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Image credit: Samuel Thomas, Sky Woman Messenger Bag, 2022, Glass beads on velvet, cardboard backing, cotton calico. 

Samuel Thomas: New

​Beginnings

November 17, 2023- March 30, 2024
Curated by Debra Antoncic
This exhibition brings together recent work by celebrated Haudenosaunee artist Samuel Thomas, alongside selections from his previous body of work. Framed as a statement of renewed purpose and a fresh start, the exhibition explores themes of continuity and innovation, community collaboration, and Indigenous storytelling.  Art works in the exhibition highlight the artist’s transition from traditional beading to a contemporary art practice.

Samuel Thomas is a member of the Lower Cayuga Band of the Iroquois Nation. He lives in Niagara Falls, Ontario. For over forty years, Sam has worked to resurrect beadwork styles from the 18th and 19th centuries. He has recovered several “lost” techniques, and in the process, has garnered international respect for Iroquois beadwork. He is largely self-taught, informed by extensive study of museum/collector pieces, books and illustrations. Thomas received additional training with tanner Juliette Meness-Ferguson, beadworker Faith DuBuc, and Royal Ontario Museum curator Dr. Trudy Nicks. Sam’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the British Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, the National Gallery of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, along with museum, gallery and private collections in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council and the government of Ontario. 
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​Generously sponsored by the Radlett Foundation. ​
Image credit: Mark Crofton Bell, E.B (Green), 2018, Oil on board.
​Mark Crofton Bell:
​The Mom Project
September 23, 2023 - January 27, 2024
Curated by Debra Antoncic
With The Mom Project, artist Mark Bell brings a series of portraits of his mother, painted from observation during the final years of her life. What began as an activity to pursue while visiting his mother in long-term care developed into a sustained exercise in looking. The subtle changes over time are recorded in the small oil on board portraits.

"For the last five years of her life, my mother, Eleonore Bell, lived in a long-term care facility where she struggled with the challenges of dementia. The idea to paint portraits of her evolved simply out of a way of spending time together. As her mobility, hearing and cognitive abilities began to deteriorate there were fewer and fewer activities we could engage in. Painting was one activity that kept me occupied during my visits while also involving my mother’s participation. All the paintings are in oil, most are on 6” x 8” board, completed in a single sitting of one or two hours. There was never a plan to reach a certain number or to work towards a specific goal, each painting was simply a record of that days’ visit."
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Toronto-based artist Mark Crofton Bell has exhibited his paintings and wall works across Canada in various artist-run centres, public and commercial galleries including The Art Gallery of Ontario, Blackwood Gallery, The Kenderdine Art Gallery, Mercer Union, The Eastern Edge and Stride Gallery. Internationally he has attended residencies and exhibited in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria and Macedonia. He studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design and received his MA from Chelsea College of Art in London, UK. He teaches painting at Sheridan College in Oakville. He is the recipient of awards from the Toronto Friends of Visual Arts, Canada Council for the Visual Arts, Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council. His exhibitions have been reviewed in Canadian Art Magazine, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Border Crossings Magazine and The Toronto Star.
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Interested in Sponsorship? Visit us here.
Image credit: Marc-Aurèle de foy Suzor-Coté, PORTRAIT OF J. B. TAILLON, n.d., Oil on canvas.

On Aging

September 23, 2023- January 27, 2024
Curated by Debra Antoncic
"When you see me sitting quietly,
Like a sack left on the shelf,
Don’t think I need your chattering.
I’m listening to myself..."

-From On Aging, Maya Angelou, 2015
Image detail: Lawren Harris, Study for "In the Ward 1, City Paintings," 1918, Oil on cardboard, Samuel E. Weir Collection. 

Centre and Periphery: The

Group of Seven 

Fall 2018- Ongoing
Curated by Asta McCann 
The Group of Seven has become synonymous with ideas of an untouched, seemingly uninhabited Canadian wilderness. These artists, however, also sketched and painted urban locations, with clear evidence of civilization and industry. Drawing from a selection of artworks in the Samuel E. Weir Collection, this exhibition considers the complex relationship between the urban centre and rural periphery in paintings by members of the Group.

40 x 40

September 23, 2023- March 30, 2023
In celebration of RiverBrink’s 40th Anniversary, we called upon our community to share their favourite piece from our permanent collection, and asked them to describe why it held significance for them. The result is a dynamic selection of 40 inspiring pieces, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, silverware and more. 

Adopt-an-Artwork

Fall 2020 - Ongoing

​​Adopting an art work from the permanent collection at RiverBrink is a unique way to support the art museum. Although adopted art works remain at RiverBrink, your financial support enables you to establish a special connection with a beloved work of art.
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You may choose from one of five annual giving levels, starting at $50. Your adoption helps support ongoing care and conservation of art works and helps ensure the future of the collection.

For more information and to view the artwork available for adoption click here.
Image detail: Mary Prittie, Untitled (Canada Furnace), 1986, Gift of Allan Prittie

Recent Acquisitions

Ongoing
​Bottom Floor

​RiverBrink continues to collect through donation and purchase, with the goal of developing a collection that both complements and broadens the Samuel E. Weir Collection. The recent acquisition of three works by Ghitta Caiserman-Roth increases the number of women artists in the collection, an underdeveloped area of acquisition.
Image: Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, L'essoucheur (The Digger of Roots), c.1880-1937, Bronze, Samuel E. Weir Collection. 

Suzor-Coté at RiverBrink

Ongoing
Curated by Debra Antoncic
Lower Level 

Bronze sculptures by the 20th-century Québec artist are on permanent display in the library. Beginning in the 1940s, Sam Weir commissioned the casting of the bronzes with the goal of acquiring a representative survey of the artist’s work in sculpture. This project was continued following Weir’s death.
​© RiverBrink Art Museum Inc. 2020