905ArtTalk

Call for Submissions - Hot Box project

2009-03-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

November 10th, 2009 will be the 30th anniversary of the Mississauga train derailment and evacuation. I'm collaborating with groups and the people of the community to create exhibitions in memory of this event. The Hot Box project is inviting the people to submit their memories of the Train derailment and evacuation of 240,000 residents.
-Sonja Hidas

Call for Submissions:

The “Hot Box” project is a community art project currently accepting submissions for a 2009 exhibition. Please forward memories of the Mississauga train derailment and evacuation of November 1979. All media are accepted (letters, Photographs, objects…). Please included contact information.
Deliver or mail your entry to:
Heritage Mississauga c/o Hot Box
1921 Dundas Street West
Mississauga Ontario L5K 1R2

or email us at hotbox24@live.ca

Green Youth Showcase!

2009-03-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

CALLING ALL YOUNG ARTISTS
Get into the "limelight" and submit your work for the
GREEN YOUTH SHOWCASE

Are you a young visual artist who wants to effect positive change? Are you a spoken-word
artist with a message to share about the quality of the air we breathe and pollution in our city?
The Mississauga Arts Council is now accepting applications from artists between the ages of
13 and 24 to participate in the Green Youth Showcase. The event is an evening of visual and
performing arts exploring environmental awareness in Mississauga.

Formally known as the Mississauga Youth Arts Showcase, this dynamic event has been
presented annually for the past seven years by the Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee in
collaboration with the Mississauga Arts Council. The Green Youth Showcase takes place on
Thursday, May 7, 2009 at the Clarke Hall in Port Credit. The event kicks off with a visual art
exhibition at 7 p.m. followed by a performing arts showcase at 8 p.m.

Ingrid Gardiner, Development Director of the Mississauga Arts Council believes the Green
Showcase is a great opportunity for youth to express their feelings about the environment and
transportation options in the future. “Linking visual art with an environmental message is not
just subliminal. Youth’s vision can convert good intentions into real action. We can change our
choices: - we can use our cars less, we can carpool and we can use our bikes more often.
Together we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The art display will tap into how youth
feel about their local environment, how it affects their future and how they can send a positive
message to their fellow citizens.”

Submissions for the showcase must be dropped off at the Mississauga Arts Council office by
Friday, April 17, 2009 at 4 p.m. For application forms and additional information, please visit
www.mississaugaartscouncil.com or call 905-615-4278.

Media Contact: Heather Brissenden, Communications Officer
Mississauga Arts Council
Tel: 905-615-4212 Fax: 905-615-4171
heather@mississaugaartscouncil.com
www.mississaugaartscouncil.com

Download the application from the website here

Canadian Conference of the Arts

2009-03-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

What is the Canadian Conference of the Arts?
The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is the national forum for the arts and cultural community in Canada. It provides research, analysis and consultations on public policies affecting the arts and the Canadian cultural institutions and industries. The CCA fosters informed public debate on policy issues and seeks to advance the cultural rights of Canadians.

What have they been up to?
Conference of the Arts is pleased to announce the National Cultural Strategy Workshop – a Chalmers Event and the CCA Awards Ceremony to be held in Ottawa on March 12, 2009.
Against the backdrop of recent cuts to arts and cultural programs, an election campaign where the arts and culture featured as a key national issue, and an international crisis the Canadian economy in jeopardy, this Workshop will present an opportunity to address some of the short-term and long-term challenges now facing the sector.

Following an extensive nation-wide consultation with the arts and cultural sector, the CCA’s National Director, Alain Pineau, will present a Report on the CCA Regional Forums. The report will inform this National Cultural Strategy Workshop so that our sector may begin mapping out the path to achieving our goals.

Anne L’Ecuyer, of Americans for the Arts (AFTA), will share the experiences of the American arts community as it moved from disarray to a strong, coherent, and effective national political voice. She will then conduct a workshop systematizing a five-stage approach to gaining consensus and strategies to help move the sector into a coordinated future direction.

After completing the strategy workshop, the CCA will invite participants to celebrate the artistic achievements of the sector by attending the evening CCA Awards Ceremony. The most notable award is the Diplôme d’honneur, first presented in 1954 to Vincent Massey in recognition for his work on developing Canada’s fledgling arts policies. Past recipients include such noted Canadians as Joe Fafard, Bluma Appel, and renowned Canadian author, Roch Carrier. The second award to be presented is the Keith Kelly Award for Cultural Leadership, named after a past National Director of the CCA who distinguished himself as a strong advocate for the arts in Canada.

Read a re-cap, (live blogged at the time of the Workshop) and make your comments here
http://ccarts.ca/en/agora/

Couch Surfing + Illunating Peace

2009-02-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

On view until March 22 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

Couch surfing in Mississauga/Couch surfing in Syracuse

Alison S.M. Kobayashi and Christina Kolozsvary

Curated by Su-Ying Lee with co-operation from Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby

Two emerging artists were invited to become hosts and guests, guiding the other through the mundane, peculiar and fantastic aspects of life where they reside, in the periphery of a major city. Raised in Mississauga, Alison S.M. Kobayashi studies Art and Art History at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Christina Kolozsvary, originally from Miami, Florida, lives in Syracuse where she studies Art Video at Syracuse University.

While the process this has lead to is not strictly collaborative, the artists have worked on the projects for this exhibition through co-operation, exchange and the spirit of partnership. Kobayashi and Kolozsvary have come upon converging concerns, both formal and conceptual, in their practices.

Alison Kobayshi's project, based on her early experiences as a Brownie and Girl Guide, invites viewers to DO GOOD, much as she was encouraged to do during her formative years. Kobayashi's work examines the inception of those "good" values and how they have since evolved.

Christina Kolozsvary addresses the implications of her early
childhood fixation with Elvis Presley in the installation King of My
Heart. Kolozsvary examines the assimilation of her puerile attraction
two-fold, in both the idealization of Elvis as a romantic partner and the
power
of assuming his persona.

amy loewan Illuminating Peace

a collaboration with the Robert Mc Laughlin Gallery, Oshawa

"My art is the melding of Chinese painting sensibilities and western post-modernist art practices. My work is about the promotion of peace, harmony and understanding."-Amy Loewan

Eight large woven banners made from rice paper strips are suspended in the
Gallery space. On these strips written in calligraphy and computer generated
type, in over thirty languages are the values that Loewan sees as vital to world
peace; compassion kindness, tolerance, respect, understanding, patience,
gentleness and forgiveness.
Illuminating Peace adds a three dimensional component to The Peace Project. Using the same rice paper weaving and the eight values Loewan has committed to in her world vision of human relations she has created a column. This column is illuminated from within and transforms the Gallery into a contemplative sanctuary.

Amy was born in Hong Kong at the end of WWII and immigrated to Canada in the late 70s. She was trained and still practices as an occupational therapist but later studied art, receiving her Master's in Fine Art from the University of Alberta.

This exhibition is an extension of The Peace Project which has been exhibited in nine Canadian venues in the west as well as showings in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The AGM has collaborated on this exhibition with the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa and the Yukon Art Centre in Whitehorse.

Art Gallery of Mississauga
300 City Centre Drive, Ground Floor
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5B 3C1

Tel: 905 896 5088

Hours: M, T, W, F 10 am to 5 pm
Thursdays 10 am to 8 pm
Sat & Sun noon to 4 pm

Admission: Free

http://www.artgalleryofmississauga.com/

Call for submissions - Living Arts Centre

2009-02-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – NEW AND EMERGING ARTISTS

The New Hybrids: A Juried Exhibition in Mixed Media

In a time when technological innovation races against the shrinking of the globe, artists seek refuge in an ever-growing palette of media. The New Hybrids is an exhibition searching for new and creative ways of combining media to give voice to a rapidly changing world.

The Living Arts Centre is accepting submissions from new and emerging artists for a juried art exhibition in mixed media. Selected works will be exhibited in the Living Art Centre’s on-site gallery from May 2nd - May 24th, 2009. All submissions must incorporate at least TWO media and have been completed within the last two years to be considered.

Submission Information:
-$20.00 application fee made out to the Living Arts Centre

-artist statement (max. 100 words)

-current CV

-2 submissions of current work (jpegs on CD), including: title, medium, size, date, artist’s name for each image. Artist’s name must be clearly labeled on the submission CD.

-SASE (self addressed and stamped envelope) – please ensure correct postage for return of CD (The Living Arts Centre assumes no responsibility for images sent without return postage)
**Email submissions will not be accepted

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, February 23rd, 2009 at 5 pm

Please send submissions to:

Studio Arts Living Arts Centre

4141 Living Arts DriveMississauga

ON L5B 4B8

For more information, please email exhibitions@livingarts.on.ca or call 905.306.6161

Submissions will be reviewed by a selection committee.

Notification of Acceptance: Artists will be notified by phone or email on Monday, March 31st, 2009 if their piece has been selected to be in the exhibition. Only those accepted will be notified. Accepted artists will receive details pertaining to the exhibition including delivery of artwork, insurance coverage, opening reception and awards.

Professionalize your artistic practice!

2009-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

WORKSHOP
Developing an Artist’s Statement
In this two hour hands-on workshop you will learn how to develop, articulate and write an effective artist’s statement. Come prepared to share your ideas and write. You will leave with a completed and effective artist’s statement. Space is limited.

The workshop will be facilitated by Tara Marshall, writer, educator and Outreach Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Registration:
$20 Public (MAC & VAM members receive a 20% discount)
$15 Students and Art Gallery of Mississauga members
To register call Tara Marshall: 905-896-5507
or email tara.marshall@mississauga.ca

Date: Monday March 9th, 7- 9 pm

Location:
Art Gallery of Mississauga,
Main Floor, Mississauga Civic Centre
300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON

I Served the King of England

2009-01-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

The series, an initiative supported by the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto at Mississauga and the Living Arts Centre showcases international and independent cinema. Held at the Living Arts Centre's Hammerson Hall, the screenings are take place the last Tuesday of every month. Download your film series guide here

General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location: Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 8pm

I Served The King of England

Director: Jiri Menze, Czeck Republic, 2008

Language: Czech with English sub-titles

Running Time: 118 minutes

Rating: R for sexual content and nudity

Jan Dite is short in height, but high in ambition. To put it bluntly, the young provincial waiter wants to become a millionaire. And he knows just how to do it: by hearing everything, seeing everything, and creating opportunities at every turn. Armed with this knowledge and an irrepressible wish to please, he soon leaves his first place of employment, a pub, for a luxury brothel and finally moves onto an elegant Art Nouveau Prague restaurant. But by the late 1930s, things are changing. Hitler has taken the Sudetenland region and is breaking apart Czechoslovakia. Jan falls in love with LÃza, a Sudeten German proud of her Aryan blood. They marry, and soon after LÃza is sent to serve on the Polish front, while Jan remains behind to serve as a nurse in a Nazi SS Research Hospital, but when she returns,
she has a fortune in rare stamps that Jews had 'left behind.' After LÃzaâ's less than heroic death, Jan sells the stamps and becomes a millionaire. But he only has three years to enjoy his fortune: the new Communist regime puts him behind bars for 15 years, one for each of his millions. Upon his release from jail, Jan is sent to live in a decrepit border town. Here Jan reflects on the events that have shaped his life--and to reflect on what might have happened if he had played a different role in these events.

Art's Birthday!

2009-01-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

It's approaching Art's Birthday again! January 17th of each year.

What is Art's Birthday you ask? Read on...

In 1963, French artist, Robert Filliou declared "One million years ago, on January 17, Art was born...when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Modest beginnings, but look at us now. Close the schools and the factories! Let them eat cake and make art! And the next year let it be two days of holiday, then three days, then four, five, six and so on, until everyday is art's birthday, at which point we can all get on with life".The point Filliou was making concerns the making of art as an everyday activity accessible to everyone, not a rarefied object.Since then, a loose network of artists and organizations has celebrated Art's Birthday honouring the Fluxus spirit of art being made not to be bought, sold or traded as a commodity, but given "freely" as a gift.

Robert Filliou (b. January 17, 1926, Sauve, France d. 1987, Les Eyzies) a member of Fluxus, the 1960's performance group that specialized in esthetic non-events, believed that art didn't have to express itself in the form of objects. He saw it as a form of play that could even occur as unrealized notions. His minimal-impact works are apt to be made of string, cardboard and wood, the vehicles for stray, vaguely poetic ideas and images. Filliou's ephemeral works undermine heavy notions of what art is or should be.

How Mississauga will be celebrating Art's Birthday?

ART'S BIRTHDAY
January 17, 2009
Noon to 8pm
Erin Meadows Community Centre & Library
2800 Erin Centre Blvd. Mississauga
Tel: 905-615-4750

The Art Gallery of Mississauga is participating in the Art's Birthday celebration presented by the Office of Arts and Culture, City of Mississauga. This year, Art's Birthday is an ecology-themed celebration. Activities include a Mississauga sound map, sound installation, underground garage sale, art trading-card craft, sound art listening gallery, art-on-air live, radio DJ demos, soundwalks, puppet musicians, underwater (pool) soundtrack, artist performances, open mic, children's workshops, happy birthday choral performance and birthday cake.

The Art Gallery of Mississauga will be presenting the work of Mississauga artists Alison S.M. Kobayashi and Gintas Tirilis who have both created dynamic site specific installations for the event.

Alison S. M. Kobayashi will be presenting two installations on the birthday theme. Her first installation can be viewed in an Erin Meadows Public Library book case beginning January 6th. The second, in the entrance of the Community Centre, is a playful multi-media installation inspired by the Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot music video Comic Strip. Kobayshi combines a retro future aesthetic, celebratory accoutrements and her own performance in a tribute to Art's Birthday.

Utilizing an unexpected combination of water and sound, Gintas Tirilis creates a site specific, participatory installation at the Erin Meadows Community Centre. Tirilis's Drip Machine allows visitors to the Centre to trigger and tune unique audio patterns and rhythms by adjusting the flow of water faucets. Each participant's faucet adjustment becomes an original "remix" which includes samples from varying radio stations and pre recorded audio.

View Art's Birthday flyer

Juried Exhibition

2008-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga
December 18, 2008 to January 31, 2009

Visual Arts Mississauga 31st Annual Juried Exhibition of Fine Arts

Since 1987, the Art Gallery of Mississauga has hosted this popular annual event organized by Visual Arts Mississauga (VAM).

"Visual Arts Mississauga strives to enrich community life by fostering an appreciation in the arts through active involvement in a variety of creative experiences".

Visual Arts Mississauga is a community arts organization providing classes in printmaking, sculpture, watercolours, drawing and painting, children’s art camps and rental space for weekend art exhibitions and sales. The VAM call for entry is one of the region’s most anticipated events, bringing in hundreds of submissions from working artists across Ontario. It is an annual opportunity to survey a variety of practices by artists who range from graduating students to senior members of the visual arts community.

The exhibition serves to foster a sense of connection between the artists, Visual Arts Mississauga and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. In addition, honours are awarded to selected works in the exhibition. This year’s award sponsors are;
Bulova Watch Company – First Place
Visual Arts Mississauga – Second Place
Curry’s Art Store – Third Place
Desserres Art Store – Honourable Mention
Art Gallery of Mississauga – People’s Choice Award

Jurors for this competition are Stuart Reid, Didi Gadjanski and Greg Damery.

Opening Reception and Awards Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

For more information about Visual Arts Mississauga, visit http://www.visualartsmississauga.com/ or email marowe@visualartsmississauga.com or telephone 905-277-4313. VAM is located at 4170 Riverwood Park Lane, Mississauga L5C 2S7 corner of Credit Woodlands and Burnhamthorpe Road West.

Hours: Weekdays 9 am to 5 pm, weekends 12 to 4 pm

New Hours: Beginning January 2, Weekdays 10 am to 5 pm, weekends 12 to 4 pm Thursday 10 am to 8 pm

Holiday Hours:
December 23, open from 9 am to 3:30 pm
CLOSED December 24 to 31, 2008
OPEN January 1, 2009 2 to 4 pm

Art Gallery of Mississauga
300 City Centre Drive
Ground Floor
Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1

Tel: 905 896 5088

Film Series at Living Arts Centre

2008-11-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

The Mississauga Film Series, presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Blackwood Gallery and Living Arts Centre, is enjoying increasing popularity in our new home at the Living Arts Centre's Hammerson Hall. Join us there for international and independent cinema on the last Tuesday of each month.

Film Series Tickets: available at the Living Arts Centre Box Office in person or by calling 905 306 6000.

To order tickets online, visit www.livingartscentre.ca
Admission:AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)
Screening Location:Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga

Heaven on Earth

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 8pm

Director: Deepa Mehta

Language: Punjabi with English subtitles

Running Time: 106 minutes

Rating:PG 14A

Heaven on Earth is the tale of a struggling young Indian woman trapped in a marriage with an abusive Indo-Canadian man. New to Canada, at the mercy of her husband, she retreats to the recesses of her thriving imagination. Critically acclaimed director Deepa Mehta adds a new level of profound and sad complexity to her body of work by suggesting that the interior world of fantasy maybe, for some, the only possibility of redemption.

Opening reception + free shuttle bus + Curator's tour

2008-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

ART GALLERY OF MISSISSAUGA
October 30 to December 5, 2008
Modular Nature
Guest Curated by Gordon Hatt

Sandor Ajzenstat
David Armstrong-Six
Eric Glavin
Ernest Harris Jr.
Gunilla Josephson
Kristiina Lahde
Gareth Licthy
Andreas Rutkauskas

David Armstrong Six
Table and Tunnel
watercolour and gouache
11 x 14 inches
Image courtesy of Goodwater Gallery

Opening reception: Thurday, October 30th at 6pm

A free shuttle bus, to the Art Gallery of Mississauga, departs from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street W., Toronto) at 7 pm, returning to the Gladstone by 9pm.Call 905 896 5508 or email gail.farndon@mississauga.ca to reserve seating.

