To those of you who donated food to the potluck table – it was delicious. Thanks to FIS students, Laine and Meredith and Lesley and Margaret too for preparing and presenting the food with such flare! A special thanks to the committee members: Margaret, Tammy, Laine, Meredith and Lynda. Teamwork made it possible! Last but not least thanks to all our members, associates and invited guests for coming out on such a cold evening and making the auction a success.  You helped us raise almost $1000.00 (after expenses).

We were in touch with a number of librarians, colleagues and library students from Ontario and Toronto and were pleased to welcome them to this annual gathering. Our membership committee will be keeping in touch and committee chair, Tammy Moorse will be looking for members to help in this endeavour. 

For a look back at the evening click here.

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Raffle!      Silent Auction!     50/50 Draw!

Mid-Winter Gathering & Fund Raiser

Raffle Tickets – 5 for $10.00 

Have a look at some of the prizes to be won.

Pendants were created by Margaret English, inspired by Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer's abstract figures for the 1922 Triadic Ballet. Composed of various elements such as spools, hand made wooeden beads, vintage German lucite, freshwater pearls, sterling silver. Beaded bracelets also handcrafted by Margaret English.  Painting is by Lesley Bell and the was scarf hand knitted by Tammy Moorse.

Contemporary photography publications donated by  GALLERY 44 and a donation worth $375.00 from ART METROPOLE.

One of our newest members Meredith Ferguson has  donated from the Curnoe family, 2 Greg Curnoe bicycle watercolour posters and a copy his book "Deeds/Abstracts : the History of a London" Lot. 

Many thanks to everyone for their generous donations.

Evening’s Agenda 

6:00 pm

• registration, raffle tickets go on sale, silent auction begins, hors d’oeuvres

6:30 pm 

• Welcome by Daina Leja of HOK and Lesley Bell of ARLIS/NA Ontario
• presentation by Sandra Lester, Interior Designer, Sustainable Design Group
• tours of Materials Library & HOK’s “LEED Gold Accredited energy efficient office renovation”

7:30 –9:00 pm

• hors d’oeuvres, raffles, 50/50 draw, silent auction

• “designing dessert”
• Draws begins at 7:45 so stick around for your winnings!

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“Mid-Winter Gathering & Fundraiser”

 hosted by

HOK Architects  

 Wednesday February 27th

              6:00pm-9:00pm           

at   

720 King Street West, Toronto 

This year’s gathering will feature a special presentation by the staff of HOK Architects on sustainable design and a tour of their fabulous new space including the design materials library. Learn more about HOK www.hok.com or the event at www.hokevents.com.

Food and fundraising are also on the agenda with some new and interesting prizes in store to help raise funds for the travel awards and other initiatives. 

Although space is limited we are opening the event to non-members in the art, library and design community, those interested in environmentally responsible design as well as to colleagues who are considering membership in ARLIS/NA Ontario. The event is by invitation only and you must respond to your email invitation to be included on the list.

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OCTOBER 2007

Art and Books Featured at Fall Meeting

Thanks to all of you who travelled to McMaster University in  Hamilton for our fall meeting. A special thanks to vice-chair, Lesley Bell, who organized a full and enriching day of tours and talks. It’s always a little more daunting when the planning is not around your own institution.

Student Centre, McMaster University                                    Kalan and her display with Margaret and our raffle

As we gathered in the student centre enjoying the delicious scones and coffee, Margaret ran the 50/50 draw and Kalan, our student rep was on hand to show the display she recently designed for the student lunch at UofT FIS. Congratulations to Margaret who was the winner of the draw and good for us, as $60.00 was added to the chapter coffers.

Marilyn, Canadian Rep                                                           Daina and Donald of  HOK Architects

We welcomed a few new members and a guest visitor, Donna Thomson, the Fine Art Librarian at McMaster. Thank you to Michele for passing along her name. Our Canadian Rep, Marilyn Nasserden also joined us from Calgary with the latest from ARLIS/NA including news about Canadian Representation on the board, French translation, and the possibility of a meeting of Canadian chapters in Quebec in August.

 Donna, the Fine Art Librarian at McMaster leads members across campus

The 2008 executive was voted in and I would like to welcome Margaret English as the vice-chair and Tammy Moorse as treasurer. Randall Speller will continue as our secretary. Thank you all for stepping forward. A number of changes to committee structure were agreed to at the meeting. This should help share some of the tasks – “many hands make light work” so please lend a hand where you can.

Some issues required some background information and this was true for the discussions around the proposal for the Ontario chapter to host the 2012 Conference. The conference steering committee of Karen, Jill and Margaret emailed 2 documents to the membership previous to the meeting, allowing for informed discussion and the decision that an email vote would take place following the meeting. This should happen within the next few weeks.

Last but not least, Barb Duff of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa informed us of the cancellation of the Exhibition Transportation Service by Canadian Heritage. She requested that we take action on this matter and since the meeting, Barb outlined the details of the issue and drafted of a letter that you have all received by email. Please make the letter your own and forward it to your MP. Thanks Barb for alerting us to this issue and helping us to perhaps make a difference. http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/services/exhibit_e.aspx 

Please take a look at the minutes for some of the decisions that were taken and upcoming activities being planned. If you have not received the minutes please contact janet_muise@cbc.ca

Behind-the-scenes Tour

 Following lunch at the East West restaurant we made our way across the lovely campus to McMaster University Art Gallery for a behind the scenes tour including the Paper Centre where the art on paper is stored. There was much discussion as we viewed a display that included works by Schiele, Picasso and Matisse.

                      Lesley introduces our host at the McMaster Univeristy Art Gallery

We moved to the main gallery space to view the group show titled Quantal Strife” and a photographic exhibition of moving works about Afghan journalists, writers, filmmakers, activists and photographers. The range of works within the 2 rooms was stunning. Overhearing a young student comment on a very early painting on display, it was apparent what an asset the gallery is to all students of the university.

