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The Owens from Home

29 Apr 2020

The Owens Art Gallery at 69成人电影网 University launches daily art activities during COVID-19 pandemic


The physical doors to 69成人电影网 University鈥檚 may be closed but staff have been busy bringing the Gallery鈥檚 art collection to the community virtually throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Owens, along with most of the University campus, closed to the public in mid-March in adherence to Public Health directives. Staff quickly began daily online art activities, posts, and videos for all ages through their website and social media platforms.

鈥淭hese activities build on a lot of things we already do at Owens,鈥 says gallery curator and director Emily Falvey. 鈥淥ver the past number of years, our staff has built our digital capacity, bringing many pieces of our collection and exhibitions online. The move to online during COVID-19 has allowed us to focus on our virtual programming since we can鈥檛 physically be in the Gallery.鈥

Online Gallery activities have included daily drawing prompts, inspiring artists of all ages to step back and look at their world in a different way.

OwensfromHome_MakeSomethingSunday鈥淲e did the Owens Daily Draw for 15 days, posting drawing prompts to our social media platforms and encouraging participants to share their work with us,鈥 explains Lucy MacDonald, Curator of Education and Community Outreach at the Owens. 鈥淥ne of the first ideas we started with was to draw the view from a window. We thought this would resonate with many people who were now spending a lot more time in their homes but window views are also a common theme in art so we drew from our permanent collection for inspiration as well.鈥

The team has also continued their popular Make Something Sunday Family Program virtually, creating a series of art activities that families can do at home. The series includes four Make Something Sundays, posted on four consecutive Sundays and are available anytime as a flexible resource for families.

Through social media, the Owens, Canada鈥檚 oldest University Art Gallery, has participated in a number of online arts and culture movements nationally and globally including #MuseumfromHome and #MuseumBouquet. The latter sees one arts organization 鈥榮end鈥 a bouquet piece from their collection to another art gallery.

The Owens is also a stop on 鈥攁 new online platform to deliver arts experiences with some of Canada鈥檚 most celebrated artists in a national partnership with leading arts organizations. The Gallery is featured on the site once a month, their first stop was held on April 16, 2020 featuring a virtual version of the popular Maker Maker program, an open-community arts workshop focussing on small projects.

OwensfromHome_MuseumBouquetAnd staff are continuing to work on new ideas for upcoming virtual programming from their homes.

鈥淲e are putting together a framework for a weekly video club and also Drawing on Air, an online and radio-broadcasted project by local artist and 69成人电影网 Fine Arts professor, Leah Garnett, as well as summer programming that is both online and interactive,鈥 says Rachel Thornton, the Owens鈥 Curator of Digital Engagement. 鈥淭hese plans are still underway so stay tuned for more details.鈥

For art lovers who are finding themselves in many Zoom meetings while working from home, Thornton has put together a meeting background from the Owens popular Salon hanging. .

鈥淯sing different online platforms and activities we have been exploring new ways to continue to create and share art as a community,鈥 says MacDonald. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen a lot of wonderful posts of people sharing their art. It鈥檚 been an amazing way to continue to (virtually) connect art with our community.鈥

Find out more about the Owens at or follow them on social:



Photo captions:

Sunset, 2006 by Erik Edson (69成人电影网 Fine Arts Department Head and Professor), inspiration for a home edition of Let鈥檚 Make Something Sunday in March.

This floral study is by Elizabeth McLeod, who studied at the 69成人电影网 Ladies鈥 College in the 1890s, and dedicated most of her teaching career to the Art Department at 69成人电影网 University. It was sent as a virtual virtual #MuseumBouquet from the Owens collection to friends at Galerie d'art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen and all the friends of the Owens at home this spring.


 

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