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Exhibition Opening Reception: Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland)
July 9 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Come out, and celebrate the opening of Cole Swanson’s exhibition Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland). This free public event will feature a guided artist tour with Cole Swanson and Varley curator, Anik Glaude, and hands-on family activities. Light refreshments will be served. Everyone welcome.Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland)July 1, 2023 to January 7, 2024Organized by the Varley Art Gallery of MarkhamFeaturing the work of Cole Swanson and F. H. Varley (1881–1969)Curated by Anik Glaude in collaboration with Aditi Desai, John Abrams, and Niamh O’Laoghaire.About the ArtistMultispecies artist and scholar Cole Swanson explores the dynamic and vulnerable life-story of the accidental, urban wilderness. For eight months, Swanson built a close relationship with the last remaining grove of staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) on the West Toronto Rail Path, currently under construction. Through video, material process, and installation art, Swanson honours and cares for the site’s wayward ecology in which native, invasive, and naturalized species survive together amidst the precarity of our times. Engaging with Frederick Varley’s field sketches of sumac, and creating a suite of natural materials from the organic, mineral, and human-made constituents of the site, Swanson demonstrates how art can move us to bear witness, attend to, and form unlikely kinships within our more-than-human communities.Hours of operationMonday: (July 3 to Labour Day only) 12 to 4 PMTuesday: 12 to 4 PMWednesday: 12 to 4 PMThursday: 12 to 4 PMFriday: 12 to 4 PMFriday: (June to Labour Day only) 4 to 8 PMSaturday: 10 AM to 5 PMSunday: 12 to 4 PM