C/O Franca Marazia

Art in the Workplace promotes Hamilton’s arts and culture by sharing the works of local, emerging creatives

Art can be found in the most unexpected places. You can find it organically in nature, scribbled along abandoned alleyways and streets, or even nestled inside the McMaster Innovation Park. The MIP is a research and innovation facility located near campus and displayed on the first two floors of the Atrium@MIP is the Art in the Workplace gallery. Founded in 2009, the gallery is a not-for-profit organization creating opportunities for local artists to showcase their talents to the Hamilton community.

Although the MIP is a technology and business-focused space for start-up companies and research labs, it has served as an unconventional and unique operating base for Art in the Workplace since the gallery’s establishment. Currently running its 32nd exhibit, the gallery hosts three exhibitions a year, each featuring around 200 pieces of art from over one hundred local artists. 

Planning for each exhibition begins with a call for entry which is open to any artist. The submissions are then juried by a committee, comprised of members of the gallery, before they are presented both online and in the physical space at the MIP.

As a not-for-profit organization, Art in the Workplace transfers all sales from the exhibitions directly to the artists. In 2020, the gallery celebrated a milestone of having raised $100,400 through 301 pieces sold since its inception 11 years ago. It was also the year it displayed its 6,000th art piece. 

“All the art sales go to the artists which I think is something unique to us and really special,” said Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace.

Art in the Workplace president Emily Benedict and a volunteer
C/O Franca Marazia

Benedict has been with the gallery since 2013 and began volunteering as the president of the group in 2019. 

“People don’t just get to view the work, but they get to support the artist too,” she said.

"People don't get just to view the work, but they get to support the artist too."

Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace

Despite having met many goals last year, the gallery was still significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic along with the rest of the Hamilton art scene. The 32nd exhibit was originally planned to kick off in April 2020 with a large opening event which typically attracts a few hundred attendees. However, due to the large scale of the event and safety concerns in the face of the pandemic, it was postponed. Instead, all the art was posted for viewing on their virtual gallery through its website. Pieces were also shared on the gallery’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

“People have really enjoyed seeing everything come online to the website, Facebook and Instagram. Many artists also really appreciate when their pieces get shared,” said Benedict.

For many emerging artists, the opening gala is especially important and momentous as it is the first time their work gets displayed to the public. For all the artists part of the exhibition, it is a memorable night and a chance to connect with other artists, friends and family. 

“I always like the opening because it is a good chance to get to see everyone, from artists you see every couple months to just seeing people’s happiness on being able to show their pieces to family and friends . . . It’s getting to see that and getting to be part of that which I really like,” said Benedict.

“I always like the opening because it is a good chance to get to see everyone, from artists you see every couple months to just seeing people’s happiness on being able to show their pieces to family and friends . . . It’s getting to see that and getting to be part of that which I really like.”

Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace

Fortunately, with many COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, the Atrium@MIP has now reopened to visitors on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Planning and preparation for the opening ceremony of the 32nd exhibit is under way as well, with the date tentatively set for Nov. 25, 2021. If all goes as planned, after the event, the gallery is hoping to return to its normal operations of three exhibitions per year.

“[The opening event for the 32nd exhibit] is something that we’ve been talking about, the whole 18 months, as a group because we thought we could maybe do it, but everything has been kind of shuffled . . . When we are able to do it, we want to be able to do it right and safely,” Benedict said.

The gallery has received positive support from the community and contributing artists during the lockdown and since its comeback. Many artists who had been part of the Art in the Workplace exhibitions for years also returned, along with volunteers, family and friends.

C/O Timothy Story

Art in the Workplace has a long history of collaborating with other groups in the community. In fact, through one of its collaboration projects is how Benedict first joined the team. She was a student in the Art History program at McMaster University and as part of her fourth-year seminar on the history of collecting, she researched and displayed Hamilton’s art collection at the gallery. Through this opportunity, she was able to gain hands-on museum and gallery experience which further cultivated her interest in this career field.

Aside from the main exhibitions, the gallery is known for their “mini-exhibits” featuring the works by high school students and community group members. The mini-exhibits are curated by students, their teachers and gallery volunteers. The gallery’s regular collaborators include Westdale Secondary School, Glendale High School arts program, St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School, Compass Collective and Lynwood Charlton Centre.

For any students interested in learning about the inner workings of a gallery, Art in the Workplace is always looking for volunteers and Benedict encourages students to come check out the current exhibition at the Atrium@MIP. Volunteers can assist with pickup and drop off evenings, hang art pieces and prepare for opening galas. 

“I always had a lot of fun with [volunteering at Art in the Workplace] and I thought it was a really great experience. So, if there were students that were wondering about how [an art gallery] works or would enjoy [volunteering], I think it’s a great opportunity,” Benedict said. 

From small artists to students and office workers, Art in the Workplace aims to bring art to all corners of the community. In the future, the gallery is considering integrating more virtual components to their space to help deliver art to a broader audience and continue supporting local artists and creatives.

Photos from Silhouette Photo Archives

By: Max Lightstone

In the near future, Hamilton will be blessed with a light rail transit system, spanning the breadth of the city and allowing individuals to travel from McMaster University to Eastgate Square in just over half an hour. While that’s a great move for the city, it’s still lacking something.

Part of the LRT plan is to build an operations maintenance and storage facility at the McMaster Innovation Park. The OMSF would allow for nightly storage and any necessary servicing to the LRT trains, with tracks built along Longwood Road South for the trains to access Main Street West. If you’ve never heard of MIP, it is a large research facility on Longwood Road South beside the Ontario Highway 403.

MIP was proposed by the university in 2005 with the goal of fostering industry collaboration while progressing research and development. Following McMaster’s purchase of an old Westinghouse factory and warehouse on the site, the province announced a $10 million investment to advance development. As well, the federal government moved the CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory to the site.

The park finally opened in 2009, and currently hosts programs, startups and incubators including The Forge and a United Nations University program.

Many of the researchers at MIP are engaged in engineering research, particularly in the materials and automotive fields, but that is quickly changing. Just this year, a $33 million research facility in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology opened, and the university has plans for more expansions including an 80,000 square foot Emerging Technology Center. There is even a hotel in the works!

New buildings lead to more opportunities for people to obtain work. At the MIP, the individuals employed there are often associated with McMaster. The number of people traveling between McMaster’s campus and the MIP for meetings, conferences and classes is already listed as a concern in the park’s master plan, and this number is expected to increase with time.

There are currently only three options to make the trip by public transit: walking across a bridge that is completely exposed to the elements; transfer at King Street West and Longwood Road South to the infrequent Hamilton Street Railway 6-Aberdeen; or taking the route-15 Go Bus from the McMaster Go Terminal, which is also infrequent and expensive.

 It is evident that a more convenient transit system is needed to help facilitate the journey between campus and MIP. The city of Hamilton and McMaster have to plan with foresight to ensure that there is capacity in services to meet the demand.

In this particular case, there’s actually an inexpensive and easy answer: use the proposed LRT line on Longwood Road South. Adding occasional service between the MIP on Longwood and the McMaster stop would allow residents of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to commute easily on public transit and would vastly ease the trip for those students, faculty and researchers who need to get between Mac and the MIP, some of whom currently need to do so several times a day.

This would also open up the city to out-of-town guests at the future hotel. It wouldn’t even be an expensive plan to implement since the track will already be installed for OMSF access.

A solution like this, however, would require extensive planning, and that's something that hasn’t happened as of yet. McMaster University and the city of Hamilton need to think towards the future when designing and building, and need to work together to make things happen.

 

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