Upcoming events at the VAC
The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington provides exciting local, regional, and national contemporary art exhibitions from emerging, mid-career and established artists. We are involved in a number of community oriented events in the Clarington region. Our Artist Talk series consists of Curator Sandy Saad in conversation with the featured artists in our exhibition program.
2019 Events Calendar
November 2019
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Friday, November 15, 6 pm - 8 pmOpening Reception:
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Past Events at the VAC
January 2019
Sunday, January 20, 2 - 4 pm
Opening Reception: Jane EcclesJoin us for the opening reception of In These Threads, an exhibition by artist Jane Eccles. Exhibition continues until March 17, 2019.
Image credit: Jane Eccles - Margaret's Dress, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”. Photo by Jane Eccles. |
Sunday, January 20, 2 - 4 pm
Opening Reception: Ron BennerJoin us for the opening reception of The Loft Gallery Commission, an installation by artist Ron Benner. Installation continues until November 20, 2019.
Image credit: Ron Benner - Trans/mission: Meeting Room, installed at Robert Langen Art Gallery, Laurier University, Sept. 2017. Photo by Scott Lee. |
February 2019
Mayor's Gala - For the Love of Art
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Saturday, February 23, 2019
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March 2019
Saturday, March 9, 11 am - 4 pm |
Friday, March 22, 6 pm - 8 pm |
In These Threads: Exhibition ProgrammingStorytelling by Jane Eccles and a musical performance by Anne Walker
Saturday, March 9, 11 AM - 4 PM The day after International Women's Day, the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (VAC) and Clarington Museum and Archives will host a collaborative program that highlights women's stories from Clarington and beyond. In conjunction with the VAC Exhibition In These Threads, the day will start with a performative reading by artist, Jane Eccles narrating the stories of the women behind her dress paintings. Participants will then be invited to a musical performance by local singer-songwriter Anne Walker at the Clarington Museums and Archives. Walker’s music captures the spirit of rural Ontario life and the local women who were the backbone of it. Schedule: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM - Performative reading by Jane Eccles. Refreshments will be provided. 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Musical performance by local folk musician and songwriter, Anne Walker. |
Art from the High Schools: Pizza Party ReceptionIt's a Pizza Party!!! Join us for the opening reception for the Art From the High Schools Show to celebrate work produced by our local youth. Enjoy some great conversation, great art and great food courtesy of Square Boy Pizza.
The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington is committed to fostering youth cultural engagement and creating a space for young people to have a voice and become active community members. By providing opportunities for local youth to participate in exhibitions, volunteer, and win bursaries, we hope to support artistic growth, active citizenship, social and employment skill development, and overall well-being. |
May 2019
Sunday, May 5, 2 - 4 pm
Sameer FarooqJoin us for the opening reception of Boop Museum, an installation by artist Sameer Farooq. Exhibition continues until July 5, 2019.
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Wednesday, May 15, 6.30 pm
VAC Annual Members MeetingOur Annual Members Meeting will be taking place on Wednesday May 15, 2019 at the VAC. We encourage VAC all members to attend as it’s the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the VAC community and staff.
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July 2019
Friday, July 5, 4pm
BOOP Museum LootingChildren between the ages of 4 - 10 are invited to loot BOOP Museum.
BOOP Museum is a fictional museum filled with dolls of various shapes, sizes and colours purpose-built to be accessible to children. Artist Sameer Farooq created the museum as a participatory space that provokes us to think about how our relationships with objects change as they transition out of the museum space. In order to do this, we need the help of our local children. Looting Rules In order to qualify as a looter, you must be a child between the ages of 4 - 10 years old, who is willing to plunder our museum. The looting will start at 4:00 pm sharp. Sign up your child to loot BOOP Museum here. |
Friday, July 19, 5.00 pm - 7:30 pm
Ron Benner's Corn RoastThe Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (VAC) is pleased to host a free public Corn Roast with Loft Gallery Commissioned artist, Ron Benner. Come out and enjoy some fresh corn cooked and barley soup prepared by the artist himself!
