There’s a lot of art happening in March in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Here are some highlights.
Toronto-based artist Elizabeth D’Agostino is showing at the Agnes Jamieson Gallery in Minden, the new Peterborough film collective Canadian Images in Conversation is holding its inaugural screening featuring two early film works by Shelley Niro, self-described schizophrenic artist Michael Nathaniel Green has an exhibition of his sculpture at the Art Gallery of Bancroft, and the First Friday Peterborough art crawl is happening in downtown Peterborough on March 6th.
Peterborough’s Artspace is presenting an exhibition by Shellie Zhang with Maria Patricia Abuel, the Art Gallery of Peterborough is hosting an artist talk with Francisco-Fernando Granados on March 7th, a solo exhibition of works by Michael Adamson takes place at the Art Gallery of Northumberland in Cobourg, and Ah! Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth is presenting an exhibition with the intriguing title “1920-2020 Spirits on Water: Ships, Sails and Rum Running on Lake Ontario”.
There’s also the Watercolour8 show and sale, featuring work by eight women watercolourists at Singing Horse Gallery, the 10th annual Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival & Sale on March 14th, and an artist talk by Pete Smith at Visual Arts Centre of Clarington on March 29th.
Our regular artsNOW writer, Shannon Taylor, is on hiatus.
‘Paradigm of Wonder’ by Elizabeth D’Agostino at Agnes Jamieson Gallery in Minden
The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is presenting ‘Paradigm of Wonder’, an exhibition of works by Toronto-based artist Elizabeth D’Agostino, beginning on Tuesday, March 3rd.
D’Agostino works in print media, sculpture, and installation. Her current research draws from the histories of observational and scientific illustrations of Canadian wildlife and botanical illustrations, while developing an understanding of the management of living things and their interactions with humans.
An opening reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 7th, with the exhibition running until Saturday, April 18th.
The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is located in the Minden Hills Cultural Centre at 176 Bobcaygeon Road in Minden. For more information, call 705-286-3763 or visit mindenhills.ca/agnes-jamieson-art-gallery/.
Canadian Images in Conversation presents the early film works of Shelley Niro at Peterborough’s Market Hall on March 3
A still from Shelley Niro’s 1993 film “It Starts With a Whisper”. (Photo via Artspace)
In partnership with Artspace and ReFrame Film Festival, Canadian Images in Conversation is presenting its inaugural screening: “The Early Works of Shelley Niro”, featuring the films It Starts With a Whisper and Honey Moccasin, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3rd at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough).
Both films will be screened on 16mm film and will be followed by an artist talk with Shelley Niro, moderated by Artspace’s Jon Lockyer.
It Starts With A Whisper (1993) follows 18year-old Shanna Sabbath who is taken by her three aunts on a mythic journey to Niagara Falls. Honey Moccasin (1998) is set on the fictional Grand Pine Indian Reservation and follows the investigator/storyteller Honey Moccasin, closeted drag queen/powwow clothing thief Zachery John, and the rivalry between two bars on the reservation.
The screening and artist talk, which are free and open to everyone, is made possible with the support of the following departments and organizations at Trent University: the Trent Central Student Association, the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, Cultural Studies Graduate Program, Gender and Women’s Studies, English, Public Texts and Traill College.
Canadian Images in Conversation is a new Peterborough-based collective of filmmakers, artists, curators, and educators born from the legacy of the first entirely Canadian-focused film festival, the Canadian Images Film Festival.
The festival, which ran from 1978 to 1984, was originally a student and faculty-run initiative at Trent University, and programmed more than 150 hours of Canadian feature, experimental, and documentary films in its first year. By its final year, as many as 20,000 people experienced the festival.
Canadian Images in Conversation aims to fill the void of Canadian-specific film exhibition in Peterborough by showcasing Canadian films and filmmakers through a bi-monthly screening series and post-screening discussions with filmmakers.
‘The Invisible Offering’ by Michael Nathaniel Green at the Art Gallery of Bancroft
After closing for February, the Art Gallery of Bancroft is reopening in March with ‘The Invisible Offering’, an exhibition of sculpture by Peterborough artist Michael Nathaniel Green, beginning on Wednesday, March 4th.
Born in Trenton in 1975, Green holds a Diploma of Fine Arts from Georgian College in Barrie, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge, and received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Ohio State University.
Green, who has schizophrenia, experienced his first psychosis in 2008 at the age of 32 and abandoned art for around 10 years. Since moving to Peterborough, he has participated in the local arts scene.
“As an artist it has given me a first-hand experience that there is so much more to reality than what we can take in through our five senses,” Green says of his schizophrenia. “The surreal and uncanny have a foundation in our reality that is more relevant than ever.”
