There’s no doubt that hockey is woven into the cultural fabric of the Canadian identity and we’ve tried to capture that with ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition. In many ways, this upcoming Saturday is an appreciation of this connection as Scotiabank presents Hockey Day in Canada. What better way to celebrate this day than to take in ARENA? We definitely have a lot planned!

At 11am & 2pm our Interpreters will lead children in our craft time activity of Mini Stick Art where you’ll be able to turn a hockey mini stick into a masterpiece.

At 11:30am & 2:30pm ThinkFirst Concussions will be here to help us learn about our amazing brains. They’ll teach us all about concussions including how to prevent them and how to know when you’re ready to get back on the ice.

At 1pm & 3:30pm you’ll be able to test your hockey skills against our own Interpreters within ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition. Check out some of the prizes that Scotiabank has so kindly donated…

Finally, Saturday’s a great opportunity to check out ARENA for cheap – it’s only $10! So make sure you join us to celebrate Hockey Day in Canada with ARENA and all the fun events we have planned throughout the day!
 

Kitchener, ON – After months of negotiation, THEMUSEUM in downtown Kitchener is honoured to be announcing the North American premiere of a spectacular collection of rock carvings from Chongqing, China.

Having only left China once before, these almost fifty stunning sculptures, which are part of a World Heritage Site, will be on display at THEMUSEUM beginning this September.

The carvings, originally located in the steep hillsides throughout Dazu County, in Chongqing, China, represent a small percent of what still remains on site. The entire collection is made of a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th century. The carvings are influenced by and depict images of Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. The collection is made up of seventy-five protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs. While the majority of them are carved into hillsides, a small number have been excavated for travel.

It was in the spring of 2011 that David Marskell, CEO of THEMUSEUM in downtown Kitchener visited Dazu and the World Heritage Site as part of a tour of Chinese museums. Marskell?s visit, which is consistent with the young organization?s (previously a children?s museum) new mandate of „scanning the globe for fresh cultural content,? resulted in successfully forging a relationship with the Art Museum of Dazu Rock Carvings, which lead to the carvings travelling to Southwestern Ontario.

Marskell, who spearheaded the Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place in 2006, is proud to be working on this project. He explains, “the Dazu sculpture exhibition will not only offer Canadians a chance to experience the diversity and depth of Chinese culture, but it will also allow Chinese-Canadians the chance to engage with a part of their heritage.”

Dr. Sheng L. Deng, a Professor of Marketing at Brock University and spokesperson for the Art Museum of Dazu Rock Carvings, adds that “after a period of cool relationship between China and Canada, the bilateral relationship is warming up. This is reflected in the frequent dialogues between the two governments in business development and cultural exchange. The recent signing of the agreement between Chongqing Municipal Government and THEMUSEUM in Kitchener to stage the Dazu rock carvings exhibition is another great example of significant cultural exchange event between China and Canada. This is only the second time these sculptures will be staged overseas. The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Archaeology have both paid special attention to this premiere exhibition in North America and the Dazu museum is working very diligently on the exhibition preparation. The exhibition will be another great opportunity for China to showcase its rich culture to the Canadian people and for Canadians to deepen our understanding of the world?s most populated nation. ”

The connection to this area in China is one of many for Waterloo Region and Canada. The City of Waterloo has a formal friendship agreement with Chongqing and Wilfrid Laurier University has an international office there. Chongqing is also one of several stops on Prime Minister Harper?s tour this week.

In anticipation of the carvings arriving, Marskell and his team have already been seeking additional exhibition and program components to satisfy their festival strategy. In the spirit of further engaging visitors, THEMUSEUM plans to introduce other aspects of Chinese culture and heritage to Canadians, which may include Chinese folk woodcut prints, peasant paintings and contemporary art. Organizations with ties to Chinese culture who are interested in sponsoring or partnering are encouraged to contact THEMUSEUM.

“After exhibits as major as Andy Warhol’s Factory 2009, Titanic | The Artifact Exhibition and RAM | Rethinking Art & Machine, the exhibition on China is one more giant step for a young organization in becoming a much bigger part of the cultural map,” said Marskell.

