Contemporary Art Bus Tour

Toronto – Hamilton – Burlington - Toronto

Saturday, June 22 | 11-6pm | FREE

Please register only if you plan on using our bus service.

The Art Gallery of Burlington in conjunction with Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, Hamilton Artists Inc. and Tangled Art + Disability offer you a free bus tour of their spring exhibitions.

The tour starts at 11:00am at Tangled Art + Disability (401 Richmond Street W, Toronto) then departs for Hamilton Artists Inc., Workers Arts & Heritage Centre, and the Art Gallery of Burlington, returning to Tangled Art + Disability at 6:00pm. Travel and admission is free. Seating is limited.

GENERAL TOUR INFORMATION:

This tour is aimed at adults, ages 18 and over.

FOOD: You may wish to bring snacks and a water bottle with you for the tour, as this is not a catered event.

MASKING: This is a mask-mandatory event. Please bring your own mask to wear on the bus. Free disposable masks are available at some locations on the tour, such as at Tangled Art + Disability, WAHC and the AGB, where masks are free at the front door for those that need them.

CARE ATTENDANT: One care attendant will be present on the tour to assist registered guests with their accessibility needs.

SUPPORT ANIMAL: If you require the presence of a support animal on the tour, please indicate this on the ticket check-out.

BUSSING: Two buses will be provided by Attridge Transportation. One bus is a 46 passenger full size school bus. The second bus is a mini bus that will fit 3 wheelchairs and 4 walk on passengers. Download access descriptions including photographs of both buses here.

VENUE INFORMATION

FIRST STOP: Tangled Art + Disability

What’s On: Cleopatra Peterson, Bestie Mart and Felicia Byron, Harvest – Blue Prints and Magnitudes, Curated by Jack Hawk

Bestie Mart by Cleopatria Peterson explores the labour of print, accessibility and commodity through humour. With the rising cost of living, many common goods have become out of reach for most people, particularly groceries. Using the motif of a supermarket, Peterson re-imagines the supermarket as a site of access and justice, where once again our basic needs can be met. Needs such as gender-affirming hormones, reparations, and safety become accessible through consumable objects offered at Bestie Mart at low low prices. This exhibit is presented in Tangled’s Main Gallery. This program is made possible through the generous support of Partners in Art.

Felicia Byron’s Harvest – Blue Prints and Magnitudes draws inspiration from Gwendolyn Brooks’ observation in the poem Paul Robeson, that “we are each other’s harvest.” Through the intricate use of textiles and embroidery, Byron stitches together the fabric that connects the stories of individuals, places, and emotions, seamlessly entwining portraits of community with an Afro-futuristic dream of collective crip liberation. This exhibit is presented in Tangled’s Vitrines.

Accessibility: Tangled Art Gallery is dedicated to accessibility and disability culture. We do our best to make our digital and physical spaces barrier free, accessible, and welcoming to all. For this event, attendant care will be available but we regret we will not be able to have ASL interpreters. Automated captioning can be arranged during the tour, if requested.

Physical Accessibility: The gallery is wheelchair accessible. Our front door is automatic and the width is 60 inches. There are no steps to get into the gallery. 401 Richmond is wheelchair accessible. Entering from the North East (Richmond) side, there is a ramp inside the building, and Tangled can be reached by elevator. Entering from the North West side (closer to Spadina but still on Richmond) there is an outdoor ramp leading to an automatic door. The outdoor ramp is not in the best shape; we suggest using the indoor ramp. For more specific instructions on where to find Tangled in the building, access our Visit Us page.

For more information on the physical accessibility of the entrances, access our Access Guide. There is seating in the gallery, we have a couch, and you can also ask for floor cushions and chairs with backs and armrests.

Bathrooms: There are partially accessible bathrooms on the same floor as Tangled. There is one washroom that is an all gender, single stall washroom, large enough to accommodate mobility devices, has grab bars, a power button and a wheelchair accessible sink. Please note it does not have an emergency pull string.

Scent Free Space: Tangled aims to create a scent free environment. We ask visitors to not wear scented products when visiting the gallery. If you’d like to learn more about being scent-free, Aislinn Thomas has created the resource Fragrance Free at the RMG and Tangled Art + Disability. You can download it on our accessibility page, here: https://tangledarts.org/accessibility/

Access Contact: Sean Lee, sean@tangledarts.org, 647.725.5064

SECOND STOP: Hamilton Artists Inc.

What's On: Carlos Colín, Little Mexíco, and Bethany Kenyon, Claire Anderson & Catherine Mellinger, Out of Sight.

Carlos will be at The Inc hosting a guacamole making party and artist talk during the tour!