“The title of this show, ‘The Invisible Offering’, is paying homage to the mysteries of unearthing the unseen and the invisible. I value that which is hidden from ordinary view, questions from quantum physics like does one’s ephemeral thoughts or consciousness affect matter or are objects more potentialities than solid objects, interest me as a sculptor.”
“Using abstraction and organic minimalism in my sculpture, I point to the ever-changing qualities of reality weaving between the familiar and the unfamiliar. I am drawn to the sensual, ephemeral and ambiguous use of everyday materials in unconventional ways.”
An opening reception will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 6th, with the exhibition continuing until Saturday, March 28th.
And make sure to visit the gallery during April, when regular artNOW writer Shannon Taylor will be showing her exhibition ‘Remembered, Imagined: mixed media’ (with an opening reception at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 3rd).
The Art Gallery of Bancroft is located at 10 Flint Avenue in Bancroft. Winter hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday. For more information, visit www.artgallerybancroft.ca.
First Friday Peterborough in downtown Peterborough on March 6
The popular First Friday Art Crawl returns to downtown Peterborough on the evening of March 6th.
As always, artists open their studios to the public, with galleries, art organizations, and other creative venues hosting special events.
While the event is still being finalized, here are a few highlights:
- Acme Art and Sailboat Company (129-1/2 Hunter St. W., 3rd floor) will be showing ‘tangents’ featuring Gwyneth Fischer, Steven Leak, and Elaine Windsor, with new works by Joe Stable on display in the Copper Closet.
- Atelier Ludmila Gallery (129 1/2 Hunter St. W., 2nd floor) will be showing ‘Multiple Expanse’, an exhibition of work by Carolyn Code.
- The gang at Madderhouse Textile Studios (located upstairs at Watson & Lou, 383 Water St.) will be launching their brand new “Oatmeal Capital of the World” merchandise.
For more details on First Friday, including a map and updates, visit firstfridayptbo.com and follow First Friday Peterborough on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
‘Abundance’ by Shellie Zhang with ‘Bulaklak’ by Maria Patricia Abuel at Artspace in Peterborough
In March and April, Artspace is hosting ‘Abundance’, an exhibition curated by Tiffany Schofield that brings together work by Toronto-based artists Shellie Zhang and Maria Patricia Abuel.
A Beijing-born multidisciplinary artist, Zhang’s new project ‘Abundance’ features sculpture, photographs, and installation-based works. The exhibition combines visual cues from imagery of plentiful fruit in produce advertisements and cultural rituals as a metaphor for the dreams and labour that extends across oceans and generations. ‘Abundance’ is a cyclical reflection on two actions: the artist’s relatives bringing her pieces of cut fruit in her youth, and her leaving fruit offerings at their graves.
‘Abundance’ is accompanied by ‘Bulaklak’, a performance for the camera by Maria Patricia Abuel, a Toronto-born-and-raised Filipina multidisciplinary artist. In ‘Bulaklak’, Abuel enacts a ritual of preparing and devouring 100 mango flowers, a fruit which grounds her in familial and cultural histories. ‘Bulaklak’ is a personal meditation on matriarchal roles and sacrifices, in which the artist honours and reclaims the traditions she’s inherited.
An opening reception takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 6th (coinciding with the First Friday Peterborough art crawl), and will be followed by a curator and artist talk at noon on Saturday, March 7th. The exhibition continues until Saturday, April 18th.
Artspace is located at 378 Aylmer Street in downtown Peterborough and offers barrier-free access (to all but Gallery 2) and free admission during regular open hours: Tuesday to Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Parking is available in the municipal lot on Hunter Street between Aylmer and George. For more information, call 705-748-3883 or visit artspace-arc.org.
Art Gallery of Peterborough hosts an artist talk with Francisco-Fernando Granados on March 7
The Art Gallery of Peterborough is hosting a conversation between artist Francisco-Fernando Granados and Spencer J. Harrison at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 7th.
Work by Granados is currently on display at the gallery’s ‘duet’ exhibition, which pairs together modernist and contemporary abstraction by Granados and the late Jack Bush, presented in partnership with the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa.
Referencing the ongoing reciprocal relationship between the past and the present, the work of Granados and Bush create a conversation between contemporary digital and site-specific pieces and paintings and prints from the mid-twentieth century. The juxtaposition incites the viewer to consider the ongoing influences of the past upon the present and the connection between the two.
‘duet’, along with the two other current exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Peterborough (‘locked in a way’ by Matthew Hayes and Victoria Mohr-Blakeney and ‘217’ by Sasha Opeiko) runs until Sunday, March 29th.
