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Tuesday 11am - 4pm Wednesday 11am - 7pm Thursday 11am - 4pm Friday 11am - 4pm Saturday 11am - 5pm

Doris McCarthy Gallery (DMG) at University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON (2026)

10/05/2026

Submissions for the 2026 Doris McCarthy Gallery Art Writing Prize are now open!

🖋️ Offered in partnership with the Centre for Teaching and Learning at U of T Scarborough, the Art Writing Prize is open to all U of T Scarborough students. The prize encourages writing related to contemporary art while creating opportunity for emerging writers to have their work recognized professionally. Submissions must focus on the gallery's fall exhibition, 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, and can take the form of critical writing and essays, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and more. Writing can focus on the entire exhibition, or on the work of a set of artists or single artist in the exhibition.

🏆 The winner will receive a $250 cash prize, the opportunity to have their work published on the gallery website, and submission to the U of T Scarborough Library TSpace Research Repository.

🗓️ Submissions will be accepted from October 5 to December 5, 2026. The winner will be announced in early 2027.

🔗 To learn more, for full eligibility details, and to submit your work: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/projects/art-writing-prize

09/22/2026

The Doris McCarthy Gallery is excited to announce 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨: A Symposium on Indigenous Art & Placemaking! Taking place on October 20, 2026, this one-day symposium is inspired by the acquisition and installation of works by Indigenous artists at the newly-opened Indigenous House at U of T Scarborough. Join us for a day of conversations, lectures, and workshops led by artists, curators, scholars, and community members, presented in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at U of T Scarborough.

🗓️ October 20, 9 am - 8 pm
📍 Indigenous House, U of T Scarborough

The agenda for the day includes:

🎙️ Keynote lecture by artist Lori Blondeau
🎤 Conversation with Katherine Takpannie and Catherine Blackburn, moderated by Jaida Grey Eagle
🎤 Conversation with Renée Condo and Nico Williams, moderated by Lisa Myers
🎨 Hands-on art making workshops: choose between a cyanotype workshop with Jaida Grey Eagle or a Woodland painting workshop with Jim Oskineegish
🍽️ Catered lunch
🎉 Registrants are also invited to join a dinner hosted by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at U of T Scarborough and the evening's public celebration of the artists and artworks in Indigenous House. The evening program includes a poetry reading by Connor Taylor and curated playlist by Nadya Kwandibens, supported by Native Women in the Arts (NWIA).

This national program will bring together a remarkable array of Inuit, Anishinaabe, Mi’gmaw, Cree/Salteaux/Métis, Oglala Lakota, and Dene perspectives on Indigenous art and placemaking, and will provide important contexts to the artworks installed in Indigenous House.

𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 is supported by the Pedagogies of Inclusive Excellence Fund; Experiential Learning Fund; I.D.E.A.S; and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, University of Toronto.

🔗 This event is free and open to the public, registration required: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/events-programs/future-building

09/17/2026

🎨 Artist Travis Shilling will be leading an outdoor open studio program at Fool's Paradise on Thursday, October 8, as part of the programming for the exhibition 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Presented by the Doris McCarthy Gallery in partnership with , Shilling will deliver a talk reflecting on his relationship as an artist with water, and its place in his practice and approach to painting. Following the talk, participants will have a chance to participate in an outdoor art-making session in the idyllic setting of Fool's Paradise, Doris McCarthy's home and studio on the Scarborough Bluffs. With a focus on the views of Lake Ontario and Doris' pond, participants will continue to reflect on the relationship between water and art making.

🗓️ Thursday, October 8, 1 - 4 pm�
📍 Fool's Paradise
🌦️ Parts of this program will be held outdoors, rain or shine!

This program is free and open to the public. Registration is required—for more information and to sign up: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/events-programs/artist-talk-open-studio-with-travis-shilling

Visual artist, film director, and playwright Travis Shilling is the youngest of two sons to the acclaimed Indigenous artist Arthur Shilling (1941-1986). His expressive brushstrokes and unique colour palette transport the viewer to a cinematic landscape that explores the impact of climate change. Through his work, Shilling reflects on the responsibilities of being an Indigenous artist, commenting on the struggles of a hidden history and highlighting otherwise forgotten places. Shilling's work can be found in public and private collections worldwide, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Citadelle Art Foundation, and a portrait commission for Hart House at the University of Toronto. Shilling is represented by Ingram Gallery in Toronto and Canada House Gallery in Banff.

𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 is on view September 15 - December 5, 2026 at the Doris McCarthy Gallery. Exhibition programming is supported by .

Image: Travis Shilling, "Indian Maiden", 2026. Oil on canvas, 121 x 152.4 cm.

