Browse Exhibits (18 total)

This exhibit covers the role of the mining trade in the creation of Northern Ontario culture. Looking at Timmins, Ontario, we can examine the variety of influences that mining companies have held in the creation of local cultures through the deep integration of the mining trade in these towns. Looking at aspects like architecture, art, and the landscape, this exhibit will show exactly how mining companies have integrated themselves, not only into people’s lives for work, but also into the way they live.  

I would like to acknowledge that this exhibit was created on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. The majority of the content of this exhibit also is featured on Treaty 9 territory, the traditional territory of Ojibway/Chippewa, Oji-Cree, Mushkegowuk (Cree), Algonquin. Colonialism is an important element to keep in mind for this project, especially as it intersects with capitalism in company towns. Steven High describes this in their book, One Job Town, as the following:  

“If you look at the communities in Northern Ontario – if you go right to Hearst, to Kap[uskasing], to Smooth Rock Falls, to Cochrane, to Timmins – you go all the way down the corridor. In each of the communities, they were colonized by the mill coming in and all of that. But the point of the mill was not to colonize. The point of the mill was to make money. It was part of the capitalist system. And the capitalist system, certainly, has a diminutive power on its principals, on the people, on the worker bees, but that is just how our society works. We are not egalitarian in any sense of the word. Nor should we even think that we ever were.”(1) 

Though I am not emphasizing or trying to tell a specifically indigenous narrative, this perspective is always present in the underlying theme of companies' colonial impact in Northern Ontario.

Bibliography

1. High, Steven C. One Job Town: Work, Belonging, and Betrayal in Northern Ontario. Toronto [Ontario]: University of Toronto Press, 2018.

Welcome to the exhibit “War Art is Worth a Thousand Histories”  

This exhibit reinterprets the classic saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” to display war art as being worth a thousand histories. Woven into each of the paintings featured in this exhibit are histories pertaining to the artists that created them, the individuals and materials depicted, the days and moments leading up to the event depicted, and the lifelong memories of war preserved years and decades afterwards.

This exhibit explores an important element of Canadian material history through a digital medium. Canadian World War I Art was created to preserve the Great War in Canadian memory and eternally honour those who served to protect our nation. This Omeka exhibit features 12 out of 1000 pieces of war art created as a result of the Canadian War Memorials Fund. 

Canada was the first allied country to establish a commission for war art at the beginning of WWI. As a result, talented Canadian artists dedicated their life's work to depicting the Canadian experience during WWI both on the battlefront and the homefront. This exhibit gathers a sample of Canada’s greatest WWI artworks and details the historical significance of each piece. Viewers can explore a variety of war art depicting both men and women on the Western Front and the Home Front.

The Western Front: 

In the first section, viewers can explore art depicting war at sea, war on the land, war in the air, and war from the perspective of horses. Within each of these categories, viewers will be presented with two unique pieces which were specifically chosen to compare and contrast the artistic and personal historical qualities of each artist as well as the historical significance embedded in each piece itself. 

Women at War:

This section intends to highlight the important and difficult roles that women played both on the home front and the battle front. Three paintings are featured in this section. Each painting pays tribute to either a female artist and/or women depicted in the paintings themselves. Female war artists faced much adversity during the early 20th century. Women breaking into the art industry faced many obstacles and were expected to paint only certain themes that conformed to societal standards. This section will demonstrate the ways in which brave female artists broke these barriers and found success.   

Ultimately, this exhibit will leave viewers with an enriched view and understanding of the historical significance of material history in the form of WWI Art.

A discussion of the White Paper/Red Paper Exchange and how this impacted the emergence of Indigenous political and legal activism on a national scale within Canada and an international scale in the United States and parts of Europe, between the late 1960s and early 1980s.

Welcome to the website dedicated to the University of Ottawa’s artist book collection! Here, you will be able to find all the information you need to understand what an artist book is, and what can be found in the University of Ottawa’s own special collection.

What is an artist book? Artist books are difficult to define because the concept of an artist book has evolved considerably over the years, which has led to a few self-conflicting characteristics and significant debate over what can be considered as an “artist book.”

According to the artist, art critic, and art theorist Johanna Drucker, an artist book is “any work of original art created in the book format." The Getty Research Institute adds to Drucker’s definition, and specifies that artist books include “commercial publications (usually in limited editions), as well as unique items formed or arranged by the artist.”

Drucker and the Getty Research Institute essentially define artist books as a medium, or the methods and materials used by artists to create artwork and express their ideas. As a medium, artist books have a different kind of agency than auction catalogues and textbooks on art, whose primary function is to convey information on pre-existing works. Instead, artist books are created to communicate a specific message, which can range from the development of their practice to a poignant social-political commentary.

In general, artist books follow the general book format and communicate their ideas with words and images on pages between two covers. However, like all artistic endeavours, there are exceptions to this rule, some of which can be found in the University of Ottawa’s collection. Like with other mediums, artists are relatively free in their choice of aesthetics (the materials and techniques used in the design and production of the book) and content (the themes, subjects and ideas communicated by the book).