2020-2021 EVENTS
June 24, 2021 - Online panel with Sarah Kendzior and HIPS contributing artists Shelley Niro, Paul Walde, Karl Beveridge & Carole Condé
June 4, 2021 - Online exhibition launch for Empty Square:
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The Embassy Cultural House hosted an online talk to celebrate the exhibition launch of "Empty Square", highlighting the works of 任鈞 and Alistair Mackinnon.
"Empty Square" presents two virtual spaces that engage digitally rendered figures and objects. One is a phantasmagoric memorial site, the other, a dystopian surveilled space. Both spaces reveal how the effects of authoritarianism shape and obscure what is construed as the public. This exhibition takes place on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to remember the students and demonstrators who lost their lives on June 4th, 1989. To sign up for the talk, please visit the link below. To visit the upcoming exhibition page, please click here: |
May 23, 2021 - Conversation with Freda Guttman, artist & activist in support of Palestine
Freda Guttman, For the Right of Return
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Embassy Cultural House hosted a conversation with Freda Guttman, Montreal-based artist/activist and Professor Salah D. Hassan, Director of Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan on Sunday, May 23 at 4 pm EDT.
Freda has been a constant voice of solidarity to Palestinian people over a lifetime of activism. She lives in Montreal and has worked as a printmaker, photographer and laterally, as an installation artist. She has been a longtime supporter of the Embassy Cultural House, participating in the 1984 International Women's Day exhibit, as well as our most recent online IWD exhibit: Go; Rise and Strike in March 2021. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States and internationally. Guttman has made her art practice and her political activism come together in a series of installations. Among her installations that focus on Palestine/Israel are Diminish Your Cup and Two Family Albums: Canada Park, from 1994 to 2004. |
May 16, 2021 - Online conversation with Duncan DeKergommeaux
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Embassy Cultural House Advisory Circle Member Judith Rodger hosted a conversation with Duncan deKergommeaux on May 16, 2021 @ 1:30 pm EST. Painter Duncan deKergommeaux has had a distinguished career that spans seventy years. Judith is a former student of Duncan’s, colleague and friend for fifty years, and their conversation is sure to bring back many memories.
For twenty-three of those years—1970 to 1993—Duncan taught drawing and painting at Western University in London, Ontario, with sabbaticals and leave spent in New York City and Paris. Since 1953 deKergommeaux has had over fifty solo exhibitions from Victoria, British Columbia to St John’s, Newfoundland. His works have been included in over one hundred group exhibitions. During his time in London, his work was exhibited in many different venues, from the McIntosh Gallery and Museum London to alternative spaces such as Trajectory Gallery, Forest City Gallery and the Embassy Cultural House, where his paintings were exhibited in 1983, its first year of operation. He currently lives in Ottawa where he is still making his marks in his home studio. For further information see Duncan's website. |
May 2, 2021 - Online launch of Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth
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The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) and GardenShip and State are pleased to present a virtual group exhibition Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth to celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 2021. Work in the exhibit features artists from within the ECH community and Gardenship and State participating artists. Artworks in the exhibit address the broad issues related to the climate crisis, and other threats to our ecology. Works also address the intersection of sustainable living and the respect for Indigenous land rights. The launch to the online exhibit was held on May 2, 2021.
April 11, 2021 - Revisiting "Ten Years" 2015 On Hong Kong's Dystopia
On April 11, 2021 the ECH hosted a discussion between Jevons Au, director of the Ten Years short “Dialect”, and Emile Dirks, Ph.D candidate at the University of Toronto studying the policing of marginalized populations in contemporary China, will come together to explore possible answers. This cross-cultural conversation will explore the way in which colonialism and authoritarianism has stifled culture both in Canada, China, and Hong Kong. It is no coincidence that the totalizing force of Britain in Canada, and China in Hong Kong, share connections in their mutual use of marginalization and oppression.
Revisiting "Ten Years" was first in a series of events as part of our Sleepwalking: ECH Stands with Hong Kong program.
Revisiting "Ten Years" was first in a series of events as part of our Sleepwalking: ECH Stands with Hong Kong program.
March 28, 2021 - YYZ World Tour 86 - Revisited
Original poster to the 1986 exhibition at the ECH.
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On March 28m 2021, the ECH organized a round table to discuss the YYZ World Tour Exhibition that showed in London in 1986. The 1986 exhibit featured artists: Sheila Ayearst, David Buchan, David Clarkson, Stan Denniston, Judith Doyle, Rebecca Garrett, Anna Gronau, Janice Gurney, Elizabeth MacKenzie, Ian McKinnon, Bernie Miller, Andy Patton, Jennifer Rudder, Carolyn Simmons, Joanne Tod, Shirley Yanover
See the exhibition page: YYZ World Tour - EMBASSY CULTURAL HOUSE. Participants from the show and representative from YYZ Artist's Outlet gave their perspectives on YYZ's current and future activities. Several of the show's original participants to have an intergenerational dialogue about the show, YYZ, and artist run culture in general. To learn more visit: YYZ ARTISTS' OUTLET – A non-profit artist-run centre in Toronto, Canada | BN: 105782429RR0001 |
March 14, 2021 - Launch for International Women's Day exhibit: Go; Rise and Strike
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On March 14 the ECH held an online event to launch the International Women’s Day Exhibition - Go; Rise and Strike. Coordinated by Jade Williamson with the assistance of Charlotte Egan and Ruth Skinner, the exhibit includes over twenty artists. The exhibit includes artists who showed in the original International Women's Day exhibitions presented by the ECH in 1984 and 1985, as well as many more artists who are part of the ECH community today. Featured Artists: Jessie Amery, Amanda Boulos, Susan Day, Julie Rene De Cotret, Charlotte Egan, Soheila Esfahani, kerry ferris (1949 - 2016), Mireya Folch Serra, Fatima Garzan , Anahi Gonzalez, Freda Guttman, Jamelie Hassan, Samar Hejaz, Fern Helfand, Sharmistha Kar, Suzy Lake, Catherine Morrisey, Shelley Niro, Thelma Rosner , Niloufar Salimi, Sandra Semchuk, Mackenzie Smith, Jean Spence, Diana Tamblyn, Zainub Verjee, Bernice Vincent (1934 - 2016), Jade Williamson, Michelle Wlson, Winsom Winsom
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Feburary 13, 2021 - Virtual event for Lorraine Klaasen's FCLMA World Music Award
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Virtual Celebration for Lorraine Klaasen's FCLMA World Music Award and Black History Month On February 13, 2021 the ECH hosted a virtual celebration for Lorraine Klaasen on receiving the FCLMA World Music Award. Lorraine said on her recent Forest City London Music Award : "It is wonderful to be receiving this award and thank you to FCLMA for their continued support of arts and culture. Music plays a vital role in the face of racism and oppression and I just want to make people happy with my gift of music." |
October 30, 2020 - Online launch for Hiding in Plain Sight exhibit
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On October 30, 2020, the ECH hosted an online launch for its first virtual group exhibition: Hiding in Plain Sight with participating artists and journalist Sarah Kendzior attending the event. This exhibition is inspired by the book "Hiding in Plain Sight" by St. Louis-based journalist Sarah Kendzior, (2020). In her book she describes former US President Trump's administration as "a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government." There are many other governments in the world at this time that also fit this description. They are all connected. This inaugural virtual exhibit was organized by Ron Benner. An image of the artwork in any medium was submitted along with the accompanying information - artist's name, title of artwork, date & medium.
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