09/15/2026

✍️ Registration is now open for the Poetry & Nature Connection Workshop Series led by Sheniz Janmohamed!

As part of the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Year of Poetry, the Doris McCarthy Gallery has invited Janmohamed to respond to the exhibition 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 as Poet-in-Residence. Drawing on her creative practice as a writer, artist, educator, and certified Forest Bathing Guide, Janmohamed has developed a series of workshops exploring the works of the exhibiting artists. Framed around the four natural elements—earth, air, water, and fire—the workshops will include guided prompts and reflections, poetry writing, nature walks, and nature reconnection activities. Participants are welcome to attend one or more sessions, registration is required for some.

🌳Session 1 / Tracing Ancestral Lines: Earth
🗓️ Thurs. October 1, 1 - 2:30 pm�
Participants will write about their own ancestral connections and responsibility to place and land, followed by a nature walk to spend some time with “Mother Trees”, the oldest trees in the forest.

💨Session 2 / A Palimpsest of Remembering: Air
🗓️ Thurs. October 22, 1 - 2:30 pm
Participants will explore what we remember, how we remember, and what is forgotten. A walk reflecting on where past, present, and future meet in the natural world will follow.

💧Session 3 / Honouring Diasporic Grief: Water
🗓️ Wed. November 18, 9:30 am - 11 am
Participants will consider themes of displacement and diasporic grief through the metaphor of water. They will then have opportunity to “speak their grief” to the land during a nature walk.

🔥Session 4 / Regeneration & Reclaiming Joy: Fire
�🗓️ Wed. December 2, 11 am - 7 pm, Artist present from 11 am - 1 pm
In this drop-in session, participants will move their way through an indoor forest bathing experience, choose their own nature and social prescriptions, and explore themes of regeneration present in the gallery.

For more information and to register:
https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/events-programs/cartographies-of-longing-poet-in-residence-workshop-series

09/11/2026

🎉 Join us at the opening reception for the Doris McCarthy Gallery’s fall exhibition 'Cartographies of Longing', featuring works by Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Nour Bishouty, Amanda Boulos, Deanna Bowen, Christian Chapman, Meryl McMaster, Arthur Shilling, Travis Shilling, and Shellie Zhang.��

🗓️ Saturday, September 19, 2 - 4 pm
📍Doris McCarthy Gallery
🎤Curator Sandy Saad-Smith will deliver remarks at 3 pm��

Light food and refreshments will be served. All are welcome! This is a relaxed reception, attendees are welcome to come and go as they wish.

'Cartographies of Longing' brings together artists whose practices draw upon family histories, oral traditions, and archival fragments to map intergenerational relationships to land.

The exhibition is supported by the Toronto Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, with programming support from the Jackman Humanities Institute.

🔗 For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/events-programs/cartographies-of-longing-opening-reception

��Image: Shellie Zhang, 'Gazing at a Waterfall', 2023. Resin, stone, water, glass, incense, smoke, water pump, atomizer, and paint. Photo by Darren Rigo

08/19/2026

The Doris McCarthy Gallery is excited to announce our upcoming fall exhibition 'Cartographies of Longing'! The exhibition opens on September 15, with a public reception to follow on Saturday, September 19, 2 - 4 pm.

'Cartographies of Longing' presents works by Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Nour Bishouty, Amanda Boulos, Deanna Bowen, Christian Chapman, Meryl McMaster, Arthur Shilling, Travis Shilling, and Shellie Zhang, whose practices draw upon family histories, oral traditions, and archival fragments to map intergenerational relationships to land. The artists create space to imagine new relationships with the lands they remember and inhabit, and longing becomes a generative force that restores memory and sustains cultural continuity.

🎉 Public opening reception
🗓️Saturday, September 19 from 2 - 4 pm
🎤Curator Sandy Saad-Smith will deliver remarks at 3 pm

🔗 For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/cartographies-of-longing

'Cartographies of Longing' runs September 15 - December 5, 2026, at the Doris McCarthy Gallery. Supported by Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, and Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto.

08/18/2026

'tókša | I Will See You Again' is now open in the Instructional Centre atrium! Curated by Caitlyn Bird, this exhibition brings together beaded works and cyanotype photographs by Oglala Lakota artist Jaida Grey Eagle that reflect her relationship to land, culture, and storytelling.

Grounded in lived experience, and motivated to reclaim visual sovereignty, Grey Eagle overrides a long history of photographic misrepresentation of Lakota communities. Through the making and presentation of her work, Grey Eagle connects to the land and honours the enduring legacy of her ancestors.

The exhibition takes its title from the Lakota word tókša, meaning "I will see you again." Rather than saying goodbye, the phrase expresses the expectation of return, not only as a physical act, but an ongoing process of remembering, reconnecting, and reclamation. The land remembers Grey Eagle as much as she remembers it.

