2020 – Campbell House Museum

March 8 – April 25, 2020 (Re-opened July 14- August 29, 2020)

ICON: Celebrating 50 Years of Karen Kain

2019 marked Karen Kain’s 50th year with The National Ballet of Canada, and Kain’s work will be forever tied to the company’s success. ICON: Celebrating 50 Years of Karen Kain with The National Ballet of Canada displays how this relationship produced an Artist, Leader and an Icon.

Since 1969, Karen Kain has been an influential and revolutionary figure in the world of ballet. For almost 30 years, her excellence as a world-renowned dancer thrilled and inspired the public. In 2005 she was appointed the Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada. In this role, she enabled the company to sustain its vision of supporting the excellence of its artists in Canada and abroad.

Visitors will explore Kain’s impact on the art of ballet as a dancer, and her accomplishments as the Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada through costumes, photos, and videos sourced from The National Ballet Archives.

The costumes on display will showcase ballets that have defined Kain’s success throughout her career. They are comprised of both costumes worn onstage, and costumes from ballets she re-staged and directed. Many of these costumes have never been seen off-stage until now.

This exhibition, which opened on March 8, is created in partnership with The National Ballet of Canada and the University of Toronto’s Museum Studies program. You can read the exhibit panels on The National Ballet of Canada’s website at: https://national.ballet.ca/Meet/Karen-Kain-50th-Celebrations.

Curated by: Elizabeth Colraine, Christina D’Agnillo, Judith Fernandez, and Cassandra Hutt.

Anong Migwans Beam at Campbell House

Opened November 3, 2020; Re-opened July 28-September 25, 2021

*Spring Bay, Mennonite Barn,* 2019, oil on canvas, 54” x 84”

Campbell House Museum is pleased to welcome Ojibwe artist Anong Migwans Beam in a solo exhibit of her large-format oil paintings and watercolour studies. In these paintings, she explores themes that have emerged in her work over the past two years:

Looking at my life, and with my mother entering Alzheimer’s, I have been painting memories. My practice has always centred around water and how it holds and contains us, and is a silent witness again and again to all events, constantly renewed and present in us, as it was for our ancestors.

Anong was born to artist parents, Carl Beam and Ann Beam, who encouraged her to develop as an artist. She was raised with a meaningful connection to both her artistic family roots and her rich ancestral heritage.

This exhibit presents the first series of paintings where the artist has produced work using her own handmade oil paints:

There is an incredible circuity to making paint from rocks from Bay Fine near Killarney, then painting that same scene with those rocks that are now paint! Each image that I make I feel and I fall immersed in the history of painting, learning devices from those who have already travelled this path.

‘deluge’ 2019 oil on canvas 240cm x360cm

The works will be displayed throughout the heritage spaces of Campbell House. Although Anong. Beam practises her art in a somewhat isolated place, on Manitoulin Island, her perception and vision reflect the contemporary art world and incorporate elements of daily life. Bringing her work into a historic house museum in downtown Toronto precipitates the contrast of rural and remote with the urban and immediate. By sparking a conversation about contemporary art through the lens of an artist from M’Chigeeng First Nation, the exhibit expands upon a much bigger story of colonialism and of the rural-urban divide of art in Ontario.

The exhibit is guest-curated by Elka Weinstein, Vice-President of ICOM Canada, Past President of the Board of Directors of the John B. Aird Gallery, and former Director/Curator Campbell House Museum.

The artist created these works with the support of an Indigenous Artists grant from the Ontario Arts Council.

BEAM PAINTS

Anong Migwan Beam’s paints can be purchased at: beampaints.myshopify.com

ONLINE EVENTS

The public is invited to join three special Zoom events. To register for one or more events, please send an email to: info@campbellhousemuseum.ca

Thursday, November 5, 7:00 pm: Virtual opening and walk-through of the exhibit with Elka Weinstein, Curator of the exhibit. The artist will be in attendance.

Thursday, November 12, 10:00 am: Anong Beam will share her experience of making paints from materials gathered on Manitoulin Island.

Thursday, December 10, 10:00 am: Shirley Madill, Director of the Kitchener/Waterloo Art Gallery, will discuss Anong Beam’s paintings in the context of contemporary Indigenous art.

EXHIBIT HOURS

Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 am–4:30 pm
Saturday, 12:00–4:30 pm

ADMISSION

For Anong Beam at Campbell House, the museum is pleased to make the exhibit accessible to a wide audience:

Walk-up visitors may submit a donation, at any level, through our donation box in the front hall or by a contactless credit card donation.
For visitors who wish to pre-register, admission is $5 purchased through the Campbell House Museum website.

Online Event Recordings:

This video was recorded on November 5, 2020 and includes an exhibit walk-through by guest curator, Elka Weinstein, followed by a question-and-answer period with the artist, Anong Migwans Beam.

Questions asked by the video conference audience:
How do you make your paints?
When you are making your own paints can you precisely match the colours – so a red you make in June will it be the same as the red you make in September?
What is your favourite piece currently on display?
Do you paint from life, photo, imagination etc?
How long did it take you to paint Deluge? It’s such a large scale, but with so much intriguing detail.
Deluge seems accessible to all ages. Do you think of the viewer?
What do you think of the Cadillac painting against the Campbell House wallpaper?
Can you explain the dye transfer process?