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Meet your new and improved Timmins Museum

Timmins Press
September 5, 2017

After months of construction, the Timmins Museum is ready to open its doors with a full slate of exhibits scheduled for the fall.

As of Tuesday, there was still plenty to do – the gift shop was halfway through being set up again after spending the summer at a pop-up location downtown. On the official opening date of Sept. 11 – next Monday – the public will only have access to the shop.

“We’re really excited to have an expanded gift shop and our gift shop staff have all sorts of new stock that they’re really excited to show people,” said Meagan Sinclair, program coordinator for the museum.

But within days of opening, the museum will offer a glimpse into the Silent Expanse, a Cross Canada Exploration. The series of paintings by Michael E. Glover chronicle the abandoned and isolated parts of the country.

That exhibit opens to members on Sept. 14, and to the general public on Sept. 15.

It’ll be the first exhibit in the museum since the building closed for renovations in April. The museum is now reorganized into three large rooms: a permanent exhibition, a temporary space and a programming space.

Glover’s work will be displayed in the temporary exhibition room, where the walls have been redone with carpet-covered plywood.

“When you have exhibitions that are rotating on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, you’re always having to patch up the walls,” said Sinclair.

She said the former museum in South Porcupine had carpeted walls.

“It’s something that we’re going back to and it’s a solution that a lot of galleries use. It just makes the walls a little bit more self-healing, more forgiving, after a temporary exhibition. We won’t have that maintenance issue anymore.”

The permanent exhibition showcasing Timmins’ history is still being developed.

“We want to make sure that we do it properly and that we’re telling the stories that need to be told and that we’re not just regurgitating everything that’s been done in the past. We want to make sure that we’re giving focus to people and groups that maybe haven’t been focused on in the past. That requires a lot of research,” said Sinclair.

The room will be used for the Northern Ontario Art Association juried exhibition in the meantime. That show will be open to the public from Sept. 17 to 22.

The museum will also host Voices from the Engraver, a traveling exhibit from the Bank of Canada.

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