The viewing and creation of art certainly provides pleasure — how tempting is it to be lost in a sea of Rothko’s red? How amazing do you feel after a full day at the studio creating what will surely be your most amazing art work ever… at least until you look at it the next morning and realize how much it can still be improved? Art allows us the chance to escape, to revel in beauty and celebrate emotion, and above all — THINK.

VAM 34 artists with Steven Volpe's Gaultier: Episode 1 - The City

Art also provides us with the opportunity to think critically. Thinking about art goes far beyond simply deciding whether an art work is good or bad — thinking about art means challenging yourself to go beyond your comfort zone. Use art as the catalyst to imagine new worlds and other people’s experiences. Understand the creative process behind your favourite art work in order to reflect on your own creative process, and how you can best commit to an artistic lifestyle. Above all, thinking about art means creating conversation — talk with fellow cultural producers and art enthusiasts, share your experiences, ignite inspiration in each other.

One of my favourite memories of the VAM 34 opening reception last January 10 was overhearing a conversation between two of the artists. One mentioned he liked the way the other one used light in his work. “Really?” the second artist replied. “Others would disagree with you.” I love that because it shows two talented artists discussing their craft and exchanging ideas about each other’s work.

Art can indeed be a solitary pursuit. However, the AGM firmly believes that a community aspect is essential as well. An arts community not only fosters supportive relationship; it also facilitates critical thinking and new ways of appreciating art. As such, we have the following programs for you:

VAM34 jurors Art Green and Catherine Beaudette Walking the Talk on Jan 22

Walk the Talk

How do the VAM jurors decide which pieces to exhibit? Why did the artist choose that particular theme? How does the artist’s perspective of his or her own work differ from the interpretation of a curator? The AGM invites everyone to Walk the Talk with us one afternoon each exhibition. Artists, curators and guest cultural producers will give a guided discussion and walking tour of the exhibit. The emphasis is on discussion – bring your questions and comments! Let’s get a conversation going!

Resource Room

Twenty-five years of publications! The AGM is currently cataloguing our library of art publications. Some of them are already available for you to check out in our Resource Room. Enrich your mind and learn about contemporary regional artists.

Mississauga Civic Centre - Visit the AGM on the ground floor!

Chatroom Talk | Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Do you have to move to Toronto to have a successful art career? We don’t think so! We believe we can have a thriving, dynamic art scene right here in Mississauga!

We want to know — what will it take for that to happen? How can the city and the AGM do to assist artists in launching a successful artistic career rin Mississauga? We want to hear from you in our first ever Chatroom Dialogue, April 10, 6 pm. Do you want to be a part of this conversation? RSVP – call Jaclyn at 905 896 5088 or email jaclyn.qua-hiansen@mississauga.ca. Let’s chat art!

Part 1: ENGAGE!

ENGAGE!

A major theme in the contemporary art scene is the need for accessibility. The idea of art as paintings hung in silent galleries and open only to connoisseurs no longer holds true in the 21st century. The Museum of Modern Art has made their galleries available for viewing FREE online. The National Gallery of Canada’s Marc Mayer believes gallery collections should be available to the public. The Royal Ontario Museum has recently lowered its admission fees.

Accessibility goes far beyond free admission or free access to art, however. Art is becoming ever more community-based. Galleries and museums are reaching out to virtual audiences through social media. Events such as Nuit Blanche literally take art to the streets, and events like Pecha Kucha create welcoming, informal settings in which to celebrate creativity. What an inspiring era in which to be a cultural producer, what an exciting time in which to be an art lover, and what a fantastic time to turn 25!

30 Minute Curator Saturdays

The AGM is tearing down the fourth wall! We’re connecting cultural producers and gallery curators — bring your ideas and let the conversation begin!

Imagine this: 30 minutes with Stuart Keeler, an artist and curator with over twenty years of international experience with public art and gallery exhibitions. Do you have questions about launching your professional artistic career? Do you have ideas on how to ignite the Mississauga art scene? Do you have a burning desire to chat about exhibitions, artists or art trends you find especially innovative?

Our door is open.

First 30 Minute Curator Saturday is on February 25th. Spots still available. Email Jaclyn to register!

Community Chat Room

We want your ideas! We have recently repurposed part of our Gallery Space into a Resource Room/Community Chat Room, where visitors can peruse over 25 years of art and culture publications, and where the AGM will soon be issuing an online invitation for open forum on the potential of arts and culture as catalysts to create new communities.

