Agnes has wrapped up our offsite exhibition space in anticipation of Agnes Reimagined!
Agnes has wrapped up our offsite exhibition space in anticipation of Agnes Reimagined!
Sunday 16 August
16°C and Overcast Clouds
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Workshops co-facilitated by local artists and arts professionals and geared towards emerging, mid-career and student artists and curators.
Notes to Self, video still. Christina Battle, 2014, ongoing.
Making Art Work is a professional development series co-presented by Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Cultivate Art Commons, and Union Gallery. Participants gain enhanced experiential learning opportunities, develop a toolkit of skills in preparing for a career in the arts, and extend networks with Kingston’s contemporary art galleries. Sessions are held primarily online via Zoom on Tuesday evenings.
Some recurring questions guiding this year’s sessions: how do we attend to our needs / the needs of our loved ones / the needs of the planet while sustaining an art practice? How do we adapt to the times we’re living in while upholding our values? How do we honour ourselves and one another in artmaking?
How Public is Public Art? with Erin Ball and Devon Ostrom
Tuesday 15 September 2026, 6–7:30 pm (ET)
Online via Zoom
Erin Ball (ze/zir), Disabled artist and researcher and Devon Ostrom (he/him), artist and co-researcher with artmap.ca / Access Art, come together to discuss public art and explore how to make more engaging and accessible sites. In this 90-minute workshop, Devon and Erin will show participants a way of evaluating physical, sensory, informational and creative accessibility. They will also share emerging national findings and invite participants to take part in a virtual assessment exercise.
Privacy and Access Needs
This session is online, on Zoom. Auto-generated captions will be turned on for accessibility. Beyond this, we will strive not to use AI for any reason without free and prior consent of all parties involved. There will not be ASL interpretation for this event. If you require additional supports, please let us know while registering. We are striving to co-create a relaxed space where we invite you to come as you are. Camera on or off is welcome, communicate in ways that work for you, take breaks, move around, stim, etc. We will strive to offer content notices around any potentially intense subjects and we will strive to not put anyone on the spot. This presentation will aim to be low-vision friendly, with images and visual descriptions throughout.
Taking Care with Christina Battle
Tuesday 20 October 2026, 6–7:30 pm (ET)
Online via Zoom
Artmaking takes time, labour, finances, and resources, and when faced with the realities of life, especially those that involve caring for others, access to the time needed to develop and maintain an artistic practice can become strained. In this workshop, we’ll spend time thinking through strategies for aligning artistic practice with the realities of one’s life; we’ll ask ourselves what we want to be doing with our (limited) time and how that may, in turn, align the focus of one’s practice. An emphasis on ‘taking care’ will drive our discussion—taking care of others, taking care of ourselves and taking care to consider the potentials of artistic practice.
As part of this workshop, we’ll spend time making postcards to later mail to one another as reminders to take care. Postcard-making packages will be mailed to participants in advance of the workshop—supplies are limited and will take some time to travel to you.
Please note, participants must be based in Canada in order to receive mail-out supply packages. Registration closes on 21 September.
This workshop is made possible by the Iva Speers Fund for Art Education.
Ethical Artists: Exploring Integrity and Consent in the Artmaking Process with Abby Nowakowski
Tuesday 17 November 2026, 6–7:30 pm (ET)
Online via Zoom
In this workshop, Abby Nowakowski will lead us through an open discussion on value-driven practices and the power of bringing your own set of morals into the work you do. We will touch on ways you can work against capitalistic modes of making while still financially sustaining your artistic career, the vital role of radical consent in reciprocal relationships, and how we can fight for creative thinking by avoiding AI and moving towards more human-centred approaches.
We will draft our own code of conduct, which, like all good guidelines, will be a living document that grows and evolves alongside you. It will be a piece of writing that reflects your artistic ethics, that you can return to over and over again. This might be a short poem, a confident statement, or a set of rules that guide you in advocating for yourself and your practice.
Together we will dream up what a truly ethically responsible practice might look like, and imagine a system that could support these new ways of working.
Erin, a white double below knee amputee not wearing prostheses, is mid-air on two strong strands of red aerial fabric that cascade to the floor from above. Erin is sitting, legs woven into the fabric, gazing down and smiling.
Photo by Benjamin Laird
Devon is wearing a hat slanted to one side, blue sunglasses and a blue short-sleeved shirt that reads seawalls. A short cut beard has one white hair for every stressful arts project that he has co-produced. Devon is still smiling and leaning towards the viewer against a blurred background and multi-coloured sky.
Photo by C. Cotter.
Erin Ball (ze/zir), is a white AuDHD double below knee amputee and agender human. Erin is an international circus artist, accessibility consultant, and workshop facilitator. Ze is a passionate advocate for Disability-led art, accessibility, and strives to create welcoming spaces, empower Disabled artists, and challenge industry norms. Erin has 17+ years of expertise in teaching and performing Circus Arts and 10+ years of expertise in Accessibility & Disability Arts. Ze is a co-creator of an international course on Accessibility/Disability in Movement Practices
Devon Ostrom is a curator, artist and advocate with two decades of experience in creating projects that bridge sectors, cities and neighbourhoods. Greatest hits and collabos include a mural and research project in a maximum security prison, Arrivals Canada, the PanAmPath.com and creating a levy on outdoor advertising that has raised over $100m for art. Devon co-taught Arts Advocacy at the University of Toronto and certified in Nonprofit Management and HR Management from Ryerson. Devon holds an MA in Curating from Goldsmiths as well as a Masters of Public Administration from LSE.
Photo by Zachary Ayotte, 2025.
Photo submitted by the Artist
Christina Battle is an artist, curator, and writer based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), within the Aspen Parkland: the transition zone where prairie and forest meet. Her practice focuses on thinking deeply about the concept of disaster: its complexity, and the intricacies entwined within it. She looks to disaster as a series of intersecting processes including social, environmental, cultural, political, and economic, which are implicated not only in how disaster is caused but also in how it manifests, is responded to, and overcome. Battle’s practice prioritizes collaboration, experimentation, and failure; she has exhibited internationally in festivals and galleries as both artist and curator.
Abby Nowakowski is a queer artist based in the wetlands of Central Frontenac between the Mississippi and Tay River watersheds. In their practice, they are constantly questioning how their artwork can be used as an activist tool and contribute to the collective creative building of sustainable futures. Abby explores themes of transformative justice, belonging, and hopefulness. Learning lessons from the natural world, Abby often leans towards local flora and wildlife as powerful examples of community building and resistance.