Join guest curator Michael Parke-Taylor as he discusses Bertram Brooker: a painter, graphic designer, art critic, writer, musician, and advertising executive. He gained notoriety on the Toronto cultural scene for his 1927 exhibition of his “world and spirit” paintings at the Arts and Letters Club. This exhibition is considered to be the first show of abstract art in Canada. After meeting Winnipeg artist Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald in 1929, Brooker underwent a period of transition during which he combined elements of abstraction and representation to achieve what he called a “plus quality over traditional realism.” Art historian Michael Parke-Taylor, who curated the exhibition, will take us through Brooker’s career as he toggled between abstract and figurative strategies to serve an overarching belief that the fusion of art and life, responding to mystical consciousness, would foster a global spiritual and cultural revolution.

Virtual Curatorial Talk Early Days, New Directions for Indigenous Art at the McMichael Sunday, January 21 | 3 pm The recent publication of Early Days, Indigenous Art from the McMichael signals the gallery’s commitment to center Indigenous voices in the curation and interpretation of Indigenous art in [...]

Acoustic Conversation: The Tom Thomson Guitar Celebrating the inter-generational dialogues of Canadian art. Friday, December 1 at 8 pm BUY TICKETS The Tom Thomson Guitar, the culmination of the McMichael’s 2017 Group of Seven Guitar Project, has finally entered the McMichael’s permanent collection. Created through an [...]

Exhibition Opening Talks Cobalt: A Mining Town and the Canadian Imagination & Moridja Kitenge Banza: Topographies Saturday, November 18 Speakers: Dr. Catharine Mastin and Moridja Kitenge Banza With John Geoghegan, Sarah Milroy Date & Time Saturday, November 18 from 1 to 3 pm [...]

Unapologetic: Championing Canadian Art in the World Canadians are infamous for apologizing – for everything, it seems. But they should never apologize for their art. Join McMichael Executive Director and North Star curator Ian Dejardin as he examines a handpicked selection of Canadian masterpieces and shares how he was inspired by the comment, [...]

Virtual Talk Some Scottish Roots in Canadian Art Tuesday, August 22 | 7 pm Did you know that Tom Thomson’s grandparents hailed from Aberdeenshire? Or that David Milne wore a kilt to school? Join our Edinburgh-born Executive Director Ian A.C. Dejardin as he explores the Scottish roots of some [...]

Shooting Stars Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra at the McMichael NEW DATE: Friday, November 24 at 8 pm TICKETS COMING SOON The history of the arts is liberally laced with the tales of practitioners whose lives and careers were cut unnaturally short. For today’s concert, we take [...]

Curatorial Talk Tom Thomson: North Star Sunday, June 25 | 2 pm at the McMichael Join McMichael Executive Director and North Star curator Ian Dejardin as he delves into the history and technique of Tom Thomson’s astonishing oil sketches, untangling fact from fiction. Gain a better understanding of the [...]

New Orleans Night at the McMichael Celebrate Mother’s Day New Orleans style with the smooth sounds of the Red Hot Ramble band, which blends traditional jazz, blues and funk. Join us at 5 pm for dinner at CABIN (prix-fixe menu available, not included with admission), followed by a concert [...]

Curatorial Talk The Uses of Enchantment: Art & Environmentalism Sunday, May 7 | 2 pm at the McMichael Please join us for a discussion of art’s role in the growing climate crisis, and the ways in which artworks open up a space for collective reckoning. Speakers: Sarah Milroy, Bill [...]

2023 Goldfarb Lecture in Visual Arts Presenting Meryl McMaster In partnership with the York University Department of Visual Art and Art History **New Date: Wednesday, March 1 at 5 PM Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been rescheduled to March 1 at 5 pm. If you have already [...]