Art Galleries at U of T!

Hello dear readers! Today marks the 3rd week back from holidays! Hope you guys had a good one. School isn't piling up yet, right? Right! And that's why you should take the opportunity to visit all the galleries around the University before it does. Isn't it cool that when you're at the downtown campus, you're always less than 10 minutes away from a gallery? And this doesn't even include the non-U of T galleries, like the AGO or the ROM. And unlike the AGO and the ROM, admission to these galleries is always free! If gallery visits aren't on your normal to-do list and you're hesitating, why not challenge yourself to engage in something that's outside your comfort zone and support the arts at the same time? 1) The Eric Arthur Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Saturday 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM The Eric Arthur Gallery is located on the main floor of the architecture building. You walk up the stairs to the entrance and turn right, and you'll immediately see the gallery entrance. You might not actually see the words "The Eric Arthur Gallery" on the door* if the door is open, but know that you've got the right spot! *the lack of a name-appropriate sign confused me for a bit, until I went to the Registrar's Office to ask and someone pulled the door closed to show me the sign. D'oh. The current exhibition is called "Homeway: The Great Suburban Exodus" and features work from Terreform1, a nonprofit organization for philanthropic architecture, and urban and ecological design. The exhibition is on until February 20th, and I'm also looking forward to the next exhibition, called "Philippe Rahm: Domestic Astronomy". The brief synopsis says that they want to show a vertical way of living as opposed to our horizontal one. Sounds cool. 2) Justina M. Barnicke Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Thursday to 8:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday 1:00 PM - 5:00PM JMB is in Hart House, and the closest entrance is the West Entrance - it's also the accessible entrance with the ramps, and JMB is on your left. The JMB Gallery is closed for renovations until March 31st, but don't let that deter your from visiting JMB or Hart House until then! I talked to Christopher Regimbal from JMB and he told me that they are making use of the space they do have and will have programming in February and March. There will be a multi-faceted conference project called "Extracurricular: Between Art & Pedagogy" that will bring together artists, educators, researchers and activists working in different countries. For an undated schedule and registration information, contact maikotanaka[@]rogers.com 3) Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Exhibition Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM What? There's an exhibition in the Rare Books Library? There is! The fun part is that it even looks the part of a rare books library. The building looks almost like Sleeping Beauty's castle that was covered with vines! Look at that lamp post! They just finished an exhibition on Charles Darwin and are setting up their next exhibition - Caterpillars and Cathedrals : The Art of Wenceslaus Hollar, which will start on the 25th of January. The librarian there told me that they have one of the world's best collections of works from Hollar, third only to the Queen's Windsor Castle and the National Library of the Czech Republic. W00t! U of T represent. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is right next to Robarts Library (it's the kinda turkey-ish looking building in the front), so if you're ever procrastinating wanting to take a break from studying, all you have to do is hop over and voila! An absolutely serene exhibition to soothe your soul. You're surrounded by books, the lighting casts a warm glow around the space, and the exhibition itself has a very high ceiling. It's gorgeous. 4) U of T Art Centre Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM; Saturday 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM; Sunday and Monday closed The University of Toronto Art Centre, or the UTAC, is located in University College, on the main floor of Laidlaw Wing. There's an ongoing exhibition on The Art of Devotion, which is drawn from the U of T's Malcove Collection and organized around the icons dedicated to Mary and the Christ Child, and icons representing Christ and the important saints in the Christian tradition. The Art Centre was closed when I went, but since I am a stealthy ninja, I got a picture of the inside of the gallery for you. They're probably starting to set up for the exhibition that starts today, called Portrait of a Patron: The Dukszta Collection. It's 70 portraits from 27 different artists of the same guy. You know how there's a 1000 picture milestone on Facebook? This guy's got 70 paid-for portraits. I say, Dukszta 1; Facebook 0. Finally, I can't not mention the galleries at the other campuses - UTM has the Blackwood Gallery, and UTSC has the Doris McCarthy Gallery as well Gallery 1265. Gallery 1265 is under the umbrella of the Doris McCarthy Gallery and I think it deserves a special mention because not only is it student run, it showcases only student artworks! Apart from actual galleries, I know that there are lots of buildings on campus that have various interesting displays that one could go look at. The McLennan Physical Laboratories has a 3-D optical display inside one of the glass cabinets and there are some physics-looking-thingy (can you tell I'm not a science student?) around the elevator area. Do you know any other place like that? Let me know in the comments! Until next time, - Cynthia.