TBEX: Pre-Conference Art Tour in Toronto

Last updated on February 15th, 2024

Along with a couple of workshops, TBEX also had a large number of tours available prior to the conference, with options that included beer tasting, urban development, specialty foods, and graffiti. Because my spouse registered late (meaning many tours were already filled), we only signed up for one. So, after my morning photo walk and lunch with Leigh from Hike Bike Travel, my spouse joined me and one other participant for the “Art a la Canadiana” tour.


 photo by Dave Cynkin via flickr

The tour begins with a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) where we were fortunate to view the Collected Shadows show. The show was drawn from the collection of the Archive of Modern Conflict and curated by them (it was shown in Paris last year) and included a broad, seemingly random mix of historic photos. It was confusing, amazing, beautiful, bizarre, thought-provoking, and totally engrossing. I could have spent the whole afternoon there.

But, of course, there were other museums to visit.

Our next stop was the Art Gallery of Ontario where I expected to spend time communing with the art of the Group of Seven. Instead our tour focused on the museum’s new expansion, which was designed by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry.

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The expanded building truly is architecture as art!

We also made a detour to the basement to see the Thomson Ship Model Collection, which sounded goofy, but turned out to be amazing.

Our last stop was supposed to be the Museum of Inuit Art but, as my spouse and I found out the day before, that museum is closed as they completely update the galleries. Instead, we headed back into the heart of the financial district and the Toronto-Dominion Gallery of Inuit Art. My husband was here earlier in the day (while I was out learning to be a better photographer), but was happy to return to this wonderful collection again . . . as am I.

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