For the past few months, we have been very excited to be part of FIELD TRIP, a new online platform delivering arts experiences from over 40 leading arts organizations across the country. From children’s programs to artist talks and workshops, the activities available on the platform are designed to advance the work of Canada’s arts organizations through digital platforms for different age groups, on a range of subjects, that engage communities and support artists, particularly during the challenges presented during a pandemic.
So far, our contributions have come in two forms we always enjoy – an exhibition tour and an art workshop. Back in April, we published our Virtual Tour of Kim Adams’s Bruegel-Bosch Bus, exploring the incredible installation worked on for over 20 years right inside the walls of the AGH. In May, AGH Youth Coordinator Tyler Van Holst led one of his ever-popular Online Workshop Wednesdays, teaching the art of character illustration.
With so many exciting arts engagement opportunities available on the platform, we thought we would highlight a few of our favourites from organizations across the country!
Making Cut Paper Puppets with DaveandJenn.
Contemporary Calgary presented an at-home arts tutorial with AGH Collection artist duo DaveandJenn, who were recently featured in our The Collection Continues: A Quarter Century of Collecting exhibition. Enjoy this engaging video as they walk you through how to make your own hinged paper puppet of a praying mantis, teaching you all the steps you need to know to make cut paper creations for animation, puppetry, or layered collages.
Film Screening: Walter Scott’s The Pathos of Mandy
The Agnes Etherington Art Centre showcased This is Serious: Canadian Indie Comics exhibition artist Walter Scott and his new body of work, The Pathos of Mandy. The exhibition and accompanying film center on Mandy, an artist who has lost all legal ownership of his fictional character. The film follows Mandy through various vignettes of hubris and desperation as he attempts to piece together who he is, both personally and artistically, now that the central focus of his art practice is gone. Enjoy the film online until August 9! Use password AGNES_WalterScott! to watch.
Film Screening + Q&A W/Artist: Shelley Niro, Kissed By Lightning
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery celebrated National Indigenous People’s Day with an artist Q&A and online screening of Kanien’kehà:ka artist Shelley Niro’s Kissed By Lightning. Niro was recently featured in our Milli: A Celebration of Style exhibition, as well as her solo exhibition, Shelley Niro: 1779. The film follows fictional painter Mavis Dogblood as she drives from her home on a small southern Ontario reserve to New York City for a solo exhibition. Haunted by the death of her late husband Jessie Lightning, Mavis’ journey traces that of the one made by Tekanawí:ta [Peacemaker] and Aienwátha over 800 years ago. Enjoy both the film and Q&A now until June 27.
What Carries Us: Newfoundland and Labrador in the Black Atlantic
St. John’s gallery The Rooms provided an online presentation of their What Carries Us: Newfoundland and Labrador in the Black Atlantic exhibition, opened just weeks before the gallery’s temporary closure due to the pandemic. Described as a “landmark exhibition that brings an African-diasporic perspective to Newfoundland and Labrador’s place in centuries-long global migration and trade relationships,” the gallery’s website provides an image gallery preview of the work, as well as Camille Turner’s powerful “Afronautic Research Lab” film, which contemplates the building of slave ships in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 18th and 19th centuries.
We hope you stay tuned to FIELD TRIP for even more incredible arts experiences from Canada’s leading arts organizations. Subscribe to our email list for weekly Field Trip recommendations in our What’s On Weekly email, as well as other exciting updates on our exhibitions, events, AGH Magazine articles, and more!