Little Mexíco explores Mexican agricultural workers who come to Canada through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). The program, begun in 1966, started after farmers from Ontario needed workers to fill the labour demand during the apple harvest season. In 1974, Mexico joined the program becoming the largest provider of labourers through SAWP across Canada. Following the line of thought and practice of Latin American conceptualism, Little Mexíco explores these workers’ relationships and connections with their families in Mexico, communal life in Abbotsford and in Canada, their political activities, and the reality of their economic situation including work opportunities in Canada and Mexico.

In Out of Sight, Claire Anderson, Bethany Kenyon and Catharine Mellinger engage with the idea of invisible labour, reflecting on unseen care in their artistic practices. They explore what it means to care for someone: from the often invisible identity of being a caregiver to a partner with chronic illness, to the physiological and sensory experience of parenting, to violence in intimate partner relationships. Through their work artists show how care-work is implemented in their artistic practice and reflect on how they engage as a community in recognizing labour that is often free and unseen. Artworks explore themes of both one to one and group relationship dynamics, unseen emotional, physical, and free labour.

Accessibility: Please see our accessibility page on our website for full details.

Physical Accessibility: The Inc. facility is wheelchair accessible. The front entrance and the courtyard are equipped with automatic doors. Upon entering the building, there is a ramp to the left of the front door. Our accessibly page has photographs and more details about our space.

Bathrooms: The Inc. has two accessible, all-gender washrooms. The washrooms have automatic door buttons. Both washrooms are equipped with hand rails, needle/sharp disposal containers, and take-what-you-need tampons, pads, and condoms. A baby change table is available in one of the washrooms.

Access Contact: Sanaa Humayun, programming@theinc.ca, 905.529.3355

THIRD STOP: Workers Arts and Heritage Centre

What's On: Sean Lee with Birdie Gerhl, Peter Morin, and Camila Salcedo, Labour Pains, curated by Emma Steen, and community artists, Stronger Together.

In our Main Gallery, Labour Pains, explores healthcare as a labour rights issue as it pertains to precarious workers. Presenting the work of Sean Lee with Birdie Gerhl, Peter Morin, and Camila Salcedo, Labour Pains looks at three themes that many workers face while attempting to navigate healthcare in this country: privatization and financial strain of freelance employment; Indigenous relations to healthcare and living outside of urban centres; and disability, accessibility, and Crip Politics.

In our Community Gallery, the exhibition, Stronger Together, displays the work of community members who participated in banner making workshops with local artists Kate Jackson, Greg Smith and stylo starr. These community-made banners demonstrate individual expression and collective strength, conveying messages of common purpose, pride in identity, calls for unity, and demands for respect and dignity of the most vulnerable.

Accessibility: WAHC makes a consistent effort to make our exhibitions, exhibition materials and physical spaces barrier free, accessible, and welcoming to all.

Physical Accessibility: WAHC is physically accessible for those who use mobility aids. Our main entrance is our east-side door with a ramp and automatic door opener. All three building floors are accessible via the elevator. If you have accessibility needs, please speak to a member of staff. You can also access more detailed accessibility info on our website, https://wahc-museum.ca/accessibility/

Bathrooms: Two gender neutral bathrooms are located in the basement of our building. Each of these multi-stall washrooms has a power button to open the main door. One stall inside each washroom can accommodate mobility devices and is equipped with grab bars. Please note it does not have an emergency pull string.

We have bench seats in our Main Gallery and Community Gallery spaces, as well a bean bag chair in our Family Zone.

Access Contact: Sylvia Nickerson, sylvia@wahc-museum.ca, 905.522.3003 Extension 29

FOURTH STOP: Art Gallery of Burlington

What's On: Alize Zorlutuna, We Who Have Known Many Shores, curated by Suzanne Carte.

We Who Have Known Many Shores brings together material practices rooted in Anatolian textiles, ceramics, and marbling, with contemporary mediums, to forge new directions for considering diasporic relationships to place and belonging. Conjuring earth, air, water, fire, and spirit, transdisciplinary artist Alize Zorlutuna collages mediums, methods, and geographies at the Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) for their first solo exhibition in a public art gallery.

Accessibility: For a document containing photographs that describe the physical accessibility of our space, click here.

Physical Accessibility: The Art Gallery of Burlington is wheelchair accessible. Our front door is automatic and the width is 48 inches. There are no steps to get into the gallery. There is seating in the gallery, lobby and outdoor courtyard accessible via an automatic push button. Seating includes wooden benches and patio chairs.

Bathrooms: There is an all gender, single stall washroom that is large enough to accommodate mobility devices, has grab bars, and a wheelchair accessible sink.

Access Contact: Jasmine Mander, jasmine@agb.life 905.632.7796 Extension 308

End of Tour: Return to Tangled Art + Disability