Grade 9 to 12 Programs

Designed to reflect curriculum expectations, these programs encourage the development of students’ abilities to comprehend, negotiate, and derive meaning from visual information contained in works of art.

Fee: $8 per student with the required two-hour booking, $6 per student with a three-hour booking

A great overview of the McMichael collection and various genres of art. Landscapes, portraits and abstract art are examined, encouraging students to consider the meaning of these genres within specific cultural and historical contexts. The program includes an art-focused conversation about the impact of art on individuals and communities that draws out students’ personal response, interpretation, and ideas.

Using the McMichael’s rich and diverse art holdings, students explore art as an expression of personal experience and examine various cultural narratives of the past and present. Artworks exploring the legacy of colonialism in Canada, such as the residential-school system, slavery, and industrialization are among the topics discussed. Stories of resilience, pride, identity, and connection, encourage students to reflect on their own experiences, personal gifts, and community, contributing to a sense of belonging and reconciliation.

Fee: $16 per student

Choose any one-hour guided tour of a McMichael’s exhibition led by a McMichael Educator and enjoy a second hour where students are free to explore the gallery spaces and/or the grounds under your supervision.

Taking advantage of the spectacular gallery grounds adjacent to the Humber River Valley, also known as the Carrying Place Trail, these outdoor programs nurture connection to nature and promote environmental stewardship.

Fee: $8 per student with the required two-hour booking, $6 per student with a three-hour booking

Enjoy the McMichael’s natural setting in a one-of-a-kind outdoor learning experience. Visit historic landmarks such as the Humber River, Sculpture Garden and Minokamik Garden, explore the biodiverse greenspace and discover a wide range of outdoor art. Students will learn about the human impact on a changing landscape as they explore the Humber River Valley.

Art-in-Action Workshops offer students an opportunity to discuss artistic concepts and respond creatively with artmaking.

Fee: $16 per student or $12 per student when booked with additional programs

Workshops are divided as follows:

	In-Gallery
	In-Gallery / Outdoor
	Outdoor

Through guided viewing, students explore drawings, preparatory sketches and other works of art from the McMichael collection and learn about drawing as a foundational tool in making art and as a stand-alone medium. The program includes an in-gallery drawing workshop in which students use artist-grade pencils. Students are given a hands-on introduction to composition, the value scale, and various shading techniques concluding with an art critique

Drawing on the works of poets and writers featured in the McMichael collection, students will engage in a creative writing workshop reflecting on the aesthetic power of visual art and written words. They will begin the exploration of this connection through a guided visual analysis, using the elements and principles of art, and poetic devices as tools to aid their thinking. Discovering the written work of artists featured in the McMichael collection, such as J.E.H. Macdonald and Emily Carr, they will build connections to their words and the artwork around them. Taking inspiration from an artwork of their choosing, they will transform their thoughts and ideas into a final piece of poetry.

Before focusing on the en-plein air practice popularized in Canada by the Gorup of Seven, students will have an opportunity to explore various ways, in which artists respond to land, from western modernist landscape tradition to contemporary trends integrating abstract or conceptual approach. The program will conclude with an outdoor acrylic marker workshop. The workshop will include a discussion of vantage point, perspective and use of light and colour, as well as the final critique.

Weather sensitive program! Please dress appropriately depending on the season.

Fee: $18 per student

Choose any two-hour Art-in-Action program led by a McMichael Educator and enjoy a third hour where students are free to explore the gallery spaces and/or the grounds under your supervision.

Each McMichael Signature Studio is a two-hour, process-oriented workshop led by professional art instructors and developed in collaboration with established Canadian artists. The programs are designed to foster creativity, develop manual skills, and to position the artistic process as a tool for personal and collective expression.

Fee: $16 per student or $12 per student when booked with additional programs

Developed in collaboration with Haida artist and author Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, this studio explores the aesthetic and narrative function of the Haida formline in combination with popular manga cartooning techniques. Using a conceptual frame designed by Yahgulanaas specifically for this project and inspired by the artist’s creative process, students will work with watercolour and Manga markers to creatively respond to an important moment in their own lives and add their story to this collective storytelling project.

This thought-provoking studio was developed in collaboration with Métis artist Christi Belcourt. The importance of land and water is a recurring theme throughout Belcourt’s work and is emphasized in this program through discussion and creative response. Students are invited to contemplate the notion of environmental stewardship, culminating in a creative project that uses innovative printmaking techniques and natural inks. The workshop comes full circle with students producing a final piece of art that they can choose to offer back to Mother Earth.

Developed in collaboration with John Hartman—an Ontario-based artist known for his layered landscape paintings—this virtual watercolour studio invites students to investigate the notion of a cultural landscape and to create their own personal responses to the land while investigating its geography and history.

Each day, global warming pushes our world closer to climate disaster. Creativity and innovation have become necessary to finding a solution to climate change, and inspiring others to change their behaviors and attitudes when it comes to human-inflicted environmental damage. This mixed media Signature Studio, developed in collaboration with contemporary artist Rajni Perera, celebrates cultural hybridity and inclusivity and encourages students to collaborate with their peers, using their creativity to find solutions to the environmental crisis and envision a brighter future.

Do you ever think about the route you take to school, or the paths you follow daily to get where you need to go?During this thought-provoking mixed media Signature Studio developed in collaboration with contemporary artist Moridja Kitenge Banza, students areencouraged to reimagine and recreate their daily environments. Inspired by the mysterious topography of the palm of the hand, students identify the paths that link their own personal physical and imaginary spaces to map a highly personal topography.

Fee: $18 per student

Choose any two-hour Signature Studio program led by a McMichael Educator and enjoy a third hour where students are free to explore the gallery spaces and/or the grounds under your supervision.

These highly interactive virtual programs guide students through the process of looking at, analyzing and interpreting artworks featured in the Gallery’s permanent collection while learning about different styles of art and how they are created.

Fee: $10 per student

This virtual overview of Indigenous art at the McMichael highlights the cultural and stylistic diversity of Indigenous art in Canada and how the challenges experienced by Indigenous communities – including Canadian policies of cultural assimilation, the residential school system, and forced displacement – have been addressed by Indigenous artists past and present. The discussion will encourage students to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural resilience of Indigenous communities and illuminate the role of artists in advocating for civil and environmental rights.

More than one hundred years after its formation, the legacy of the Group of Seven and the work of Tom Thomson continue to influence Canadian art and artists. Students will discover some of the most iconic paintings produced by these groundbreaking artists and engage in debate about how their views of Canada can be understood and interpreted in the context of today.

This interactive virtual experience is based on images from the exhibitions A Like Vision: The Group of Seven at 100 and Tom Thomson: North Star.

These livestream virtual programs bring the McMichael’s special exhibitions right into the classroom. Students will have the opportunity to look closely at the artwork in the exhibition and engage in discussion about exhibition themes. For more information about what special exhibitions are on view, please inquire at the time of booking. Please note these tours are scheduled outside of gallery operating hours to provide an exclusive experience.