the AGH has experience creating a safe and supportive environment. Due to this success, the gallery has wanted to expand to general access for people living with dementia, for more casual opportunities to explore the exhibitions.
Beyond lowering sensory stimulation, the AGH also offers other supports on their dementia-friendly days, with staff available to help attendees navigate the building or to chat about the exhibits. This gives visitors the freedom to choose their level of interaction with others, for a more controlled experience.
The building will also have extra signage and directions, as well as a security team, to ensure that visitors are as comfortable as possible.
As a dementia-friendly initiative, this program is unique because it is not a choreographed and facilitated experience. Rather, it is experienced however the visitor chooses.
Kilgour-Walsh has explained that reception has been slow to begin, especially with the winter weather that discourages people from coming out. However, she anticipates that once the warmer weather arrives and more people are aware of Dementia-Friendly Days, regular participants will come in more often.
Kilgour-Walsh hopes that people will feel comfortable regularly coming to the gallery after this experience.
"What I hope is that people will feel that the gallery is a place [where] they can come as they are. [Visitors] can function as they need to...we don't expect our participants necessarily to be quiet as an example. However, their experiences are welcome, so hopefully we'll see them come back [often]," said Kilgour-Walsh.
This initiative is great for any students who have sensory sensitivity issues or have loved ones with dementia, explained Kilgour-Walsh.
"By offering a safe space like this, it also allows caregivers and friends and family members a chance to get out and to have those experiences and to really share them with the person that they love as well. So there's a lot of relationship building that goes on in this," said Kilgour-Walsh.
By offering a safe space like this, it also allows caregivers and friends and family members a chance to get out and to have those experiences and to really share them with the person that they love as well. So there's a lot of relationship building that goes on in this.
Laurie Kilgour-Walsh, Head of Programs and Learning, Art Gallery of Hamilton
Kilgour-Walsh also added that the program has been funded by a grant from the province of Ontario and for students to keep an eye out for other opportunities the AGH has to offer, such as other programming or educational initiatives that might be of interest.
For more information on the schedule when Dementia Friendly Days are held, or to optionally pre-register for tours, visit here.
At the intersection of art, science and community engagement, the AGH’s Art of Creation strives to inform the public about the health needs of pregnant people in Hamilton
The Art of Creation is a research and community outreach project that strives to communicate early origin science to Hamilton’s community through artistic engagement.
Jordan Chin, project coordinator at the Art of Creation and a student in McMaster University’s master of public health program, defined early origin science as the field of research investigating how a fetus’s environment in the womb impacts their health and their risk factor for diseases later in life.
Chin works along Deb Sloboda, the associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, who also leads the Art of Creation study.
Sloboda explained that when she first began her PhD early origin science was an incredibly new field. Even though the field is much more established now, the public is still largely unaware of early origin science and its importance in health.
“When we think about interventions or community-based health, we entirely think about [questions like]: How much physical activity are we doing? How can we get populations exercising? How can we make sure that kids understand good eating habits? All [of these are] extremely important, but one thing we don't do is think about how can we support pregnant individuals,” explained Sloboda.
When we think about interventions or community-based health, we entirely think about [questions like]: How much physical activity are we doing? How can we get populations exercising? How can we make sure that kids understand good eating habits? All [of these are] extremely important, but one thing we don't do is think about how can we support pregnant individuals.
Deb Sloboda, associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and lead on the Art of Creation study
The Art of Creation began as a response to this lack of awareness and attention on early origin science.
“We came up with the idea of using an arts-based approach and going to cultural institutions, like an art gallery, rather than public health or public health administration [and] rather than creating more infographics and flyers that people are going to read at the doctor’s office,” said Sloboda.
Sloboda and Chin both explained that cultural institutions, such as museums, libraries and art galleries, are valuable resources for connecting with the community and are perhaps underutilized avenues for community education. They also emphasized that arts-based community outreach is uniquely engaging and uniquely accessible.
“You don't have to be able to understand, for example, the English language, to look at [a piece of art] and understand it and be emotionally attached to it,” said Sloboda.
You don't have to be able to understand, for example, the English language, to look at [a piece of art] and understand it and be emotionally attached to it.
Deb Sloboda, associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and lead on the Art of Creation study
Chin explained that the Art of Creation has facilitated multiple arts-based outreach programs, including arts-based support groups for pregnant people and a program in which artists visited an early origin science lab and then created science-informed art.
