A Day out at the AGO

Today Trystan, Owen and I decided to use one of the coupons in the 2014 Fun Pass that the Ontario government provides to schoolchildren in their report cards each year. I don’t think we have ever used one of the coupons before.

We drove to Kipling subway station where the north lot was already full. It took a while to find the south lot (I’ve never parked there before) and it had a Lot Full sign up but there was an attendant allowing a few cars in and directing them to empty spots. The TTC is a better deal than Brampton Transit for occasional users and children. Cash fares were $3 for adults, $2 for teens and $0.75 for children. In Brampton cash fare is $3.75 regardless of age. If one uses Presto the student fare is $2.50 and the adult fare is $2.80.

It has been a while since Owen has been on the subway. He didn’t really remember the last time. We sat right at the front so we could see where we were going.

As we emerged from the subway at Dundas and University both boys were struck by how noisy it is downtown compared to places we generally frequent. After a quick stop at Tim’s we arrived at the Art Gallery. Entry was $30 for the three of us with one child free.

One of the themes on display throughout the gallery was Art as Therapy (#artastherapy).

After visiting the restrooms in the basement we climbed Frank Ghery’s 2008 staircase addition to the fifth floor tower where the Contemporary Art exhibit was housed. The first exhibit we saw was entitled Gustav’s Wing by Dahn Vo which consisted six bronze fragments cast from the artist’s nephew scattered about a large room. Owen found it rather creepy.

Here is Owen admiring a large work of art sitting in front of multi storey windows covered in giant wooden louvers.

One of the stranger exhibits was The Index by David Altmejd.

When we bought our tickets we were provided with five trading cards describing pieces of art which we were to try to find during our visit.

We found three.

There was a great view of the Ontario College of Art and Design from the top of the south staircase.

We had a good lunch at The Village Idiot Pub across the street from the gallery. We sat inside but there were huge garage door-style windows which were open and made for a lovely atmosphere on a sunny summer day. Trystan had pizza, Owen a cheeseburger and I had a club wrap.

On the way back to the gallery after lunch we discover two huge Henry Moore sculptures which have been climbed on for years smoothing and shining the bronze.

I love the rooms with paintings framed and hung floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

After visiting a few more galleries we had coffee and gelato at the Espresso Bar in the Frank Ghery galleria on the second floor extending the length of the building along Dundas Street. It is an amazing space and caused Owen to comment, “The building is a work of art”.

We had a terrific day and agreed that we must return on another day to see the galleries we missed. The subway was very crowded on the way home. I stood all the way back to Kipling.

We arrived back at Kipling to a cool van thanks to parking under the Kipling Avenue bridge.

Traffic on the 427 was terrible and we arrived home too late to drive Megan to work at Rogers for 6 causing her to have to use Brampton Transit to get to work. It took almost two hours to get home. I can’t imagine doing that commute every day, but it was a fun adventure for the three of us today.