Image: Claude Tousignant, Chromatic Accelerator (detail), 1968, Acrylic on canvas 243.84 cm (diam.). On loan from the artist, Montreal. Photo: Guy L’Heureux, with courtesy of Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

Opening Reception
Saturday May 25, 2013 | 3 to 5 p.m

The Plasticiens and Beyond: Montreal, 1955-1970 celebrates Canada’s second major post-war avant-garde movement. It is one of the first exhibitions dedicated to exploring the issues of this Montreal-based movement and their contribution to the development of a geometric abstraction in Montreal between 1955 and 1970. This exciting exhibition serves as a sequel to The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941 – 1960 presented at the Varley Art Gallery in 2009. The exhibition is accompanied by full colour catalogues in French and English. Co-produced by the Varley Art Gallery of Markham and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, this project was initiated by Roald Nasgaard, and is curated by Roald Nasgaard and Michel Martin.

Programs
The Plasticiens and Beyond: Panel Discussions
Date: Sunday, May 26, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM  to  4:00 PM
Location: 216 Main St. Unionville, Markham, ON L3R 2H1
Cost: Public: $15 | Members $10

Moderated by art historian Mark Cheetham. Join guest curator Roald Nasgaard and art historians Anna Hudson and François-Marc Gagnon in a discussion on the artists and issues that make up the Plasticiens movement. To register contact 905-477-7000 ext. 3261 or iofficers@markham.ca.

Event Organizer: Varley Art Gallery of Markham
Telephone: 905-477-7000 ext.3261
Email Contact: iofficers@markham.ca
Website Address: www.varleygallery.ca
Varley Art Gallery of Markham
905-477-7000 ext. 3261
iofficers@markham.ca
www.varleygallery.ca

The Plasticiens and Beyond: Panel Discussion – Painting Today
Date: Sunday, June 23, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM  to  4:00 PM
Location: 216 Main St. Unionville, Markham, ON L3R 2H1
Cost: Public: $15 | Members $10

Moderated by writer and artist John Kissick. Painting has moved from the confines of the canvas into sculptural forms, installation, and new media. Three contemporary artists — Vanessa Maltese, Nicole Collins and Francine Savard — discuss materiality, multidisciplinary influence, and personal approaches to their practice. To register contact 905-477-7000 ext. 3261 or iofficers@markham.ca

Event Organizer: Varley Art Gallery
Telephone: 905-477-7000 ext.3261
Email Contact: iofficers@markham.ca
Website Address: www.varleygallery.ca

The Plasticiens and Beyond: Talk – Curator Tour with Roald Nasgaard
Date: Sunday, July 07, 2013
Time: 2:00 PM  to  3:00 PM
Location: 216 Main St. Unionville, Markham, ON L3R 2H1
Cost: Public: $15 | Members Free

Gain insight about the artists and the ideasthat ignited the movement through this special guided tour of the Plasticiens exhibition. To register contact 905-477-7000 ext. 3261 or iofficers@markham.ca.

Event Organizer: Varley Art Gallery
Telephone: 905-477-7000 ext.3261
Email Contact: iofficers@markham.ca
Website Address: www.varleygallery.ca

Organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery

Lawren S. Harris, Mountain Sketch XCII, c. 1924, Oil on panel, On long-term loan to the Winnipeg Art Gallery from a private collection, 1536.014. Photo credit: Ernest Mayer, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Celebrating aspects of Canada’s painting traditions by highlighting the works of some of this country’s most esteemed painters including Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and Jean-Paul Riopelle.

Canada on Canvas spans approximately 130 years celebrating aspects of Canada’s painting traditions by highlighting the works of some of this country’s most esteemed painters, including Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and Jean-Paul Riopelle. Curated by Andrew Kear, it draws extensively from an important private collection of Canadian painting, on generous long-term loan to the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

With a selection of exemplary pieces rarely seen by the public, the loaned collection spans an impressive range, from notable 19th century genre scenes, to defining early landscapes by the Group of Seven, and outstanding canvases by abstract painters from Québec. The exhibition features forty works that fall under one or more of three thematic areas: people, place and paint.

Canada on Canvas has been organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Free admission supported by IBM.

 
Exhibition Opening

Sunday, 3 February 2013, 2 – 4 p.m. Free
Join us for refreshments, live music and an exclusive viewing of the exhibition.

Public Programs:

Guided Tour (in French / en français)
Saturday, 2 March 2013 and Saturday, 21 April 2013, 1:00 p.m. Free
Tour of the exhibition led by Anik Glaude, Curator, Varley Art Gallery. 

Close Encounters of the Art Kind 

The Varley Art Gallery is happy to present, a two-part series of fun and interactive gallery discussions. While exploring Canada on Canvas with gallery staff, visitors will come face to face with a variety of artworks of various subject matter and styles. Emphasis will be placed on how to observe and to talk about the paintings on view. Part I will focus on landscape and portraiture, while Part II will explore abstraction.

Part I: People and Places
Thursday, 28 March 2013, 7 p.m. Free 

Part II: Paint
Thursday, 11 April 2013, 7 p.m. Free

Guided Gallery Tours
Every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Free.

Supported by:

Classes for Children, Pre-teens, Teens and Adults offered for all skill levels. Registration opens November 13, 2012. Visit the Varley Art Gallery’s official website for class descriptions and schedules.

