Toronto Cultural Field Trip
March 14th - 16th, 2017Students in the Visual Arts program to collectively visit exhibitions at museums and galleries of both historical and contemporary Canadian and International Art in Toronto. This trip to visit Toronto’s museums and art galleries is proposed as an alternative pedagogical incentive to enhance student’s ability “to collect, organize and evaluate information from a variety of sources, analyze and synthesize relevant information to draw informed conclusions and make decisions, and apply knowledge, skills and imagination to new settings and problems”
Students will visit 3 museums, (Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, and Aga Khan) and a host of art galleries and cultural centers/space in which their holdings embrace a spectrum of historical and contemporary artistic development. These institutions offer an assortment of focused exhibitions of works of art brought together from a variety of national and international venues.
Project Update
The group was comprised of 42 students and 2 Faculty coordinators. The composition of the student body included Fine Art students from both 1st and 2nd year including a contingency of students from the ALC studio programs.
The first stop was the Power Plant where students were greeted by staff and a tour guide. The tour began with a look at several installation and video artists. Jonathas de Andrade (Brazil), Latifia Echakhch( Morroco), and Maria Hupfield and Kapwani Kiwanga (both Ont., Canada). Students were divided into 2 groups and proceeded to view the four installations and videos. In de Andrade’s installation, students were directed to interact and reassemble the art work. The interaction proved to engage students in small groups and relate their thoughts to each other as they manifested to rearrange the art work accordingly. Given the unconventional nature of these installations – off the wall and colliding into the viewer ’s space, students’ perception of the everyday occurrence of the banality of the domestic to spiritual reflections evoked profound questions about artistic attitudes embedded in contemporary art.
Students toured the Ontario College of Art and Design U. Judith Doyle a senior instructor, took students on a walking tour. They saw the various studios and facilities available at O.C.A.D.U. Students had the opportunity to visit an art supply store and see what was available. Students then where taken to the hotel, which was located downtown and nearby. They had the evening to walk around and have dinner on their own.
The next day students visited Mercer Union, an artist run center. They had a brief introduction to the center and viewed the exhibition. They then walked to a group of galleries which were close by. Toronto Photography Workshop, Daniel Faria and Clint Roenish galleries. Toronto Photography Workshop and Clint Roenish provided a tour of the works and a brief outline of the gallery. After lunch, the group walked up to two more commercial galleries which had recently opened. Richard Rodes Project and Angel gallery. Again, there was an interesting conversation with the gallerist and students regarding the works. Later, students visited the Art Gallery of Ontario to see exhibitions on at that time.
The next morning students visited the Aga Khan Museum. They spent several hours looking at the diverse arts of Islamic civilization and a contemporary exhibition of Syrian artists.