Currently, the Art of Creation exhibition is being hosted at the Fischer Gallery in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. This is the exhibition’s first stop in Hamilton, but it will not be its last.
“The exhibition starts at the Fischer Gallery, and then we're hoping to move it to community organizations next year so that we can reach populations [who might not] wander into the Art Gallery of Hamilton. It'll end in the McMaster Museum of Art in January 2025,” explained Sloboda.
The Art of Creation Exhibition is completely free to view. The AGH is free to students, Sloboda explained, but the Fischer Gallery in particular is also completely free to the public, allowing anyone to enter it and view the exhibition.
The Art of Creation Exhibition opened at the AGH on Sept. 14 and it will run until Nov. 30. After this, Sloboda and Chin plan for it to move around in the community, reaching as many populations as possible.
The MSU Pride Community Centre’s first Queer Prom promises music, donuts and a surprise celeb performance
This year, the McMaster Students Union Pride Community Centre is hosting their first Queer Prom at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Mar. 3. The event is in collaboration with EngiQueers and Queer and Trans Colour Club.
Although this is the PCC’s first time hosting this event, 2SLGBTQIA+ social advocacy group Fruit Salad: Hamilton Edition held Hamilton’s first Queer Prom in June 2022. The event was also held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and brought in attendees from all over the province.
The tradition of 2SLGBTQIA+ safe dances have been important in queer spaces all over the world for several years. In 1995, one of the very first recorded queer proms in America was organized in Hayward, California.
In a 2014 documentary covering the Hayward Gay Prom, participants detail how this tradition allows 2SLGBTQIA+ youth to safely experience one of the most romanticized milestones of American youth.
Avery Kemble, assistant director of the PCC, shared that these ideas rang true to McMaster’s 2023 Queer Prom. Kemble explained that this event aims to provide the queer community an opportunity to experience an inclusive, safe and fun prom. Kemble explained that some students may not have had this opportunity previously, due to pandemic restrictions or homophobic school requirements.
“So many high school proms are so cis [normative and] heteronormative and it's so hard for queer people to be able to go and feel welcome at an event like that. There are stories of people not even being allowed to bring same-sex partners or having dress codes that say girls must wear dresses and guys must wear suits. It's all very limiting for queer people,” said Kemble.
So many high school proms are so cis [normative and] heteronormative and it's so hard for queer people to be able to go and feel welcome at an event like that. There are stories of people not even being allowed to bring same-sex partners or having dress codes that say girls must wear dresses and guys must wear suits. It's all very limiting for queer people
Avery Kemble, Assistant Director, Pride Community Centre
PCC Training and Development Coordinator Ava Shah-Beigi discussed with the Silhouette that the PCC’s Queer Prom is a meaningful opportunity to celebrate queer culture in a unique and accessible way.
“It's so nice that there is so many aspects of queer culture that are celebrated within the confines of nightlife, such as bars or drag shows. But we also think that it's important to have events that don't necessarily center around nightlife, but rather something more like a formal, which offers options for queer students.” said Shah-Beigi.
Kemble shared that the PCC has been hard at work planning Queer Prom since September 2022.
She explained that it was important to them to ensure that the event is as accessible as possible. This includes cheaper ticket options to reduce financial barriers for some students. Kemble shared that, because queer people are already more likely to be of lower income or require financial aid, it was important for the PCC to make tickets as affordable as possible, which they were able to achieve through external funding.
Shah-Beigi shared with the Silhouette that in an effort to make Queer Prom as accessible as possible, the PCC has organized a raffle to provide free tickets and outfits for the event.
We will be providing a free ticket to three to five students with financial needs and there's like a person we're collaborating with that will provide them a free outfit as well. We don't want people to face any barriers when it comes to finances. We want to be able to have everyone celebrated whether or not they come from a wealthy background,” said Shah-Beigi.
We will be providing a free ticket to three to five students with financial needs and there's like a person we're collaborating with that will provide them a free outfit as well. We don't want people to face any barriers when it comes to finances. We want to be able to have everyone celebrated whether or not they come from a wealthy background.”
Ava Shah-Beigi, Training and Development Coordinator, Pride Community Centre
The Queer Prom will be chock-full of music, games and entertainment. There will be a professional DJ, a donut bar, a caricature artist, drag queen performances and a surprise celebrity performer.
Shah-Beigi also shared that the event is Renaissance themed, and attendees are encouraged to come dressed in their most extravagant themed attire.