Ann and Marshall Webb provide rare insight into their personal collecting practices, art patronage & philanthropy, and educational endeavours.   Refreshments provided.Ann and Marshall have been married for 25 years and have been collecting art together all that time. Their works include many media which focus on conceptual practices by artists at home and abroad. They do not collect according to nationality. Works in their collection have been made by artists principally in Germany but also US, UK, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Italy not to mention Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

Their first purchases together focused on photographic works notably art works by Bernd and Hilla Becher and their students at the Dusseldorf  Academy who have since become art stars: Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky and Candida Hofer. Increasingly they  focus on sculptural works and installations by such artists as Geoffrey Farmer, Thea Djordjadze, Diego Perrone, Jason Dodge and Katinka Bock.

Ann is Executive Director of the Canadian Art Foundation and publisher of Canadian Art Magazine. Marshall teaches English at Upper Canada College.

Talk by Tobi Bruce, Senior Curator, Canadian Historical Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton.
Admission: $10 | Free for members. Pre-registration recommended.

Tour of Impressionism? Selected works from the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec led by Anik Glaude, Curator, Varley Art Gallery. In French.

Henri Beau, Le Pique-nique, 1904-1905, Oil on canvas,Collection Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Photo : MNBAQ, Patrick Altman (1986.43)

As one of the major art movements of modern painting, Impressionism greatly influenced Western painting, and notably the painting practices in Quebec. In the late nineteenth century, Paris enjoyed an enviable reputation in the world of painting and North America’s best students made the crossing to the French capital to hone their skills at Parisian art schools. Many Québec painters made this journey, and the discovery of these new ways of painting led them to leave behind the old academic rules.

Gathering thirty selected paintings and sketches from the collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Impressionism? examines the interpretation of Impressionism by Québécois painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Three works by Eugene Boudin highlight the fundamentals of Impressionism which will become points of references to better understand the relationships between the movement and the works of artists such as Henri Beau, Maurice Cullen, Rodolphe Duguay, Clarence Gagnon, James Wilson Morrice and Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Cote.

Organized and toured by Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, a government corporation funded by the ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec.

Public Programs

Exhibition opening
Sunday, 4 November, 2 – 4 p.m. Free
Join us for refreshments, live music and a tour of the exhibition.

Guided Tour: Impressions françaises
Sunday, 18 November, 1 – 2 p.m. Free
Tour of the exhibition led by Anik Glaude, Curator, Varley Art Gallery. In French.

Lecture: The French Connection: Canadian Painters in late 19th century Paris
Talk by Tobi Bruce, Senior Curator, Canadian Historical Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton.
Sunday, 25 November, 2 – 4 p.m. $10 | Free for members

Guided Gallery tours every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. 

Free Admission until 31 December 2012 sponsored by

Organized by the Institute without Boundaries

Opening Reception; Thursday, 20 September, 2012 – 7-9pm

COLAB is the result of the 2011/12 project year at the Institute without Boundaries. For nine months a small group of interdisciplinary post-secondary students lived, played and learned about Markham. The final outcome is COLAB: A Change Lab for Markham. The COLAB exhibit will prototype this environment, sharing some of the project work and insights derived about Markham and also offering visitors the opportunity to try their hand at generating creative solutions for the future of Markham.  A catalogue detailing the project will be on sale.  

For more information, visit  www.worldhouse.ca/category/colab/

This spectacular runway event will showcase the ensembles of six fashion designers and stylists created in response to the celebrated portraits of Frederick Horsman Varley, a member of Canada’s Group of Seven artists. The evening festivities will take place inside the Varley Art Gallery and features a silent auction of designer clothing and accessories, a boutique marketplace, scrumptious hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar offering a signature cocktail created especially for the event, and dance music played by our resident deejay.

Varley’s Muses is the official launch celebration for Sphere, and will help raise funds for the Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham, and strengthen its mandate to support the Varley Art Gallery’s exhibitions and educational programming.

Event tickets are $20 each. Complimentary admission for Sphere members.
Pre-registration is recommended! Call 905-477-9511 to register today!

Participants, sponsors, supporters:

This inaugural exhibition launches the opening of the Varley Art Gallery’s new permanent collection gallery. This new space allows us to display works from our collection on a semi-permanent basis and to welcome major touring exhibition from across the country. A series of rotating and thematic exhibitions will provide in-depth information on particular aspects of our holdings and lead us to create dynamic educational programming for our visitors. We will also showcase new acquisitions and celebrate the patrons who generously donate and bequeath works of art to the Varley.
The construction of this wing was made possible through a generous donation from the late Mr. Wallace Joyce. His solid relationship with the Varley leads us to dedicate our first exhibition to his memory. The works featured in this exhibition originate from Mr. Joyce’s personal collection and have been donated to the gallery over the course of several years. Celebrated Canadian artists such as A.J. Casson, A.Y. Jackson and Doris McCarthy vividly document the powerful impact one experiences when faced with the beauty of the Canadian landscape. Shown together, they become a celebration of one man’s life and passions.
The scenes of mountain ranges, glaciers and totem poles depicted in these works speak to the driving forces of Joyce’s life: travel, art, photography and mountaineering. These fascinations and his ardent desire to bring home a glimpse of his beloved mountain peaks led to a continuing appreciation and patronage of the visual arts. Many of the scenes depicted in these works were known to Joyce, having encountered them during his travels around the world. Throughout his avid collection practices, his membership to the Arts and Letters Club and to the Alpine Club of Canada, Joyce met and formed friendships with the artists whose works he collected.  With an adventurous spirit, a curious mind and a generous heart, Wallace Joyce amassed a wonderful collection of artworks that can now be shared with Markham and beyond.