Gordon Hatt will conduct a tour at 8pm.

Modular Nature is an exhibition that responds to the suburban paradigm. The organizing principle of suburban development is the provision of maximum space for the cultivation of nature within the economics of an affordable built environment. Homes and residential buildings are buffered from each other and from roadways with lawns, gardens and trees and are zoned apart from business and industry. The value of cultivated nature in the suburb thus creates the characteristically low population density of the suburb.

The Band's Visit

2008-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

MISSISSAUGA FILM SERIES

The series, an initiative supported by the Art Gallery of Mississauga and Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto, Mississauga is now in partnership with the Living
Arts Centre to showcase international and independent cinema in Mississauga.
Download your film series guide here.

*NEW LOCATION & TIME, BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER

Film Series Tickets: available at the Living Arts Centre Box Office in person or by calling 905 306 6000.
To order tickets online, visit www.livingartscentre.ca
Admission:AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00
General Admission: $12.00Series
Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)
Screening Location:Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga

The Band's Visit
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 8pm
Director: Eran Kolirin
Language: Arabic, English & Hebrew with English subtitles
Running Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, consisting of eight men, arrive in Israel from Egypt. They have been booked by an Arab cultural center in Petah Tiqva, but through a miscommunication, the band takes a bus to Bet Hatikva, a fictional town in the middle of the Negev Desert.

There is no transportation out of the city that day, and there are no hotels for them to spend the night in. The band members dine at a small restaurant where the owner, Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) invites them to stay the night at her apartment, at her friends' apartment, and in the restaurant. That night challenges all of the characters.

Get on the (Mississauga, Oakville) Art Bus

2008-10-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Toronto/Mississauga Contemporary Art Bus
Sunday, October 26, 2008
$10 registration fee includes lunch provided by Whole Foods Market

Bus 1 Departing from the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto at 11:30 am

Bus 2 Departing from the Art Gallery of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga at 11:30 am

Buses return to both pick up locations at 5 pm

Two buses will be shuttling participants to visit the Art Gallery of Mississaga, Oakville Galleries and Blackwood Gallery highlighting the fall exhibitions with tours and talks.

On view:
Art Gallery of Mississauga: Emblems of the Enigma: Vessna Perunovich

Blackwood Gallery, UTM: Etienne Zack: Loitering Shadows
Jesse Jones: The Spectre and the Sphere (E Gallery)

Oakville Galleries: Beyond Her Usual Limits (Gairloch Gardens)
Burning Cold (Centennial Square)

To reserve seating email elizabeth@oakvillegalleries.com or call Su-Ying at 905 895 5506
*Please specifiy whether you are reserving for Bus 1 or Bus 2.

Film Series finds a new home!

2008-09-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

The popular Mississauga Film Series has found a new home. The Art Gallery of Mississauga has teamed up with the Living Arts Centre to give Mississauga residents the opportunity to view films selected from the Toronto International Film Festival's Film Circuit, in a central location, at Hammerson Hall at the Living Arts Centre at 4141 Living Arts Drive.

NEW LOCATION & TIME, BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER

Film Series Tickets: available at the Living Arts Centre Box Office in person or by calling 905 306 6000. To order tickets online, visit www.livingartscentre.ca
Admission:AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)
Screening Location:Living Arts Centre, Hammerson Hall, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga

The Visitor

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 8pm

Director: Thomas McCarthy, 2008, USA

Language: English

Walter Vale, a lonely widower, reluctantly goes to New York City for a conference to find an undocumented couple living in his long-vacant Manhattan home. He ends up befriending them, especially Tarek, a Syrian street musician. But, Tarek is profiled by the police and incarcerated, becoming subject to imminent deportation. With the appearance of Tarek's widowed mother, Mouna, Walter's connection to this family in distress deepens. A film of unadorened precision, The Visitor points the way for us to a place where tolerance becomes active engagement.

October 28th film: The Band's Visit

Vessna Perunovich Exhibition & upcoming performance

2008-09-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Who is Vessna Perunovich?

Vessna Perunovich
Midnight Mirage, September 27, 2007 from 7 pm to 7 am as part of Nuit Blanche Toronto
at #60 McCaul Street

Originally from the former Yugoslavia, Perunovich came to Canada in 1988 and has been continually building a consistent and compelling body of work devoted to exploring several basic human urges and the challenges to their satisfaction which arise in a shifting identity-context and an amorphously altered homeland. The pieces selected for this show comprise a wide spectrum of physical media and format, from painting and drawing, to video and performance, to sculpture and installation, all marshaled to investigate the way our desire for a safe place creates emblematic experiences which amount to dreaming with our eyes wide open.

Visit http://www.vessnaperunovich.com/ to find out more.

Art Gallery of Mississauga
September 11 to October 26, 2008
Emblems of the Enigma: Vessna Peunovich
Guest Curated by Donald Brackett

Opening reception: Thursday, September 11th from 6 pm to 9 pmArtist and Curator will be in attendance.

A free shuttle bus departs from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street W., Toronto) at 7 pm to the Art Gallery of Mississauga returning by 9pm.

The Art Gallery of Mississauga is pleased to announce a solo retrospective exhibition of the multi media work of Canadian artist Vessna Perunovich. This survey show offers a fascinating glimpse into the inter-disciplinary themes and techniques of postmodern sculpture and installation formats, with a special emphasis on the mutable nature of our personal sense of self.

"Perunovich's work employs paradoxical takes on a multitude of human appetites", the Curator comments, "she is able to make a deft commentary on our shared values as embodied creatures who require metaphysical as well as physical sanctuary. In fact, the search for sanctuary has become an emblem in itself for the multitude of miniature enigmas we all face on a daily basis."

A handsome and extensively illustrated catalogue is being published with an essay by the Curator and personal insights from the artist on the subtle nature of her multi-faceted work.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Vessna Perunovich performs I Hug the World and the World Hugs Me Back
Location: University of Toronto at Mississauga

Vessna Perunovich will be on the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus asking the students to consider physical and psychological barriers-whether gendered, cultural or religious-which serve to both unite and divide us with a dynamic performance in their space. In conjunction with her exhibition Emblems of the Enigma at the AGM, this exploration of thresholds and spaces between people, features the artist tied to a stationary object with large red fabric straps, which she pulls against in order to reach out and hug the closest passerby. Investigating themes of home, gender and transition, Perunovich's performance reveals the divisional space between individuals on both an intimate and international scale.

Perunovich is a Toronto based artist and has performed I Hug the World and the World Hugs Me Back in places as distant as London, England and as local as Cambridge, Ontario.

Summer photo album

2008-08-25T08:23:00.001-07:00

Summer in Mississauga was packed full of fun thanks to the Art Gallery of Mississauga. I've got the photos to prove it!

Craftification on Canada Day
The Toronto Church of Craft and the Spinners and Weavers Guild work with participants to transform the street into a work of craft.

Grace N Style + Jessica Thompson + LAL

Kareem from Grace N Style works with the audience to demonstrate Jessica Thompson's wearable art, the Freestyle SoundKit.

Toronto collective LAL perform, delivering futuristic rhythms melting into warm basslines with hints of South Asian roots and hip hop formations.

Clothing Swap
Mississauga welcomed Syracuse, New York artist, Christina Kolizsavary with a clothing swap. Particpants got to clean out their closets and take home great new wardrobe pieces!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Lunch, a tour and discussion with curators and artists on Sunday, July 27. Here participants are enjoying coversation inside Adrian Blackwell's Model for a Public Space.

Inside the Coil

Visitors to the Gallery, during Adrian Blackwell's Models for Public Spaces exhibition, interacted with Monster Coil. Radiant City was screened during the exhibition with the Coil as a comfy seating arrangment.

Artist's Talk

2008-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Please join us for the artist talk of Sharmila Samant this Thursday August 14th at 7PM
Art Gallery of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, tel: 905 896 5088

Sharmila Samant, Against the Grain, 2008

FREE shuttle bus from Toronto

A bus will leave the front of 401 Richmond Street West at 6:30 PM and return at the same place for 9:00 PM.

Executive Director, Hank Bull and Curator Makiko Hara from Centre A as well as Executive Director, Haema Sivanesan from SAVAC will also be present to introduce the project and discuss their organizations.

Sharmila Samant (b. 1967) is a major contemporary Indian artist living and working in Mumbai. Her work deals with issues of local identity within the context of globalization. Samant examines the homogenizing effect of commodification and consumer culture in relation to developing economies. Visiting Canada for the first time, Samant will undertake research with the Goan community in Toronto, Mississauga and Vancouver and develop an installation and artist book project titled “Kathajaal: A Web of Stories”.

Kathajaal: A Web of Stories will examine factors informing the return immigration of Indo-Canadians to India. Samant uses a multi-disciplinary approach, working in photography, installation and video.

Samant states, “The projects I undertake involve eclectic collecting, documenting and recycling of urban debris, looking at the mundane and the profane. The works critique the market forces that define the cultural and art practices of the peripheral nations and question how our identities, within the global set up, can be sustained via a hybridization of our culture.”

Haema Sivanesan, Executive Director of SAVAC states, “Sharmila Samant is a significant international artist, whose work is rigorous, politically engaged and socially informed. It is a privilege to host her visit to Toronto, and to have her develop a project with the South Asian community here”

Samant’s work has been included in major international exhibitions and biennales including ”The Biennale of Sydney: Revolution – Forms that Turn” (2008); “Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India”, The Asia Society, New York, (touring, 2004 -2007); “Century City – Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis”, The Tate Modern, London, (2001).

Radiant City in the Gallery

2008-08-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Come cozy up at the Art Gallery of Mississauga inside Adrian Blackwell's Monster Coil. We'll provide the popcorn and entertainment! FREE

Tuesday August 12
Tuesday Night at the Movies: Radiant City
7 pm to 8:30 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga

Whether you call it sprawl or growth, the suburbs have been the dominant form of community planning in North America for fifty years. In this incisive study, Gary Burns and Jim Brown peer into the windows and lives of those who call suburbia home. Canada, 2007. English.

History in a Box: Diorama making

2008-08-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 9th
Noon to 2pm
3pm to 5pm, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga
Ages 8-12 yrs
FREE pre registration suggested to ensure a spot
Register at info.agm@mississauga.ca or call 905 896 5506

History in a Box: Diorama making
A diorama is an imaginary mini-world or a scene in a box. Dioramas can incorporate cut outs, figures, models and drawings.

During the exhibition, Explorers and Dandies in an open letter to Canada Post: Frederick Hagan & Kent Monkman, Educator, Shaun Dacey will work with children ages 8 to 12 to explore how our official version of history is recorded. Through the creation of colourful dioramas, based on the works of Frederick Hagan and Kent Monkman, children will have the opportunity re-imagine history’s events with themselves as the authors.

Frederick Hagan’s (b. 1918, d. 2003) works have had the honour of being sanctioned to represent Canadian history. Issued from 1986-89, the Explorations of Canada postage stamp series was commissioned by Canada Post as a tribute to select explorers.

The current practice of artist Kent Monkman shares a similarity, in that history is regarded. However, it is an unsanctioned history which the artist constructs from the mined personal accounts of George Catlin, the traditions of 19th century landscape painting and the experiences of indigenous and two spirited people.

Explorers and Dandies in an open letter to Canada Post: Frederick Hagan & Kent Monkman will be on view at the Art Gallery of Mississauga until September 7, 2008.

2 events from the Art Gallery of Mississauga

2008-07-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 31
Meet the Artist: Sharmila Samant
Event Type: Meet the artist / Location: Art Gallery of Mississauga / Time: 6 pm to 8 pm
Samant’s work is a combination of craft and design, with a strong critique of the market forces that define the cultural and art practices of the peripheral nations. She questions how "our identities within the global set up can be sustained via a hybridisation of our culture".

Centre A Executive Director, Hank Bull and Curator Makiko Hara as well as Executive Director, Haema Sivanesan from SAVAC will be present to introduce the project and discuss their organizations.

Sharmila Samant, Against the Grain, 2008

Project Incubator:Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West, August 1st - August 18th

Also don’t miss:“The Sounds of the Silenced” by Sharmila Samant
August 8th , 2008, 7-9pm
235 Queens Quay West

A 90 minute video screening examining the twin problems of slum demolition in urban Mumbai and agrarian suicides in rural India revealing the government’s apathy towards the economically disadvantaged sectors of Indian society in the drive to promote foreign investment. This series of videos forms the background for Samant’s major installation, “Against the Grain” (2008) at The Biennale of Sydney: Revolutions – Forms That Turn (2008). A co-presentation with the Harbourfront Centre as part of South Asia Calling Festival 8-10 August, 2008.

For more info, visit http://www.akimbo.biz/events/?id=11984&day=31&month=7&year=2008

Thursday July 31
Tiny Bill Cody
Event Type: performance / Location: CivicSquare Stage / Time: 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Tor Lukasik-Foss (aka tiny bill cody) is a visual artist, performer and writer whose art practice blends together drawing, sculptural assemblage with public performances of spoken word and music. His pieces often investigate issues relating to ideas of fame, obscurity and the public concert.

Fun for every age tiny bill cody delights crowds with thoughtful songs atop mountainous stools and inside sculptures like nothing you've seen before. As a new twist on the urban cowboy, his intelligent and artful observations of the contemporary urban experience, dressed up as folk songs, fascinate audiences everywhere.

"a kind, yodeling ogre.... a seven foot urbane urban folk troubadour" - Ric Taylor, View Magazine

Exhibitions July 17 to September 7

2008-07-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga, two exhibitions + New Projection Access space
July 17 – September 7, 2008
Opening receptions; Thursday, July 17th 6 pm – 9pm

A FREE SHUTTLE BUS will depart at 7 pm, Thursday, July 17th, from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, Toronto) returning at 9 pm. To reserve seats please call Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at (905) 896-5507 or email
suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Projection Access launch with a work by Heather Keung. Heather Keung is the inaugural artist exhibiting work on the AGM’s new Projection Access space, situated in the corridor outside the Gallery, the media projection space brings art to visitors of the Mississauga Civic centre.

Inspired by repetitive daily actions and physical labour, Heather Keung's current media work investigates involuntary responses, habitual social behaviours, and the training of the mind and body.

Explorers and Dandies in an open letter to Canada Post: Frederick Hagan & Kent Monkman
Curated by Su-Ying Lee

Through Canada Post’s process of approving postage stamp imagery, and the works of artists Frederick Hagan and Kent Monkman, this exhibition asks “who has the authority to officiate over our history?” Critical examination and cheeky humour reveal the history-of-our-history, that is, how institutions determine and prescribe the standard version of history.

In tandem with the exhibition, a formal proposal has been presented to the Canada Post Stamp Advisory Committee. In the institution’s tradition of commissioning Canadian artists, Kent Monkman’s name has been put forward for consideration to design a stamp. If you wish to join the appeal, pick up a petition card at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

A catalogue has been produced for the exhibition which includes essays by Annemarie Hagan, Mark Kingwell and Su-Ying Lee. An attempt to produce a multiple for inclusion in the publication, through Canada Post’s paid Picture Postage service was twice rejected citing Kent Monkman’s images as “inappropriate”.
Frederick Hagan
Exploration-Lithograph Portfolio, 1989
lithograph
48 x 56 cm

Frederick Hagan’s (b. 1918, d. 2003) works have had the honour of being sanctioned to represent Canadian history. Issued from 1986-89, the Explorations of Canada postage stamp series was commissioned by Canada Post to honour select explorers. Although bestowed the honour of the commission, under the direction of Canada Post, Hagan’s original designs did not wholly emerge. Unable to satisfactorily realize his conceptual ambitions through the commission, Hagan was compelled to continue production on the theme of exploration. Amending the Explorations of Canada title from the stamp series to simply Exploration, the artist encompassed broader connotations through this ambitious series of lithographs.

Analogously, the current practice of artist Kent Monkman regards history. However, it is an unsanctioned history which the artist constructs from the mined personal accounts of George Catlin, the traditions of 19th century landscape painting and the experiences of indigenous and two-spirited people. Central to Monkman’s current body of work are the dandies –“glamorously garbed aboriginal men” with little tribal status, as referred to in Catlin’s accounts. Monkman reconstructs the dandies’ images to consider authorship and authenticity, bringing attention to the exclusiveness of popularly prescribed history.
Highly visible and widely disseminated, Canadian postage stamps function as communal reinforcement, enmeshing selected representations with the principle annals of Canadian history. This exhibition is furthermore an appeal to Canada Post to evolve its accounts toward inclusiveness.

Faint Heart 9,273, Kent Monkman, 2008, watercolour on paper, 12” x 9”. Collection of the artist.

Models for Public Spaces
Adrian Blackwell
Curated by Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot

Blackwell’s sculptures will sit in and outside of the gallery as infrastructures for both action and contemplation. These physical constructions act as diagrams for the strategic relations between different people in social space, opening up questions about the boundaries of the "public" in a city like Mississauga.

Models for Public Spaces presents an archive of experiments in the relation between urban space and social practices. The exhibition will survey Blackwell’s investigations, public works and collaborative structures built to produce new locations for collective action and public discourse including, How to open a car like a book, Public Water Closet, Car Pool, light net and Monster.