Whether it be for the entertainment, the dessert bar or just to celebrate queerness in a safe and uplifting space, McMaster’s first Queer Prom is an event to not be missed.
“Growing up, prom is such a milestone event that you look forward to and we want the queer community at McMaster to have that opportunity to be brought together and foster a sense of belonging and inclusion, to show queer people that they matter,” said Kemble.
“Growing up, prom is such a milestone event that you look forward to and we want the queer community at McMaster to have that opportunity to be brought together and foster a sense of belonging and inclusion, to show queer people that they matter.”
Avery Kemble, Assistant Director, Pride Community Centre
For more information about Queer Prom, visit the McMaster PCC Instagram.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton Film Festival moves online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic
By: Samantha McBride, Production Assistant
Every year film enthusiasts and creatives alike descend on Hamilton for the Art Gallery of Hamilton Film Festival. This event promises local and international feature films, short films, competitions and other programming. The festival is also an opportunity for the Hamilton community to support independent artists and engage with an international circle of storytellers.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s festival has undergone major changes. The festival is currently running from Oct. 16-25, 2020 and is entirely online using the platform, Eventive. Most of the films are available on-demand but there are also live online events.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGScCQwgtyy/
“It's very important for us to continue to support the creators as well as help the community to see new films that they might not see anywhere else . . . [Films are] a window into someone else's world and someone else's experience and it's an important medium for us to understand the world around us and the experiences other people have in our world,” said Art Gallery of Hamilton Film Curator Ryan Ferguson.
“It's very important for us to continue to support the creators as well as help the community to see new films that they might not see anywhere else . . . [Films are] a window into someone else's world and someone else's experience and it's an important medium for us to understand the world around us and the experiences other people have in our world,” said Art Gallery of Hamilton Film Curator Ryan Ferguson.
One of the more notable live events is the festival’s youth film challenge, an opportunity for anyone under the age of 25 to submit their short film to the festival. The youth challenge is a chance for young filmmakers to showcase their work to the community and beyond. One film from the category will be selected to receive the audience choice award for standout film. This year’s youth and family film challenges will be livestreamed on the last day of the festival.
The festival’s 21 short films are being offered at no cost in categories of six to seven films. These short films are eligible for the audience choice award, given to the film voted best by the audience.
The festival also includes a number of works from local and Canadian filmmakers. One of these works is the world premiere of La Toccata created by Hamilton interdisciplinary artist Radha Menon. La Toccata is set in Sicily and explores the Western obsession with youth and beauty. It is particularly fitting at this time when the pandemic has exposed the individual and systemic lack of care for the lives of elderly individuals.
“[I]t’s all about beauty so [the film is] made to look beautiful . . . because we are obsessed with beauty and it's that beauty that draws us in . . . [I]t has been created in our mind that the ageing process is something to be feared, mine included, everybody, it's so drilled into our psyche . . . [I]n my culture elders – well especially used to be, not so much maybe anymore because Western influences – were revered and the grey hair meant wisdom. But now, we shove our elderly behind closed doors, segregate them so we don't have to see them or be with them and it’s quite foolish because we could be learning from all the wisdom that they have,” Menon explained.
Menon was excited to premiere this work in the city that she calls home, even if it is only online. While she knows audiences will be missing the experience of being in a theatre, she thinks it is valuable to have the opportunity to see what creators are working on during this time.
Ordinarily, the festival is geared toward the Hamilton community but as it shifts to an online event, other audiences have the opportunity to partake in the diverse programming lineup offered by the AGHFF. The move to online creates a more inclusive festival for those who would not ordinarily be able to visit the Hamilton area.
“It's exciting for us to have the opportunity to share what we do every year here in Hamilton with people all over the province," said Ferguson.
“It's exciting for us to have the opportunity to share what we do every year here in Hamilton with people all over the province," said Ferguson.
Overall, the festival promises an interesting online experience for audiences with exciting ways to get involved. Although audiences are not together to watch the films, the community remains united by the stories told.
Hamilton is a well-known centre for the arts, with events like Supercrawl bringing in people from across the GTA and beyond. However, it hasn’t always been like this. In a 1959 statement, then Mayor Lloyd Jackson—the namesake for Jackson Square—claimed that the city had no need for modern art.
“The people of this city have made it abundantly clear that they want no part of this modern art . . . we can't let the arty crowd run things,” said Mayor Jackson in his statement.
