Celebrating Decorative Arts & Design! Célébrons les arts décoratifs et du design ! |
Past CSDA/CCAD events
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CSDA In-Person Special Event - Friday, February 24, 2023Canadian Modern at the ROMGuest curator Dr. Rachel Gotlieb, Dr. Alexander Palmer and Dr. Arlene Gehmacher provided their insights into the current exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum. Canadian Modern, which opened in December to rave reviews, features 100 items from the ROM’s permanent collection, ranging from the mid-20th Century to the present. Exhibits will feature the work of more than 70 designers and 40 manufacturers and will include ceramics, electronics, fashion, furniture, glass, graphic design, jewelry and other objects that are both useful and significant from a design perspective. Image: Steamer Chair, 1978, Thomas Lamb (1938-1997), designer, DuBarry, manufacturer. Steam bent maple plywood. Image ©ROM. |
CSDA Sundays: The Expert Series - Sunday, February 5, 2023 The Psychology of Collecting On Sunday February 5th, 2023, Dr. Michael Prokopow, Nicholas Bell, president and CEO of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Peter Gorham, an educator and collector in Fredericton N.B. and Susan Golets, who, as a young adult, observed her parents assemble renowned collections of Kakiemon and Kakiemon-inspired European porcelains considered the question of what has been called the "psychology of collecting". The experiences of these individuals – personal and institutional – illustrated the array of motivations often tied to collecting, including the search for objects as exercises in stewardship, self-fashioning connoisseurship, social history, aesthetics and taste preference. Image: Hydra jug (photo credit Nicolas Bell). The recording for this lecture can be found in CSDA Videos on the "Learn" tab of the website. HERE |
CSDA Sundays: Collectors Series - Sunday, January 15, 2023 The TASTE OF THE EXOTIC: Snuff Boxes Made from Foreign Materials On Sunday January 15th, 2023, Dr. Dorothea Burstyn walked us through the centuries with her stunning collection of snuff boxes. Although taking snuff has for the most part been relegated to the annals of history, the practice has left a legacy that reflects the exquisite style and skilled craftsmanship of bygone eras. By monitoring international auctions and corresponding with other collectors, Dr. Burstyn has assembled a diverse and delightful array of tiny treasures made from wood, horn, tortoiseshell, semi-precious stones and other interesting materials, their common denominator being the sterling silver that encases them and enhances their beauty. Image above: Shell snuff boxes, all unmarked, middle of 18th century. The recording for this lecture can be found in CSDA Videos on the "Learn" tab of the website. HERE |
![]() | YP&C Meet the Artist: Zavisha Chromicz - Thursday, December 1, 2022 On Thursday December 1st, 2022, our Young Professionals & Creatives Meet the Artist event saw the decorative arts/material culture community meet and share the experiences of Zavisha Chromicz's new exhibition - Mother Load: The challenge of suturing the mitochondrial tear at the Paul Petro Gallery on Queen Street West. Zavisha has worked on numerous community and fibre-based projects that explore trauma, healing through pleasure, decadence and queer family making, and colonialism, sexual violence, and disability justice. From 2003-2006 Chromicz was a member and co-facilitator of West Side Stitches, a queer punk makers collective formed by Will Munro and Jeremy Laing. Participants used and taught stitching, embroidery, applique, faggoting and many other fabric art and costuming techniques to make street art, costumes, installations and public art. From 2015-2016 Chromicz collaborated with Leroi Newbold on the Freedom Fighter Puppetry series for Black Lives Matter, Toronto. |
On Tuesday November 29th, the CSDA held its first movie screening at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto, showing Grethe Meyer: The Queen of Danish Design, "The story of one of Denmark’s most important designers, what she created, what her obsession with perfection cost her, her brilliant legacy. For 40 years, the Danish architect and designer Grethe Meyer designed glass, cutlery, vases and textiles and became one of Denmark’s most important designers. Meyer was responsible for classics such as the Royal Copenhagen Blue Edge set, the Firepot stoneware series and a series of modern shelves, designed together with the lover Børge Mogensen. Yet few people outside of design circles know who she was. In interviews with people around Meyer, and in cinematic reconstructions of formative moments in her life, the story is told of a woman in a man’s world whose functional designs for the home are still used today. But the story of Meyer is also the story of a perfectionist and demanding workaholic who strove for precision and simplicity.” (Credit: CPH:Dox) |
![]() | CSDA Sundays: The Sis Bunting Weld Private Collectors Series – A Private Collector's Living Room - The Psychology of a Collector On Sunday, November 6th, this engaging CSDA members-only, in-person event took place in Toronto. Through the presentation of his eclectic collection, the Collector conveyed what he feels are some of the psychological processes involved in acquiring, displaying and selling art. The presentation took the form of a small, guided tour through his living room and den and included: Mid Century Modern furniture, ceramics, glass and other MCM works; coconut shells carved by prisoners held in a notorious fortress complex on the Yucatan peninsula during the 19th and 20th centuries; miniature wooden and argillite First Nation totem poles; historical and contemporary Canadian art; and more. The recording for this lecture can be found in CSDA Videos on the "Learn" tab of the website. HERE |
Ornamentum Lecture Series: Retailing Radio: How the T. Eaton Company Sold the Idea of Radio in 1920s-1930s Canada On Thursday, October 20, 2022, Dr. Michael Windover considered the role of the T. Eaton Company in promoting and fostering radio culture in Canada. It will look especially at radio catalogues produced by the retailer as visual evidence of how the new medium was imagined and sold to Canadian publics. (Note: Based on the article found in Ornamentum Spring/Summer 2022) The recording for this lecture can be found in CSDA Videos on the "Learn" tab of the website. HERE |
CSDA Sundays: Makers Series - Transforming with Glass with Glass Artist Tanya Lyons On Sunday, October 16, 2022, this fascinating event was held in collaboration with the Sandra Ainsley Gallery and in celebration of The Year of Glass. The presentation and discussion followed Glass Artist Tanya Lyons’ path with glass, detailing how she has grown and transformed with the material, from education to solo exhibitions, commissions, special projects, to her recent Canada Council for the Arts grant project and the new work that is coming out of all this. |