Previously unseen proposals dedicated for the City of Toronto such as Unofficial Entry to the Dundas Square Competition and Two-way mirror travel with Marcin Kedzior, for a sculpture on the Union Station Subway Platform further reflect the ongoing exploration into the alteration of existing spaces to encourage new ways of seeing and interacting.

Constructed to facilitate conversation between large numbers of people, Blackwell’s Model for a Public Space (speaker) will be erected in the Civic Square to open discourse around the question of what constitutes a healthy city the week of July 23rd. This circular, ramping seating structure, initially built for Toronto’s first Nuit Blanche, looks like a crater or a speaker facing upwards. Through this simple shape it is possible to sit looking inward towards one another or outward to the surrounding city.
EVENTS:
Forum - Heritage Complex Sunday July 27, 3:00 pm
The conversational forum will be reflecting on the Art Gallery of Peel's exhibition, Heritage Complex, curated by Atanas Bozdarov and Tejpal Ajji. Speakers include,
Artist Eric Glavin and Architect Alan Tregebov.

Heritage Complex examines the built environments of cities that have recently developed adjacent to more traditionally understood urban centres.

Screening - Radiant City Tuesday August 12, 7:00 pm
Directors: Gary Burns and Jim Brown, Canada, 2007
Whether you call it sprawl or growth, the suburbs have been the dominant form of community planning in North America for fifty years. In this incisive study, Burns and Brown peer into the windows and lives of those who call suburbia home.
Adrian Blackwell is an artist and urban and architectural designer, whose work focuses on the spaces and forces of uneven development produced through processes of Post-fordist urbanization.

Blackwell has exhibited across Canada at artist run centers and public institutions including Mercer Union, The New Gallery, The Hamilton Art Gallery, The Power Plant and the Mackenzie Art Gallery, at the University of Michigan, LACE Gallery in Los Angeles, and at the 2005 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. Most recent exhibitions include Heritage Complex at the Art Gallery of Peel and Site Visits at Cambridge Galleries.

In 2005 Blackwell co-edited Unboxed: Engagements in Social Space, with Jen Budney and co-curated the exhibition Detours: Tactical Approaches to Urbanization in China with Pei Zhao. Since 1997 he has taught architecture and urban design at the University of Toronto, initiating the school’s China Global Architecture program in 2004. He has been a visiting professor at Chongqing University and at the University of Michigan’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning. In 2007 Blackwell won the competition to revitalize Nathan Phillips Square in collaboration with PLANT Architect Inc, Shore Tilbe Irwin and Partners, and Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture.

For more information on publications, programming and activities at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, please call (905) 896‑5088 or view the Gallery’s website at www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA L5B3C1
TELEPHONE (905) 896-5088 FAX (905) 615-4167
WEBSITE: http://www.artgalleryofmississauga.com/

A public art gallery sponsored by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, The Pendle Fund at the Community Foundations of Mississauga, Corporations, Private Citizens and its Membership

Clothing Swap-Free Wardrobe!!

2008-07-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Clothing Swap at the Gallery
Tuesday, July 8th at 6:30pm
Call 905 896 5506 or email suying.lee@mississauga.ca to RSVP

In honour of our first ever Artist-in-Residence, Christina Kolozsvary, from Syracuse, New York, the Gallery will be hosting our first ever Clothing Swap!

What’s a Clothing Swap? A Clothing Swap is an event where the participants trade their pre-loved clothes, shoes and accessories. It’s a chance to clean out your closet, get a new wardrobe and meet the artist.

Christina Kolozsavary is taking up a short residency in Mississauga this summer in anticipation of an exhibition Couch surfing in Mississauga/Couch surfing in Syracuse. The exhibition will feature work created by Kolzsavary in response to her stay in Mississauga. Likewise, Mississauga artist, Alison Kobayashi will create work for the exhibition during a residency in Syracuse. Couch surfing in Mississauga/Couch surfing in Syracuse will be on exhibit February 5 to March 22, 2009 and will also be exhibited in Syracuse.

How do artists in the formative stages of their careers assimilate location and residential identity into their work? This exchange has been created to consider Mississauga and its identity as a city-suburb and cultural producer. A highly diverse, densely populated city, Mississauga’s identity is often overshadowed by its closest urban neighbour, Toronto. Syracuse shares some of Mississauga’s identity struggles and each of us, a few uniquely our own.

The Art Gallery of Mississauga wishes to thank Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby, Couch surfing Residency co-curators and Séamus Kealy, Curator, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga for provision of residence space.

FREESTYLIE

2008-06-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 3, 2008, Civic Square Stage, 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm
FREESTYLIE featuring:
LAL - CD Debut Deportation
Jessica Thompson - Freestyle SoundKit
Grace N' Style - Urban Hip Hop Dance

FREE shuttle bus departs from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, Toronto) at 7:00 pm to the Art Gallery of Mississauga, returning by 9:30 pm.

Opening the event the GNS dance crew wil be performing in wearable sound pieces that generate and broadcast electronic beats as their bodies move. When the Freestyle SoundKit is engaged, each step the dancer takes a single electronic beat is broadcast.

Toronto collective Lal's sound from the outset was one of contrasts: icy, futuristic rhythms melting into warm basslines and soothing soul melodies, with reverberating atmospherics whirling about the spacious groove. Hints of Rosina's South Asian roots and Murr's hip hop formation season their productions with a taste of tradition, while the overall sound suggests something far more progressive.

The project's creativity extends into a new media show with new media incorporating video images into and interactive stage set-up that pushes the audience to engage of the deep social messages that ripple through every song.

Visit http://www.myspace.com/lalforest

Crafting for Canada

2008-06-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

At the Art Gallery of Mississauga on Canada Day, Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Gallery open for viewing from 11am to 4pm
Office Space/Public Space: Dean Baldwin and
J.C. Heywood: A Life in Layers

Craftification from 10am - 2 pm, City Centre Drive, between the Civc Centre and Central Library.

Taking part in the City of Mississauga's Canada Day Celebrations, the Art Gallery of Mississauga will bring the Church of Craft to City Centre Drive. The street will be closed to traffic allowing the Church of Craft to guide children in a re-imagining of the city street. Turning the asphalt into a green garden and the electrical poles into soft, colourful structures the artist collective will guide the ambitious project teaching fundamental craft skills such as stitching, knitting, and embroidery and to all ages. City Centre Drive will be transformed into a masterpiece by taking those uninhabited concrete spaces and renovating them into bright active areas.

Born to Rock n' Roll

2008-06-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Mississauga Film Series Presents:

Honeydripper

Wed, June 25, 2008
Director: John Sayles, USA, 2007
Language: English
Run Time: 122 min.
Genre: Drama/Music
Rating: PG-13

Set in a 1950’s Alabama, this passionate film about the birth of rock ‘n’ roll takes protagonist Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover) in search of a miracle to save his roadhouse from bankruptcy. When a grand notion of recruiting regional celebrity and blues guitar stars turns into a suspenseful Saturday night he is left with the talents of one man equipped with a guitar like none ever seen: carved from a solid block of wood, and, unbelievably, electric to save the juke joint.

Honeydripper is an inspiring example of the ability cinema has to transcend boundaries of culture and era.

For more information or to reserve seating please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Film Series Tickets: available in advance at the Galleries, UTM Student Union or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park
Admission:AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00
General Admission: $12.00
Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location:AMC Courtney Park, 110 Courtney Park Dr.
Mississauga, ON L5T 2Y3, Hwy 10 and the 401

Check out the trailer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lsyEx3JdQLk

Enjoy!

From graphic novel to film

2008-04-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Many films have been adapted from graphic novels. Usually they become sci fi, thriller, action films rather than animated versions of themselves. Persepolis is an award winning animated film from the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi.

Persepolis

Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm

Director: Directed by Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, 2007

Language: English

Run Time: 95 min.

Genre: Drama, Animation

Rating: PG-13

Filmmakers Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi collaborated to co-write and co-direct this adaptation of Satrapi's bestselling autobiographical graphic novel detailing the trials faced by an outspoken Iranian girl who finds her unique attitude and outlook on life repeatedly challenged during the Islamic revolution. The English-language version features the voice talents of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands, and Iggy Pop, with Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni reprising their roles from the original French-language version.

The film won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. In her acceptance speech, Satrapi said "Although this film is universal, I wish to dedicate the prize to all Iranians". Persepolis was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

For more information or to reserve seating please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Film Series Tickets: available in advance at the Galleries, UTM Student Union or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park

Admission:AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location:AMC Courtney Park, 110 Courtney Park Dr. Mississauga, ON L5T 2Y3, Hwy 10 and the 401 *May 28th film Up the Yangtze, Details will be posted soon

Young Mississauga Animators

2008-04-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Cawthra Park Animation Festival 2008
A secondary school student competition
www.cawthraanimationfestival.com or link from www.cawthrapark.com

Date: Wed. June 4th, 7pm -10pm $5 at the door

Address: Cawthra Park S.S.
1305 Cawthra Road.
Mississauga, Ont. L5G-4L1
905-274-1271

Contact: Festival Director
John Bissylas, Cawthra Park S.S. john.bissylas@peelsb.com
905-274-1271

The festival is a student contest with awards given to the best in each of six categories.
It will be an evening of exciting entertainment and an opportunity for students to showcase their talents to their peers and to the arts industry as well as build their portfolios.

Animation has been a fast growing industry in the fields of entertainment and advertising and many new jobs and career opportunities have opened as a result of this phenomenon. Promoting animation as an art form and employable skill would benefit students as they begin to consider post-secondary educational and career pathways.

Participating boards: Peel, Toronto District, York Region and Halton District

Awards: 1st and 2nd Place animations in each of 6 categories. Trophies given by the festival. Educational/professional opportunities given by the sponsors.

Categories: Flash Narrative, Flash non-narrative, Stop-motion, Mixed Media, 3D and Music Videos

2007 winning entries can be viewed on our website

Participating sponsors:

Nelvana
9Story Entertainment
Max the Mutt Animation School
Sheridan College
Thinnox Design Academy
Curry's Artists' Materials
Frischkorn Audiovisual

Art & science meet at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

2008-03-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

nichola feldman-kiss:\mean body
Art Gallery of Mississauga
March 27 to May 11, 2008
Opening reception Thursday, March 27, 2008

nichola feldman-kiss
the chimaera set (2005-2006)
digital transparency, light box
105 x 105 x 20 cm

Nichola Feldman-Kiss refers to this mean body project as an "expanded performance of self-portraiture". It is a melding of traditional explorations of the figure with scientific research on the human shape…in this case her own toned physique.

After training to obtain her desired body image Feldman-Kiss posed for a three-dimensional whole body scan. The resulting database consists of eighty-two three-dimensional data sets.

These data sets were used to create representations of her body in a variety of media. The mean body project includes a video animation, a large grid of ink-jet prints, a group of plastic rapid-prototype sculptures, four back-lit transparencies, a very large professionally bound book of data, several small bronze sculptures and a contract licensing research rights to the data.

Also included in this exhibition are large scale contour drawings generated from this same data.

This exhibition, although routed in the technology used to generate the various components, draws reference to past traditions of self portraiture and previous scientific efforts to determine standardized body-shapes through more rudimentary body measurement data.

It further explores how minor changes in the data can result in unfamiliar and almost eerie images barely recognizable as the human form. Kim Sawchuk, author of the text for the accompanying catalogue, refers to these components as uncanny. Her in-depth analysis of this mean body project touches on social and cultural issues associated with body type and the stereo typical images of the female form, of gender and power.

As Feldman-Kiss herself notes, "I am interested in how the body has been measured historically, creatively, scientifically, anthropologically and how value has been attributed because of differences."

Mississauga Film Series

2008-03-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

In February, Director and Mississauga native Richie Mehta joined us at the AMC Courtney Park to screen and discuss his award winning film Amal.

Those in attendance were treated to a Q & A with the Director, Producers and members of the cast.

Come out and be a part of the Mississauga Film Series which gives everyone a chance to view films specially selected from the Toronto International Film Festival's Film Circut.

Wednesday, March 26th, 7pm

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Director: Julian Schnabel, France, 2007

Language: French with English subtitles

Winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, this beautiful adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir is an affecting, revelatory tribute.

Once a successful fashion editor and carefree womanizer, Bauby awoke one day to find himself a prisoner of his own body. Paralysed by a massive stroke his muscles were rendered powerless other than the movement of his left eyelid. His nurses develop an ingenious, if exhausting, method of communication to assist him in painstakingly completing a record of his life.

For more information or to reserve seating please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at

905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Film Series Tickets: available in advance at the Galleries, UTM Student Union or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park

Admission: AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location: AMC Courtney Park, 110 Courtney Park Dr. Mississauga, ON L5T 2Y3, Hwy 10 and the 401

Sucessful Mississauga Film Maker

2008-02-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Amal by Mississauga born, Richie Mehta has met with critcal aclaim since the film's 2007 premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and gone on to win numerous awards including Best Independant Film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Mehta has been lauded extensively since, including a mention in critic Cameron Bailey's annual top 10 list.

Wednesday, February 27th, 7pm at the AMC Courtney Park, is your opportunity to attend the Mississauga/home town premiere of Amal.

Returning to his hometown Mississauga, Mehta will personally introduce his debut film at the Mississauga Film Series with a Q&A session to follow.

About the film:

AMAL viscerally conveys the feel of working-class Delhi. Nuanced performances from some of India‘s most revered and beloved performers, including Seema Biswas (WATER), Shah (MONSOON WEDDING), Roshan Seth (SUCH A LONG JOURNEY) and Koel Purie (WHITE NOISE) enhance the film‘s authenticity and immediacy. The life-affirming story evokes lingering vestiges of the caste system and examines a family in which wealth creates nothing but the hunger for more. At the end of his life, the patriarch holds up a mirror to the world he inhabited as a tycoon but departed as an ascetic. For more information or to reserve seating please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Film Series Tickets: available in advance at the Galleries, UTM Student Union or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park

Admission: AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00General Admission: $12.00Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location: AMC Courtney Park, 110 Courtney Park Dr. Mississauga, ON L5T 2Y3, Hwy 10 and the 401

www.topten.ca/films/amal/default.aspx

www.cbc.ca/arts/tiff/story/2007/09/10/tiff-amal-mehta.html

Stars & Robots

2008-01-23T09:30:00.001-08:00

Stars...

Karilee Fuglem is interested in non-visible phenomena that occupy what we perceive as “empty” space. For more than a decade, her site specific, semi-visible, ephemeral constructions have included materials such as fine monofilament, sequin discs, timers, lenses, water and wind to alter our consciousness about the spaces we occupy.

Karilee Fuglem; Corona Borealis, nine to five

Curated by Robert Freeman

February 7 - March 16, 2008

Opening Reception: Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 3 pm

This exhibition is specific to the Art Gallery of Mississauga and is a result of the artist's attempt to relate the Gallery and her work to the night sky... to reference the Gallery space with a universal constant.The artist has mapped out the position of a simple constellation of 6 or 7 stars, Corona Borealis, as it would be seen from the gallery site, from 9-5 on February 29th, 2008.

Through a system of nearly transparent thread lines, Fuglem makes tangible a nearly imperceptible constellation and a leap day, a time frame that is often regarded as some kind of gap in "real life".

Robots...

MONGREL MEDIA

February 7 - March 16, 2008

Opening Reception: Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 3 pm

This experimental laboratory created in the gallery by Kristen Keller will allow students of Cawthra Park Secondary School to work directly with her constructing robotic structures. These mechanical mongrels are fabricated out of found objects, rescued materials and recycled plastic. Outfitted with drawing utensils motorized to make marks on flat surfaces these robots independently make paintings and drawings of their own.

In collaboration with Cawthra Park Secondary School and InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre. The Art Gallery of Mississauga would like to acknowledge the generous support of Deserres, Oakville (formerly known as Loomis Art Store) for their contribution to MONGREL MEDIA.

Mississauga is celebrating Art's Birthday and you are invited!

2008-01-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Art’s Birthday - a celebration of art
Thursday, January 17, 2008
2 to 10 p.m.
Great Hall
Mississauga Civic Centre
300 City Centre Drive

Visit http://www.artsbirthday.blogspot.com/ for more information about the occasion of Art's Birthday.

Performances & Telecommunications
Ongoing
Roving reporter Darla Kitty (aka Halifax sound artist Eleanor King) keeps everyone abreast of happenings throughout the day, including radio on the ice rink and Internet streams from around the world.

I Want to be a Radio Announcer: A chance to experiment with the medium of radio.

Mississauga Sound Map: A sonic journey through the city of Mississauga

Art Gallery of Mississauga: What’s a birthday without a birthday card? Create your own postcard and mail it on-site then celebrate by making your own commemorative button.
View a screening of Robert Filliou’s work.
Gallery on Call, 905-615-3200 ext. 4707: Learn about the history of Art’s Birthday by calling into the gallery. Gallery On Call is a voice-messaging system functioning as an audio guide and extended programming to the Art Gallery of Mississauga’s exhibitions. Five minutes in length, the recordings provide information by bringing in new voices from the community to author interpretive resources.

2 – 2:30 p.m.
Tetsuo Kogawa, live from Japan via Radio Kinesonus, battles with Halifax audio artist Stephen Kelly on-site in a radio transmission race.

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Sound artists Eleanor King and Stephen Kelly put the sounds of the Civic Centre, inside and out, under sonic microscope.

3:30 p.m.
Youth Troopers for Global Awareness
The body makes pictures and sound. This theatre troupe introduces the art of tableau accompanied by rhythm of spoken word.