Building Cultural Legacies is a digital storytelling platform that is proving Mayor Jackson wrong. In response to his statement, the Building Cultural Legacies exhibit has the subheading “The Arty Crowd Runs Things”. Their exhibit at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (123 King St. W.) has the quote blown up as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mayor Jackson, showing just how far this city has come since those words were first said. The arty crowd is definitely running the show now.
The physical exhibit for Building Cultural Legacies is not currently accessible because the AGH has closed its doors until April 5; however, their online content is freely available and easy to access. On their website you can search through art based on criteria ranging from the type of material used to the decade it was made in. If you need a little break during your social distancing, you can just pull up the site and browse through Hamilton’s art history.
Alexis Moline is the Content Curator for the Building Cultural Legacies project, and she says that they chose to represent the second half of the 20th century because these records are most at risk of being lost.
A screen capture of the "explore artists" page on the Building Cultural Legacies website (buildingculturallegacies.ca)
“We'd like to make sure that those things can be preserved and available so that people [can] access them and learn from them, as well as celebrate those artists and their legacies and the great collections of things that they have built up over the years . . . So the point was really taking over our artistic past and learning from it and to continue bringing it to the present,” said Moline.
One of the ways that Building Cultural Legacies has been helping Hamiltonians connect to the past is through facilitated discussions and public talks. With the mass closures resulting from COVID-19, these talks have been postponed. However, once things are up and running again, here’s a brief taste of what you can look forward to.
The next two talks that Building Cultural Legacies plans to host is a roundtable discussion with the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association and a discussion on mentoring in the artistic community. NIIPA was one of the longest-running Indigenous arts services organizations in Canada, and they were founded on James Street, right in the heart of Hamilton. Moline says that the events are designed to encourage connections across communities.
“[I]t's really a chance for people to come out and listen and hear stories and then afterwards speak amongst themselves and make those connections. It really includes talking to each other, [and] intergenerational exchange; we really encourage young artists or Mac students to come out. And so that's a great opportunity to have a friendly, relaxed environment for people to connect about all of our shared history and present,” said Moline.
Building Cultural Legacies is continually working to improve and add to their site. Moline says that she is working with Dr. Angela Sheng's Art History 4X03 Intro to Galleries and Museums class—a fourth year Art History seminar offered at McMaster—to develop new artist pages for the Building Cultural Legacies site, to be published tentatively this May, although this may be impacted by the closures on McMaster’s campus.
Building Cultural Legacies encourages artists both young and old to work and grow together, and encourages Hamiltonians to learn more about their own history. Whether or not you’re an art devotee, the message to work and grow together is one that we can all benefit from.
Explore Artists - Building Cultural Legacies Hamilton
Building Cultural Legacies has been generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
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Walking through an art gallery or a museum is mostly a visual experience, whether you're looking at a sculpture, a painting or a photo. This can be exclusionary for people with little to no vision. The Art Gallery of Hamilton is aiming to make art accessible to a larger range of people with their Touch Tours, monthly group tours which take visitors through a sensory exploration of the art on display.
The tours are run by Laurie Kilgour-Walsh, the Senior Manager of Education at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. In 2007, Kilgour-Walsh attended an orientation program at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, a program targeted at new museum and art gallery employees in order to acquaint them with the process of running a large museum. Kilgour-Walsh says that one of the orientation activities inspired her to begin the Touch Tours. A patron of the gallery, who had lost her sight late in life, walked the visitors through the way that she now experiences art.
“[S]he started talking about her interaction with the sculpture, how she sees it and how she encounters all the different facets of the artists making the work, what the work looks like, the personality of the piece, just through the sense of touch,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
“[S]he started talking about her interaction with the sculpture, how she sees it and how she encounters all the different facets of the artists making the work, what the work looks like, the personality of the piece, just through the sense of touch,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
The Touch Tours were specifically created for people with vision loss, but all are welcome to attend. In many ways, the tours enrich the art-viewing experience. Kilgour-Walsh says that the average time that a person spends looking at a piece of art is about 30 seconds. Art viewing is almost entirely sight-based, unless there is an audio component to describe the artwork. The tours slow down that experience, allowing participants to explore the art in new ways.
Over time, the Touch Tours have evolved to include the other senses. For example, during an Emily Carr exhibition, small salt shakers with pine tree and pine essential oil created the smell of the forest to accompany Carr’s work.