Ron Benner will be joined by London, Ontario based singer-songwriter Frank Ridsdale, who will entertain us with his music including a new song written for the event. Event details Location: Visual Arts Centre of Clarington Gardens Cost: FREE |
Friday, July 19 , 6 pm - 8 pm
Opening Reception: VAC 39th Annual Juried Art ShowJoin us for the opening reception of our VAC 39th Annual Juried Art Show on Friday, July 19 from 6 pm - 8 pm.
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August 2019
Wednesday, August 14, 7.30 pm
Bard’s Bus Tour: A Midsummer Night’s DreamA Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, adapted by Kevin Fox, Tom Lillington and D. Jeremy Smith.
This summer, Driftwood Theatre celebrates 25 years of The Bard’s Bus Tour by revisiting Shakespeare’s most magical, musical story. Four lovers and one band of hapless mechanicals wander into the forest of Arden one fateful night, only to have their lives forever changed by the denizens of the faery realm. A magical adventure of musical proportions, Driftwood Theatre’s A (musical) Midsummer Night’s Dream is sure to delight the hearts of audiences of all ages. Cost: Pay What You Can (PWYC), suggested donation $20 pp. |
Saturday, August 24, 10 - 4 pm
Kids Outdoor Art FestivalNow in its 8th year, the Kids Outdoor Art Festival (previously Picasso’s Picnic) is an annual youth art festival produced by the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. The festival brings together kids and youth of all ages, families, professional artists and local businesses for a day of celebration and support of our young community artists. The KOAF offers a wide range of art workshops, make-and-take activities, a youth art market, live performances, workshops, and local food.
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September 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2 pm - 4 pm |
Opening Reception:
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Clarington Outdoor Art Festival 2019Clarington Outdoor Art Festival (COAF) is an outdoor arts festival. Now in its second year, COAF will feature fine art, local food, family-friendly activities and more! COAF serves three purposes: To celebrate the national Culture Days; to show appreciation for the local art community by providing a platform to exhibit and sell art; to bring the community together for a weekend of learning and discovery.
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September 29, 1 pm - 3 pm
Culture Days: Collaborative Journeys workshopIn conjunction with the Clarington Outdoor Art Festival, families and community members are invited to create collaborative works of art in a workshop led by Z’otz* Collective. Using an art-making method by which a compilation of words or images is collectively assembled, each collaborator will add to a composition in a sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. When the pieces are complete, groups will work together to develop titles and narratives for them.
Workshops will take place in the drawing and painting studio every half hour: 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 PM |
October 2019
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VAC Volunteer EventSaturday, October 26, (9:30 am to 5:00 pm)
The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington is working with the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) for an upcoming art installation to explore critical questions around human relationships with invasive species, specifically phragmites (European common reed). The project, led by artist, Cole Swanson, will result in the removal of phragmites from a region in Thickson Woods Land Trust in order to reduce their impact on the region and use the material to create an immersive sculpture. What are Phragmites? Invasive Phragmites (European Common Reed) is a perennial grass that spreads quickly and out-competes native species for water and nutrients. Phragmites grows in thick monocultures where few, if any, other plants can establish or survive. This plant has been damaging ecosystems in Ontario for decades. Why We Need You: On Saturday, October 26, we will need a team of volunteers to help collect, transport, and bundle Phragmites in order to help eliminate their growth from the region and to collect the common reed for the construction of an art installation at the VAC. |
November 2019
mage credits: (top) Ron Benner, Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize, installed in the Loft Gallery of the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, 2019. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid. Image bottom left: David Bobier, Transcommunicator I & II, mixed-media installation, 4’ x 4’ x 2’, 2019 installed at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Image bottom right: Laura Peturson, Wasteland/Wanderland, installed at the Station Gallery, Whitby, 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
Saturday, November 2, 11 am - 4 pm
FREE Contemporary Art Bus Tour
Station Gallery, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington
Spend Saturday afternoon exploring the exhibitions in Durham Region’s public art galleries. The bus will pick up participants on Saturday, November 2 at 11 am from 401 Richmond St West, Toronto, then depart for the Station Gallery (Whitby, ON), Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON), and the Visual Art Centre of Clarington (Bowmanville, ON).
