Prologue. Portraits for future selves
June 26, 2025 - October 5, 2025
Works from the Youth Art Mentorship Program
Lillian Bleeker, Jay Hopkins, Violet Jackson
Anaïs Le Goaix, and AJ Livings
Artist-Mentor: Spencer J. Harrison
This exhibition is the culmination of the 2025 Youth Art Mentorship Program. Now in its fourth year, this program provides an opportunity for artists at the end of their high school careers to work with an artist-mentor, developing work for exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.
Selected by a jury of arts professionals at the end of 2024 artists Lillian Beeker, Jay Hopkins, Violet Jackson, Anaïs Le Goix, and AJ Livings have spent the last four months working with artist-mentor Dr. Spencer J. Harrison, Education Programming Coordinator Andrew Ihamaki, and Curator Fynn Leitch, working in their own ways to bring forward their diverse perspectives, informed by lived experience.
About the Artist Mentor:
Spencer J. Harrison (he/him) is an Artist, Activist, and Educator. Spencer has been painting and creating installation-based art for forty years, and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
As an activist, his focus is on human rights for all who are marginalized, with his greatest focus on youth. For instance, he is the founder of Camp fYrefly, Ontario (a camp for LGBTQ2S&A youth) and has been an Artist-in-Residence with the Toronto District School Board for fifteen years. In this role, Spencer operates an open door, public studio where he has produced many works, including the first painted PhD dissertation in Canada.
Additionally, Spencer has been teaching in the Drawing and Painting department of OCAD University for more than ten years, where he has assessed more than 50,000 portfolios for the admissions to the University.
Spencer believes in the power of art and youth to change the world and is thrilled to be working in this program at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.
About the Youth Art Mentorship Program
The Youth Art Mentorship Program (YAM) presents senior high school students with the opportunity to learn from professional mentors to gain valuable skills as professional artists and create work for a public exhibition.
Through the program, selected youth artists receive training in visual arts and creative administration, which can open doors to a breadth of careers including animation, industrial design, architecture, and the non-profit sector.
Funding for this project was made possible by a grant from the PCVS Legacy Fund within the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough.
The Community Foundation is a public foundation and registered charity. By combining and investing gifts of all sizes in a pooled fund, the Community Foundation works with donors to build sustainable community resources that can address the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough now and in the future. For more information visit www.cfgp.ca
Events
26
Opening Reception: New Exhibitions
Thursday, June 26, 2025 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
More Exhibitions
Prologue. Portraits for future selves
Jun. 26, 2025 - Oct. 5, 2025
Figuring Identity: declarations and dreams
Jun. 26, 2024 - Nov. 3, 2024
Wayfinding
Jun. 7, 2023 - Oct. 1, 2023
Being in the World
Jun. 25, 2022 - Oct. 2, 2022
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