“In other cases, when we have our public offering, sometimes people [attend] who are curious, who just want to have a sensory experience are coming and that is actually what we see most often. And so some of that is leading us to think more about tours that engage senses, rather than simply focusing on description . . . forming an image in your mind based on the words and feelings, and engaging hearing and sight and sound,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
The primary art medium that the tours display is sculpture. The benefit of sculpture is that it is, by nature, much more tactile than a painting. Running your hands over a sculpted apple is much easier to understand than a painted one, particularly if you’ve never seen an apple. Many of the sculptures that the tours use are made of bronze, because it is a fairly durable material, meaning that it’s unlikely to break or snap under pressure.
“[W]ith bronze casting, the original work of art is often made in like, clay or wax or some very soft surface, and then cast later. And so feeling this work, you can actually find those spots of the sculpture where you can see how the artists would have used a finger to put in a curve or detail. You can actually follow those movements with your fingers,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
“[W]ith bronze casting, the original work of art is often made in like, clay or wax or some very soft surface, and then cast later. And so feeling this work, you can actually find those spots of the sculpture where you can see how the artists would have used a finger to put in a curve or detail. You can actually follow those movements with your fingers,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
Paintings are trickier to include on the tours, but they're such an integral part of our culture that the AGH has been working hard to include them in the tours. Paintings are much more delicate and easy to tarnish, and they are also fairly flat, with little texture, making them difficult to perceive through touch. The Touch Tours has adapted over time to include paintings. Now, each tour provides a posterboard version of the original painting that visitors can hold in their hands. The posterboard paintings are then covered in different textures of paint to illustrate the different sections, with raised paint being used to outline larger shapes. The participants are then able to experience the painting through touch, feeling their way through the art.
The Touch Tours have also created materials that illustrate what the different aspects of the paintings would feel like. They’ve created small samples of fabric to demonstrate what is being portrayed in the paintings to create a more immersive experience.
“[A] lot of people who come don't know what canvas feels like, so we have blank canvas so you can feel the give of the surface and the texture. If we talk about images where there's a certain kind of fabric — we've had a couple of painting of really beautiful Victorian dresses — we can use something like this where we've got that silk fabric and we've got suede and we've got all of those different things to have a sense of being able to touch the fabric that is being portrayed,” said Kilgour-Walsh.
They also have small samples of different paints, from acrylic to watercolour, in order to give an idea of what the painting itself feels like.
Touch Tours and other accessible options are slowly being integrated into more museums and galleries, like the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada and even the Museum of Modern Art. These improvements not only help people with accessibility needs, but also anyone interested in experiencing art from a fresh perspective.
For anyone interested in exploring the Art Gallery of Hamilton (123 King St. W.), admission is free for McMaster and Mohawk students with a valid student ID.
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By Donna Nadeem, Contributor
As part of a year-long residency at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, artist Reinhard Reitzenstein is exploring ideas of the natural world and technology through sculpture and drawing in collaboration with the Hamilton community. While an established artist, Reitzenstein’s residency has been an opportunity to reintroduce himself and his artistic identity to the public sphere.
Reitzenstein graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1971. His work explores the relationship between nature, cultural science and technology while utilizing installation, sculptures, drawings, photography and sound as his medium of choice. Over the course of his career, Reitzenstein has been described as an environmental artist with focuses on land and ecology, and an allegorical minimalist after creating his own art movement combining allegory and minimalism.
Allegory refers to abstract ideas and principles in forms of storytelling, figures and events, while minimalism is a style that focuses on the simplest of forms and techniques. A seemingly contradictory combination of these two concepts allow Reitzenstein to create visual pieces that are meant to change and unsettle the viewers' perceptions.
Entering the AGH exhibition, you’re greeted by a quote from the artist depicting what he understands his movement to be. “Allegorical minimalism: paradoxical synthesis of the material and natural world, challenging the perceptions of the spectator (as critic) while denying not only a fixed interpretation but the very possibility of interpretation itself.”
Reitzenstein began his residency with the intention of developing at least one or two projects and the capacity to focus on them for a duration of year. This allowed him to engage in a gradual creation process. The space itself was another dimension Reitzenstein had to take into consideration. High and vaulted ceilings along with windows bringing in natural lighting from every direction allowed Reitzenstein to push his sculptures and drawings further to produce larger work that force observation and interaction.
[pjc_slideshow slide_type="reitzenstein-agh"]
The exhibition features two communal projects that have created an opportunity for community members to contribute through various workshops and interactive tours.
