Curious about the value of your art?

Join Cowley Abbott art specialists Eryn Brobyn, Patrick Staheli, and Perry Tung for a personal art appraisal at the MacLaren. Specialists will provide auction valuations and accept consignments for upcoming sales.

• Appointments: 15 minutes in length
• Cost: $30 per ticket (max. 3 items), payable to MacLaren staff on the day of the event
• Booking: Appointments must be reserved directly through Cowley Abbott by emailing info@cowleyabbott.ca or calling 1-866-931-8415 (toll-free).

All proceeds from this event support the MacLaren Art Centre. Please note: appraisals will focus on visual art (painting, sculpture, and prints) rather than antiques or decorative arts items.

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Date: Sunday, August 24
Time: 2:30 – 4:00 pm
Location: The Carnegie Room
Cost: Free, Registration encouraged 

Join exhibiting artist Vicky Talwar for an intimate artist talk that explores the intersections of cultural identity, spirituality, and creative practice. Talwar reflects on her journey as a Hindu-Canadian artist, sharing how personal experiences, memory, and healing rituals shape her interdisciplinary work. Through stories behind her mandala installations, and mixed-media paintings, she reveals how inner dialogue becomes both her compass and creative source. This talk invites audiences to consider how art can serve as a meditative process of transformation, connection, and self-discovery. 

Vicky Talwar is an interdisciplinary artist who draws upon her personal experience as a Hindu Canadian to produce painting, mixed media, performance, and installation artworks. Talwar holds a BFA and MFA in Art, Media, & Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCADU), as well as a Bachelor of Education from York University. Talwar serves as an educator with the York Region District School Board and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in Toronto, Canmore, Los Angeles, New York, the United Kingdom, and more. In completing her MFA at OCADU, Talwar exhibited her solo thesis exhibition, Inward Identities, at Latcham Arts Centre. Vicky has had her solo exhibitions at Aurora Cultural Centre and Station Gallery. In 2017, she was awarded the Juror’s Award for the Annual Juried Exhibition by Latcham Art Centre. She has had a solo exhibition at Capital One Office in Toronto that was programmed by Demetriou Art Group and a solo exhibition at Robert Langen Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario. Most recently, one of Talwar’s paintings has been acquired for international display by Global Affairs Canada for their Visual Art Collection. Additionally, one of her paintings has been acquired by Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), Barrie ON, for their permanent collection. Her work is also at Capital One Office in Toronto.  

The post Inner Dialogues: Mapping My Path Through Art and Awareness appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.

In acknowledgement of Mental Health Awareness Month in May and Children’s Mental Health Week during the first week of May, the MacLaren Art Centre is excited to partner with New Path Youth and Family Services to host a workshop designed for Teachers, so they can create vibrant prints together! Guided by MacLaren Education Officer, Christina Mancuso, teachers will explore shapes and symbols—and incorporate the colour green— to create a three-colour stamped print that visually represents themes of growth, hope and transformation.

The artwork created will be part of a group exhibition in the PIE Education Centre at the MacLaren in May. All are welcome to celebrate at the opening reception for this exhibition on Saturday, May 3 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.

Please note: Teachers must register with their school email and indicate the school where they teach.

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Join us to delve into the artwork meaning and imagery of exhibiting artist Will Gorlitz, a representational painter who favours simple iconic subject matter that through strategic visualization of scale, composition, colour, and especially varied painterly brushwork, aims to attract the viewer’s attention and then ideally sustain it for a sufficient duration to activate imaginative reverie, metaphorical association, and critical thought.

Will Gorlitz has been working as a visual artist since the late 1970’s, while residing in Winnipeg, Halifax, Toronto, Prince Edward County, and currently in Guelph. Over this period, he has developed numerous thematically distinct bodies of work for exhibition at public and commercial galleries throughout Canada. His work has been chosen for inclusion in significant topical group exhibitions at public venues such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the MacLaren Art Centre, the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, and the Bienal de São Paulo, among others.  His work as a whole has also been acknowledged with critical overviews by solo survey exhibitions at venues including the Art Gallery of Ontario, 49th Parallel, Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Le Centre culturel canadien de Paris, the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.

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Immerse yourself in a quiet, winter afternoon of creating collagraphs with local artist Kim Brett. Discover how to layer and collage shapes to make paper collagraph plates. Watch them come to life with colour as you print them onto beautiful paper. Find your inspiration for this experimental process in wonder and the quiet resilience, adaptability, and hope that birds and small animals represent during the winter season.

The post Winter Wonders (Adults 18+) appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.

Join us for a preview of the Art Auction artworks and celebrate this year’s contributing artists! Enjoy light refreshments, a social hour with artists, and learn about select artworks.

For more information on MacLaren Art Centre’s 32nd Silent Art Auction, visit our webpage OFF THE HOOK Silent Art Auction.

The post Off the Hook: Sneak Peek with the Artists appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.

Celebrate the holidays and get creative with regional artist Mariya Blyznyuk. Blyznyuk will introduce adult participants to the art of Petrykivka, a decorative painting technique with roots in Ukrainian ornamental folk art. In this painting tradition, representations of festive flowers, leaves and berries make up the main design of the Petrekivska’s painting.

Mariya Blyzynuk will guide participants in the exploration of varied painting techniques using acrylic paint on a wooden bell, creating their own Petrykivka ornament to celebrate the winter season! Register early as spots are limited!

The post Petrykivka: Painted Wooden Bell Ornaments appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.

Join us for a curatorial tour with Noa Bronstein who will explore the artworks and exhibition themes of her guest curated exhibition Structural Integrity. Structural Integrity is generously supported by Salter Pilon Architecture.

The post Curatorial Talk with Noa Bronstein appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.

Uncover the vibrant downtown Barrie art scene on this guided tour with local artist Sheresha McIntyre ~ In partnership with UPlift Black.  Explore the recently installed installations from Barrie’s Seeds to Sow exhibition and embark on a detailed tour of UPlift Black's facility. Learn how they are encouraging the growth of skills within the BIPOC and 2SLGBTQI+ communities, building upon the rich history of arts and culture in Barrie. 

The tour will start with everyone meeting at The MacLaren Art Centre then we will make our way to the Barrie North Shore Trail Head to visit “We Are Atmosphere” by Lisa Hirmer, one of the many installations that is part of the Seeds to Sow exhibition along the Barrie waterfront and various downtown locations. The tour group will then be guided through the north side of downtown, stopping at the UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion along the way.  We will then head up to City Hall to visit “A New UFO?” by Adrian Blackwell, another Seeds to Sow installation.   

We will conclude this immersive experience tour back at the MacLaren where we will engage in a creative response collage and poetry activity in the Carnegie Gallery immersed in Derek Liddington’s Seeds to Sow installation, “Their horizon was mountain, their distance reveals”. 

Barrie boasts a vibrant and diverse cultural history that has shaped the city into the thriving community it is today. Join us as we uncover the "seeds" that have been sown and grown to make Barrie the rich and welcoming city it is. 

This program responds to the City of Barrie’s temporary public art exhibition, Seeds to Sow. The exhibition features six installations of site-specific artwork that will change Barrie's landscape from September 27 to November 8. The artworks draw on local ecologies, history, and stories. The act of planting a seed is a powerful symbol of hope and potential. It connects us to ongoing cycles of seasonality, an inheritance from our past and an intention for the future. 

The post Seeds of Barrie’s Past – Immersive Experience Tour & Creative Response (All Ages) appeared first on MacLaren Art Centre.