On to the archives of the Mills Memorial Library, where medieval scholar Dr. Kathleen Garay, treated us to a gripping presentation printed books and manuscripts from the collection. It was a privilege to experience these books up close and personal with a teacher so profoundly knowledgeable and passionate about her subject matter.

  Dr. Garay                                                                 Dr. Garay and  Dr.  Spadoni

The afternoon concluded with yet another truly impassioned talk by archivist and research collections Librarian, Dr. Carl Spadoni who assembled an array of materials from the Bertrand Russell Archive. The range of material was as broad and fascinating as the life of the man himself. What a treasure to behold.

                                             In the Bertrand Russell Archive at the Mills Memorial Library

Following the meeting we made our way to the east end of downtown Hamilton to conclude the day with dinner and conversation.

Plans for the “Mid-winter” fundraiser took shape and details will be made available soon. With a concerted effort we can plan a fun and interesting evening. Please consider lending your talents.

All the best to the members of the 2008 executive.

Janet Muise, Chair

ARLIS/NA Ontario Chapter

Greetings from the Chair, Fall 2007

 Hello to our members, visitors and a to the UofT FIS students who may be tuning in to our website for the first time.

Although most of us have been able to include holiday time over the summer, some of our members have also been busy making preparations for the upcoming fall 2007 season and I would like to thank them for their time and efforts.

Lesley Bell, our vice-chair and soon to be chair, has made a valiant effort in organizing our fall meeting to take place on Friday October 12th at McMaster University. The tours involved should interest both art librarians and archivists, so be sure and have look.

Kalan Greenwood, our student rep, has been organizing for the University of Toronto - FIS (Faculty of Information Studies) “Meet the FIS Clubs and Associations Lunch.” The event will take place on Friday, September 7th where she and fellow student Shanna Saltzberg will represent ARLIS/NA Ontario to FIS students. Kalan began the summer with a fabulous draft of a brochure and it is now available to students and to the school. Kalan has also designed the display for this event.

Thanks Kalan, it’s been a pleasure working with you and your team on this project. We look forward to hearing more about this outreach endeavour and to meeting some of the students who may decide to join us.

Our new bookmark will direct prospective members to our website and will also be available for the FIS lunch. If you know of someone who might be interested in being a part of ARLIS/NA Ontario, you might consider sending a brochure or passing along a bookmark

Stay tuned for more about some of the issues that we will be discussing in the near future and for an update from Lesley Bell about our fall meeting.  Enjoy the busy and challenging weeks ahead.

All the best,
Janet Muise
Chair, ARLIS/NA Ontario

Jill Patrick and I recently attended the lunch time lecture titled “Possible Worlds: Designing for Shakespeare” given by Prof. Pat Flood, that focused on her contribution to the exhibition titled Shakespeare – Made in Canada: Contemporary Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare in Theatre, Pop Media and Visual Arts at the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre. It was also an interesting primer on the history of Canadian theatre design.

Prof. Pat Flood

This was only one event in the 4 month long “Shakespeare – Made in Canada” Festival held in Guelph and Wellington County, that included theatrical productions, concerts, lectures on everything Shakespeare.  Sleeman even brewed the “Bard’s Beer” for the occasion, all proceeds going to the Festival.

The exhibit centres around the Canadian owned “Sanders” portrait of Shakespeare and was initiated by professor Daniel Fischlin of Guelph University who is also the director of CASP – Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project. This project has created “the largest and most complete website in the world dedicated to showing Shakespeare’s cultural influence on a nation”. The festival ends at the end of May so if you missed the exhibition be sure to see the catalogue if you haven’t already purchased it for your library.

Michael Hall with Jill Patrick

McLaughlin Library

We took advantage of our time at Guelph University to visit librarians and archivists in a number of locations, including the McLaughlin Library where we caught up with a one of the founding members of ARLIS/NA Ontario, Pat Eaves-Brown who is now the Academic Liaison Librarian Fine Art, Music, Landscape Architecture. Pat completed an MFA at Concordia after obtaining her MLS at Toronto and is an accomplished painter in her spare time. Examples of her work can be seen at http://www.art-in-guelph.com/Pages/PatEavesBrown.html

We started our tour with Michael Hall, the slide librarian at SOFAM, the School of Fine Arts and Music who has overseen the Gordon Couling Slide Collection for almost 20 years and is now preparing to digitize the collection. He seemed pleased to share thoughts about the considerations and process with Jill (who has since given his contact information to Eric Schwab, OCAD’s Manager of AV & Imaging Services, so he can follow-up). We came away from the meeting with a renewed commitment to ARLIS/NA Ontario as a collegial group that can help professional librarians and visual resources curators to deal with growth and change.  

Lorne Bruce

L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives

Lorne Bruce and Lynn Campbell were kind enough to include us on a tour of the library’s Special Collections and Archives with the members of the Shakespeare Globe Centre of Canada. This included a close-up look at the L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives, which has become the “largest collection devoted to professional Canadian theatre and Shaw related materials in Canada.” Mr. Bruce was familiar with our own culinary expert, Mary Williamson because of the Culinary Collection held in the Archives.

It was a beautiful sunny day and ideal to be strolling through the lovely grounds of the university. Many thanks to our host librarians at Guelph for their hospitality on such short notice.

If your institution or any other is hosting a public event, an exhibition or workshop, after hours or weekends included, and you think it may be of interest, consider notifying your colleagues from ARLIS/NA Ontario by contacting me in advance.

Pat Eaves-Brown and Janet Muise

Chair and Vice Chair in home territory overlooking the peninsula