Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and McMichael Partnership Programs
The Kortright Centre for Conservation, part of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection have a longstanding history of collaboration, leveraging our geographical proximity and shared vision to create impactful programs and experiences for our visitors. Over the years, the TRCA and McMichael have delivered educational initiatives that intertwine art, environmental education, and climate change awareness.
Based on TRCA’s environmental expertise and McMichael’s art education programming, this partnership initiative offers students a unique learning experience combining land-based learning with artmaking and art appreciation activities.
Teachers will be able to choose between two programming streams:
Nature’s Canvas: A Journey through Art and Exploration
Grade 1 to 5 offered at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Location:
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 10365 Islington Ave., Kleinburg, Ontario
Program Length:
3 hours of instruction plus 30-minute lunch break
Fee:
$430/class of up to 30 students
Capacity:
Two classes per day
Offered:
All year-round
In this two-part program, students will experience and discuss what it means to create an artwork “en plein air,” beginning with close observation of landscape paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries from the McMichael’s permanent collection. Students will then explore the Gallery’s grounds to experience the challenges that artists encounter when working outdoors. This workshop includes a discussion of vantage points, landscape composition, and the relationship between light and colour.
Later on in the day, staff from the Kortright Centre for Conservation will lead students on a journey of discovery, examining the flora and fauna of the Humber River Valley through games and hands-on activities.
Creating Tomorrow: Exploring Art, Nature, and Climate Change
Grade 6 to 12 at The Kortright Centre of Conservation, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Location:
Kortright Centre for Conservation, 9550 Pine Valley Drive, Woodbridge, Ontario
Program Length:
4 hours of instruction plus 30-minute lunch break
Fee:
$540/class of up to 30 students
Capacity:
Two classes per day
Offered:
All year-round
In this two-part program, students will discover the progress made through sustainability initiatives and will have the opportunity to conduct experiments and participate in demonstrations related to renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy. During the program, numerous activities involving energy innovations and mitigation of climate change impacts will allow students to broaden their understanding of environmental solutions. The final activity will allow students to apply their knowledge to create and propose their own climate change innovations.
Later in the day, students will explore the works of artist Rajni Perera. Environmental causes are particularly close to the artist’s heart, and she believes that creativity and innovation are necessary to change people’s behaviors and attitudes when it comes to environmentalism. While celebrating cultural hybridity and inclusivity, this mixed media studio encourages students to collaborate with their peers and creatively use their imagination to find practical and/or magical solutions to the current environmental crisis that would secure a brighter future for their generation.
The McMichael has collaborated closely with artist Rajni Perera to create a new Signature Studio: Envisioning Environmental Futures. One of Canada’s most promising contemporary multimedia artists, Perera is known for innovative experimentation with mediums as varied as painting, sculpture, and photography to express her vision of imagined futures in which mutated subjects survive within dystopian realms created by the collapse of social, political, and environmental structures.
The Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP) at Kortright Centre for Conservation is a TRCA-led initiative that fosters broader implementation of technologies that protect water resources and reduce carbon footprints.
In this two-part program, students will discover the progress made through sustainability initiatives and will have the opportunity to conduct experiments and participate in demonstrations related to renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy. During the program, numerous activities involving energy innovations and mitigation of climate change impacts will allow students to broaden their understanding of environmental solutions. The final activity will allow students to apply their knowledge to create and propose their own climate change innovations.
Later in the day, students will explore the works of artist Rajni Perera. Environmental causes are particularly close to the artist’s heart, and she believes that creativity and innovation are necessary to change people’s behaviors and attitudes when it comes to environmentalism. While celebrating cultural hybridity and inclusivity, this mixed media studio encourages students to collaborate with their peers and creatively use their imagination to find practical and/or magical solutions to the current environmental crisis that would secure a brighter future for their generation.
The McMichael has collaborated closely with artist Rajni Perera to create a new Signature Studio: Envisioning Environmental Futures. One of Canada’s most promising contemporary multimedia artists, Perera is known for innovative experimentation with mediums as varied as painting, sculpture, and photography to express her vision of imagined futures in which mutated subjects survive within dystopian realms created by the collapse of social, political, and environmental structures.
The Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP) at Kortright Centre for Conservation is a TRCA-led initiative that fosters broader implementation of technologies that protect water resources and reduce carbon footprints.