3:45 p.m.
Mississauga Sound Map Unveiling
Mississauga residents and visitors were invited to contribute sound recordings of places in Mississauga that were meaningful or intriguing to them. To contribute more recordings to this map, Contact: naisa@naisa.ca

4 p.m.
Mississauga Children’s Choir composes their own Happy Birthday song on the spot, conducted by vocalist Christine Duncan.

4:15 p.m.
Birthday Cake
Sound artist Rob Cruikshank provides the icing with portable NAISAtrons (sound art objects).

4:30 p.m.
Back2Basics
Energetic krumping dance is wired for sound.

5 p.m.
Soundwalk
Tour the Mississauga Civic Centre with your eyes closed. In a soundwalk, the listening “audience” moves through a place and the environment “performs.” In a soundwalk, time is taken to hear the environment. Every soundwalk is a unique listening experience.

5 - 7 p.m.
New Adventures in Sound Art scans the globe for Art’s Birthday radio art including Internet streams from Kunstradio, Vienna.

7- 10 p.m.
Comedian Matt. Miller hosts and evening of music by Mississauga DJ Kurtis Lewis and turntablist Mike Hansen who will spin to the theme of Forever Young with cameo appearances by Back2Basics dance troupe and other surprise guests.

Background
Art’s Birthday was proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. It has since been celebrated on January 17 as an annual exchange-art event by a collection of artists and artist organizations around the world.

This marks the first year of Art’s Birthday celebrations in Mississauga that explores performance, installations and exchange-art. Explorations with telecommunications have long been part of this event in which artists from around the world unite over radio waves, via the Internet, and through mail art. As Mississauga forges its new identity for the 21st century, communications are key to its development, and the activities for Art’s Birthday are a perfect forum for exploring creative ways to interface with local and global communities.

Presented by the Mississauga Office of Arts and Culture and New Adventures in Sound Art in partnership with the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Canadian Association for Sound Ecology and in conjunction with Kunstradio - Vienna, Western Front – Vancouver, and Radio Kinesonus – Japan. Many thanks to CKLN Toronto for their sponsorship and broadcast of Art’s Birthday.
The Mississauga Office of Arts and Culture positions itself on the cusp of arts, culture, technology, architecture and urban design. It will play an integral and strategic role in the growth plan of the city for the 21st century. For further information go to http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/artsandculture

New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit organization that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. For more information go to www.naisa.ca

FREE bus transportation from downtown Toronto – Gladstone Hotel 2 p.m. with 4:30 p.m. return, and 7 p.m. with 10 p.m. return. BY RESERVATION ONLY RSVP 905-615-3200 ext 4065 or DB.Boyko@mississauga.ca)

Artists
back2basics is pure Mississauga energy, from break dancing to krumping.

Darren Copeland is the artistic director of New Adventures in Sound Art. He is also a sound artistwho has received international attention, including solo releases DVD-A Perdu et retrouvé and the CD release Rendu Visible on empreintes DIGITALes (http://www.electrocd.com/).
He has created work for many media: radio art, installation sound art, theatre, and concert music. Recent highlights include his radiophonic adaptation for ZKM of Berger Sellin's book ich will kein inmich mehr sein and his long distance cellphone collaboration with Annette Finnsdottir in Copenhagen for AGM.

A musical chameleon with a near five octave range, Christine Duncan has a repertoire that spans improvisation, opera, rhythm and blues, pop and folkloric music. She has collaborated with Bob Murphy, Hugh Fraser, Miles Black, Jean Martin,Veda Hille, Paul Plimley, Danielle Palardy Roger, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Young, P.J. Perry, Ray Charles, Linton Garner, Paul Horn, Jeff Healey, John Oswald, Paul Dutton, Nobuo Kabota and many others.

Mike Hansen is a Mississauga based artist, performer and radio personality and has been involved in the Canadian improvised music scene for over a decade. As a turntablist born out of the school of Marclay, Tetrault and Jeck, Hansen disembowels the turntable. Approaching the record player as an instrument, needles cut through vinyl as knives through butter. Records are being replaced by the players themselves now used to generate sound that is processed through a series of Lo-Fi electronics, haunted by samples of actual recordings. Sounds are chosen at random, slowed down, ripped apart and manually looped. Mike Hansen’s turntablism has resulted in recordings and performances with Canadian and international players such as Tomasz Krakowiak, Michael Snow, John Oswald, John Butcher, Kaffe Matthews, and Gert-Jan Prins.

Stephen Kelly works with sound sculpture and site-specific audio installation and do-it-yourself electronics. Interested in intersections between audio art and music he creates kinetic, viewer responsive audio exhibitions and has built several unique musical instruments. Stephen has recorded, produced, and released over 14 musical albums on his independent label Dead Bum.

Eleanor King works with site-specific installation incorporating elements of audio, video, photography and sculpture. Eleanor often uses radio as a medium for audio performance, she hosts a regular radio program on CKDU 97.5 FM in Halifax. Her work incorporates humorous elements to critique social behaviors, investigating consumer and tourist culture.
Tetsuo Kogawa introduced micro free radio to Japan, and is widely known for his blend of criticism, performance and activism. He has written over 30 books on media culture, film, the city and urban space, and micro politics. He has been teaching at Tokyo-Keizai University and demonstrating radio-art experiments in various countries.

Kurtis Lewis is a Mississauga-based DJ who explores the boundaries of house, jazz, afrobeat, trip hop, electro, and techno.

Matt. Miller currently resides in Mississauga and is a graduate of Humber College School of Comedy. He has performed at Yuk Yuks, Second City, and the Alt.Lounge at the Rivoli. He was recently nominated for Tim Sims Fresh Meet Showcase – top 20 comedians in Ontario.
Celebrating over 25 years of choral excellence, the Mississauga Children’s Choir (MCC) is a treble voiced choir of over 125 children from 6 to 17 years of age. Under the leadership of Music Director Thomas Bell, the choir has grown to include three graded ensembles – Training, Intermediate, and Concert. The MCC is dedicated to providing young singers with exceptional musical experiences through excellence in performance, music education, recording, touring and service to the community, The MCC has toured across Canada and in Europe.

Youth Troopers for Global Awareness (YTGA) is a group of very passionate high school students, determined to bring about awareness of global and local social issues through writing, visual art and theatre. Tired of feeling helpless about the injustices occurring in the world, they began writing about issues that they are passionate about, in the summer of 2006. Their ultimate goal is to spread awareness which they feel is the initial action that creates the reaction. Only through awareness of what the problem is, can the solutions come to light. YTGA recognizes the suffering and torment the unfortunates and underserved are going through and they dedicate their efforts to them, for if they are unable to speak for themselves, YTGA will be their voice. For further information go to http://www.ytga.com/

Event Management
City of Mississauga
Zainub Verjee, director, Office of Arts and Culture
Jennifer Kaye, manager, Arts & Culture Initiatives
DB Boyko, supervisor, Arts & Culture
Sandra Desrochers, public affairs specialist, Communications
Richard Stone, A.V. systems technician, IT
Jim Morley, supervisor, IT Networking Service
Steve Draper, manager, Information Technology
Alex Lo-Basso, designer, Creative Services
Susanne Carte-Blanchenot, Outreach Programmer, Art Gallery of Mississauga
Su-Ying Lee, Curatorial/Administrative Assistant, Art Gallery of Mississauga
New Adventures in Sound Art
Nadene Thériault-Copeland, managing director
Darren Copeland, artistic director
Hector Centeno, soundmap programmer
CKLN Radio
Mike Phillips, station manager, CKLN
Special thanks to Don Sinclair, professor & co-ordinator, Fine Arts Cultural Studies Program, York University.
Logos:New Adventures in Sound Art, City of Mississauga, Art Gallery, CKLN, Canadian Association of Sound Art, Kunstradio, Wes

What's the difference?

2007-12-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

Often people who visit or call the Art Gallery of Mississauga are confused about who we are and how the arts organizations in Mississauga are distinguished.

The organizations listed below are all in Mississauga but are separate and distinct. Here is a handy little guide for your reference. For more information visit their websites or call.

Visual Arts Mississauga (aka VAM)
Location: Visual Arts Mississauga is located at Riverwood, 1475 Burnhamthorpe Road West, corner of Credit Woodlands and Burnhamthorpe.

Contact Info:
Tel: 905 277 4313
info@visualartsmississauga.com
www.visualartsmississauga.com

Purpose:
"Visual Arts Mississauga is committed to enriching the lives of the citizens of the City of Mississauga by encouraging the appreciation in the visual arts through the provision of affordable educational programs, exhibitions, sales, meetings and workshop facilities"
What does that really mean? Traditional arts and craft classes for all ages, summer craft type camps and rental gallery space. Think of it as a place to go if you wish to try your hand at painting or develop a hobby, find programmes to keep kids occupied, try selling and exhibiting some of your work locally without the professional rigour which is demanded in other more formal settings. The context is local rather than reflective of the larger art world.
Why it gets confusing... People confuse Visual Arts Mississauga and the Art Gallery of Mississauga because VAM provides an annual opportunity for local artists to show through a juried exhibition. The exhibition is housed/hosted by the Art Gallery of Mississauga not at Riverwood/Visual Arts Mississauga. This means that these two distinctly separate organizations partner to deliver this one event. Also VAM's location is slightly hidden on the grounds of Riverwood park. This lovely property is well worth the visit.

Mississauga Arts Council (aka MAC)
Location: Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive, Suite 1055
Contact info:
Tel: 905 615 4278
info@mississaugaartscouncil.com
http://www.mississaugaartscouncil.com/

Purpose: MAC is a non-profit registered charity governed by a Board of Directors. Our mission is “to foster and develop, support and champion a vibrant, dynamic arts community in the city of Mississauga through services, to enrich the lives of its citizens.”
What does that really mean? Working on a smaller scale, the Mississauga Arts Council does not provide funding opportunities like the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council For the Arts do. The primary funding or recognition opportunity provided through MAC is via the Mississauga Arts Awards. Nominations are accepted in performing, literary, media and visual arts annually. Recipients receive a cash award and trophy at a gala diner with entertainment. MAC also publishes information about local activities in weekly listing in The Mississauga News, 'Arts Scene' column; MACtivities – weekly e-mail newsletter; It's Here in Arts and Entertainment Calendar – a quarterly publication of members’ events, exhibitions, sales, performances, workshops, meetings and festivals. There are also various other networking and development opportunities through MAC, consult their website or call to find out the schedule of events.
Why it gets confusing...The Mississauga Arts Council and the Art Gallery of Mississauga are separate organizations. Both are located in the same building, the Mississauga Civic Centre, but, they do not share the same space.

The Living Arts Centre (aka LAC)
Location: 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga ON L5B 4B8
Contact info:
General Information/Reception 905 306 6100
info.lac@mississauga.ca
Box Office & Registrations 905 306 6000
toll-free 1 888 805 8888
Purpose: The Living Arts Centre is a 225,000 square foot multi-use facility. The facility houses performance theatres, an exhibition gallery, eight professional art studios, corporate meeting facilities and a restaurant. The Centre is a registered not-for-profit organization, governed by an active 18-person community based Board of Directors, and managed by a team of arts and hospitality industry professionals. Each year the Centre programs a range of performing arts events, multi-disciplinary workshops, camps and courses offering hands-on arts experiences, and fine art & craft exhibitions. The Living Arts Centre also serves as home to dozens of community and professional arts organizations; and as a venue where numerous grassroots community theatre, dance, music and ethno-cultural organizations can showcase their work. What does that really mean? LAC offers residency opportunities for artists working in wood, sculpture, textiles, photography, ceramics, painting, drawing and flamework. There are school workshops, camps, youth and adult classes in a range of mediums which include dance and photography. Laidlaw Hall is the Gallery at LAC. Opportunities to exhibit are offered to community groups, resident artists and on a rental basis. Artist's fees are not paid. The Living Arts Centre is a place where you can go to see live entertainment without the hassle of going to Toronto and the parking is free.

Why it gets confusing...The Living Arts Centre is across the street from the Mississauga Civic Centre where the Art Gallery of Mississauga is housed. LAC does have a gallery but, is differentiated from the Art Gallery of Mississauga by both exhibitions and purpose

Blackwood Gallery
Location: On the grounds of the University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd. North, Mississauga ON L5L 1C6

Purpose: The Blackwood Gallery started in 1969 as the Erindale College Art Gallery which was the first public art gallery in Peel. On May 15, 1992, it was reopened as the Blackwood Gallery in the present gallery space in the Kaneff Centre. It was named in honour of Canadian artist, David Blackwood, who was an artist in residence at Erindale College from 1967-71.
What does that really mean? The Blackwood Gallery is a not for profit, University Gallery. When curator of contemporary art, Barbara Fischer took over she brought with her curatorial rigour, critical theory and exhibitions which reflected the practices of contemporary artists. Since then, the Gallery has grown to include an E-gallery and video wall. To see exhibitions of work from a larger context which address contemporary issues, visit the Blackwood Gallery. The current curator is Seamus Kealy.

Artists exhibited at the Blackwood likely have nationally or internationally recognized practices in contemporary art. Artists who are exhibited at the Blackwood have likely been sought out through curatorial research and investigations rather than culled from general submissions. However, submissions are accepted. To have your work considered, submit a professional quality proposal with images in digital or slide format with image list, proposal, artist statement and cv. The Gallery does not sell work or provide rental space.

The Blackwood Gallery does offer day summer camps for children. The camp engages children through a fun programme of activities that stimulate creative and critical thinking and relate to art creation through concept. Offering a valuable experience beyond craft and child care, this approach inspires creative thinking and problem solving skills which are useful in all facets of life.

Why it gets confusing...With so few not for profit art galleries/institutions in Mississauga, the Blackwood Gallery is confused with the Art Gallery of Mississauga. In addition, the two galleries have partnered to present outreach programming including the Mississauga Film Series. The Blackwood Gallery is on the campus of the University of Toronto at Mississauga which may be difficult for the general public to find.

Art Gallery of Mississauga (aka AGM)
Location: Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive, Ground Floor, South East Corner, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C1

Purpose:
"The Mission of the Art Gallery of Mississauga is to promote awareness and the appreciation of the visual arts through the operation, development and growth of a public, not-for-profit art gallery."

Mandate: Through the efforts of its volunteers and staff, the Gallery will achieve this mission by providing leadership and expertise in matters related to the visual arts; and by exhibiting historical and contemporary works of art from local to international sources; and by encouraging the development of artists with special emphasis on those residing in the city of Mississauga;
and by organizing educational programmes to stimulate knowledge and interest in the visual arts; and by acquiring, managing and caring for a Permanent Collection.The Gallery will carry out its mandate in accordance with professional museum standards and practice. What does that really mean? As a public, not for profit gallery, the AGM's primary purpose is to exhibit art and educate the public by bringing exhibitions of work that reflect important issues and practices both contemporary and historic. Regional galleries generally exist to bring culture to a region and to serve the cultural and educational needs of that region rather than represent, soley, the artists of the region. However, most regional galleries wish to develop a relationship with the community which will foster understanding of visual art and encourage the growth and development of a local audience and artists. The AGM strives to be the community's window to art practices nationally and internationally. The Gallery serves the community by providing access to art in a number of ways including the Mississauga Film Series, exhibitions performances and events both in and outside the gallery, tours, artists' talks, panel discussions, professional development workshops and publications. The AGM does not have rental gallery space and with a few exceptions, does not sell work. To have your work considered for exhibition at the Art Gallery of Mississauga artists must submit professional quality proposals with digital or slide images, image list, proposal, artist's statement and cv.

Stay tuned for a blog entry on the difference between public galleries, artist run centres, art foundations and commercial galleries.

Visual Arts Mississauga Juried Exhibtion

2007-12-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

Visual Arts Mississauga 30th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts
December 13, 2007 to February 2, 2008

Since 1987, the Art Gallery of Mississauga has hosted this Visual Arts Mississauga event. The call for entry brings in hundreds of submissions from working artists across Ontario. Awards are given in each of the media categories.

For more information about entry, please contact Visual Arts Mississauga at 905 277 4314 or visit www.visualartsmississauga.com

Exhibition opportunity at the Living Arts Centre

2007-12-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – NEW AND EMERGING ARTISTS FOR JURIED ART SHOW

The Living Arts Centre is accepting submissions from new and emerging artists for a juried art exhibition. Selected works will be exhibited in the centre’s on-site gallery, Laidlaw Hall from May 3 - May 25, 2008. Eligible artists must be living, working, or attending school in the City of Mississauga or Peel Region. Works in all media will be considered. Works must be original and completed within the last two years.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

· $20.00 application fee made out to the Living Arts Centre
· artist statement (max. 100 words)
· current CV
· 2 images of current work (jpegs on CD), including: title, medium, size, date, artist’s name.
· SASE (self addressed and stamped envelope) – please ensure correct postage for return of CD (The Living Arts Centre assumes no responsibility for images sent without return postage)

Email submissions will not be accepted

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: January 17, 2008 at 5pm

Please send submissions to:

Laidlaw Hall Gallery Emerging Artist Exhibition
Studio Arts Department
Living Arts Centre
4141 Living Arts Drive
Mississauga, ON
L5B 4B8

For more information, please email exhibitions@livingarts.on.ca or call 905.306.6161

Submissions will be reviewed by a selection committee.

Notification of Acceptance: Artists will be notified by phone or email on Monday, February 18, 2008 if their piece has been selected to be in the exhibition. Only those accepted will be notified. Accepted artists will receive details pertaining to the exhibition, including delivery of artwork, insurance coverage, opening reception and awards, etc.

Get in the loop

2007-11-22T06:41:00.000-08:00

Want to be informed about visual art and related events? Subscribe to these email postings...