Cultural leaders, members of the community — we want your vision! How can the AGM use art and culture to bring people together? Keep an eye on our website for further details, or contact Jaclyn to be added to our mailing list.

Roots and Branches | The AGM and the Mississauga Library System

Art and literature — what an exciting pair! In 2012, the AGM is partnering with the Mississauga Library System to create art and literature-based programming.

This March Break, we invite you to take part in our inaugural collaboration — Tell Me A Story | An Art-Inspired Creative Writing Workshop. All art tells a story — what stories can we unearth from the AGM’s permanent collection? Keep an eye on our website or contact Jaclyn for more details.

Visitors enjoying Picture House

Wall of White Wash

One of my favourite ways to get rid of cold weather blahs is to remember summer, and this past summer was quite a scorcher in terms of AGM programming. Meet Us on the Commons was an exciting exploration of how we redefine public space with out experiences. Our South Asian exhibits (Picture House: The Art of Bollywood and Amin Rehman: White Wash) were also very popular. It’s fantastic seeing the art and culture of other countries! We love being part of such a culturally diverse community as Mississauga, and we hope you enjoyed these exhibits as much as we did. If, like us, you want even more exhibits of art from other cultures, stay tuned. Something hot is coming in Summer 2012.

Video still from Meet us on the Commons

Super Salmo rescues her fishy friends from water pollution!

We also launched the Salmon Run Project: The Exhibition with the Mississauga Culture Division this summer. What better way to spend a lazy summer day than by sitting by a river and fishing? Well, perhaps enjoying contemporary art is more exciting, but thanks to twenty-four talented artists, the AGM was able to combine  both! At select locations all along the Credit River, we displayed salmon sculptures all summer, and held a silent auction in September. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Credit River in Mississauga, and we love hearing from artists how much fun they had creating these sculptures.

Salt encrusted salmon treasure

Best part? Some of the sculptures are still on display at the Art Gallery of Mississauga! Even if you missed the Salmon Run this summer, you can drop by the AGM next week and see the salmon sculptures all in one room. We know you’ll love these sculptures as much as we do. All sculptures on display are available for purchase, for $300 each. Just inquire at reception. Available salmon are listed on our website.

AGM Executive Director/Curator Robert Freeman on Stuart Keeler:

“Stuart has tremendous energy and a wealth of ideas he is eager to implement in his new capacity as Curator/ Programme Director for the Art Gallery of Mississauga. He has extensive knowledge and experience in the arts and has a proven record of working closely with arts communities, and realizing ambitious projects. I believe he will be a great addition to our staff team and a welcome catalyst to increasing the AGM’s profile in the Mississauga arts community and beyond.”

R. Stuart Keeler is an artist who organizes exhibitions and multi-platform projects with the collaborative role of “curator” as the conceptual identity of his practice.

Keeler is based in Toronto, and holds an MFA from The School at The Art Institute of Chicago.

He is a regular contributor to Sculpture Magazine, Public Art Review, ArtPapers, Arcade, and Drain Magazine. This fall, Green Lantern Press (Chicago) will launch Service Media, an anthology edited by Keeler featuring 17 essays by leading cultural practitioners that question community and socially based art practices globally.

You can view Keeler’s previous work at www.stuartkeeler.com.

Stuart’s thoughts on working at the AGM:

“I am eager to become a member of the regional art community and expand the programming and recognition that AGM has already built upon. This is an exciting time to be participating in the history of Mississauga as the city evolves into a truly urban centre with an inspiring culturally diverse population. I look forward to listening, learning and in making important contributions to the field, as well as create innovative opportunities for learning and discovery.”

Keep an eye out on this blog and our website for more information about an upcoming meet and greet with Stuart this fall!

Follow Stuart on Twitter: @StutzArt

Have you seen Stacey Sproule’s new video on the screens in Celebration Square yet? Not only can you view Draw Near (Rat King Study) in the Art Gallery of Mississauga, you can catch it every hour at Celebration Square, between 8am and 10pm. This work will run until the close of the exhibition, September 11, 2011.

About Draw Near, Stacey Sproule writes:

In Germanic folklore a Rat King is several rats hopelessly tangled by their tails (and bits of debris) as a result of too many rats living in too small a space. It is believed that many of the rats die as their tails are pulled deeper into the tangle by the stronger rats, and their bodies become twisted and contorted.  I will be using the concept of the rat king as a metaphor for this performance. In life we become entangled in the lives of others and the course of their decisions have the gravity to affect our own life (whether you like it or not). I wanted to manifest this idea in a human rat king, its members braided together as one awkward unit.

