Leap into the sky to dream up new places and spaces. Where will you go?

You and your family are invited to spring into art this April Break! Join in the fun with five days of free, live virtual programming courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canadian Opera Company and Vancouver Art Gallery. Mix artmaking with fun performances and revealing behind-the-scenes tours. Families with kids of all ages are invited to log-on daily from 2 to 5 pm, Toronto time, April 12 through 16, for this cross-country arts break. No registration is needed and sessions will be livestreamed here on AGO.ca.

Our day programs will include programming from
2 pm - 3:15 pm - Art Gallery of Ontario
3:15 pm - 4 pm - Canadian Opera Company
4 pm - 5 pm - Vancouver Art Gallery

Watch the livestream here

PROGRAM

Art Gallery of Ontario

Time: 2 pm - 3:15 pm

Engage your senses in lively discussions about exciting artworks in the AGO Collection. Imagine and create your own dreamy interpretation of the sky, just as artist Tom Thompson did. Join Art Educator Laboni Islam and Art Instructor Olia Mischenko in outerspace!

Materials List:

Your Sketchbook or loose sheets of paper
8 ½ x 11 or larger paper (watercolour paper, mixed media paper or copier paper)
Watercolour Set
Tissue Paper
Brushes
Glue or tape
Water Container
Paper Towel
Pencil or coloured pencils

Meet our Team

Laboni Islam is a poet and art educator with the Art Gallery of Ontario. She loves birds and looking out at the night sky.

Olia Mishchenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to Canada in 1997. She studied architecture and art history at the University of Toronto prior to becoming a practicing artist. Mishchenko’s artistic practice is predominantly drawings-based and concerned with built environments. She is also an active member of the Terrarea collective that is engaged in site-specific installations. Mishchenko lives and works in Toronto, where she teaches in the Environmental Design Programme at OCADU, and at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Canadian Opera Company

Time: 3:15 pm - 4 pm

Imagine that you’re singing under the stars with opera singer Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor. Warm up your vocal cords with Gwenna before learning “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka, by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

Canadian soprano, teaching artist, and curriculum consultant Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor believes in the power of the arts as a catalyst for community building and social change and strives to make sure everyone has access to creative experiences, regardless of location or circumstance. She holds an M.Mus in Opera (University of Toronto) and a B.Mus in Voice Performance (Western University) and is currently a second year Holland Community Opera Fellow at Opera Omaha.

Vancouver Art Gallery

Time: 4 pm - 5 pm

Space Comics with Cole Pauls
Award-winning writer, printmaker and illustrator Cole Pauls uses comic art as a way to celebrate his Tahltan culture. Inspired by settings in outer space, work with Pauls to create a zine that tells your story!

Cole Pauls is an award-winning Tahltan First Nation comic artist, illustrator and printmaker, originally from Haines Junction, Yukon, and now based in Vancouver, BC. Pauls explores his life through his comic series Pizza Punks and Dakwäkãda Warriors, which follows Indigenous superheroes who are busy saving the world from evil in various forms, using their secret weapon of language revitalization. In 2020, Dakwäkãda Warriors won Best Work in an Indigenous Language at the Indigenous Voices Awards.

Materials List:

8.5" by 11" white sheets of paper
pencils
black ink pen or black marker
eraser
scissors