Akimbo http://www.akimbo.biz/

Akimbo is a Toronto-based company that promotes contemporary visual art, video, new media and film locally, nationally and internationally via the internet. You can visit the website for the latest news on exhibitions, films, readings, job postings and more or subscribe to have announcements delivered to your email address. Receiving info is a free service, you can also pay to have Akimbo publicize your event.

Instant Coffee http://www.instantcoffee.org/

Instant Coffee is an art collective. They also maintaing a website and compile email listings of art related stuff. To sign up for the list or submit a posting visit the website and click on "email lists". You can subscribe to lists for various regions. It's totally free.

Artifice http://www.e-easel.org/artifice/submitting-to-artifice/

Artifice is a free weekly email list promoting art and culture in Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge and surrounding areas. To post or subscribe, send an email to artifice@e-easel.org. It's free.

Now you know!

Mississauga Film Series

2007-11-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

November Film

Film: The Bubble, Israel, 2007, 117 minutes

Hebrew & Arabic with English subtitles

Director, Eytan Fox

Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Location: AMC Courtney Park, 110 Courtney Park Drive, Mississauga

Time: 7:00 pm

The Mississauga Film Series showcases international and independant cinema. Held at the AMC Theatre, Courtney Park, Mississauga, the screenings will take place on the last Wednesday of each month.

The Bubble

Downtown Tel Aviv’s Sheinkin Street is as sexy, cosmopolitan urban landscape – cafes, alternative record shops, gay bars, student protests, the works. It could not be further from the nearby reality of occupied Palestine. Gifted Israeli director Eytan Fox (YOSSI & JAGGER, WALK ON WATER) pricks this “bubble” in his new film. It is a breathtakingly urgent, convulsively funny and then impossibly tragic love story. Lulu (Daniella Wircer) lives with two gay guys: brooding music lover Noam (Ohad Knoller, MUNICH) and flamboyant café owner Yali (Alon Friedmann). The roommates’ days and nights are spent in typical slacker fashion – hanging out, watching TV, getting laid. They are secular and progressive, but not overly political.

Everything changes when Noam meets Ashraf (Yousef “Joe” Sweid, WALK ON WATER), a cute and intense Palestinian guy, at a checkpoint. Ashraf becomes part of their group, while Lulu and Yali also fall dramatically in and out of love. One almost believes that the two men could inspire change as symbols of peace, but their affair is already doomed.

Tickets available in advance at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Blackwood Gallery, UTM Student Union or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park

Admission:

Art Gallery of Mississauga Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00

General Admission: $12.00

Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Photographing Your Artwork

2007-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

If you are serious about the business of being an artist, creating a professional submission package is crucial. In order to do that you must understand how to propose an exhibition, write about and present your work.

The expectations of a proposal package include professional documentation of your work. Images of your art are necessary so that the galleries you hope to exhibit at can see what they are being asked to show. Whatever the medium you work in, photography skills will help you represent your own work in the best possible way.

Take your artistic practice to the next professional level with this super affordable workshop!

Back by popular demand!
Photographing Your Artwork is a two-day professional development workshop that will introduce participants to the tools and techniques in creating the visual components of a submission package. Participants will receive an overview and resource manual consisting of how to operate a digital camera to utilizing lighting techniques, equipment and correct exposure to achieve professional looking results.

Workshop 1: How to Digitally Photograph your Work
Saturday November 17, 2007 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga
This workshop is a practical information session with hands on training to digitally photograph your work in creating documentation and submission proposal packages to galleries, funders and residencies. Focusing on lighting techniques the course will teach participants how to successfully document two and three dimensional work as well as capturing performances and event based-activities.

Workshop 2: Creating a Digital Submission Package
Sunday November 18, 2007 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga
By providing professional portfolio guidance participants will enhance the necessary skills in creating a digital submission package. Exercises will cover the handling and organization of digital files from re-sizing and cleaning up images to the creation of the final CD. Learning Objectives: " Examining the tools of the trade " Lighting and light sources " Camera techniques: How to utilize them " Discover the fundamentals of composition and shooting detail work " Working with digital files " Scanning from photographs " Creating a professional CD of images.

To register or for more information please contact
Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507, 647-892-4603
or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

Saturday November 17, 2007 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
Sunday November 18, 2007 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga
300 City Centre Drive,
Mississauga ON L5B 3C1

Registration fee:
Art Gallery of Mississauga Members $30
Visual Arts Mississauga Members/Students $30
General $45

Instructor Chris Blanchenot is an artist, communication assistant for Canadian Actor's Equity and principle of Carte-Blanche Photography. After earning a BFA at the University of Windsor Blanchenot went on to study and teach at Louisiana State University. Teaching photography, printmaking and framing courses for Dundas Valley School of Art and Burlington Art Centre for over five years Blanchenot has a breadth of experience and expertise. He has documented events and exhibitions for such galleries and associations as The Power Plant, Mercer Union, Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art (MOCCA) and Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) and as well as contributing to C Magazine and This Magazine.

Gallery On Call

2007-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga
GALLERY ON CALL
905-615-3200 ext. 4707

Have you ever wanted more information about an exhibition? Would you like another perspective on the art? Just take out your cell phone and dial...or you can call from home while you are thinking about what you saw at the gallery!

Gallery On Call is a new audio guide installed to extend programming to the current exhibitions. Lasting five minutes in length the recordings can be activated on site by calling the number above. The program will be a permanent fixture to aid in exhibition interpretation and provide an educational element to the programming.

October 25 – December 7, 2007
Duncan Farnan, Independent Curator comments on the exhibition
Viktor Tinkl: Making Things

Viktor Tinkle: Making Things

2007-10-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Viktor Tinkl: Making Things
Curated by Robert Freeman & Linda Jansma
presented in collaboration with the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

On view until December 7th
Art Gallery of Mississauga
300 City Centre Drive, Ground Floor
Mississauga, ON

tel: 905 896 5506
http://www.artgalleryofmississauga.com/

Viktor Tinkl is driven by a compulsion to make things, a compulsion he describes as being brought on by “bugging”. Tinkl’s fantastic assemblages, sculptures and kinetic works, all things he makes from other things, seem to pour from the artist, into his home, studio and property. Bits of wood, ribbon, denture molds, fur and cans are just some of the materials which are detritus to the rest of us but, are compelling to Tinkl. His making is not compelled by the promise of exhibitions, theory and academia. He is familiar with both the former and the latter. Tinkl was a faculty member at the Ontario College of Art, as it was then known, from 1973 to 2000. He is also a graduate of the same institution.

Tinkl was initially unreceptive to this exhibition. It required the persuasion of all parties involved, including Viktor’s wife Judith, for the artist to agree, albeit with reluctance. His reluctance was brought on by his seasoned knowledge of the time commitment required for an exhibition including, discussions with curators and preparation of artworks, activities that take away time from his making.

The multitude of works selected for this exhibition include, two central pieces never seen outside the artist’s property: The Meeting (1999) and Circle (2006). The Meeting incorporates denture moulds into over twenty characters while, Circle includes the heads of skinned foxes among other found objects.

Providing further insight into the practice of Viktor Tinkl is a fifty-five page colour catalogue which accompanies the exhibition with introductions by Robert Freeman and Linda Jansma. Also included are a revealing interview with the artist by Linda Jansma and essay by Duncan Farnan.

“You just make stuff and you make more stuff.
...like a tin can-when you drink enough apple juice and rum mixture you save all the tin cans and you stuff smaller things in them and you have an abundance of these cans. And then one day you take a pair of shears and start cutting into the cans because you need a piece of tin and then you realize that cutting into the can is quite a good experience and the cutting itself is the exciting part.”
-Viktor Tinkl

A public art gallery sponsored by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Corporations, Private Citizens and its Membership

Get on the Bus

2007-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery Hop

Join us for tours and refreshments at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Blackwood Gallery, Living Arts Centre Laidlaw Hall Gallery, Gallery Streetsville, Art Gallery of Peel, Whitney Gallery, and Visual Arts Mississauga.

FREE Visual Art Bus Trip Mississauga and Peel region galleries celebrate the visual artists with the third Art Gallery Hop on Sunday October 21 from 11:00 am - 4:00pm.

A FREE shuttle will take visitors on a regional tour of the visual art centres and spaces.

BUS #1
Leaves at 11:00 am from Peel Heritage Complex, 9 Wellington St E, Brampton, returning at 4:00 pm

BUS #2
Leaves at 11:00 am from Visual Arts Mississauga, 1475 Burnhamthorpe Road West Mississauga, returning at 4:00 pm

For more information or to book a seat on the bus please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca The Art Gallery of Mississauga and Blackwood Gallery would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Don't worry, this is neither the actual bus nor the driver

Escape from Hollywood

2007-10-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

Mississauga Film Series
Presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga & Blackwood Gallery

The Mississauga Film Series showcases international and independant cinema. Held at the AMC Theatre, Courtney Park, Mississauga, the screenings will take place on the last Wednesday of each month.

Director: Adrian Shergold
United Kingdom, 2007, 90 minutes

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman is an award winning film which chronicles the fascinating macabre life of Albert Pierrepoint, Britian's best-know public executioner and last official hangman.
The awkward, simple-mannered, working-class Pierrepoint takes on the same job that his mother claims drove his father to alcoholism and an early grave. He quickly rises through the ranks but becomes increasingly unsure of his moral imperatives.

Tickets available in advance at the Galleries, UTM Student Union
or the evening of the screening from 6:30pm at the AMC Courtney Park

Admission:
AGM Members/Students/Seniors: $10.00
General Admission: $12.00
Series Pass: $30.00 (4 film package)

Screening Location: AMC Courtney Park 16 110 Courtney Park Dr. Mississauga, ON L5T 2Y3 Hwy 10 and the 401

Info: suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca or 905 896 5506

Happy 20th Birthday

2007-09-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

In October, the Art Gallery of Mississauga will turn 20 years old! We will be celebrating with two parties. All are welcome to attend!

A party for the grown-ups!
Thursday, October 4th 7pm - 10pm
Great Hall, Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive
Please help us celebrate our 20th birthday at this FREE event!
Enjoy cake, karaoke, badge making and more...
Ask Puffy , the Guidance Clown: An artist's project by Ulysses Castellanos
Ask Puffy, the Guidance Clown is the latest in a series of explorations into what constitutes "Professionalism" and professional/client relations. Ulysses Castellanos, this time, dons the guise of a clown, as he gives free advice to party goers. As well as dispensing free advice, Castellanos gives balloon sculptures and provides a "manicure" service, whereby the artist applies and paints "customized", brightly-colored press-on nails.

Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People
Nine-member band, The Lollipop People, play avant-vaudeville music on instruments from bassoon to banjo. The show has been described as "a twisted carnival sideshow including puppetry, crank calls, costumes and homemade multicoloured stage props" with music that is expertly composed and borrows from a broad range of influences, from klezmer to Captain Beefheart.Friendly Rich is a composer from Brampton, Canada. Mr. Rich has composed background music for MTV's The Tom Green Show. Since 1994, he has recorded exclusively for his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. Friendly Rich is also the founder and director of the Brampton Indie Arts Festival. Friendly always says, “one can either produce, or become produce”.

A party for the whole family!
Sunday, October 28th 1-4pm
Great Hall, Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive
Please help us celebrate our 20th birthday at this FREE event!
Enjoy cake, karaoke, badge & party hat making and more...

Happy Birthday Project by Aritist Sandy Plotnikoff
Sandy Plotnikoff brings his hot-foil stamping workstation to our party printing "Happy Birthday" on whatever is offered by the public. He can print on paper, leather, plastic, and wood; the possibilities are pretty endless. Improvisation and creative collaboration are encouraged, and visitors keep the stamped results! Similar to ideas explored in Plotnikoff's postcard multiples (see image above), the artist is interested in testing the universality of a familiar greeting in contrast to unlikely, yet sometimes fitting contexts. Bring your greeting cards, wallet, belt, bag, t-shirt, whatever grabs your imagination to participate/collaborate with Sandy.

iNSiDEaMiND Performance & Turntable Workshop
With the definition of the word "DJ" continually expanding, InsideAmind (Prof. Fingers & Steptone) emerges from Toronto as a two man scratch band, further stretching artistic boundaries by performing live original compositions with vinyl. The "scratch musicians", as they call themselves, bring forth a unique angle to what a pair of DJs/Producers armed with instruments called turntables can create. Prof. Fingers & Steptone also teach through their Off Centre DJ School whose mandate is simple: have fun with records! Following their performance, the duo will teach creative expression through playing with sound.

Be adored at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

2007-09-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Mike Hansen: Hoi Polloi
September 13 to October 21, 2007
part of A Month of Photography

The Art Gallery of Mississauga welcomes you with the red carpet, the clamour of adoration and flash bulbs popping.

Mike Hansen's Hoi Polloi addresses photography in a figurative rather than literal sense. An encounter based installation, complete with red carpet, stanchions, flash bulbs and adoration, the work situates image and constructed circumstance, in relation to the phenomenon of fame. Photography is the spoon with which the frenzied cult of celebrity is fed. Paparazzi churn out images of red carpet deities and fallen celebutants by which we measure and lose ourselves. Mike Hansen addresses the contrivance of celebrity through its devices.
A Month of Photography is a photographic arts festival in Mississauga and Brampton. The festival is sponsored by Nikon Canada and aims to expand the understanding and appreciation of photography as an artistic medium - developing new and emerging artists, promoting established artists, uniting the arts with the public, and promoting the awareness of curated shows within the community. For the month of September, artists will exhibit their photographic works in assigned locations such as galleries, community centres, hospitals, and restaurants. Now in its 3rd year, the festival has gained support from notable galleries such as the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Art Gallery of Peel, the Living Arts Centre, UTM Mississauga Campus, Gallery Streetsville and The Village Gallery - all of which will provide exhibition space. Get your free artists' catalogue available at the Art Gallery of Mississauga as well as local art galleries, libraries and community centres. Or download the catalogue here.

-Fausta Faccipointe, Festival Co ordinator

Endagered species at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

2007-09-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

Flora: Fragile Habitats
Julie Aubin & Darlene Benner
September 13 to October 21, 2007

The ambitious undertaking of artists Julie Aubin & Darlene Benner interprets fifty indigenous Canadian vascular plants. Each work is meticulously rendered in clay with surfaces created through a variety of primitive firing methods, glazes and a non silver photographic printing technique.

Summer, in the not so distant past

2007-09-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

The Best of Film Fort

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 on the grounds of the Mississauga Central Library.

Many turned out for the final Art Gallery of Mississauga summer 2007 event. A lovely night under the Film Fort lit by the silver screen, the stars and our city centre's condo lights.

Summer 2007 has come to a close but, be sure to visit the Gallery for an exciting season of exhibitions and events including two exciting birthday parties....details to come.

Art Gallery of Mississauga would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga.

Special thanks to Yasmeen Abubakar, Eleni Alpous, Dominique Asselin, Bryan Belanger, Nika Belianina, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Chris Blanchenot, Sherrese Bleary, Patrick Borjal, Christopher Bowes, Deanna Catania, Calvin Chan, Kimberley England, Iris Fraser, Alexandra Fronckiewicz, Jeff Garcia, Eric Glavin, Jesjit Gill, Nilsson Gonsalves, Liisa Graham, Winston Hacking, Andrea Jagodzinski, Steve Khan, Jelani Lee, Brett Long, Lindsay MacDonald, Nicole Mara, Airin McGuinty, Marissa Neave, Hri Neil, Marc de Pape, Mariya Prokopenko, Geoffrey Pugen, Jon Sasaki, Anna Shen, Sheida Sims, Kristina Smiltnieks, Anita Solomon, Nick Wallace, Alice Xian, Yelin Yang, and Andrew Zukerman

Paying taxes does not equal absolute ownership

2007-09-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

Not uncommon to the ears of those who are employed by public galleries is a disgruntled visitor commenting "that's what my tax dollars goes to".

Well, don't be disheartened gallery goer. Exhibitions not to your liking are not staged as a personal attack on your wallet, I promise you. When I began working in a gallery, I said "I pay taxes and I even work at a public gallery". Why then, can I not curate exhibitions of black velvet paintings exclusively? They are classical, big eyed children, Elvis and the Bullfighter (who doesn't love Elvis?), soft (as velvet) and black (goes with everything!).

I was helped to understand that after the health care and education I have received, the roads, streets and walkways I travelled in on, the relative safety I enjoy through emergency services, the pick up of the trash I produce and on and on there is little chance that I have personally bankrolled the exhibitions at a public gallery.

No one (that I know) enjoys paying taxes but, it is a collective and cumulative effort that does afford us a Canadian standard of living not the catering to of my personal whims (as much as I want that).

I have simply come to accept that the act of paying taxes does not allow me the exclusive right to dictate that a public gallery should produce exhibitions that are especially pleasing to me. Yes, public, meaning for all, not just my rarefied desire to have exhibitions of velvet paintings exclusively. Nor is it safe to assume that what I enjoy is enjoyed by all other tax payers. Believe it or not, while I may grumble about a particular exhibition, others have been heard praising the exact same art!

However public does mean that the gallery likely wants to offer you, as a member of the public, something which is meaningful and enriching. So, rather than grumbling sideways in an indirect effort to make your disappointment heard, speak directly to the gallery staff. You may not own the gallery but, you can take ownership of your needs and how you would like to see that reflected.

Perhaps you will not find an exhibition pleasing to your sensibilities today, but there are many, many more exhibitions and more public galleries to be visited. Often galleries have art in several forms such as, music, performances, film series and talks. Why not try one of those?

