UPCOMING EXHIBITION
The Great Sea: Mediterranean Imaginaries from Antiquity to Modernity
The Mediterranean Sea occupies a unique place in humanity’s imagination and sense of self. Its civilisations have hewn and transformed our world; its stories haunt our dreams. Its shorelines have shaped societies, languages, and religions. Borne by its currents, ideas and aesthetics have flourished — and foundered. Across its waters, in ceaseless rhythm, necessities and luxuries have been traded, coveted, shipped, and stolen. We are all subject to the tidal pull of its past; inexorably, its future continues to shape ours.
This exhibit, drawn from the special collections of McMaster University Library and the McMaster Museum of Art, will explore human and physical geographies of the Mediterranean from the early centuries BCE to the dawn of modernity. Featuring rare books, maps, artefacts, and works of art drawn from every region of the Mediterranean — including significant recent acquisitions — it seeks to illustrate the complexity, humanity, and paradox embodied by the Mid-Earth Sea.
Conduit and barrier to interchange, cradle and burial-place of empires, nurturer and devourer of peoples, uniter and divider of continents — through all, changeless and ever-changing, the Great Sea remains.
For accessibility/accommodations concerns or requests, please email museum@mcmaster.ca
Curator biography:
Myron Groover is McMaster University’s Archives and Rare Books Librarian. He read History at the University of Aberdeen and Library-Archival Studies at the University of British Columbia. His interests include book history, the material culture of text, and the history of ideas; his work focuses on collection development, curation, and teaching with archives and rare books.
Spencer Pope is a faculty member in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies at McMaster University and the honorary curator of the Bruce Brace Coin Collection at the McMaster Museum of Art. He is an archaeologist interested in connectivity in the Ancient Mediterranean and especially interactions between Greek colonists and Indigenous populations in Italy.
Image credit: Ron Scheffler
Curated by: Myron Groover and Spencer Pope
April 01, 2025 – August 01, 2025
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
PAST EXHIBITIONS
We Remain Certain
Arenhátyen tsi ní:tsi teyottenyonhátye’ kwató:ken tsi nī:tsi yonkwa’nikonhrayén:ta’s
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SUBMISSIONS & ASSISTANCE
SUBMISSIONS:
The McMaster Museum of Art is presently not accepting artists’ submissions for exhibitions at this time of leadership change at the museum. Our Interim Director will be undertaking a review of the museum’s forward exhibition schedule, as well as our policies and procedures, in the coming months. Our present focus is the ongoing maintenance of our permanent collection and storage needs for future collection activities.
The museum remains committed to our collecting priority in the continued support of early career, mid-career and established Indigenous artists, artists of the Black diaspora and racialized artists through purchases and commissions. Donations will be welcomed and reviewed at a future date which will be posted on our website.
ASSISTANCE:
The McMaster Museum of Art is a third party recommender for Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Exhibition Assistance Grants.
The museum is currently accepting applications. