Self-guided Tours
Wednesdays-Saturdays
11am-5pm
This fall the AGA is introducing a new program option for School Groups – self-guided tours! School groups and groups of school-aged children can come anytime during AGA public hours for up to 3 hours and enjoy the current exhibitions. Enjoy the flexibility to come and go on your own schedule! The self-guided option will include an orientation from an AGA staff or volunteer when you arrive and a place to store bags and coats.
Guided Tours
Join us in-Gallery for close looking and thoughtful reflections. Each tour is 90-minutes in length.
Tiny Art Adventures (K-Gr.1)
This interactive visit introduces young students to art and the museum through age-appropriate multi-sensory investigations and art activities. Students examine how artists use the elements of art (a visual vocabulary or alphabet) to create meaning in their work.
Artist as Storyteller (Gr. 2-6)
Through multi-sensory discovery and play, students explore the connection between visual and written texts, including strategies for interacting with art, and the development of creative narratives in response to visual imagery. This thematic visit includes brainstorming, story sequencing and oral storytelling activities.
Learning to Look (Gr. 2-12)
Students explore the art and architecture of the AGA to practice close-looking and observation strategies while strengthening their visual literacy and visual thinking skills. This program introduces multiple ways of looking at art while focusing on how students can connect art and ideas to their own lives and experiences.
Art Beyond Borders (Gr. 7-12)
Students explore art through a variety of contextual lenses including historical, geographical and cultural to identify how art and images change across cultures and throughout time. This program explores the concept of ‘worldview’ challenging students to consider their personal worldview, the worldview of the artist or curator and how artwork can both influence or be influenced by worldview.
Exhibition Explorations (Gr. 10-12, post-secondary)
Students choose 2-3 exhibitions to explore alongside our knowledgeable Educators. Students are prompted to consider the curatorial key messages and artist statements while forming their own appreciation for the artwork through visual literacy strategies, thoughtful discussion in small groups, drawing and/or writing prompts, and personal reflections.
Studio Sessions
Come visit the AGA Education Studios for an art-making experience! Each studio session is 2-hours in length.
Colour Play (K-2)
Students explore their world through colour with multi-sensory and experimental colour exercises. Starting in the studio, students combine, share, and play to learn about colour mixing. Students then use their five senses to explore colour in Gallery spaces through search games and movement activities. Back in the studio, students work in groups to create a large scale mural inspired by different types of music.
Play on Architecture (K-3)
Students examine the art and architecture of the AGA focusing on lines, shapes, colour, and textures. Students compare and contrast architectural elements in the gallery before creating their own 3D architectural sculpture in studio using wood-blocks.
My Place (Gr. 1-6)
Students explore the idea of ‘place’ and their own place in the world through storytelling, gallery explorations and a mixed-media sculpture project. Students investigate the basic elements of landscape art including foreground, mid-ground and background, and visit gallery spaces to discover how artists tell stories about ‘places’ in their artwork. In the studio, students work with a variety of materials to build their own 3-dimensional relief sculpture based on a place that is important to them.
Architecture Olympics (Gr. 3-9)
How can design be used to make our lives better, easier, or more fun? Students will discover how design is all around us and shapes our lives and lifestyle. Design learning, inquiry-based activities, critical and creative thinking are all key concepts. Students will engage in a process of design which will have them looking at and thinking critically about the built and artistic world that surrounds us.
New Ways in Painting (Gr. 3-12) *Available starting Jan. 2025
Painting is just paint and paper, or is it? Students discover new ways of thinking about
painting through Gallery explorations and painting experimentation in this studio project.
Students begin by exploring the Gallery spaces to view ‘paintings’ that challenge the way we think about the medium. In the studio, students stretch, layer and build using acrylic paint in order to create a visual fantasy world of their own.
Collective Legends (formerly Myth-a-Zine) (Gr. 4-6) *Available starting Jan. 2025
Students explore concepts of community, history and storytelling in current AGA Exhibitions. Back in the studio, students work in groups to generate ideas for a personal narrative while considering the nature of zines as a medium of communication. Then, using collage, drawing, and mixed media, students create a limited-edition zine that tells an epic tale of our time.
Art Stories (Gr. 4-9)
Students discover how artists tell and share stories through visual strategies and art materials. In the Gallery, students explore current exhibitions to find the connection between art and story, gather inspiration, and develop their own narrative. In the studio, students create a small watercolour and block print to illustrate their ideas.
Curating Collections (Gr. 7-12)
Students look more closely at how art is collected and curated through a series of in-gallery discussions and activities. Students identify artistic subject matter and themes, experiment with mixed media techniques to create miniature artworks on paper, and try their hand at writing a curatorial statement. How meaning is constructed and manipulated by artists, curators/collectors and viewers.
Virtual Conversations
These 30-min artful conversations are facilitated online through Google Meet or Microsoft TEAMS.
Art & Music (Kinders)
Investigate BIG IDEAS through colour, music, mood and imagination. In this session for Kinders, students use their senses and body expression to examine how artists share their thoughts about the world around them.
Art Collection Adventure (K-3)
The AGA has over 6,000 objects in our collection. In this session, students get a behind-the-scene look at how we store ALL of that art while uncovering a few gems hidden in our vaults.
Art in My Neighbourhood (Gr. 1-3)
A celebration of public art in the city and local artists in the AGA collection. Students explore how landscape and geography inform the type of art that is made and how it holds meaning for a community.
Indigenous Artists in the Collection (Gr. 4-6)
Shining a light on Indigenous artists in the AGA Collection, students investigate the art practices of celebrated icons Jane Ash Poitras, Alex Janvier, Brian Jungen and Dana Claxton.
Through the Lens (Gr. 7-9)
Students examine the photographs of artists Edward Burtynsky and Tanya Harnett to discover how each artist/photographer relates to the land and environment through their unique perspective.
New Acquisitions (Gr. 10-12)
As a collecting museum, the AGA has a holding of over 6,000 art objects. In this session, students learn about how artworks are obtained, how they are conserved and get a first look at our newest acquisitions.
Virtual Studios
These 60-minute online sessions include discussions and art-making activities. These programs are facilitated on Google Meet or Microsoft TEAMS
Layered Landscapes (Gr. 1-3)
Landscapes have long captivated artists and viewers alike. This session introduces students to the basics of landscape composition and invites them to create a one-of-a-kind layered painting.
Artists for a Better World (Gr. 4-6)
Artists are in a unique position to understand the injustices of the world and use their art as a platform to speak out for the ideas they believe in. Students will look at artist/activists in the AGA collection before creating a poster or zine about a social justice topic they feel strongly about.
Barn Skull (Gr. 7-9)
Students are introduced to artist Jude Griebel through Barn Skull, a large-scale anthropomorphic barn that playfully contemplates the past and future of rural communities. Students will create their own anthropomorphic portrait inspired by their own experiences of our vastly changing world.
Sketchbook Retreat (Gr. 10-12)
These sessions begin with a look at two contemporary artists from current exhibitions and/or from the AGA Collection. Students are invited to participate in fun and informal conversations about the art while drawing in their sketchbooks.