Free ROM Day - 2012

Once a year, members of the AGO are offered a free day at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).  We had a great time looking some of the smaller exhibits, but did not want to pay the extra fee to get into the special Dinosaur exhibit.  From the second floor, we did get an excellent view of one of the prehistoric beasts positioned in the central atrium.

The exhibit that was most exciting for me was called Carnival: From Emancipation to Celebration.  The Caribbean Carnival celebrates the abolition of slavery in British colonies in 1833.  It involves festivals and parades with elaborate, colourful costumes and masquerades (Mas) that tell a story. Some of Brian MacFarlene's Mas designs are on display in the main lobby.  His red and black Sheol or underworld costume reflects the colours of the Trinidad and Tobago flag while the skulls depict lost souls of the dead.  The Mad Cow is a traditional character meant as comic relief by butting its head and causing a commotion.  The black and white Time costume represents the journey from birth to death.  Like the Mad Cow, the Dragon character dances wildly and tries to frighten the crowds.

Upstairs, more of MacFarlene's Mas sketches are presented as well as video and photo images of Carnival in the Caribbean and Toronto's own Caribana parade.

In the Asian galleries, the exhibit Small Things, Special Skills highlights unusual artistry in Chinese works.  Detailed, nuanced images are drawn on fans and scrolls using parts of the hand including the finger, nail and palm.  Having played a drawing game on my IPAD and only managing crude stick figures, I know first hand how difficult this can be!

Many of the scrolls reference the three Chinese gods of Good Fortune, Wealth and Longevity (phonetically pronounced as Fuk Luk Sau).  One scroll displays the image of a tree but the trunk and branches actually form the chinese character for Sau.  Another scroll  called "God of Longevity with Deer and Bat" exemplifies micro calligraphy. If you look closely enough at this drawing, you will see that the outlines of the images are actually formed by tiny writings of the Chinese symbols  Fuk, Luk, and Sau over and over.  There were also examples of intricate carvings in ivory and other materials.

As a tribute for the bicentennial of the War of 1812, Tod Ainslie's black and white photos of historically significant sites from the war are on display.  Tod built his three pinhole cameras to simulate 19th century daguerrotype photography so that the pictures have an antique feel.  Each camera supports different focal lengths and one hexagonal camera has 6 pinholes that can produce 6 consecutive images for a 360 degree photo effect.

Up in the Costumes and Textile gallery, an exhibit called Big looks at important moments in fabric or fashion history.  Christian Dior's red, black and grey gown took 500 hours to create and used over 166 metres of various fabrics, including lots of silk.  Yves Saint Laurent took a modern spin on a traditional Asian beaded dress.  One non-descript brown dress was made from wood bark.