In Her Garden | Paradise Lost

Fall 2023 Exhibitions and Programs at Peel Art Gallery Museum + Archives

Amanda McCavour, Floating Garden [detail], 2011-2023, © the artist

Immerse Yourself from Bliss to Abyss at PAMA

This fall, Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) presents a unique immersive art experience with the exhibition In her Garden, an epic narrative of humanity’s path from happy beginnings to eventual environmental devastation. This exhibition pairs Toronto-based artist Amanda McCavour with Montreal-based artist Jannick Deslauriers. PAMA’s new outdoor art installation from Niagara region’s artists Dillon Douglas and Chris Louis continue with the theme of looking at humanity’s journey on earth, combining their painterly imagery in Paradise Lost where a vibrant earth turns into a wasteland. Seize the opportunity to meet all the artists at the Opening Reception for our Fall Exhibitions scheduled for Friday, September 29, 7 – 9 p.m.

Jannick Deslauriers, Phasmes (Phasmids) [detail], 2023, Photo by Béatrice Flynn, © the artists

In Her Garden: Amanda McCavour and Jannick Deslauriers
September 30, 2023 – February 20, 2024

This exhibition brings together the delicate, sculptural installations of Toronto-based artist Amanda McCavour and Montreal-based artist Jannick Deslauriers. Each, through her own feminine lens, imagines a hybrid of quasi-real and quasi-fantastical realms of existence.

Using only thread in her stitched drawings of flowers, McCavour crafts a Floating Garden sprouting from above and suspended in mid air. It is a colourful garden of romantic charm. Each strung flower, soft and slight, gracefully sways from side to side, in unison with its neighbouring blooms, as bodies pass by, disturbing them from their resting place and deceptively permeating their imagined fresh scent throughout the Garden.

Conversely, Deslauriers has created a world of black and white, devoid of botanical bliss, where colour, like life, has been sucked out. Her mixed media Phasmes (Phasmids) recalls an abandoned amusement park, a nuclear disaster zone of Chernobyl proportions, or a war-torn region. It is the sad conclusion of an environmental tragedy spurred on by human neglect, error, or explosive aggression. One enters this “contained space” through a plastic curtain at their own risk.

Dillon Douglas and Chris Louis, Paradise Lost [detail], 2023, digital painting, © the artists

Paradise Lost: Dillon Douglas and Chris Louis
September 27, 2023 – March 10, 2024

Niagara region’s artists Dillon Douglas and Chris Louis combine their painterly imagery in Paradise Lost, a tryptic digital composition (across three outdoor banners) where a healthy, verdant planet Earth turns into a wasteland. Packed with repetitive and overlapping motifs, both comical and strange, Douglas and Louis take us on a humbling journey of human failure (on a monumental scale) to caution us of a bleak future of our own making.

Fall Exhibitions Opening Reception
September 29, 2023 | 7 – 9 p.m.

You’re invited to the opening reception of our must-see exhibitions, In Her Garden: Amanda McCavour and Jannick Deslauriers and Paradise Lost: Dillon Douglas and Chris Louis. Meet the artists and immerse yourself in art.

Free event, but donations are welcomed. Registration is required, please RSVP to PAMAeventRSVP@peelregion.ca.

Unique Workshops Inspired by In Her Garden:

Terrarium Workshop with Alexscapes
October 1, 2023 | 2 – 3:45 p.m.

Gothic Block Print Workshop
October 29, 2023 | 1:30 – 4 p.m.

Silk Screening Workshop with Brampton Library and local artist Aditi Ganeev Sangwan
November 2, 2023 | 6:30 – 8:45 p.m.

Connections Art and Book Club with Brampton Library
November 23, 2023 | 7 – 8:30 p.m.

PAMA Kids PA Day Workshop: Soft Sculpture with artist Amanda McCavour (Ages 6-12)
November 24, 2023 | 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Embroidered Botany Workshop with artist Amanda McCavour
November 25, 2023 | 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Watercolour Botanical Cards Workshop
December 2, 2023 | 2 – 4 p.m.

Prices vary, check our event calendar for all the details and reserve your spot today!

PAMA is a place to explore and learn about Peel region’s diverse culture and heritage highlighting important local, Canadian and global narratives. Art, artifact, and archival collections, exhibitions, and programs help visitors make new and fascinating connections to the surrounding community. Join us throughout the year for tours, events, workshops and public programs for all ages. Operated by Peel Region, PAMA is located at 9 Wellington Street East in Brampton. Visit pama.peelregion.ca to learn more or call 905-791-4055.