To RSVP, please email Desaree Rosskopf at education-intern@vac.ca or call 905-623-5831 ext. 0, by Friday, November 1 at 4pm. Please contact us for any questions about accessibility accommodations.
Exhibitions on view
Visual Art Centre of Clarington
Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize | 20 Jan to 17 Nov 2019
The Visual Art Centre of Clarington (VAC) operates out of a 1905 historic barley mill that once operated 24 hours a day. In the 1950s the mill closed its doors, and after functioning as a drop-in centre, it was repurposed into the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington in 1976. The VAC houses multiple working and exhibition spaces including a Loft Gallery. This attic space includes many features that offer clues to the building's long history. 2019 marks the first time the VAC invites an artist to create an annual site-specific installation in the Loft Gallery that responds to the VAC’s site and history. Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize is Ron Benner’s mixed-media installation in response to the mill as a producer of barley. Benner has devoted his artistic career to researching the economics of food and the impacts of contemporary industrialized food systems. His installations often offer visual accounts of his extensive investigation to trace back the root origin of our food and finding its migration rooted in colonialism and imperialism.
Visual Art Centre of Clarington
Waiting Outside Of My Hand | 8 Sept to 3 Nov 2019
Waiting Outside of My Hand explores Z’otz* Collective’s newest form of storytelling through the niche. A niche may be thought of as a recess or shadow box, to contain elements within a larger configuration. Using this as a point of departure, Z’otz* Collective produces contemporary niches in the form of boxes varying in size and strategically placed within a site-specific mural. Each niche serves as a container of juxtaposed items that together suggest a narrative, forming an interconnected network of stories. Comprised of Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, and Ilyana Martínez, Z’otz* Collective have produced drawings, paintings, sculptures, and large scale murals since 2004. The exhibition also includes the collective’s works on paper and sculptures.
Station Gallery
Wasteland/Wanderland | 19 Oct to 8 Dec 2019
Wasteland/Wanderland is an immersive installation comprised of woodcut and linocut prints adhered to the gallery walls that depict children as the explorers of a beautiful, yet dystopian setting. Navigating a tangled landscape filled with genetically modified and invasive species, the figures are presented as both tenacious and vulnerable. Drawing upon archetypes from children’s literature, this narrative installation captures an experience of childhood as it relates to place: Place as geography, place within a family structure, and the interiority that forms one’s sense of identity.
Vessels | 19 Oct to 8 Dec. 2019
Vessels is an exhibition of ceramic works by the late Marilyn Beaven Smith spanning her practice from the early 1970’s to 2018. This memorial exhibition honours a long-standing gallery patron and community artist. Together the pieces draw on common themes and subjects she readily explored such as place, landscape and nature to abstraction, colour and space.
Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Body Language | 21 Sept to 5 Jan 2020
Body language is comprised of all that is not said during a conversation. It is the intangible and subjective understanding of the expressions, gestures, intonations, temperaments, spatial configurations and feelings during an encounter with another that allow us to make sense of the experience. In much the same way, the works in this exhibition are about an intuitive understanding of another person’s experience and a desire for connection that exceeds the limits of language. Working collaboratively, Oshawa-based illustrator and artist Dani Crosby and London-based multi-media artist David Bobier each produced a new body of work that responds to personal stories of Durham residents.