The 905er asks, if you were channelling the tax payers' art dollars, what would you fund?
Bateman or Altmejd? Neither? Both?

(Below) Work by Robert Bateman, Canadian artist and environmental advocate.

(Left) Work by David Altmejd, Canada’s official representative at the 2007 Venice Biennale of Visual Art.

Welcome to the Fort

2007-08-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Best of Film Fort
Tuesday August 28, 2007
8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Main Stage, on the grounds of the Mississauga Central Library,

301 Burnhamthorpe Road West
The Film Fort collective will transform the Civic Centre into a series of large child-like theatres. Creating the sense of wonder and nostalgia of home-movies and family slide shows each fort will house a different video programme. Prepare for a cozy night in - out.

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

The Sights & Sounds of Rhapsody

2007-08-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga Video Programme II
Karoke Rhapsody
Tuesday August 21, 20079:00– 10:30 pm FREE!
Main Stage, grounds of the Mississauga Central Library,
301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.

Curated by Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot
The works presented in the video programme Karaoke Rhapsody utilize karaoke as a vehicle. Stylistically mimicking its form and function, the artists rely on the repertoire of karaoke's highlighted text, current songs, and moving symbols. Guiding the viewer through a narrative, they emphasize or dismiss the lyrics and (re)contextualize them in a separate and distinct way, soliciting a response that was not the original intent of the song.

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Subtitled, 2005 2 min
Utilizing the lyrics of the pop-dance song recorded by Australian singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue Can't Get You out of My Head for her eighth studio album Fever (2001), artist Nemerofsky Ramsay fantasizes in bed.

Daniel Cockburn
Rocket Man, 2000 5 min
Rocket Man is a karaoke video which takes the lyrics and sentiment of the Elton John classic written by Bernie Taupin for the 1972 album Honkey Chateau.

Jubal Brown
Children of the Grave, 2000 3 min
A Karaoke video created for the classic Black Sabbath song Children of the Grave from their 1971 album Master of Reality. A group of youths out for a night of fun, drinking and driving in the country in the parents mini van, play fighting, and running through graveyards.

Emelie Chhangur
PASSING FOR WHITE; PASSING FOR BLACK IN SÃO PAULO, 2007 3:04 min
Singing over Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Three Little Birds from their 1977 album Exodus Chhangur responds to being a first generation Canadian, who passes for black in her home country, finds herself passing for white in Brazil.

Stefan St-Laurent / Minnie St-Laurent
I Want You to Need Me / J'veux qu' tu m'veux, 2001 4 min
Part of St-Laurent’s ongoing series of autobiographical performance videos named Overmelodramas, the artist explores our relationship to violence and culture. Written by Diane Warren, I Want You to Need Me is the fourth and last single from Celine Dion's All the Way...A Decade of Song album, released in 2000.

Clark Nikolai
An der Nordseeküste, 2003 3:40 min
A German language homo-romantic karaoke video set to the classic drinking Irish folk song Black Velvet Band.

Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody, 5:55 sec
Recommended as one of the top four performed Karaoke songs by Peter Styles of the famous Gladstone Hotel Karaoke nights every Thursday to Sunday in the Melody Bar, Toronto, Bohemian Rhapsody is a song written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by the band Queen for the 1975 album A Night At The Opera. The video was supplied by Karaoke Canada, serving Canada and other countries with high quality Karaoke products.

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

Suburban Cinema

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga Video Programme I
Bedroom Community
Tuesday August 14, 2007
9:00– 10:30 pm FREE!
Main Stage, grounds of the Mississauga Central Library,
301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.

Curated by Su-Ying Lee
Join us for a night of video with a suburban theme which will reveal the fantastically banal, mystical, and absurd all residing in bedroom communities.

Heather Keung & Michael Connor
City Centre, 2006 4:30 min

Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby
A Cure for Being Ordinary, 2004 6:00 min

Aleesa Cohene
Supposed To, 2006 7:00 min

Alex Grant
Magic Memory, 2006 2:55 min

Libby Hague
Our Town, 2001 9:10 min

Alison S.M. Kobayashi
From Alex To Alex, 2006 6:11 min

Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby
Songs of Praise for the Heart Beyond Cure, 2006 14:40 min

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

Artists' collectables from the AGM

2007-07-30T13:40:00.001-07:00

Art Gallery of Mississauga pinning project sneak preview

The Art Gallery of Mississauga has produced limited edition 1.5 inch pins, designed by four artists. One design will be available FREE at each of the events listed below!

This is a sneak preview only. To see the entire design and get your pin, come out to any of the following events! To collect all four, attend all events.

PRINT E-Z: DIY screen-printing
Demonstrations:
Wednesday August 1, 2007 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Activity Tent, Civic Square
Focusing on the entire process of screen-printing, the demonstrations will cover every aspect of the print-making process from drawing the initial designs to the finished product. Do it yourself and join the exciting assembly line of poster art production.

An exhibition of Jesjit Gill’s recent work and pieces resulting in the collaborative efforts of the participants from the Square One Youth Centre will be on display in the gallery space from July 19 – September 9.

AGM Video Programme
Bedroom Community
Tuesday August 14, 2007
9:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Main Stage
Video programme curated by Su-Ying Lee, Curatorial/Administrative Assistant, Art Gallery of Mississauga

AGM Video Programme
TBA
Tuesday August 21, 2007
9:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Main Stage
Video programme curated by Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot, Outreach Programmer, Art Gallery of Mississauga

The Best of Film Fort
Tuesday August 28, 2007
8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Main Stage
The Film Fort collective will transform the Civic Centre into a series of large child-like theatres. Creating the sense of wonder and nostalgia of home-movies and family slide shows each fort will house a different video programme. Prepare for a cozy night in - out.

With support from the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

DIY screen-printing - This week!

2007-07-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

PRINT E-Z: DIY screen-printing

Demonstration: Wednesday August 1, 2007 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Activity Tent, Civic Square, Mississauga Civic Centre

Focusing on the entire process of screen-printing, the demonstrations will cover every aspect of the print-making process from drawing the initial designs to the finished product. Do-it-yourself and join the exciting assembly line of poster art production.
An exhibition of Jesjit Gill’s recent work and pieces resulting in the collaborative efforts of the participants from the Square One Youth Centre are on display at the Art Gallery of Mississauga until September 9th.

If you have any questions please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-896-5507 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca.

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

Cull of the Wild

2007-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Cull of the Wild

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 9pm, Main Stage

Artist Geoffry Pugen with Museum, musicians Brendan Koen & Patric Colosimo

A rapt audience at The Cull of the Wild, live performance which featured artist Geoffrey Pugen's extraordinary hybrid of video mixing, projection, and electronic soundscape creation. A meditative, transformative experience.

Visit Geoffery Pugen's Utopics project at
www.utopics.ca

Images thanks to Carte Blanche Photography

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

The suburbs isn't the city and vice versa

2007-07-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I adore Toronto but, why compare? Mississauga is it's own distinct city. People choose to live here for many reasons.

Recently I was paid a visit by an artist from Toronto. He commented several times about how dead quiet it all seemed. It wasn't peculiar to me that at 10:30 am on Monday that it wasn't a bustle of activity. He spoke about Mississauga as if it were an oddity for one coming from far off Toronto.

My answer is that Mississauga shouldn't be measured by the same criteria as Toronto. I don't measure Toronto's success as a city by what it lacks in comparison to Mississauga.

One valid question he did pose was "why is it so hard to get anything going?". He was referring to the momentum, energy and attendance excitement behind successful festivals and events.

I think Mississauga hasn't created an atmosphere/culture for such events yet. However, there are definitely many people trying!

What do you think? Why isn't there more momentum for public events, festivals, film, performance? Have you organized or, are organizing something here in Mississauga. How's it going?

The Beating Heart Festival 2007

2007-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Beating Heart Festival, part of My Mississauga, is Mississauga's only summer festival that highlights the wealth of solid independent music in and around the G.T.A. Most of these bands have taken significant pay cuts in order to bring fantastic music back to the city core.

Exclaim! Magazine is official sponsor of the festival this year. Come out and relax; bring friends, and enjoy some of the best music in the G.T.A, outdoors, every Friday evening, right in the heart of the city, entirely for FREE.

Visit the links below for more info and to check out the acts.

Mississauga News Article:www.mississauga.com/article/4303
Artwork By: Matt Daley http://www.shinypliers.com/

The line up:

FRIDAY, JULY 6th, 2007 [OPENING DAY]
THE NEXT BEST THING [Burlington]www.myspace.com/thenextbestthing
The Knockouts [Mississauga]www.myspace.com/knockouts
The Saint Alvia Cartel [Burlington] [Stomp Records]www.myspace.com/thesaintalviacartel
The Identity Crisis [Mississauga]www.myspace.com/theidentitycrisis

FRIDAY, JULY 13th, 2007
THE JUNCTION [Brampton] [Universal]www.myspace.com/thejunction http://www.thejunction.ca/ Escalate [Toronto]www.myspace.com/escalatemusic
The Imports [Mississauga / Brampton] [Laris Records]www.myspace.com/theimports
I am Robot and Proud [Toronto] [Catmobile / Darla]www.myspace.com/iamrobotandproud www.robotandproud.com/

FRIDAY, JULY 27th, 2007
ARISE & RUIN [Guelph] [Victory Records]www.myspace.com/ariseandruin
Hoosier Poet [Hamilton] [TikTokTikTok]www.myspace.com/hoosierpoet
Cain & Abel [Acton] [Sunday League Records]www.myspace.com/cainandabel
The Wooden Sky [Formerly "Friday Morning's Regret] [Toronto]www.myspace.com/thewoodensky http://www.thewoodensky.com/

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3rd, 2007
THE REASON [Hamilton] [Smallman / Warner]www.myspace.com/thereasonrock http://www.thereason.ca/
The Mark Inside [Toronto] [Maple Music Recordings]http://www.markinside.com/ www.myspace.com/themarkinside
Five Blank Pages [Toronto] [Sunday League Records]www.myspace.com/fiveblankpages Ghost Hands [Mississauga] [We Are Busy Bodies]www.myspace.com/andretheriault

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10th, 2007
ULTRA MAGNUS [10 Piece Afrobeat Orchestra] [Toronto]www.myspace.com/umagnus Matthew Johnston [London]www.myspace.com/matthewjohnston
Theology 3 [Toronto]www.myspace.com/theology3
Peter Katz [Toronto]www.myspace.com/peterkatz http://www.peterkatz.com/

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17th, 2007
THE DIABLEROS [Toronto] [Baudelaire]www.myspace.com/thediableros www.thediableros.tv/
The Vulcan Dub Squad [Brampton / Mississauga]www.myspace.com/thevulcandubsquad www.thevulcandubsquad.com/
Fox Jaws [Barrie] [Chaulk Records]www.myspace.com/foxjaws
Woodhands [Toronto]www.myspace.com/woodhands http://www.woodhands.com/

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24th, 2007
BAPTIZED IN BLOOD [London]www.myspace.com/baptizedinblood http://www.baptizedinblood.ca/
Del Asher [London]www.myspace.com/delasher
The Love & Terror Cult [Mississauga] www.myspace.com/theloveandterrorcult
As Is [Mississauga]www.myspace.com/asisrock

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31st, 2007 [FINAL SHOW]
DD/MM/YYYY [Toronto] [We Are Busy Bodies]www.myspace.com/ddmmyyyy
Germans [Toronto] [Arena Rock Records]www.myspace.com/germans
Clothes Make The Man [Toronto]www.myspace.com/clothesmaketheman
This Is Picture [Toronto]www.myspace.com/thisispicture

All shows w. DJ Trails@ The Beating Heart Festival - 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. @ The Civic Square - Mississauga ---->FREE FREE FREE<---- All-Ages Weather Permitting Music: 7:30pm More Info: www.myspace.com/beatingheartshows

We're also on Facebook. Search for, "The Beating Heart Festival" and add us!The Beating Heart After-Party Series will be returning to the Duke of Marlborough this year. Make sure to check out: www.myspace.com/thedukeofmarlborough905 to stay up to date on upcoming shows and possible secret guests.

Ryan Tobin, Executive Producer,The Beating Heart Festival www.myspace.com/beatingheartshows
p: 647-228-1328

Animation by young Mississauga talent

2007-06-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

On view until July 15th
Winning Entries from the Cawthra Park Animation Festival
at the Art Gallery of Mississauga in the back gallery screening room

Aleks Bartosik at TOAE

2007-06-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

What are you doing next weekend?

Visit Mississauga based artist Aleks Bartosik at Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.

and she was not his Venus in furs (acrylic on canvas, 120 x 120cm, 2007)

The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
July 6, 7 & 8, 2007

Friday: 10am – 8pm
Saturday: 10am – 7pm
Sunday: 10am - 6pm
Rain or Shine Free Admission

Look for a special 1.5 inch button designed by Alex Bartosik at Art Gallery of Mississauga summer events soon!

Live music and video mixed under the stars...

2007-06-19T10:29:00.001-07:00

Live on Saturday, June 16th on the Main Stage across from Civic Square (on the grounds of the Central Library).

DJ Kurtis Lewis & Katie Bethune-Leamen

DJ Lotsasongs & Partick Borjal

DJ Sable SL & Hri Neil

This event was brought to Mississauga music & video lovers, night wanderers and star gazers by the Art Gallery of Mississauga as part of My Mississauga.

Next Art Gallery of Mississauga, Main Stage event, July 14th. Visit this link for details or stay tuned...

Images courtesy of Carte-Blanche Photography

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

Aaaay VJ!

2007-06-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Audio Video Jockey (AVJ)
Saturday June 16, 2007
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Mississauga Civic Centre, 300 City Centre Drive
Civic Square, Main Stage
FREE
DJ Kurtis Lewis & Katie Bethune-Leamen
DJ Lotsasongs & Partick Borjal
DJ Sable SL & Hri Neil
AVJ showcases collaborative efforts of video/media artists and DJs. Each commissioned performance team entrusts the combined creativity of an artist commandeering the role of the audio or the visual conductor.

Fueled by the Art Gallery of Mississauga

as part of My Mississauga

With support of the Pendle Fund at the Community Foundation of Mississauga

Stay tuned for more live action...

Get educated

2007-06-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

You say you want to be an artist when you grow up?

Professional Development Workshops
In collaboration with MOSAIC The South Asian Heritage Festival of Mississauga

Ontario Arts Council Grant Writing Session Thursday, June 21, 2007 1-3 pm
Speak with artist Lisa Wöhrle, Associate Visual and Media Arts Officer and Janice Lambrakos, Information Services Coordinator as the present information about the range of Ontario Arts Council grant programs that are available to you, how to present a strong application, and demystify the jury process.

Our guests have been invited to speak to the following questions:

" Are you eligible for grants? "
What is the grant application process,
deadlines, support material
" How to draft clear, concise grant applications "
How grant decisions are made "
How juries are selected.

Presenting an Effective Proposal Friday, June 22, 2007 1-3 pm

Learn the essential elements of a professional visual art portfolio and developing strategies to articulate a focused presentation of materials. From advice on building your curriculum vitae to building sustainable budgets this workshop will provide practical information on creating an effective proposal.

Content Providers: Nadia Kurd, Programming Coordinator, SAVAC (South Asian Artists Collective) Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot, Outreach Programmer, Art Gallery of Mississauga

Educational objectives:

" Submitting to the public art gallery and artist run centres "
Preparing exhibition assistance applications
" Overview of researching calls for submissions and juried exhibitions "
Analyzing artist's statements and organizing proposal development
" Address the importance concise visual support materials

For more information or to register please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot Outreach Programmer at the Art Gallery of Mississauga Tel: 905-896-5507 or email suzanne.carte-blanchenot@missisauga.caThe Art Gallery of Mississauga's outreach programming is generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

We know what she paints but, what does she think about the suburbs?

2007-05-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Interview with Martha Eleen conducted via email by Su-Ying Lee, Curatorial/Administrative Assistant, Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Su-Ying Lee: The title of your exhibition at the Art Gallery of Mississauga was Into the 905: The View from the Car. Was this title meant to imply anything about the character of the 905 communities?

Martha Eleen: My experience of the suburbs has been about passing through on my way between my cabin near Port Hope and my home in Toronto. The suburban landscape is so familiar that for many years I hardly noticed it, and then as a result of my observational painting practice, certain things began to catch my interest. It occured to me that since the car is the connector between the domestic, commercial and industrial spaces, and a lot of people commute along this route, the view from the car is probably the way a lot of people experience this landscape.

SL: The title was taken in a strictly literal way by some viewers who believed exhibiting the work here meant it was a portrait of Mississauga. Please clarify weather there is truth in that assumption.

ME: I had not been to Mississauga before the show and I was amazed when I saw it! Everything is bigger and vaster and more modern there. I want to paint it next. Mississauga makes the suburbs of my paintings look old-fashioned and scruffy in comparison.

SL:What drew you to paint the images in the series? The paintings in the exhibition, while they held evidence of human life (buildings, towers etc.), were void of the actual people who live in the 905.

ME: I like the way the tops of buildings look over the highway barricades. My first inspiration was the Yellow Pages building in Scarborough. There's a curve in the highway...at first you see it on the left, then viewed over and then under a bridge and then it's on the right side. I love the way the buildings rearrange themselves as you drive by. I was interested in the simple forms in space. Sometimes I included the cars. In this environment (along the highway) there are few people outside of their cars, a striking feature of this landscape, and a real adventure for me as I often was conspicuous outside. For Part 2 of this series I was Artist in Residence in a Muslim subdivision, north of Toronto, where I produced a body of paintings, Peace Village: a portrait of the place and the people (not shown at the AGM). Because the Muslim religion restricts portraiture of women I painted their glorious fabrics, which is a particularly Islamic approach to art. As well I painted children in the prayer postures

SL:The way in which you treat the sky, although on small panels, gives the feeling of expanse which lent a sense of isolation. What was this compositional choice dictated by?