Here's another Sneak Peek at ARENA | The Hockey Exhbition. Be the first to see the exhibit on Friday February 3rd!

Continuing our behind-the-scenes look at ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition, which opens Friday February 3rd!

I'm a bit behind on releasing sneak peek pictures of ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition so be ready for a barrage of photos today and tomorrow!

We'll be releasing a sneak peek image every day leading up to the opening of ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition. Here's Day 2 and Day 1. Check back for more images!

We'll be releasing a sneak peek image every day leading up to the opening of ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition. Here's Day 1. Check back for more images!

We'll be releasing a sneak peek image every day leading up to the opening of ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition. Check back for more images!

It's always sad to see an exhibit leave THEMUSEUM and RAM is no exception. I will dearly miss the cubic visions of Manfred Mohr, the LED masterpieces of Jim Campbell, the watchful eyes of Alan Rath, the "reflective" mirrors of Danny Rozin, the rhythmic beats of Peter Vogel, the terrifying sounds of David Rokeby, and the image overload of George Legrady.

But there's no time to mourn the departure of RAM (it will likely be touring - stay tuned) - first thing Monday morning, RAM was being dismantled and on its way out. In its place, ARENA | The Hockey Exhibition will take over starting February 3rd, definitely a worthy successor.

Let's see some of the work in action...

Here's Manfred Mohr's room being dismantled.

Jim Campbell's work is mostly in boxes already!

Big mirrors need big boxes.

Rozin's "X by Y" being packed up.

One of the more difficult installations to take apart is Jim Campbell's "Exploded View". The strands of LED lights must be meticulously placed in their labelled positions in order for the programmed recreation of "birds" to work properly upon the next assembly.

In between exhibitions, we are able to schedule in regular maintenance. In this case, we're refinishing the floors in the Tot Spot and Cafeteria.

Here's the refinishing in action.

This past Saturday night, THEMUSEUM hosted a fundraising event called The Brush Off, a live painting competition that pitted 20 artists in 4 rounds of competition, culminating in 38 original works of art and one winner declared champion of The Brush Off!

To simply call the night a success would be a disservice to the incredible enthusiasm that both the artists and the community at large showed this weekend. Close to 400 people witnessed this outpouring of creativity, twitter was buzzin', and the atmosphere in the building was absolutely electric. In all, we tripled our expected attendance - people were practically hanging from the rafters watching the artists do their thing in speedy fashion.

Special thanks must go to the artists. Without their creativity, imagination, stamina (4 rounds of grueling competition!) and sheer artistic force, this night wouldn't have been nearly as magical. And to Wyndham Art Supplies, who defined being an active sponsor by providing many of the prizes and all the supplies the artists used throughout the night - thank you.

And now on to the pictures! Warning, there are a lot of them (and more to come on Facebook)...

As the audience trickled in, the artists began setting up.

Many of the artists' other works were on display on the second floor.

And round 1 was underway!

As you can see, the crowd was enraptured by the imagination expressed by the artists.

Guests used every vantage point possible to see what the artists would come up with.

Here's James Spencer with his Round 1 entry.

Lots of action!

An overhead view.

Between rounds, Christina and Melissa would furiously count the votes to see who would make the next round.

The inspiration for Round 2 was "See" as depicted by a video of this 1950's housewife demonstrating a TV that folds into a table.

Some artists preferred painting on the ground as opposed to using the supplied easles.

The evening was hosted by Chris Ahlers owner of Wyndham Art Supplies.

Through a few more rounds, we were left with 3 finalists...

Here's Nik Harron contemplating how to interpret "Swell", the word used for the final round's theme of Speak.

Finalist Chris Austin went right to work, choosing to drown out all distractions with his headphones.

And Meredith Blackmore made it to the final round as well, hoping to emerge victorious.

And the winner is...

...Meredith Blackmore!

And finally, a picture of the two head organizers of The Brush Off: Laurel McKellar and Meaghan Hawkins