Oshawa: A History of Local 222 | 4 Oct to 19 Jan 2019
For over 40 years, artists Carole Condé + Karl Beveridge have been creating urgent and insightful work that challenges the status quo and brings to light the important issues facing our time. With unwavering attention and unapologetic political analysis, Condé + Beveridge’s work continues to explore the social and environmental impacts of globalization, racial inequality, class struggle, gendered labour divisions, precarity, and the complex struggles of consensus building. In tandem to this practice, they have worked collaboratively with union members and fellow artists, bringing the labour movement and art world into dialogue and in doing so, have transformed them both. This exhibition presents the photo series Oshawa: A History of Local 222 (1982-83), a comprehensive body of work that traces the history of the autoworkers union in Oshawa from its formation in 1937 through to the mid-1980s. To produce the work, Condé + Beveridge spent two years interviewing and working with members of the Local 222 Retirees Committee. The resulting work, uses intricately staged tableaux to narrate the workers struggle from the perspective of women working in the plant and highlights gender-specific inequalities, including the fight for married women to be able to work and the inclusion of women in the union.
Spend Saturday afternoon exploring the exhibitions in Durham Region’s public art galleries. The bus will pick up participants on Saturday, November 2 at 11 am from 401 Richmond St West, Toronto, then depart for the Station Gallery (Whitby, ON), Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON), and the Visual Art Centre of Clarington (Bowmanville, ON).
To RSVP, please email Desaree Rosskopf at education-intern@vac.ca or call 905-623-5831 ext. 0, by Friday, November 1 at 4pm. Please contact us for any questions about accessibility accommodations.
Exhibitions on view
Visual Art Centre of Clarington
Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize | 20 Jan to 17 Nov 2019
The Visual Art Centre of Clarington (VAC) operates out of a 1905 historic barley mill that once operated 24 hours a day. In the 1950s the mill closed its doors, and after functioning as a drop-in centre, it was repurposed into the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington in 1976. The VAC houses multiple working and exhibition spaces including a Loft Gallery. This attic space includes many features that offer clues to the building's long history. 2019 marks the first time the VAC invites an artist to create an annual site-specific installation in the Loft Gallery that responds to the VAC’s site and history. Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize is Ron Benner’s mixed-media installation in response to the mill as a producer of barley. Benner has devoted his artistic career to researching the economics of food and the impacts of contemporary industrialized food systems. His installations often offer visual accounts of his extensive investigation to trace back the root origin of our food and finding its migration rooted in colonialism and imperialism.
Visual Art Centre of Clarington
Waiting Outside Of My Hand | 8 Sept to 3 Nov 2019
Waiting Outside of My Hand explores Z’otz* Collective’s newest form of storytelling through the niche. A niche may be thought of as a recess or shadow box, to contain elements within a larger configuration. Using this as a point of departure, Z’otz* Collective produces contemporary niches in the form of boxes varying in size and strategically placed within a site-specific mural. Each niche serves as a container of juxtaposed items that together suggest a narrative, forming an interconnected network of stories. Comprised of Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, and Ilyana Martínez, Z’otz* Collective have produced drawings, paintings, sculptures, and large scale murals since 2004. The exhibition also includes the collective’s works on paper and sculptures.
Station Gallery
Wasteland/Wanderland | 19 Oct to 8 Dec 2019
Wasteland/Wanderland is an immersive installation comprised of woodcut and linocut prints adhered to the gallery walls that depict children as the explorers of a beautiful, yet dystopian setting. Navigating a tangled landscape filled with genetically modified and invasive species, the figures are presented as both tenacious and vulnerable. Drawing upon archetypes from children’s literature, this narrative installation captures an experience of childhood as it relates to place: Place as geography, place within a family structure, and the interiority that forms one’s sense of identity.
Vessels | 19 Oct to 8 Dec. 2019
Vessels is an exhibition of ceramic works by the late Marilyn Beaven Smith spanning her practice from the early 1970’s to 2018. This memorial exhibition honours a long-standing gallery patron and community artist. Together the pieces draw on common themes and subjects she readily explored such as place, landscape and nature to abstraction, colour and space.
Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Body Language | 21 Sept to 5 Jan 2020
Body language is comprised of all that is not said during a conversation. It is the intangible and subjective understanding of the expressions, gestures, intonations, temperaments, spatial configurations and feelings during an encounter with another that allow us to make sense of the experience. In much the same way, the works in this exhibition are about an intuitive understanding of another person’s experience and a desire for connection that exceeds the limits of language. Working collaboratively, Oshawa-based illustrator and artist Dani Crosby and London-based multi-media artist David Bobier each produced a new body of work that responds to personal stories of Durham residents.
Oshawa: A History of Local 222 | 4 Oct to 19 Jan 2019
For over 40 years, artists Carole Condé + Karl Beveridge have been creating urgent and insightful work that challenges the status quo and brings to light the important issues facing our time. With unwavering attention and unapologetic political analysis, Condé + Beveridge’s work continues to explore the social and environmental impacts of globalization, racial inequality, class struggle, gendered labour divisions, precarity, and the complex struggles of consensus building. In tandem to this practice, they have worked collaboratively with union members and fellow artists, bringing the labour movement and art world into dialogue and in doing so, have transformed them both. This exhibition presents the photo series Oshawa: A History of Local 222 (1982-83), a comprehensive body of work that traces the history of the autoworkers union in Oshawa from its formation in 1937 through to the mid-1980s. To produce the work, Condé + Beveridge spent two years interviewing and working with members of the Local 222 Retirees Committee. The resulting work, uses intricately staged tableaux to narrate the workers struggle from the perspective of women working in the plant and highlights gender-specific inequalities, including the fight for married women to be able to work and the inclusion of women in the union.
2018 Events Calendar
April 2018
March 30 - June 8
Marissa Sweet at Clarington Town HallAncillary Exhibition: VAC Instructor Marissa Sweet will be displaying a body of work at the Clarington's Town Hall Gallery. Selected works from Chi Life Energy Series will be on display in the Main Gallery from March 30 - June 8.
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Sunday, April 22, 2- 4 pm
Opening Reception: Anne O'CallaghanJoin us for the opening reception of Utopia! Who's Listening Now, an exhibition by artist Anne O'Callaghan.
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May 2018
Saturday, May 5, 9-5 pm
MapleFest 2018The VAC will have a table at Historic Downtown Bowmanville's MapleFest 2018. Come visit us and learn about our exhibitions, education programs, membership and volunteering opportunities.
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Wednesday, May 9, 6.30 pm
Annual Member MeetingOur Annual Members Meeting will be taking place on Wednesday May 9, 2018 at the VAC. We encourage all members to attend as it’s the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the VAC community and staff.
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Sunday, May 6, 2-4 pm
Artist Talk: Anne O'CallaghanAnne O'Callaghan will be discussing her work from the exhibition Utopia! Who's Listening Now with Sandy Saad, our Curator.
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June 2018
Sunday, June 3, 2-4 pm
Opening Reception: Jane LowBeerJoin us for the opening reception of The Preponderance of the Small, an exhibition by artist Jane LowBeer.
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Sunday, June 17, 2-4 pm
Artist Talk: Jane LowBeerJane LowBeer will be discussing her work from the exhibition The Preponderance of the Small with Sandy Saad, our Curator.
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Tuesday, June 19, 12-3 pm
BOAA Membership PicnicBowmanville Older Adult Association (BOAA) will be hosting their Membership Picnic in celebration of Seniors Month in Ontario at the VAC. Learn more about this event on their website.
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July 2018
Sunday, July 15, 2-4 pm |
Sunday, July 15, 7.30 pm |
Opening Reception: Mary Catherine Newcomb - Bread and BonesJoin us for the opening reception of Bread and Bones, an exhibition by artist Mary Catherine Newcomb.
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The Bard's Bus Tour presents: Rosalynde (or, As You Like It)Escape to the Forest of Arden for a prohibition-era comedy with love, whiskey and puppets. In William Shakespeare’s Rosalynde (or, As You Like It), Rosalynde escapes into the forest after her life is threatened. There, she embarks upon a bold journey of self-discovery and love, learning that to carve your own path, sometimes you need to break the rules. Seating is by first-come-first-served in the PWYC section of the lawn. Bring your own seating (lawn chairs and picnic blankets). Driftwood has a limited number of chairs/blankets/cushions to rent.
