This Week at Agnes

Agnes  Orientation Activities

Via a week-long series of interactive events, Agnes welcomes new arrivals to campus.  All events are free and open to all but require registration.

• Get started on 16 September (2-4pm) with a sound-making workshop facilitated by acclaimed music collaborative, LAL. (BONUS: go to their performance the following night – tickets are sliding scale $10-$20)
• Shed your inhibitions in the warm embrace of Agnes’s Queer Karaoke Dance Party, co-hosted with Union Gallery. 20 September (4-8pm)
• Prioritize a “no-border” approach to teaching  with a new workshop: Workshop for Educators: Cross-Cultural Relations and Solidarity. For all educators, teaching fellows, teaching assistants and faculty. 21 September (1-4pm)
• Attend a screening of A Fidai Film, based on the tragic destruction of Palestinian archives and “aims to create a counter-narrative to this loss, presenting a form of cinematic sabotage that seeks to reclaim and restore the looted memories of Palestinian history.” 21 September (4:30pm)

Painted Presence: Rembrandt and his Peers

During our facility closure, we have received SO many questions about the storage of our expansive 17,000-piece collection, including “What have you done with the Rembrandts?” Well, they’re safe and sound at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) as part of Painted Presence: Rembrandt and his Peers. This exhibition is made up of select works from the AGO’s European Collection of Art and Agnes’s Bader Collection of European Art, including seven works attributed to Rembrandt. Painted Presence will be on at the AGO until 2026. For a more in-depth discussion of these works, check out this conversation in the AGO newsletter, Foyer, between our own Suzanne van de Meerendonk, Bader Curator of European Art and Adam Harris Levine, AGO Associate Curator European Art.

Ontario Arts Council’s Exhibition Assistance program

Agnes Etherington gifted her house to Queen’s in order to “further the cause of art and community.” We’re bringing this energy to our role again this year, as an official recommender for the Ontario Arts Council’s Exhibition Assistance Grants program. Apply for financial assistance for costs related to an exhibition that falls within the date parameters. For more information, go to our Opportunities page. Good luck!

The Way We Did Things

On 10 August local artist and Mohawk potter, Sheldon Traviss, engaged in a transformative performance. Over the course of the day (sunrise to sunset) Traviss foraged wild clay at a local quarry, sculpted a traditional pot and finished the piece by serving tea to those present made from wild hickory foraged onsite.

Congratulations to Sheldon Traviss for this remarkable work curated by Sebastian De Line, Associate Curator, Care and Relations. With additional logistical support from Taylor Norris, Public Art Coordinator for the City of Kingston and the Kingston Arts Council.  Experience the day with these amazing photographs by Zac Campbell.