ME:The sky is huge in the suburbs and Southern Ontario has a very particular light, it can be a kind of light grey glare. The season between winter and spring has a lot of colour in the sky and I love to paint in this season as the sky is dramatic and changing early in the afternoon.

SL:Some of the comments about the exhibition called for more colour! I think those who craved colour felt that the series would have been more successful if a different pallet was chosen. I think the pallet you used was successful because it elicited such strong reactions. Why the steely blues and neutrals?

ME:I try to mix the exact local colour. To my eye, these paintings represent the colours that are there. Many of my paintings show the light changing as well as the changing point of view. As a painter, subtle nuances of colour fascinate me i.e. light cement against grey sky, close in value, but affecting each other. When I painted in Newfoundland the palette was completely different. I'm on my way to paint in the Yukon. I'm expecting the light and colour to be interesting there.

SL:Do you believe there is a correct or incorrect way to read a painting?

ME:Painting is a visual language, not to be confused with household decor. Painting can be a very visceral form: it can engage all the senses...sound, temperature, emotion for example. Like music, painting can be read on many levels, from a catchy tune with mass appeal to a jazz arrangement, the nuances perhaps appreciated more by other musicians. I think most artists feel successful when their language can be interpreted by anyone, when they cross these boundaries, and when they can show people new ways of seeing and change the way they look at the world around. I have been influenced by Morandi who painted bottles for his whole career with an ever-increasing devotion to the nuances of colour, composition, space and light concerns. Some people think these paintings are dull and not entertaining. I have been moved to tears by the tenderness of emotion and the ability of the artist to be present to his subject matter......and it's just bottles! I think the more painting that people see and take the time to understand, the more ability they will have to interpret and appreciate the visual language. I think of painting as a tool for looking.

SL:Your work was created on the periphery of the communities you painted. Over the course of the exhibition you made several trips into Mississauga's downtown core where the Gallery is situated. What are your thoughts on that landscape?

ME:I want to paint it. I'm fascinated by the monolithic aesthetic, the brightness and reflections on the glass, the fact that you must drive between buildings even downtown, the huge spaces. The scale of everything is so big. I think I would paint really big. Also at the cafeteria of the Civic Centre I had my first view of the suburbs from above! Quite different from looking up at small buildings over the highway barricades.

SL:You painted on the side of the 400 highways with a custom easel attached to your steering wheel. From what I've read, this view engaged you while you were driving to more pastoral locations for landscape painting. Does The View from the Car have a place in the genre of landscape?

ME:I think I have added the idea of time and motion to a genre that is often static. Adding a conceptual element to traditional plein-air oil painting bridges the 2 disparate art forms that are at odds with each other in today's art world. As well landscape is often romanticized in observational painting i.e. pastoral locations and old buildings which refer more to art history than our daily world. I'm interested in being present to what's around me in my daily life as well as the conceptual and new media modern art.

SL:Some viewers recognized the view as part of their weekly commute, others commented that you revealed something new, poetic even, still others were offended by the way in which they believed you were depicting the 905. Recently I have been approached by reporters wishing to discuss the suburbs as the new frontier for artists moving away from an urban core. Is the relevance of the suburbs to be simply defined by it's contrast to urban centres?

ME: I don't see it as a contrast so much as a growing context for daily life. There's a lot of people living in the suburbs now and its also very multi-cultural. I think the inner city has been exploited as much as possible as a subject of art and there are fewer surprises there. The suburbs is a new phenomenon and free to be discovered. My intention is not as an authority on the suburbs, but rather to turn my artist eye toward the landscape as a passer-by and perhaps this a fresh viewpoint that I would not have if I was continually surrounded by this environment. A tourist always sees more excitement in the things that are too ordinary to notice by the inhabitants.

Martha Eleen's series, Into the 905: The View From the Car was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from March 29 to May 3, 2007 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

www.marthaeleen.com

www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

What are you looking at?

2007-05-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Not as random as you think

2007-05-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

All will be illuminated.
If you can't wait....go here.

www.filmfort.ca

You have until July 15th

2007-05-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

What's this and what's it doing in a gallery?

Find out here.

Auction, art, food, beverages

2007-04-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

You'll want to be there

The fourth annual event features an entertaining live auction of approximately 30 original art works and a silent auction of over 20 original art works. This elegant evening includes hors d'oeuvres by Enfield Fox & Gourmet Cuisine, sushi by Dai Ichi Sushi, beer by Steam Whistle and wine by Select Wine Merchants. Inspirational sweets will be provided by The Apricot Tree Cafe and Cakesbypam.Live music performed by the Mississauga Youth Orchestra.Preview of the artworks begins at 6pm.The live auction begin at 7pm sharp with Auctioneer Jay Mandarino.

Location:
Art Gallery of MississaugaMississauga Civic CentreMain floor, south east corner300 City Centre DriveMississauga, Ontario

Tickets:
Tickets are $75.00 and may be purchased from the Art Gallery of Mississaugavia cash, VISA, MasterCard or cheque.Telephone purchases with VISA or MasterCard.

Visit the Auction website for details and to view the art.

Into the 905

2007-03-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Opening Thursday, March 29th at 6pm
All are welcome! This event is FREE

Into the 905: The View From the Car Martha Eleen
March 29 to May 3, 2007

Martha Eleen, Subdivision, 2002, oil on wood

The title of Martha Eleen’s exhibition references the area code designated to Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville among others. It also references the hypnotic ritual of commuting and vehicle dependence associated with suburban life. In this part of Ontario, with our proximity to Toronto, 905 is an idiom for a location and identifies the suburbanite. Martha Eleen’s work is the result of an urbanite circling the perimeter of the suburbs, pausing there and penetrating with her gaze and brush.

Each series, comprised of Eleen’s small paintings, is titled after a location. The location, quite literally, was The View From the Car. She was drawn by the vista as she peered over highway barricades while speeding along in her car between Port Hope, where she was landscape painting, and her Toronto home. In Eleen’s paintings we view the structures that constitute the suburbs, just beyond the highway, bathed in the particular light of day.

Eleen writes “I believe that there is no form or structure that cannot be viewed as a subject for art. The fall of light on surfaces, the placement of forms in space, and the colours, natural and artificial, are as much a part of the meaning of my paintings as are the functions of these forms...Initially I was interested in the shock of the large subdivisions as seen from the road: the repetitive geometric patterns of rooftops circling cul de sacs, the impersonal facades composed of garages and the wasteland of treeless construction sites. But it is impossible to ignore the cultural diversity of the new neighbourhoods growing on the outskirts of Toronto.”

With a specifically engineered easel constructed to fit over the steering wheel of her car for plein air excursions Eleen calculated perspective and faced the challenge of “nailing a colour” to capture the view.

Marth Eleen
From the Yellow Pages series, 2003

Also opening the same evening: If 905 isn't 416, why do we have YYZ?

The title of this exhibiton refers to the area codes that differentiate the GTA from the surrounding suburbs. YYZ is the airport code for Toronto however, Pearson International Airport is located in Malton, which is 905 territory.

This exhibition, coinciding with Martha Eleen's Into the 905, explores Mississauga's identity through works 12 x 12 inches and smaller. The artists in this exhibition have been selected from a call for submissions. Additional submissions may be viewed on a CD catalogue at the Gallery.

For more information on publications, programming and activities at the Art Gallery of Mississauga,
please call (905) 896‑5088 or view the Gallery’s website at www.artgalleryofmississauga.com
Got something to say about Mississauga’s cultural scene? Comment at www.905arttalk.blogspot.com

300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA L5B3C1
TELEPHONE (905) 896-5088 FAX (905) 615-4167
WEBSITE: WWW.ARTGALLERYOFMISSISSAUGA.COM

A public art gallerysponsored by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, The Canada Council, Corporations, Private Citizens and its Membership

The view from the car

2007-02-19T06:44:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago, the 905er asked what art related things you do during the winter.

This past weekend 905 options included the Brampton Indie Arts Festival and a Photographing your Artwork Workshop at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

905 artist Zan, has been doing plein air from his car. He wants suggestions for interesting locations.

What suggestions do you have for Zan? Or any art related suggestions to get through the remainder of this winter?

Comfortable yet respectable from Martha Eleen's Into the 905: The View from the Car

Toronto (Star) looks toward the 905 for culture

2007-02-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

Brampton throws an artsy bash

Feb 13, 2007 Erin Kobayashi Life Writer

It is becoming a tired cliché for the word "boring" to promptly follow the word "suburbs."

"Yes, we already know that `all culture dies in the suburbs' but what else?" says 29-year-old Richard Marsella, the founder and director of the seventh annual Brampton Indie Arts Festival, which kicks off tomorrow.

"If you are shallow enough to judge a place for its face value, which is just the way it looks, which is just a Wal-Mart (and) a bunch of homes, then the suburbs may appear boring. But if you look into every one of those homes, there is something unique happening."

A crusader for the arts in Brampton, Marsella has built a remarkably unique suburb-based arts festival that is dispelling the myth that culture doesn't exist in the 905. For four days, Brampton's Rose Theatre will revel in art by the likes of Mark Mothersbaugh and house live shows that include Final Fantasy and Andy Kim.

The festival, hosted by a puppet named Curtains and includes audio art set up in the washrooms, forces Toronto concertgoers to grudgingly make a reverse commute to the suburbs and accommodates those already there.

"I think the suburbs is rich in culture and this goes with any city," Marsella says. "You just have to look a little harder in the suburbs to find it. The suburbs is just short on venues to showcase the interesting and unique work it has but there is so much going on."

Although the arts festival will last only four days, Marsella knows the art, music and audience won't disappear once it wraps up because much to skeptics' astonishment: art lives and thrives in the suburbs. Surprise.

In fact, Marsella thinks that the infinite creativity from the suburbs has caused the emergence of independent suburb-based festivals. He mentions last summer's Beating Heart Festival, a concert series held on the concrete square of the Mississauga Central Library that staged acts like Magneta Lane and dd/mm/yyyy.

There is also Mississauga's A Month in Photography Festival, curated and run independently by Fausta Facciponte for the last two years. Her reason for creating the festival was her growing frustration with being an artist outside of Toronto and wanting to showcase regional talent.

"I thought Mississauga was lacking the support for photographic arts for emerging talent," says Facciponte. "There needs to be something more for up-and-coming artists, a place, event, spotlight to promote young talent."

Su-Ying Lee of the Art Gallery of Mississauga agrees with Facciponte and has seen a lot of DIY festivals popping up in the least likely places.

"There is a lot of effort from young people," says Lee. "We have heard of quite a few people wanting to begin a film or video festival."

However, Lee stresses that although there is plenty of talent to showcase, the festivals need more support from the corporate sector and municipal governments or they won't be able to survive. "It can get off the ground but can only continue for a certain number of years," she says.
Facciponte, who does not make a profit from the A Month of Photography Festival, relies heavily on local businesses to help support the event.

But perhaps the greatest breakthrough in the last 10 years has been festival organizers' reliance on the Internet to network with artists and connect with audiences. The suburbs, with a reputation for being sprawling spaces full of single-family homes and a car-heavy landscape, are also seen as intensely private. The Web allows those situated outside of the artistic hub of Toronto to inexpensively reach out to neighbours.

"A lot of the communication between me and the artists happens through email," says Facciponte. "The Internet has been a really important tool in all of this."

Similarly, The Beating Heart Festival's website is just a MySpace page, which keeps costs down but still allows organizers to post concert listings, publicity and spread the word to other users.

Shawn Micallef, co-founder of [murmur], a successful archival audio project curated in Toronto, is planning to set up another [murmur] project in Mississauga later this year. "I think [murmur] might help the spotlight shift from downtown," says Micallef who thinks that the suburbs are largely ignored.

He cites last fall's Nuit Blanche as a Toronto-centric event, hogged by downtown venues leaving the rest of the GTA notably absent from the festivities. "Maybe if the next Nuit Blanche is out in the suburbs, it would get people to put it on the mental radar of where art exists," Micallef says.

"The suburbs are not boring," he says. "Their stories just haven't been told as much."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ID@thestar.ca
This article from the Toronto Star at http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/180881

Will you be going to the Brampton Indie Arts Festival?
The 905er has blogged thoughts about Nuit Blanche before. Do you agree with Micallef?
What do you think?

AAHLUMNIEX

2007-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

What the heck is AAHLUMNIEX?
It's work from selected artists who are alumni of A&AH

What is A&AH?
A&AH is the Art and Art History Program, established in 1971 when Sheridan College joined with the University of Toronto at Mississauga to establish Canada’s first collaborative art program between a college and university. Graduates of the program earn both a Diploma in Art and Art History from Sheridan College and a Bachelor of Arts or Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. Through this collaboration, students have the benefit of enrolling in studio courses at Sheridan College and art history and visual culture and communication courses at UTM.

Who are the AAHLUM in AAHLUMNIEX?
Teresa Ascencao, Atanas Bozdarov, Tonia Di Risio, Fausta Facciponte, Stephen Fakiyesi, Dorian Fitzgerald, Emily Gove, Daniel Griscti, Natalie Harder, Mari Jørstad, Linda Martinello, Jennifer Matotek, Heidi May, Steve Mazza, Monika Raciborski, Heather Saunders, Julie Saunders, Ben Walmsley, Andrew Wright

When, where and all that other stuff
Dates: February 15 to March 25, 2007, Opening Reception Thursday, February 15th at 6pm
Location: Art Gallery of Mississauga
Admission: Free
Hours: Weekdays 9 am to 5 pm, weekends 12 to 4 pm
*Call 905 896 5088 to confirm hours

What will I see if I come to the Art Gallery of Mississauga for AAHLUMNIEX?
Well, you'll see a whole lotta good stuff but, here's a small sample for your viewing pleasure...

Teresa Ascencao
Portrait of a Young Bullfighter, 2000
Super 8 film

Dorian Fitzgerald
The Roses, 2006
acrylic and caulking on canvas
102 x 80 inches

Ben Walmsley
Helen II, 2006
oil on wood panel
60 x 30 inches

Andrew Wright
Stand
C-Print
30 x 40 inches

Jennifer Matotek
Why Overweight Preteen Girls with Glasses Often Like Unicorns, 2006
DVD

Write - Cause - Reaction

2007-01-29T12:20:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Cause Reaction?

Cause Reaction is an online magazine featuring the latest and greatest of art and culture in Mississauga.

Okay, well... striving to feature the latest. Cause Reaction is in need of writers in touch with the activities, happenings and news-from-the-ground in Mississauga.

From Cause Reaction:

"What Mississauga lacks in many critical departments, such as public transit, late-night restaurants and adequate media, it makes up for in its people. Creatives, thinkers and people looking to have fun abound in this city, with artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, actors and musicians bursting at the city’s limits.

It is the goal of Cause Reaction to support this growing community by providing like-minded individuals with the information they need to stay abreast and get involved. While this is the primary objective of the site, it is also important to promote dialogue about important Mississauga issues and to inspire residents to try things they never thought were possible in the city.
If you have any suggestions on how we can make Cause Reaction better, please email us at causereaction@gmail.com."

I know you have something to say! Write for Cause Reaction! To become involved contact marissa@causereaction.com

www.causereaction.com

Does art freeze?

2007-01-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

The 905er wants to know, do you seek culture in these days of scarce sunlight, slushy walkways and icy roads? Do you prefer to stay cozy at home or enjoy skating and tobogganing?

What are you doing this winter and is art involved?

Doris McCarthy Book Launch & Screening

2007-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Doris McCarthy: My Life
BOOK LAUNCH & SCREENING
(Artist in attendance)

Date: Sunday January 28, 2007
Hours: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Art Gallery of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Drive
Admission: Free

Doris McCarthy: My Life
By Doris McCarthy with Charis Wahl

“(Writing my) autobiography drove me back to the diaries that have sat idle on my shelves for years and made me relive the passions, the heartbreak, and the raptures. It gave me back my girlhood and the years when I was discovering my artist’s eye and the heady joy of creation. I suffered again through my thirties, when I was desperate with frustrated love and when, too briefly, I knew fulfillment. Writing gave me a second chance – not to change things, but to savor them. That is a great gift.”
~ Doris McCarthy

Join the Art Gallery of Mississauga on Sunday January 28th in celebrating the launch of Doris McCarthy’s newest publication. Doris McCarthy will be in attendance to greet guests and introduce the autobiography followed by a screening of the 1989 award-winning docu-drama Doris McCarthy: Heart of a Painter.

Doris McCarthy: My Life is an intimate glimpse into the life and work of a Canadian icon. At 96, McCarthy remains one of Canada’s great living artists. A recipient of the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario, Fellow of the Ontario College of Art and an Artist of Honour with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, her art has been exhibited around the globe. An avid traveler who taught art for forty years, Doris paints (and lives, and writes) with a joyful energy that is unparalleled.

Doris has ties with the Art Gallery of Mississauga extending back to her 1999 traveling exhibition of watercolours, The View from Here: A Retrospective of Watercolour Paintings by Doris McCarthy, curated by Stuart Reid. She was also the focus of a 1991 travelling retrospective exhibition Feast of Incarnation; Doris McCarthy, initiated by the Art Gallery of Mississauga’s current Curator, Robert Freeman when he was Director/Curator at the Gallery Stratford.