Learn more about Stacey Sproule’s practice by visiting her blog, Under This Weight We Grow.

1. Tell us about the salmon artwork you have in the Salmon Run Project: The Exhibition.
   The artwork I created for the salmon Run was based on the golf balls that travel down the river, creating a salmon with golf ball scales to illustrate it’s environment and the effect it has on the fish. The base was created using materials gathered from the beaches of Port Credit, where I find the balls that were used in the project. I wanted to show my interpretation of the bottom of the Credit River, golf balls lining the riverbed as they flow from the golf courses to the lake.
2. What made you want to submit a proposal for the Salmon Run Project?
   I liked the idea of creating a 3-D piece of artwork using found objects, I had been collecting golf balls for a couple of years with no clear idea in mind and when I saw the Salmon Run project, it all came together and seemed a perfect fit. I had often thought of the golf balls and their travels down the river.
3. How and when did you become interested in creating art?
   I have been a creative artist longer than I can remember; I have a memory of my Mother talking to my grandmother at the cottage about me becoming an artist one day. I was colouring in a colouring book so I couldn’t; have been too old at the time. I have never wanted to be anything else but an artist.
4. What do you think of the art scene in Mississauga? Where do you see it heading in the next ten years?
   I think that it is an exciting time to be an artist living and working in Mississauga. We are a young city, but we are maturing. This affords us the ability to see the value in the arts, and to be open to many forms of expression, as well as to have the space to put our art. Most of our city is still a blank canvas.The community is eager to express its culture and continues to find new and exciting ways to incorporate the artistic voices of our citizens. I am very excited to see the fruition of some of the current art proposals and projects around out city. I hope that in ten years we demonstrate a continued commitment to the arts, and can see the benefit of new projects that are only in proposal / infant stages now. For instance, the Culture Master Plan’s Public Art program is going to lead to some exciting art spaces.In the next ten years I also hope to see the Arsenal lands at Dixieand Lakeshore converted to art studios and galleries. I see this as a great investment in the community and the arts. We have seen in Toronto many times…where artist thrives, culture follows, and then revitalization pays off with stable neighbourhood. I hope that Mississaugacan follow Toronto’s example and set an exciting chapter for Mississauga’s Lakeview neighbourhood in motion.
5. What advice would you give young people who want to become artists?
   Follow your heart. If you truly love what you do, your dreams will come true. It takes hard work and dedication to your craft.
6. What do you currently have lined up in terms of artistic opportunities? For people interested in finding more of your artwork, do you have a website, blog, Twitter account or gallery?
   I am currently on summer break from any large projects. Most of my art projects are conceived in my head and do not manifest themselves until I have time to dedicate to them. I am in the process of recording some songs and will soon begin painting again. I have a desire to paint a series of bulls. I have always loved bulls and their energy seems to appeal to me, capturing their movements and energy will be the goal of my paintings. Winter always seems a better time for me to hide away and create.
   I generally don’t publish or show my art, my basement is filled with half finished projects and paintings. I am also building some furniture out of found objects, I won’t know where it will take them until they come together.

The Mississauga Arts Council proudly releases its 3rd issue of Limelight Magazine by MAC’s Summer Intern Natalie D’Urbano. Limelight Magazine features local youth artists and encourages creativity. This issue profiles past So You Think You Can Dance Canada contestants, Everett Smith and Amanda Cleghorn; host of In The Loop, Nina Hallie Dixon; thriving young actor, Austin McDonald and more!

Click here to download Limelight Magazine.

For more information visit the Mississauga Arts Council’s website:
www.mississaugaartscouncil.com

Book a seat on the Sauga 2030 Audio Driving Tour with the Department of Unusual Certainties
On Thursday August 25, join the Department of Unusual Certainties on an exploratory drive through Mississauga. Experience the sounds and stories of the city as it has been mapped out by a series of soundscapes and fictional audio vignettes that narrate imagined futures for sites throughout Mississauga in the year 2030. As participants journey from site to site, hearing charged confrontations between groups with opposing desires for these places, conflict becomes defined as a catalyst for the appropriation and transformation of space. In Sauga 2030, these encounters with seemingly unstable spaces leave us wondering what they will become next.

