From September 28 to October 1, the MacLaren Art Centre and its cultural partners in Barrie present Carnegie Days. This annual four-day festival of art and language offers great events for visitors of all ages. Special exhibitions, performances, talks and tours, readings, film screenings and workshops take place at the Gallery and at other downtown Barrie venues. Admission is free. This year’s festival theme is Translation: the translation of experience into expression as it shapes our sense of self.
Carnegie Days draws on the origins of the MacLaren Art Centre’s building as a 1917 Carnegie public library with activities that explore the role language plays in contemporary art. It also celebrates the legacy of Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who built over 2,500 public libraries in the English-speaking world.
Festival highlights include a live performance by musician Ray Dillard inspired by the current exhibition Jaime Angelopoulos: Act Naturally (September 28, 7:30 pm); an Art for Lunch talk by senior artist John Hartman on collecting historical photographs in conjunction with the show Collecting Canada: Selections from John Hartman’s Photography Collection (September 29, 12:15 pm); the public celebration and launch of the MacLaren’s revitalized sculpture garden (September 29, 1:30 pm); in conjunction with the MacLaren’s group exhibition Re-enact, a screening presented by the Barrie Film Festival of the film Seraphine, Seraphine by Krista Belle Stewart followed by a Q+A with this exhibiting Vancouver artist at the Uptown Theatre (September 29, 7 pm); Celebrate Being Canadian!, a story-time for families with books by Canadian authors at the Barrie Public Library Downtown Branch (September 30, 10 am); readings by Barrie actor Joy Thompson from the journals of Mary O’Brien, the mother of Shanty-Bay artist Lucius O’Brien (1832-1899) in conjunction with the exhibition Summer Sketches: Lucius O’Brien and Garett Walker (September 30, 1 pm); a reception for Self-Portrait, a faculty show by artists who teach MacLaren studio programmes with a Culture Days Open House (September 30, 2 to 4 pm); NFB film screenings of From Far Away by Shira Avni & Serene El-haj Daoud (Animation, 2000, 6 minutes) and Asthma Tech by Johnathan Ng (Animation, 2006, 7 minutes), (October 1, 12:30 pm); a Carnegie Days Mail Art Family Workshop led by regional artist Sean George (October 1, 1:30 pm); and performances by Simcoe Contemporary Dancers in Coding and Choreography (October 1, 2:30 pm).
For more information on the exhibitions, visit our website. For a full schedule of events, visit our website at www.maclarenart.com. For information, call 705-721-9696.