'tókša | I Will See You Again' runs to July 31, 2027 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough. Supported by Toronto Arts Council () and Canada Council for the Arts (.council).

🔗 For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/toksa

08/14/2026

The Doris McCarthy Gallery has invited Sheniz Janmohamed to respond to our upcoming fall exhibition, 'Cartographies of Longing', as Poet-in-Residence. Drawing on her creative practice as a writer, artist, educator, and certified Forest Bathing Guide, Janmohamed will develop programming that expands on and contextualizes the exhibition. This will include a series exploring the works of the exhibiting artists through guided prompts and reflections, poetry writing, and nature reconnection activities. Programs will be announced as they develop, stay tuned!

This residency is part of and supported by the U of T Scarborough Year of Poetry.

To learn more about the residency: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/residencies/sheniz-janmohamed

Sheniz Janmohamed grew up just outside Toronto and has ancestral ties to Kenya and India. A graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph, she has been performing her poetry for 15 years, including features at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Aga Khan Museum, and Vancouver Writers Fest. She has three collections of poetry, published by Mawenzi House: 'Bleeding Light' (2010), 'Firesmoke' (2014) and 'Reminders on the Path' (2021). Her land art has been featured across Turtle Island, including the National Arts Centre, MOCA and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. Janmohamed is a certified Forest Bathing Guide, working to promote well-being, nature connection and pro-environmental attitudes across communities in the GTA.

For an advance experience of Janmohamed's practice, registration is now open for a family-friendly Forest Bathing Walk she is facilitating in Scarborough on August 22, presented by Ontario Land Trust and Culture Link. For more details and to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeS50eQUsu_BBj2ryeqxHTiACHDhen6YBVfXbQUML11o3cwvw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Photo by Eva Tsai. Image description in alt text.

07/31/2026

As the final highlight in our series about works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land’, today we are looking at ‘Rag Rugs: Colours of our Campus,’ created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with artist Deborah Livingston-Lowe.

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk and offered through UTSC’s Certificate in Sustainability. Built into the course were a series of workshops that promoted experiential learning through the creation of collective artworks. ‘Back to the Land’ asks us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as an embodied way of being in the world.

Artist Deborah Livingston-Lowe led students through a rug-making workshop using recycled textiles. Given the prompt to reflect on the colours of our campus, students gathered materials from the U of T Scarborough community through conversations, donation drives, and outreach. Contributors were asked to reflect on their relationship to the garment, what it might say if it could speak, and how they felt about its repurposing. Woven together, these stories form rugs that illuminate the environmental impact of textiles while celebrating the value of reuse. They are shared narratives, threads linking people, place, and material life across our campus community.

Deborah Livingston-Lowe has been involved in many aspects of textiles, both practical and academic, for 30 years. Her early interest in handloom weaving and spinning grew into historic weaving, research, textile conservation, and restoration. Her work in textiles continues to be multidisciplinary as she works with designers to create textiles for fashion and interiors, with museums to reproduce textiles and provide consultation for their collection, and conducts research into the production and consumption of hand-woven cloth in 19th century Ontario.

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough.

https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

07/29/2026

We are taking a closer look at indigo-dyed batik textiles created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with Anny Min He, as part of our series highlighting works in the exhibition 'Back to the Land'.

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk and offered through UTSC’s Certificate in Sustainability. Built into the course were a series of workshops that promoted experiential learning through the creation of collective artworks. ‘Back to the Land’ asks us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as an embodied way of being in the world.

Through a workshop led by Anny Min He, students were introduced to Miao batik, a wax-resist dyeing technique from Guizhou, China that dates back to the Qin and Han dynasties. Listed as National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Miao batik is rooted in local traditions and features symbolic motifs passed across generations. Drawing with molten wax, dyeing with indigo, and reflecting on the cultural and ecological dimensions of craft, students explored the ways cultural textile practices carry stories of land, identity, and belonging. These textiles embody the course’s emphasis on sensory, affective, and intercultural ways of knowing, and highlighting the ways making connects learners to diverse traditions of care, place, and sustainability.

Anny Min He is an artist and co-founder of the organization SlowMaking which “inspires intercultural connections and a slow, sustainable way of life through authentic storytelling, products, and experiences that centre around heritage crafts.”

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough.

https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

Doris McCarthy Gallery (DMG) at University of Toronto Scarborough

10/05/2026

09/22/2026

09/17/2026

09/15/2026

09/11/2026

08/19/2026

08/18/2026

08/14/2026

07/31/2026

07/29/2026

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Tuesday	11am - 4pm
Wednesday	11am - 7pm
Thursday	11am - 4pm
Friday	11am - 4pm
Saturday	11am - 5pm