Tours leave the AGM at 11am, 2pm, and 5pm. Limited spaces are available for the driving tour. To book your spot in the car with the Department of Unusual Certainties, call the Art Gallery of Mississauga at 905-896-5088 or email agmcommons@gmail.com

$15 per participant

Download Sauga 2030
Sauga 2030 is available for free on the iTunes App Store. It can be downloaded to your iPhone or iPad and experienced at any time, even beyond the end of the exhibition.

Borrow an iPad
Can’t come for the driving tour and don’t have an iPhone to test out the app? An iPad is also available at the Art Gallery of Mississauga which visitors are welcome to sign out.

How to enjoy Sauga 2030
Decided to try out the tour on your own? Here’s how to do it*:

• Open the app on your iPhone or the iPad borrowed from the Art Gallery of Mississauga. A map of Mississauga will pop up.
• To take the tour, travel toward one of the 10 placemarkers that appear on the map. The tour can be started at any one of these destinations.
• As one travels through the tour, a blue marker will identify your location in retrospect to the map.
• Touch the circle at the top left hand corner of the app to turn off the feature which keeps the blue marker centred on the screen.
• As you’re driving through the tour, ambient noise tracks will be automatically triggered near sites.
• By touching on of the 10 place markers, you will get more detailed information about the specific site you are traveling towards or near.
• When you arrive at the site, press the play button to hear the story.
• Any story can be played more than once –there is also a time bar that can be used to rewind or fast forward.

Enjoy!

* Please be advised that the full tour takes approximately 2 hours and can be taken in parts. For more information, contact the gallery: 905-896-5088 or email agmcommons@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 23rd, 1-3 pm
Workshop: Mixtape Mapping *
For youth ages 12 – 19
Many works in Meet us at the commons use music to describe a meaningful connection to places and as a tool to transform our surroundings. Participants will collaborate on making a map of Mississauga by locating places of personal significance and mapping them out on a giant piece of paper to illustrate the city’s geography based on memories and experiences of it. Participants will also produce a playlist of songs that correspond to these places, creating mixtape maps to engage with and explore the world around us. The map will be displayed in the AGM and the playlist will be shared on the AGM’s blog.
* Please email agmcommons@gmail.com to register or call the gallery at 905 896 5088 

Thursday, August 25th, 11 am, 2 pm, and 5pm
Sauga 2030 Audio Tour with The Department of Unusual Certainties *
$15 per participant
Get in a car and travel the DoUC’s audio tour of Mississauga with the artists themselves. Sauga 2030 is a look at past and present day events of Mississauga to protect a series of fictional audio vignettes that imagine the city’s future and explore its contested sites nineteen years from now. Buckle up for a dynamic soundscape experience.
* Please email agmcommons@gmail.com to register or call the gallery at 905 896 5088 

Thursday, August 25th, 7 pm
Mississauga Art’s Council’s Media Arts Mash-Up
Are you a media artist, filmmaker, videographer or someone who is interested in making a film? Join us for the next edition of Media Arts Mash-Up! We are pleased to welcome featured speaker Elaine Dalit, the creative mind behind Fund Bubble. Elaine will come to speak about how you can use this fund sharing platform to support your project. We will also feature the work and films of local filmmakers. Interested in screening your film?
RSVP with Sonya Poweska 905 615 4214

1. Tell us about the salmon artwork you have in the Salmon Run Project: The Exhibition. What made you want to submit a proposal for the Salmon Run Project?
   It was both delightful and challenging to create my Salmon Run art work.  I’m all for more juried projects like this in Mississauga. It was delightful, in stirring wonderful memories of kayaking on the Credit River, with Salmon jumping and splashing all around meIt was also challenging to attempt several variations on my fish, before finding  just the right materials, colours and surface treatments.  When you view the fish, think about what the fish can see on the riverbanks, with ever changing views, and more development. How exciting it is to be swimming in a school of fish, all charging in the same direction, led by strong natural urges of nature.
2. What do you currently have lined up in terms of artistic opportunities? For people interested in finding more of your artwork, do you have a website, blog, Twitter account or gallery?
   This spring and summer I have been working on the little black dress art project, for an event in London in September.I’m also trying to finish some pieces for the AWOL Square Foot Show at the Twist Gallery this summer…….and trying to update my website www.robinhollingdrake.com.