Art has always been a vehicle for social change in the great city of Oshawa. The city’s factory town heritage, the availability of work, and the guarantee of union-won wages and pensions is not one which has leaned into the arts and encouraged such a career path. Yet, many great artists of all genres have come from the city. The choice to be an artist in Oshawa is in itself an act of resistance; even the creation of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, the city’s main art gallery, was an act of resistance, built as it was to house initially the works of Canada’s post-modern art movement Painters Eleven, a group which grew from their collective need to reject the then art establishment.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery will launch its new exhibition, created from works in its Permanent Collection, featuring over four thousand pieces. The exhibit, opening September 7, 2024, and running until August 24, 2025, is titled ‘Resistance’. Curated by main curator Sonya Jones, artists from the Permanent Collection to be shown include Dana Claxton, Ed Pien, Michele Pearson Clarke, Michael Snow, and Robert Houle. The exhibit “features art that courts controversy, comments on contemporary issues, and generally pushes back on the status quo,” according to the Gallery’s website.
Also opening on September 7 at the RMG is an exhibit, ‘Breakthrough,’ featuring one of those Painters Eleven rebels, Jack Bush. Bush was a founding member of the Painters Eleven but came to abstract painting late in his life. He was originally influenced by the Group of Seven and European painters, but the exploration of colour fields became his concern throughout his career. Sonya Jones also curated this exhibit, which runs until March 2, 2025.
Jones is also responsible for yet another exhibit, this one opening on September 28. ‘Go Big’ pulls from the Permanent Collection. Some of these works are among their larger works and are rarely shown due to their size and weight. This is an opportunity to see those works and understand the different scales that art comes in.
‘Reflect: Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition 2024’, a community exhibit that will close on September 28, draws together works from senior members of the RMG, the Oshawa Senior 55+ Community Centres, and the Oshawa Public Libraries. Artists come from across the spectrum, from novices to hobbyists to professionals.
‘Reflect’ is one worth checking out, obviously for the work but also for the demographic. Artists can begin at any age, even late in life—much like Jack Bush—and there are untold opportunities for the world to see what Oshawa residents are making, what they are thinking and seeing, and in particular, what they are resisting in their own daily lives.
September is then the month to really get to know this city in all its shapes, ages, and sizes.
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