The Art Gallery of Peterborough is located at 250 Crescent Street in downtown Peterborough and is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. It offers free admission, barrier-free access, and a gallery shop. Parking is available in the Del Crary lot. For more information, call 705-743-9179 or visit agp.on.ca.
Solo exhibition by Michael Adamson at the Art Gallery of Northumberland
The Art Gallery of Northumberland is presenting a solo exhibition by Toronto artist Michael Adamson from Saturday, March 7th to Saturday, May 2nd.
Adamson studied at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ryerson University in Toronto, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, and at the University of Kassel in Germany. His academic career has spanned various media including photography, video, and painting, giving him a platform to develop his own rich visual language enhanced by his understanding of art history and its relationship with contemporary painting.
“I am interested in teasing out the connections between seemingly disparate artists, such as the cave painters of Lasceaux and contemporary muralists like Katerina Grosse, or impressionist Claude Monet and serial abstractionist Pia Fries, in an attempt, not to level out painting, but to encourage cross fertilizations which, hopefully, will reinvigorate community and the appetites for the kind of nourishment found in good painting,” Adamson says.
Adamson creates a balance between conceptualism and expressionism, abstraction, and landscape, making each painting difficult to categorize. His work has been widely exhibited including in Toronto, London, Tokyo, and New York, and he is one of the most in-demand artists for private commissions, with works in collections in Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, the U.S., and the U.K.
An opening reception takes place on Saturday, March 7th.
The Art Gallery of Northumberland is located at on the third floor of the west wing of Victoria Hall (55 King St. W., Cobourg). Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit www.artgalleryofnorthumberland.com.
‘1920-2020 Spirits on Water’ at Ah! Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth
Ah! Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth is presenting an exhibit called ‘1920-2020 Spirits on Water: Ships, Sails and Rum Running on Lake Ontario’ beginning on Saturday, March 7th.
An opening reception takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 7th.
The exhibit, sponsored by Allen Insurance Group, runs until Sunday, March 29th.
Ah! Arts and Heritage Centre of Warkworth is located at 35 Church Street in downtown Warkworth. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit ahcentre.ca.
Watercolour8 show and sale at Singing Horse Gallery
The Singing Horse Gallery is hosting “Watercolour8”, a show and sale featuring the work of eight talented watercolourists from the Peterborough area.
The group of women — Linda Anderson, Susan Brook, Dorothy McCord, Donrey McIntosh, Lynda Quinlan, Stephanie Raffey, Margaret Sharpe, and Mary Tighe — has been painting together for several years under the tutelage of Joan Zageris, a Peterborough watercolourist who has been painting for more than 30 years.
The show and sale opens from 2 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 12th and runs until Thursday, March 26th.
The Singing Horse Gallery is located at 686 Crown Drive in Peterborough (in Alypsis Inc, beside MediGas). Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday (closed on the weekend).
Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival & Sale on March 14
The Peterborough Weavers and Spinners Guild is presenting the 10th annual Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival & Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 14th at Peterborough Sport & Wellness Centre (775 Brealey Dr., Peterborough).
The festival features demonstrations (including a “sheep to shawl” demonstration), hands-on activities, as well as items for purchase including craft items, unique gifts, yarn, fibre, and supplies.
Participating vendors include Artisanthropy, Artisans Centre Peterborough, All Sew Allison, All Dyed Up! Fibres, Chris Barker fabric art, Adele’s Locks of Love, The Olive Sparrow, Santosha Fibreworks and Farm, A River of Yarn, Kimat Designs, 3 Dog Knits, Chip & Sparrow, Embroiderers’ Guild of Peterborough, EaKoworks Fashions, and more.
The admission fee is $5, with children 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult.
Visual Arts Centre of Clarington hosts an artist talk by Pete Smith on March 29
The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (VAC) is hosting “Approaches to Landscape”, a talk by Bowmanville artist, critic, and curator Pete Smith, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 29th.
Smith’s solo exhibition “Stein’s Law” — currently on display at VAC until Sunday, March 29th — features a series of recent paintings that explore notions of climate change, pollution, urbanization, domesticity, and light and darkness. The exhibit’s title, which refers to American economist Herbert Stein’s theory “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop”, poses questions about sustainability in our current economic models.
In his tour and talk, Smith will discuss his approach to painting landscape, why he has shifted his focus to scenes that are often overlooked, and what he hopes to achieve through his practice.
VAC is located at 143 Simpson Avenue in Bowmanville. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Friday to Sunday. Admission to exhibits and artist talks is free. For more information, visit www.vac.ca.
