Art Gallery of Mississauga facts for kids
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| Established | 1987 |
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| Location | 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
| Type | Public Art gallery |
The Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) is a cool place in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where you can see amazing art! It's a public art gallery, which means it's for everyone. You can find it right in the Mississauga Civic Centre, near Celebration Square and Square One Mall.
The AGM is open six days a week (closed on Mondays). The best part? It's completely free to get in! You can even get free guided tours to learn more about the art. They also have fun art events, workshops for adults, and special programs for schools and community groups. The gallery usually shows about 18 different art exhibitions each year.
Contents
Discovering AGM's History
The Art Gallery of Mississauga has an interesting past.
Artist in Residence Program
In 2013, the AGM welcomed an artist named Camille Turner. She became Mississauga's first-ever Artist in Residence. This meant she worked closely with the gallery and the city. Camille was very interested in finding out about Mississauga's hidden stories. She created projects like the "(un)settler Community Journal Project" and a walking tour called "5&Dime." This tour explored strip malls as important cultural places.
A New Look for the Gallery
In 2014, the AGM got a fresh new look! They launched a big re-branding project with a new design created by The White Room in Toronto. This new design was so good that it won awards and was featured in design magazines around the world.
Exploring the Art Collection
The AGM has its own special collection of art, called the Permanent Collection. It includes over 500 artworks by artists from the local area and all across Canada.
Art Online
In 2013, the gallery started a project to put all their art online. This was funded by special programs that help museums. By 2014, they had a super easy-to-use online database on the AGM website. This means you can now see many of their artworks from home!
Growing the Collection
For a while, the gallery couldn't collect new art because they didn't have enough space. But in 2014, they created a new plan for collecting. Now, they are focusing on digital art and photography. They especially want to collect art by local artists, important Canadian artworks, and pieces that show the diverse people of Mississauga.
Plans for a Bigger Gallery
For a long time, people called the AGM "the best kept secret in Mississauga." This was because it was a bit hidden inside the Civic Centre.
Why Expand?
In 2011, the AGM asked a company called Lord Cultural Resources to help them plan for a bigger space. The goal was to move the gallery or expand it so more people could see it and they could show more art. The study found that even though Mississauga is one of Canada's biggest cities, the AGM was the smallest public art gallery.
Asking for Support
In June 2014, the gallery's director, Stuart Keeler, and the board president, Mike Douglas, spoke to the Mississauga City Council. They asked for help to expand the gallery. More and more people were visiting the AGM – from about 19,000 visitors in 2011 to over 30,000 in 2013! They suggested two ideas: making the current space in City Hall bigger, or moving to a new home in the Living Arts Centre across the street. The City Council was supportive and agreed to look into these ideas.
Learning and Creating at AGM
The AGM offers many cool educational programs to help young people learn about art.
Roots and Branches Program
The AGM received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to fund its educational programs from 2013 to 2014. One of these programs is called "Roots and Branches." This program is all about hands-on learning. Artists who are part of the Artist in Residence program visit schools for free. They work with teachers to create art lessons and activities that connect to what students are already learning. This helps students explore modern art and how artists create.
The program also offers free tours of the gallery. They even provide free bus rides for schools to get to and from the Art Gallery of Mississauga!
Beyond the Art Trail
Beyond the Art Trail is a program called the Artist Professional Practices Programme (APP). It helps artists learn important skills for their careers.
Living Waters Project
Living Waters is a special art and environment project. The AGM worked with Corsair Public School and an artist named Christopher McLeod. Christopher McLeod helped students create art projects that focused on how important water is for our environment and for living sustainably. Students learned how water was central to the travel, trade, and survival of Indigenous peoples in this area, like the Anishinaabe, Wendat, and Haudenosaunee. The projects and field trips showed how communities lived near water to grow food and survive.
XIT-RM Project Space
In 2012, the AGM opened a new exhibition area called the XIT-RM Project Space. This space is supported by the RBC Foundation and is dedicated to showing art by new and upcoming artists from the region.
Past Exhibitions
Some of the cool exhibitions shown here include:
- Contemporary Jamaican Art circa1962 | circa2012
- Lise Beaudry: Sur la glace | Standing on Ice (which won an award!)
- Genius Loci
- 011+91 | 011+92
- F'd Up!
- The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India Since 1989 (from The Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago)
- Fausta Facciponte: Six Characters in Search of a Photograph
- Joy and Sorrow: Photographs and Films by Elisa Julia Gilmour and Ben Freedman
Each year, the gallery's team chooses six artists to show their work in the XIT-RM space. They pick art that fits the AGM's goals, focusing on modern art and important ideas. Each exhibition has its own opening event and comes with a special book that explains the art.