The first piece, the Erable Project, is composed of an array of discs suspended in the middle of the room. The discs are individually cut sections of a tree and hung horizontally next to each other. Reitzenstein created some of the discs, while community members contributed to others, creating a diversity of unique colour choices and designs. Each piece is covered in an assortment of wet felt. The soft material requires constant repetitive motions to achieve a desired outcome.
“Some of the kids who were here working on the wet felting got really into it and it was incredible. There's something about the tactility [of felting] that connects to people and allows them to focus and concentrate. It seems to have a therapeutic effect,” said Reitzenstein.
The second piece is a large communal tree drawing done with white gel pens on a black wall. After reflecting on the diversity of languages practiced in the Hamilton area, Reitzenstein decided to ask community participants to add to the drawing by writing the words ‘tree’ or ‘maple’ in their own languages.
The piece includes approximately 58 different languages and counting. As more and more words in different languages get added to the drawing, the tree visually reflects on the cultural diversity of the Hamilton community.
“I wanted to make it a community project where, again, we do workshops with community groups. I thought it would be great too because of the multicultural aspect of our region now, and to make sure everybody has a voice here,” said Reitzenstein.
The David Braley and Nancy Gordon Sculpture Atrium is also filled with Reitzenstein’s bronze sculptures and other art pieces from the museum’s permanent collections. Reitzenstein chose the pieces to coincide with his exploration of allegorical minimalism throughout his residency at the AGH.
In Residence: Reitzenstein is still a work-in-progress at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (123 King St. West). It will be exhibiting until March 29 and is free to all McMaster students with a valid student card.
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By Donna Nadeem, Contributor
Cootes Paradise surrounds McMaster University’s campus, creating a warm, natural environment at Mac. At the Art Gallery of Hamilton (123 King St. West) and within the heart of the Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery, a collection of various works comes together to express the impact that Cootes has had on Hamilton — spanning the past, present and (hopefully) the future.
From paintings of the beautiful landscape contained in Cootes Paradise, to photographs of the life that resides within and maps documenting the area, “Cootes Paradise: A Place Above All Others” reveals the importance of this wetland. The works emphasize that if we don’t take care of Cootes, then we are going to lose it.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Royal Botanical Gardens, Dundas Museum and Archives, Hamilton Public Library and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. It celebrates the centennial of the Hamilton Naturalists Club, discusses sustainability within Cootes Paradise and reflects on stewardship of the land. There is a focus on the human connection to the land and biodiversity.
Cootes Paradise has had a long past. Its usage claims were constantly debated in where a by developers and entrepreneurs. However, local bird watchers saw the threat looming. They began fundraising to preserve the wetlands as a natural habitat.
“Everyone had a different notion of what they wanted to do with this area, they wanted to live in it, hunt in it, they wanted to commercially develop it and this has been its fate,” said Tor Lukasik-Foss, director of programs and education at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
Robert Ross is one of the artists who has contributed to this exhibition. Ross has been viewed has one of Hamilton’s most successful artists and considered a master of realism painting. The artist has focused much of his work on Cootes and Dundas Valley, detailing how the land has changed throughout time. This artwork, combined with maps and aerial photography provided by the Hamilton Public Library, effectively helps viewers understand how history has taken its toll on Cootes Paradise.
The Hamilton Naturalists Club asked its members to share their photos of the area, specifically of the birds that live and dwell within the trees. Reaching out to amateur photographers within their membership, they curated 40 photos of Cootes’ long-term residents.
The Hamilton Naturalists Club have been at the forefront of annual bird counts and record-keeping for bird activity in the area since 1927. Thanks to this, they have the most complete record of bird activity anywhere in North America.
“Even though we look at nature and think that this is a place where humans don’t reside, it's not really true, we are there whether nature wants us there or not, for the sake of its continuance we have to be there, so there’s this rich human culture that abounds beyond,” said Lukasik-Foss.
Naturally, as McMaster University overlooks the grounds of Cootes Paradise, a new course was created to explore the area. “Designing Paradise” will run during the Winter 2020 term. It will explore eco-concepts and re-define McMaster’s campus as an environmentally sustainable space. The course will be led by professors Judy Major-Giradin and Daniel Coleman.
“I love that through this course we can engage with the historical and political elements that still reside in the Hamilton landscape, but also have the chance to artistically explore the natural environment and reimagine west campus as the diverse ecosystem that it once was,” said Mariana Quinn, a 3rd year Studio Arts student who is enrolled in the ART 3DP3 Designing Paradise course.