Admission: PWYC (Pay-What-You-Can), the suggested minimum is $20/person, but no PWYC offer is refused. Performance begins at 7:30pm. Facebook Event: More information here! |
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Artist Talk: Mary Catherine Newcomb - Bread and BonesJoin us for the 4th instalment of the VAC's Artist Talk series led by Curator of Exhibitions and Education, Sandy Saad. Artist Mary Catherine Newcomb will be discussing her work from the exhibition Bread and Bones. The artist shall take place in the VAC's courtyard located directly behind the building beside the Rotary Gardens. Should we have wet weather, the artist talk shall take place in our Loft Gallery located on the 3rd floor.
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June 11 - August 17
Lindsay Anderson at Clarington Town HallAncillary Exhibition: VAC Lindsay Anderson will be displaying a body of work at the Clarington's Town Hall Gallery. Selected works from his pottery practice will be on display in the Main Gallery from June 11 - August 17.
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August 2018
Saturday, August 18, 9-5 pm
BluesBERRY FestivalThe VAC will have a table at Historic Downtown Bowmanville's BlueBERRY Festival 2018. Come visit us and learn about our exhibitions, education programs, membership and volunteering opportunities.
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August 20 - October 26
Hi-Sook Barker at Clarington Town HallAncillary Exhibition: VAC Hi-Sook Barker will be displaying a collection of her watercolour paintings at the Clarington's Town Hall Gallery. Selected works from her painting practice will be on display from August 20 - October 26.
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Saturday, August 25, 10-4 pm
Picasso's PicnicGet ready for a fun filled day of performances, a youth art market and make and take activities! Saturday August 25, 2018 10 am - 4 pm (rain or shine). Click here for more information.
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Sunday, August 26, 2-4 pm
Opening Reception: Gerald Banting - If You Go Down To The Woods TodayJoin us for the opening reception of If You Go Down To The Woods Today an exhibition by artist Gerald Banting.
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September 2018
Sunday, September 23, 2-4 pm
Closing Reception: Gerald BantingThe closing reception includes a short gallery tour and a walking tour through Soper Creek (weather permitting) with Sandy Saad, our Curator.
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September 29 - 30, 10.30 - 4pm
Clarington Outdoor Art FestivalThe Clarington Outdoor Art Festival (COAF) is a summer festival presented by the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. Aligning with Culture Days 2018, COAF is a platform that connects people of all ages and backgrounds in a creative place for learning and discovery.
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October - December 2018
Sunday, October 14, 2-4pm |
October 29 - December 28 |
Opening Reception: 38th Annual Juried ShowJoin us for the opening reception of our 38th Annual Juried Art Show on October 14, 2-4pm. Four prizes will be handed out this year, three of which will be selected by the juror and announced at the exhibition opening, and a People’s Choice Award, which will be voted on by the public and announced at the end of the exhibition.
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Jo-Ann Jordan at Clarington Town HallAncillary Exhibition: Jo-Ann Jordan will be displaying a collection of her eclectic stoneware at the Clarington's Town Hall Gallery. Selected works from her pottery practice will be on display from October 29 - December 28.
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Friday, November 23, 6 - 9pm
VAC Community Appreciation PartyTo launch the 100 Small Paintings Show and Sale, we would like to invite you to the VAC Community Appreciation Party on Friday 23 November 2018 from 6-9pm. This event is created to thank and recognize our volunteers for their many contributions to the VAC and to launch an exhibition that celebrates the work of our members. The invitation is open for everyone, please come and join us in celebrating our great community! All ages are welcome.
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November 23 - December 16
100 Small Paintings Show and SaleJoin us on Friday, November 23, 6-9pm for the opening reception of our year end exhibition 100 Small Paintings Show and Sale. This exhibition celebrates our members, and it's more than just painting... All works are for sale with 100% of the sale price going directly to the artist.
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