An essential piece of Canadian, artistic and women’s history, this memoir marries the best of McCarthy’s previous writings with exciting new material and traces a compelling woman’s life from energetic early childhood to reflective old age, summing up her observations of the world and her place in it. McCarthy is a woman utterly at ease with who she is and with the life she has led.

Black and white photographs
$19.95 CDN/$17.95 US ISBN: 1-897187-16-5
5.5”x8.5”, 240 pages, paperback

For more information on programming and activities at the Art Gallery of Mississauga please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at (647) 892-4603 or (905) 896‑5076 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca.
To view the Gallery’s website please visit www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA L5B3C1
TELEPHONE (905) 896-5088 FAX (905) 615-4167
WEBSITE: WWW.ARTGALLERYOFMISSISSAUGA.COM

Art Gallery of Mississauga’s outreach programming is generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

A Workshop for artists!

2007-01-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

Digital images are an easy & useful method of promoting and sharing your artwork. Learn how at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Photographing Your Artwork Workshop
Saturday February 17, 2007 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Sunday February 18, 2007 9:30 am – 12:00 pm

Art Gallery of Mississauga300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga ON L5B 3C1

Registration fee: Art Gallery of Mississauga Members/ Visual Arts Mississauga Members $30
Students $30
General $45

Click for registration form
Photographing your artwork is a two-day professional development workshop that will introduce participants to the tools and techniques in creating the visual components of a submission package. Participants will receive an overview and resource manual consisting of operating a digital camera to utilizing lighting techniques, equipment and correct exposure to achieve professional looking results.

Workshop 1: How to Digitally Photograph your Work
Saturday February 17, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga
This workshop is a practical information session with hands on training to digitally photograph your work in creating documentation and submission proposal packages to galleries, funders and residencies. Focusing on lighting techniques the course will teach participants how to successfully document two and three dimensional work as well as capturing performances and events.

Workshop 2: Creating a Digital Submission Package
Sunday February 18, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Art Gallery of Mississauga
By providing professional portfolio guidance participants will enhance the necessary skills in creating a digital submission package. Exercises will cover the handling and organization of digital files from re-sizing and cleaning up images to the creation of the final CD.

Learning Objectives:
Examining the tools of the trade
Lighting and light sources
Camera techniques: How to utilize them
Discover the fundamentals of composition and shooting detail work
Working with digital files
Scanning from photographs
Creating a professional CD of images

Instructor
Chris Blanchenot is an artist, communication assistant for Canadian Actor’s Equity and principle of Carte-Blanche Photography. After earning a BFA at the University of Windsor Blanchenot went on to study and teach at Louisiana State University.

Teaching photography, printmaking and framing courses for Dundas Valley School of Art and Burlington Art Centre for over five years Blanchenot has a breadth of experience and expertise.

He has documented events and exhibitions for such galleries and associations as The Power Plant, Mercer Union, Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art (MOCCA) and Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) and as well as contributing to C Magazine and This Magazine.

To register or for more information please contact Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 647-892-4603 or 905-896-5088 or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

New Outreach initiatives

2006-12-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Blackwood Gallery
University of Toronto at Mississauga

The Art Gallery of Mississauga and Blackwood Gallery are pleased to announce the appointment of Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot for the position of Arts Outreach Coordinator in the Mississauga Region. This position has been made possible with a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Having identified a gap in the dissemination of visual arts to the Mississauga community, the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Blackwood Gallery have worked collaboratively to develop a vision that strives to mend that gap. Through financial assistance from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a new outreach program will commence the building and delivery of innovative arts initiatives to the community. The Outreach Coordinator will work jointly with the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Blackwood Gallery to develop and implement a youth and community Outreach Program.

Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot brings with her several years of experience with not-for-profit galleries including as Director on the boards of Mercer Union and Hamilton Artists Inc. and having held staff positions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, The Power Plant and Open Studio. Most recently, she has been coordinating Professional Development and Public Programs for the Ontario Association of Art Galleries. Suzanne’s expertise will be an asset as we embark on further expanding and engaging our audiences.

Mississauga is Canada’s 6th largest city. Over the next period, Suzanne will begin to liaise with the many community groups represented here. We anticipate generous community support in welcoming Suzanne and this initiative.

Further inquiries may be directed to:

Robert Freeman, Curator, Art Gallery of Mississauga, robert.freeman@mississauga.ca tel: 905 896 5076

or Seamus Kealy, Curator, Blackwood Gallery, s.kealy@utoronto.ca, tel: 905 828 3789

Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd. N., Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6,
Fax: 905-569-4262, Tel: 905-828-3789
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/services/gallery/index.htm

300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA L5B3C1
TELEPHONE (905) 896-5088 FAX (905) 615-4167
WEBSITE: WWW.ARTGALLERYOFMISSISSAUGA.COM

A public art gallery sponsored by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council,
The Canada Council, Corporations, Private Citizens and its Membership

Blackwood Gallery Free Shuttle Bus!

2006-12-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

Blackwood Gallery University of Toronto at Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Rd. N., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Tel: (905) 828-3789/Fax: (905) 569-4262

18:Beckett
Free Mississauga Shuttle Bus & Tour of Exhibition by Gallery Curator Séamus Kealy:

Sunday December 17, 2006 - Tour: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

18:Beckett is an inter-disciplinary exhibition project marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize winning, Irish writer Samuel Beckett. The title refers to the eighteen years marked since Mr. Beckett’s death and the eighteen sites this project encompasses. These sites are an artist lecture, eight artist projects, six weekly film/video art events, a film screening evening, a symposium and performance, and a publication; all of which arise out of Beckett’s influence.

Eight international artists present their work in and around the Blackwood Gallery. The exhibition highlights artistic methods that artists are exploring in relation to Beckett’s work:

Martin Arnold (Austria), Dorothy Cross (Ireland), Stan Douglas (Canada), Gary Hill (USA), Bruce Nauman (USA), Gregor Schneider (Germany), Ann-Sofi Siden (Sweden), Zin Taylor/Allison Hrabluik (Canada)

Exhibition runs from November 9 – December 21, 2006 - Free Admission
Free Mississauga Shuttle Bus & Tour of Exhibition by Gallery Curator Séamus Kealy:

Sunday December 17, 2006 - Tour: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

18:Beckett is an inter-disciplinary exhibition project marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize winning, Irish writer Samuel Beckett. The title refers to the eighteen years marked since Mr. Beckett’s death and the eighteen sites this project encompasses. These sites are an artist lecture, eight artist projects, six weekly film/video art events, a film screening evening, a symposium and performance, and a publication; all of which arise out of Beckett’s influence.

Eight international artists present their work in and around the Blackwood Gallery. The exhibition highlights artistic methods that artists are exploring in relation to Beckett’s work:

Martin Arnold (Austria), Dorothy Cross (Ireland), Stan Douglas (Canada), Gary Hill (USA), Bruce Nauman (USA), Gregor Schneider (Germany), Ann-Sofi Siden (Sweden), Zin Taylor/Allison Hrabluik (Canada)

Exhibition runs from November 9 – December 21, 2006 - Free Admission

BUS SCHEDULE Sunday December 17, 2006

12:00 pm pick up Cawthra Community Centre (front doors), 1399 Cawthra Road
12:20 pm pick up Square One - Go station terminal, 100 City Centre Dr. (Rathburn Rd. & Duke of York Blvd)
12:40 pm pick up South Common Mall (bus terminal), 2126 Burnhamthrope Rd W.
1:00 pm drop off Blackwood Gallery (Kaneff Centre), UTM 3359 Mississauga Rd N
3:00 pm pick up Blackwood Gallery (Kaneff Centre), UTM 3359 Mississauga Rd N
3:20 pm drop off South Common Mall (bus terminal), 2126 Burnhamthrope Rd W.
3:40 pm drop off Square One - Go station terminal, 100 City Centre Dr. (Rathburn Rd. & Duke of York Blvd)
4:00 pm drop off Cawthra Community Centre (front doors), 1399 Cawthra Road

Funded by The Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Connaught Fund (University of Toronto), Humanities Centre (U of T), Culture Ireland, The University of Toronto at Mississauga, Foreign Affairs Canada, The Centre for US Studies (U of T), Irish Embassy (Ottawa), The Gladstone Hotel, Goethe Institut Toronto, Department of English and Drama (U of T)
Further information and shuttle schedules at www.blackwoodgallery.ca or call 905 828 3789.

Calling all Art & Art History Alumni

2006-11-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION GRADUATES OF THE ART AND ART HISTORY PROGRAM
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, MISSISSAUGA AND SHERIDAN COLLEGE.
Call for submissions:
Dear Alumnus,

AAHlumniex, an exhibition of recent work of graduates from the Art and Art History Program, to be held in the Art Gallery of Mississauga
from February 15 to March 25, 2007.

Deadline: Friday, December 29, 2006.
Please include the following with your entry: There is no entry fee. Documentation for one (1) or two (2) of your recent works available for exhibition, in the format of slides, CD, or DVD, (no web sites), with the titles, sizes, media, year, retail value, installation guidelines, a
1 page C.V., and a Self-Addressed Return Envelope.

Selected works must be delivered to the Art Gallery of Mississauga by Monday, February 5, 2007.
The gallery is located at:

300 City Centre Drive
Mississauga, Ontario,
L5B 3C1, Canada
Attention: Robert Freeman, Curator

Work must be delivered in the format intended for exhibition in packaging suitable for safe handling, temporary storage, and return. Work may picked up at the close of the exhibition after March 25, 2007.

A two-person jury comprised of Robert Freeman, Curator of the Art Gallery of Mississauga, and Seamus Kealy, curator of the Blackwood Gallery, will meet in mid December 2006. The artists selected for exhibition will be notified by January 15, 2007.

Artists in the exhibition will receive the CAR/FAC group show fee, be highlighted in the publicity, and receive a special invitation to attend the opening with the community and students and faculty of the Art and Art History Program.
The opening of the exhibition is on February 15, 2007 and the exhibition continues to March 25, 2007.

On behalf of the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Art and Art History Program we look forward to the participation of our alumni in this celebratory exhibition.

Robert Freeman, curator, Art Gallery of Mississauga
Seamus Kealy, curator, Blackwood Gallery
Louise Noguchi, co-coordinator, Art and Art History Program

300 CITY CENTRE DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA L5B3C1
TELEPHONE (905) 896-5088 FAX (905) 615-4167
WEBSITE: WWW.ARTGALLERYOFMISSISSAUGA.COM

A public Art Gallery sponsored by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council,
The Canada Council, Corporations, Private Citizens and its Membership

Entry forms now available!

2006-11-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

Click here to go to the Art Gallery of Mississauga web site and down load a pdf entry form.

Two Call For Submissions! Art Gallery of Mississauga

2006-10-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

Call For Submissions

What is Mississauga?

The Challenge…to create an artwork that defines Mississauga. The artwork can be in any media. The only restriction is the size. The artwork must be 12 inches by 12 inches (overall size) for two dimensional works and for three dimensional works must be able to fit into a 12 inch cube.

What is the true nature of Mississauga? What is Mississauga to you as long time resident or as a newcomer? What is Mississauga to you as a young person or as a senior citizen… as a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Jew or a Sikh (no matter what your religion)?

The artwork does not have to be representational and in fact we discourage pictures, or photographs of the Civic Centre (or the Mayor). What we want are thoughtful and perceptive works that define the City as it is to you. They can be conceptual, abstract or illustrative. They can be new media works or traditional paintings. They can be critical or positive, introspective or universal. They should reflect your artistic style and/or even you cultural background. What we are after is a variety of works from a cross section of the Mississauga Community.

Entry Fee: $15 per work (a two work maximum)

Selection of Works: The entries will be juried. The selected works will be shown at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from March 29, 2007 to May 3, 2007. Artist fees will be paid to all of the artists whose work is selected.

Eligibility:Artists must live in Mississauga or have a significant connection to the City.

Entry Forms: will be available by February 1, 2007 at the Gallery and from our website. Forms and entry fees must be received by Friday, March 9, 2007.

Delivery of Submissions: Artworks are to be brought to the Gallery on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 between 3pm and 7pm.

Submission Format:

The artwork must be ready to hang.
Framed if it is a work on paper.
An artwork may not need a frame but it must have hanging hardware on the back.
If special installation instructions are necessary they must be provided on submission.
All of the information pertaining to the artwork must be provided on submission… artist's name, title of the artwork, date completed (it should have just been created 2006 or 2007), media, size (it should be 12" x 12" in most cases), value of the work and whether it is for sale
If there is an explanation/statement of the artwork required this must also be supplied on submission
All works will be for sale unless noted as not for sale (NFS) and the Art Gallery of Mississauga will retain 20% of the sale of the artwork.
Any electronic or new media works must be entered with the necessary equipment to be viewed (format must be consistent with other media formats 12" x 12")

Pick up of works not accepted:The judging will take place on Thursday morning, March 22nd and the works not selected can be picked up on Friday, March 23rd from 9am to 5 pm.

An opportunity for all works entered to be viewed:Works not selected will be photographed (with the artist's permission) and available for viewing on a CD during the show.

Art Gallery of Mississauga Blog Photo Contest

Competition open to all Mississauga Secondary School students

How to enter:

1. Go to the Art Gallery of Mississauga blog at http://905arttalk.blogspot.com/, read the postings and think about Mississauga. What do you see here? What don't you see? What would you like to show the world about Mississauga?

2. Pick up your digital camera, camera phone, film camera or Polaroid and just take a photo! (Entries must be converted to digital files).

3. Send your submission via email to suying.lee@mississauga.ca. Include your image (jpeg format), a short paragraph about your photo and a completed entry form. Click here to down load pdf entry form.

By entering this contest, you consent to have your photograph posted on the Art Gallery of Mississauga blog and used for promotional purposes.

Selected entries will be posted on the Art Gallery of Mississauga blog and the winners will receive a one year membership to the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

For questions or more information call the Gallery at 905 896 5088 or email suying.lee@mississauga.ca

My City

2006-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

A few things to appreciate about Mississauga:

1. It's generally a clean city.

2. There's a system of nature trails woven in among the streets, neighborhoods and subdivisions. Now is the time to enjoy the gorgeous fall foliage while you walk, jog or bike the trails. http://www.sportsmississauga.org/trailblazer.htm

3. It's an extremely culturally diverse place.

4. Parking is most often free and easy.

Something to consider, I hear that only 20% of eligible voters in Mississauga exercise this right. Monday November 13, 2006 is Municipal Election Day. What will you do?
Need more information about voting in Mississauga? http://www5.mississauga.ca/vote/

George Hunter
Mississauga-Sawmill Creek in Autumn, 1982
colour photograph
33 x 43 cm
Collection of the Art Gallery of Mississauga
Donated by Patricia Stevenson, 2004

Art for everyone, on the street and everywhere, anytime

2006-10-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

Did you attend Toronto's first Nuit Blanche?
Nuit Blanche is a concept that began in Paris and now takes place in Rome, Brussels, Madrid and Montreal.

Nuit Blanche is a sleepless night of artistic expression meant to make contemporary art more accessible to one and all. From sunset on Saturday, September 30 to sunrise Sunday, October 1, 2006, an estimated 425,000 people were out on Toronto streets to encounter the city in a unique way and explore Toronto through publicly commissioned art installations, all-night exhibits, live performances, and creative programs featured throughout the city. Taking place in museums, galleries, institutions, and unusual spaces, or familiar spaces experienced in unusual ways, each featured free art programs all night long. For one sleepless night Toronto became the artistic playground for a series of exhilarating contemporary art experiences.

Among the highlights of the night into day hours of Nuit Blanche, for this suburban art blogger, were partying in the ballroom with 10 year old dj's, wandering through the thick fog at philosopher's walk, entering Instant Coffee's Dark Disko yurt, going for a night swim at 3am and experiencing a strangely juxtaposed doom metal performance in front of the William Ashley store in Yorkville. The night presented a (mostly) democratic opportunity to access contemporary art. Children were out on the streets way past bedtime with their families. We all had wonder in our eyes.

No doubt I was not the only suburban attendee at this event. Occasionally the Art Gallery of Mississauga does attract visitors from Toronto but, why not more?

Does Nuit Blanche place Toronto as a "world class" city? Would the City of Mississauga and it's citizens ever support an event like this? How would you make art accessible to everyone in Mississauga?

What about drawing?

2006-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

With the expansion of methods and materials, including new technologies used as art mediums, how do you feel about good old fashioned drawing?

Drawing continues to be accessable to everyone. The popularity of zines and d.i.y. culture seems to have contributed to a resurgance of interest in drawing. Can we credit the Royal Art Lodge for renewing interest in drawing?

Artist at Work, Art Gallery of Mississauga
The public are invited to view artist,
Aleks Bartosik create a drawing on the Gallery wall:
Thursday, September 21 beginning at 12:30 pm.
Friday, September 22 from around 2-3pm
Saturday, September 24 from around 1-3pm
Sunday, September 24 from around 1-3pm
Tuesday, September 26 from around 1-3pm
This work will be part of the exhibition Dancing to the Invisible Piper: Canadian Contemporary Figurative Art on view until October 29.

The figure in art

2006-09-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

When you think of figurative art, what images come to mind?
Is it anything like this?

To find out what some contemporary Canadian Artists are doing with the human figure visit the Art Gallery of Mississauga between September 14 and October 29, 2006.

To hear more about this topic come to the opening reception on Thursday, September 14 at 6pm. Curator, Robert Freeman will give a free talk at 7:30pm.

(Image of work by Richard Stipl, from Dancing to the Invisible Piper: Canadian Contemporary Figurative Art at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, September 14-October 29, 2006)