Both Major-Giradin and Coleman are focused on sustainability. Major-Girardin is a Studio Arts professor that actively seeks methods in her studio practice that can provide and offer more environmentally responsible approaches. Coleman is an English professor who recently published a book called Yardwork in 2017 that analyzes Hamilton through ecological, cultural and political stories as well as builds awareness for the sacred land where he resides.
“These spaces, they are not untouched by humans, they are massively touched by humans, in fact, the only way that they live now is because of human advocacy and human action, so they are as talked about and combed over as any other urban space in a lot of ways,” said Lukasik-Foss.
“Cootes Paradise: A Place Above All Others” is a tremendous effort by members of the city to teach it’s residents that even though we live in a densely populated city, we have beautifully vibrant natural spaces. With these spaces; however, comes environmental issues that we need to get behind in to preserve our nature.
“Cootes Paradise: A Place Above All Others” is on display until Dec. 1 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (123 King St. West). The exhibition is free to all McMaster students with a valid student card.
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It has been said that life is a dance. No one knows that better than celebrated Canadian dance artist Peggy Baker whose dance installation Move captures the duality of caregiving. The free installation will be performed on Feb. 2 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton as part of McMaster University’s Socrates Project.
The dance installation takes place in a 28 by 28-foot square surrounded by a frame. It is 70-minutes long and is organized into four cycles. The cyclic nature of the piece and the fact that it rotates throughout means audience members can take it in from multiple angles.
The performers are not necessarily dancers by trade but members of the community who love dance. There are 16 of them dancing in pairs that reverse roles with each cycle. They were selected in November 2018 during a two-hour workshop and audition.
The story of Move began 10 years ago when Baker first presented the dance as part of Toronto contemporary art event Nuit Blanche. At that time, the dance was 20 minutes long and done on the hour every hour for 12 hours with 12 pairs of professional dancers. When Baker put on Move for the second time at the Art Gallery of Ontario a couple years later, she decided to extend the length of the piece and do it with fewer dancers.
It was while doing the dance at the Art Gallery of Ontario that Baker thought about using community members as the dancers. She has since put on several performances of Move with non-professional dancers, staging the entire performance in five three-hour rehearsals.
Baker’s own experience with caregiving formed a part of the inspiration for the installation. She was the primary caregiver to her late husband, who had primary progressive multiple sclerosis. She found that caregiving involves a beautiful rapport between the one receiving and the one giving care.
Baker was also inspired by art and dance itself. While teaching in Philadelphia, she was struck by the beauty of partnership when she had dancers pair up and help another during some difficult movement sequences. Also while in Philadelphia, she saw an exhibition of paintings by American painter George Tooker and was inspired by the images of people embracing one another.
The dancers changing roles throughout the piece represents the inevitability of being on both sides of caregiving. The choreography for the piece overall is formal and highly organized, mimicking the ritualized elements of human lives. The choice to have four cycles mimics the cyclic structure of the seasons and the fact that there are four cardinal directions.
“[I]t’s something universal. We all receive that kind of intimate physical care and physical nurturing as infants and children. We may all find ourselves in a position where we where we are called upon to give care to a parent or a partner or a child. And we may all eventually need to receive care,” explained Baker.
KITCHENER, Ont. (09/04/18) - Victoria Park
The electro-acoustic soundtrack, composed by musician and composer Debashis Sinha, is also organized into four cycles. It is subtle and atmospheric, not quite music but a sonic landscape for the audience and dancers to reside in.
Baker encourages audience members to walk around the square performance space, close their eyes or turn their back to view the art in the gallery. The space allows viewers to feel comfortable arriving after it begins or even leaving before it ends.
“I like it to be in a public place. I like it to be in a place that already is claimed by the community as being a place in their town or city like this is… an art gallery, a foyer of a theater, a market… [I]t needs to locate itself in the heart of the community… [I]t's about community building basically,” Baker said.
At the end of the piece, the dancers pour water for one another and drink it. One of the dancers in the group, a ceramic artist, suggested that the group each makes the vessel that they drink out of. At the end of one of their rehearsals, she guided her fellow dancers through making their own bowl.
The creativity and passion brought on by these community dancers give this installation of Move a unique tint. However, the beauty of Move is the universality of the theme and the way in which it can move anyone.
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