Past Events
Thanks for your support! The Battle of the Bands is SOLD OUT!
The Carnegie Room
6:30 pm to close
Drawing on musical talent from both the financial services and medical professions, the featured bands for the sixth annual Battle of the Bay Street Bands at the MacLaren include: The Bailouts, Code Blue, The Coalition, Fistful of Blues, Hired Organs and Hello Cleveland. It's one of the most celebrated live musical events of the year!
In its first five years, The Battle of the Bay Street Bands raised $140,000 to directly benefit the the MacLaren and Royal Victoria Hospital. Proceeds from the 2010 event,...
Café Culture Artist Talk
Thursday, March 4
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Please join us on Thursday, March 4 at 7 pm in the Janice Laking Gallery for a talk and tour of DaDa Delirium by Toronto artist Janet Jones. In this series of recent paintings, Jones probes our fascination with the future. Her process begins with taking black and white photographs of sterile public spaces, such as the lobbies of multinational corporations and underground passages. Each image is observed, recorded, transmitted, digitalized, and frozen as if projected onto a screen. The absence of brushstrokes contributes to the apparent flatness of these paintings. As psychological impressions of the urban environment, Jones’ imagery represents places...
Family Sundays Workshop with Meghan Thorpe
1:30 to 3:00 pm
Come join us for a fun-filled Holiday-themed activity and create your own Marble glass ball ornaments. Perfect decoration for a window or tree!
Hot chocolate and cookies will be served.
December 3, 7 to 9 pm
All Galleries
Join us for the opening reception of our Winter Exhibitions, Frances Thomas: but wait, Karilee Fuglem: Wild History and Rick Nixon: Life Through Aliens
Lectures by artists Frances Thomas and Karilee Fuglem
Rotary Education Centre, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Frances Thomas was born in Parry Sound, Ontario in 1949. In 1992, she enrolled in the Fine Art programme at York University, Toronto, completing a BFA in 1998. Subsequently, she participated in residencies at Pouch Cove, Newfoundland and Triangle Arts in Brooklyn, New York. Thomas currently lives and works in Barrie, Ontario, and is represented by Peter Robertson Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta. Frances Thomas has exhibited in Edmonton, Barrie, Toronto and New York. but wait comprises a body of recent paintings by the artist in her first solo exhibition in a public art gallery.
Originally from British Columbia, Karilee Fuglem has lived in Montreal since...
7:00 to 9:00 pm
The Carnegie Room
Just in time for the season of giving, the MacLaren’s annual Jewellery/Fashion Show features work by many of the best jewellery artists and fashion designers in the region. On the evening of November 26, from 7 to 9 pm, meet some of the artists whose works are featured in the MacLaren Gallery Shop, talk with them about their art practices, and discuss current and future trends in jewellery fashions. Guests will be able to select their favourite pieces to try on from models wearing a variety of necklaces, pendants, bracelets and bangles.
Featured artists include: goldsmith Mary Profitt (Barrie) whose works sell through art jewellery galleries across Canada; Liz Kain (Toronto) whose sterling silver jewellery is...
MacLaren Rotary Education Centre, 12:30 to 1:00 pm
Please bring your lunch and join us on Monday, November 23, in the Rotary Education Centre at 12:30 for a lunch-time talk by Jewellery Artist Michael Smiley.
Michael Smiley has been a resident of Barrie since childhood. He has spent more than 20 years in the jewellery field. Always trying to view things from a less conventional perspective, design has become a very important part of Michael's life. His experimentation in different artistic endeavors, which include figure drawing, painting, and sculpture have helped him to broaden his design in the jewellery he creates. Whatever the project at hand, the quality of design and the attention to details are always of the highest priority.
Michael...
7:00 to 11:00 pm
All galleries
This silent auction, now in its nineteenth year, features over one hundred works of art by established and emerging artists from across the region, including: Sara Angelucci, Ian Carr-Harris, Stephen Cruise, Cathy Daley, Niall Donaghy, Gary Evans, Ted Fullerton, Will Gorlitz, John Hartman, Katharine Harvey, Andrew Harwood, April Hickox, Mara Korkola, John Lennard, Patrick Mahon, Virginia Mak, Robert Marchessault, chum mcleod, Charles Meanwell, Leah Modigliani, Stu Oxley, Ed Pien, Liss Platt, Alan Stein, Amy Switzer, Monica Tap, Regina Williams, Olexander Wlasenko and many others. A preview of the artwork in the auction takes place at the MacLaren from November 7 to November 13.
In addition to the silent auction, the...
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The MacLarenArtCentre, and its Teen Advisory Council, are hosting the second annual Halloween-themed Coffeehouse in the Rotary Education Centre from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. The event includes multimedia displays, live music, readings and visual arts displays as well as a costume contest and door prizes. Last year’s Coffeehouse was highly successful, drawing in over 100 youth attendees.
The Teen Advisory Council assists the MacLarenArtCentre in the development of creative youth projects, events and exhibitions. This youth driven event hosted by the MacLaren brings together young artists and musicians giving them a venue to showcase their talents. This year's line-up is as follows (click the link to be directed to band's MySpace page):
6:15: Christopher Wilson (acoustic...
1:30 to 3 pm
Be ready for Halloween with your own silk-screened treat bags!
Print with a variety of Halloween colours and glow-in-the-dark paint.
Face-painting will be available. Hot chocolate will be served.
Illustrated lecture by Sascha Hastings, Curator of Logotopia
Rotary Education Centre, 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Sascha Hastings is the curator of "Logotopia: The Library in Architecture, Art and the Imagination". She currently works as a regular contributing producer on CBC Radio's "Writers & Company" and "The Next Chapter". Sascha has degrees from the University of Toronto and Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany, where she spent lots of time in libraries. Her illustrated lecture will be a trip through a wide range of libraries - Canadian and international, real and imaginary.
New Annual Arts Festival in Barrie
Organized by the MacLarenArtCentre
A four day arts festival for adults and families that draws on the origin of the MacLarenArtCentre’s building as a public library and celebrates the Andrew Carnegie legacy, presented in conjunction with Doors Open Barrie, September 20
Festival Exhibitions: September 17 to 20
Logotopia: The Library in Architecture, Art and the Imagination
Guest Curator: Sascha Hastings
Organized and circulated by Cambridge Galleries
Janice Laking Gallery, MacLarenArtCentre
Logotopia (from the Ancient Greek logos, meaning “word”, and topos, meaning “place”) presents a range of library...
MacLaren Legacy Dinner, Friday, September 18, 2009, 6:30 to 10:30 pm
On September 18, the MacLarenArtCentre is holding a special fund raising event, the MacLaren Legacy Dinner, which promises to be an evening of outstanding dining and discussion on creative cities, the design of cultural centres and their role in the revitalization of city centres. The evening begins with a champagne reception and scotch tasting at 6:30 pm, followed by a presentation by guest speaker Professor Eric Haldenby, Director of the University of the Waterloo School of Architecture, dinner catered by the talented chefs from Oscar’s, Cravings and The North Restaurant, and a live auction. This VIP event also includes a special tribute to our founder and namesake, Maurice...
