Art & Culture

Monthly Archive: December Art

#ThrowbackThursday: Overshot Coverlets

Posted: November 10, 2016 - 10:00 , by ROM
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In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.

#ThrowbackThursday: A Very Hot Evening

Posted: October 27, 2016 - 10:00 , by ROM
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In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.

#ThrowbackThursday: Working Like Mad

Posted: October 13, 2016 - 10:00 , by ROM
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Photograph of textiles behind a spinning wheel

In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.

#ThrowbackThursday: Keep Me Warm One Night

Posted: September 29, 2016 - 10:00 , by ROM
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Picture of Keep Me Warm One Night installation

Exactly forty-five years ago, in September, 1971, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) opened the landmark exhibition Keep me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.

Exhibit A: Dior Dress

Posted: September 15, 2016 - 08:00 , by ROM
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Red dress with white panels and black beaded designs

“In a machine age, dressmaking is one of the last refuges of the human, the personal, the inimitable.”

— Christian Dior 

Commissioned by the ROM, Passage #5 was designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture. This dramatic coat-dress was inspired by fashion illustrator René Gruau’s drawings from the 1940s and 1950s and is a 21st-century reworking of Dior’s 1947 New Look collection (his first).

A Story of Ghana: Exploring the Asafo Flags at the ROM

Posted: September 14, 2016 - 15:48 , by ROM
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People holding up a handmade flag depicting birds.

Since the beginning of the month, the Royal Ontario Museum has been host to a stunning display of historic Ghanaian imagery, in the form of the flags used by the Asafo fighting groups to send messages to friends and enemies alike. These flags document many of the events and histories that were of value to the Fante states and are expressive, powerful, and of great importance to understanding the history of the region as we know it today. As a collection, they make up a fascinating display of aesthetic storytelling that reveals much, and gives each viewer a sense of what was important to each community under each flag at various points throughout each one's history, right up to the present day.

Go with the Flow: Technology & Early Glass

Posted: August 5, 2016 - 15:04 , by Robert Mason
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Six-handled green glass jar - Blown glass with trailed handles, Syria - Late Roman - c. 300-425 AD, ROM #909.3.41   - The Walter Massey Collection - Height 12.9cm  Width 9.4cm  Diameter 7.6cm. ROM Photography.

Glass is probably the most fluid of solids. Looking at blown glass, such as that in the ROM's Chihuly exhibition, is like watching movement made still. If you look carefully at the handles of the perfectly preserved handles of this Roman glass vase from Syria (above), it looks as though it is still a fluid, still dynamically moving along its flow. In a way, that is because it is. Glass essentially has the atomic structure of a fluid, but it has been so rapidly cooled that it is essentially stuck in that condition. 
 

ROM Celebrates National Aboriginal Day!

Posted: July 5, 2016 - 16:14 , by ROM
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Welcome table outside entrance to the event.

On June 21st, the ROM Learning Department began National Aboriginal Day celebrations with a cleansing ceremony using Sweet Grass to start the day off in a good, positive way led by Justin Chiblow, Kiowa Wind Memorial Indigenous Youth Intern.

Behind the Blitz: Become the Biodiversity

Posted: June 9, 2016 - 15:08 , by ROM
Four children stand with monarch wing costumes in front of an exhibit in the Schad Gallery at the ROM. Photo by Fatima Ali

Blog by Stacey Lee Kerr, Biodiversity Storyteller / Creative Producer for the ROM's Centre for Biodiversity

At this year's Ontario BioBlitz, things are set to get a little wild... we've invited everyone to dress up as their favourite Ontario Species for our NatureFest Costume Contest. But what does it take to win a fabulous prize? Inside, in the final installment of our Behind the Blitz blog series, we've got some tips for how to come out on top, and "become the biodiversity"!

New to ROM: Frances Ferdinands

Posted: May 2, 2016 - 11:35 , by Deepali Dewan
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Illustration of a jug container with a red floral pattern.

Combining aesthetic beauty and history, this work cleverly and poetically combine references from historical Sri Lankan decorative art alongside meanings that resonate with issues of inequality, injustice, and the exploitation of natural resources during Sri Lanka’s colonial past. Written by Deepali Dewan.