True Patriot Love: Canadian Collection Interventions

The AGO’s June First Thursday is a celebration of all things Canadian, with a special focus on the Gallery’s collection of Canadian art. Featuring a headlining performance by Canadian rock band Sloan, the night will feature artists creating one-night-only interventions throughout the Canadian collection, plus custom-made opportunities for visitors to get interactive and make their own Canadian art.

Look out for artist projects and interventions by the Toronto-based Ojibway mixed media and installation-based artist Bonnie Devine, Toronto-based artists Chris Flanagan, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Derek Liddington, and Guelph-based artist Lisa Hirmer of Dodolab.

And don’t miss pop-up talks inside the Canadian collection, art-making activities in the galleries, our monthly Out of the Vaults one-night-only exhibition and delicious spins on classic Canadian food and drinks.

FIRST THURSDAYS MUSIC SERIES

Canadian music legends Sloan headline June’s First Thursday. With a catalogue of 10 studio albums and another on the way, Sloan has been defining classic Canadiana rock since the early '90s. The Juno Award―winning band takes the stage in Walker Court to play their award-winning tunes, showing audiences why they’ve become fixtures on lists of the greatest Canadian rock albums of all time.

DJ Earl Grey (Chris Flanagan) with King Culture spin Toronto reggae in Galleria Italia, and DJ Casey Mecija plays in Walker Court.

ART

Chris Flanagan: Rita Marley lived on Degrassi Street
The local installation artist presents work inspired by his long-term fascination with the Toronto Reggae scene of the 1970s and '80s, including a map of Toronto Reggae sites of importance.

Bonnie Devine
The Toronto-based artist, whose work will be on view inside the upcoming AGO exhibition 'Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes,' is creating an intervention that expands an early 19th-century map of Upper and Lower Canada to reflect an Anishinaabe world view.

Derek Liddington: The sun will always rise and fall from east to west.
The local artist continues his investigations into the movement of the sun across the sky with a multimedia installation presented alongside – and in contrast to – works by the Group of Seven.

Katie Bethune-Leamen: Blobs for Lawren Harris’ Glaciers, Snow, Ice & Unknown Things
The Toronto-based artist presents a series of large porcelain sculptures created in response to the iconic works by Lawren Harris on view in the AGO’s Thomson Collection.

Out of the Vaults
A one-night-only exhibition of prints & drawings from the vault! This month, take a cross-country look at the diversity of 20th-century Canadian art from Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Cape Dorset.

TALKS/TOURS

Bonnie Devine and Andrew Hunter
Hear the artist in conversation with the AGO’s Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art.

Andrew Hunter
Get a behind-the-scenes tour of our pop-up Out of the Vaults exhibition with the AGO’s Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art.

Derek Liddington and Melissa Smith
Join the artist for a conversation about his intervention into the Canadian collection.

Jenna Shamoon: The Xperiment
Join the emerging Hamilton-based artist for a performative tour of the Canadian Collection.

ART-MAKING

DODOLAB: Roll out the Landscape
Join artist Lisa Hirmer to explore iconic Canadian landscapes and their relationship to our everyday experiences by putting pen to paper and getting your draw on!

Blank Slate
Join the AGO’s Youth Council and have your Polaroid taken and added to a custom-created map of Canada.

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