Celebrating Museum Month at Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives

May 18, 2022 · 0 Comments

By Zachary Roman

May is museum month, but to Erin Fernandes, every month is museum month at Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA).

She’s a marketing specialist with PAMA and said she and her colleagues love it, live it and breathe it.

Something they’ve started this May is a “What’s That?” series on Instagram. PAMA’s newest museum curator will find unique items in PAMA’s collection and create a video talking all about them.

A major museum month event happened on May 12 and 14, when PAMA brought in a theater company to help hold an interactive scavenger hunt and family challenge.

According to PAMA, in the 1930s William Perkins Bull sent teams of researchers throughout Peel to collect its history and stories. Based on this part of Peel’s history, the scavenger hunt and family challenge saw attendees interact with actors playing real people from Peel’s history — attendees had to work together to solve puzzles, find clues and uncover history.

“It was a lot of fun and a neat way to have people interact with history in a unique way,” said Fernandes.

Unfortunately, the museum section of PAMA is still closed for construction at this time, but the courthouse and gallery parts of PAMA are open as usual, and entry is free. Fernandes said PAMA only just opened in April after being closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s a family drop-in event being held at the end of May that corresponds to PAMA’s current displaying of works by photographer Bidemi Oloyede. On May 28 between 1 and 4:30 p.m. families are invited to come and create artwork inspired by Oloyede’s photography.

Also on display currently at PAMA is an exhibition called Power Play: Hockey and Contemporary Art. It will be on display until June 12.

“It’s a bunch of different artists. I think there’s 13 artists that talk about their love of hockey, but also sort of the stereotypes and different things that have happened in their lives that relate to hockey,” said Fernandes. “It’s a really interesting show, it’s beautiful.”

There’s a drop-in art workshop being held with one of the artists featured in the exhibition, Liz Pead, on June 4. Pead creates incredibly unique art. She’s influenced by the Group of Seven and creates landscape art by using only hockey gear. Fernandes said pictures don’t do it justice; that it needs to be seen in person.

According to PAMA’s website, Pead’s workshop has start times of 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on the fourth. “(Liz) is a huge personality. I think it’ll be so much fun… she’s really a really neat lady,” said Fernandes.

Another PAMA event on the way in early June is the Connections Art & Book Club. The club, which anyone’s welcome to join, will be reading The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald and meeting to discuss it on June 2 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The book club discussion will happen alongside a behind-the-scenes architectural tour of PAMA.

“We try to, every season, pair up with the Brampton Library and pick a book that kind of relates to either an art exhibition or a museum exhibition… they really wanted to do something about architecture and the history of Peel. And so the book that was selected, I believe, ties into the architectural side,” said Fernandes. “It’s usually like a nice group of about 10 people that come in and it’s been going on for quite a few years.”

There’s also a competition upcoming at PAMA for artists. Called “Expressions”, PAMA is calling artists in the Region of Peel to submit artwork that reflects their feelings about living through the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be an adult category for artists ages 18 and up, and a youth category for artists ages 12 to 17. Winners of the competition, which is being held in partnership with Peel Public Health, can win cash prizes and gift cards.

“We’re excited and we know that we’re going to get the good, bad and the ugly (feelings about the pandemic) but I mean, that’s what art is all about. Really, it’s being able to just tell your truth in any way…. we’ll have two weeks for people to submit their artwork, and then we’re going to do a little bit of judging… select 10 from each category, and then those 10 will be open to the public for voting for another two weeks. And then we’ll announce the winners,” said Fernandes.

The top three art pieces from each category will be put on display at PAMA as well. For more information about the contest and all things PAMA, those interested can visit PAMA’s website at pama.peelregion.ca.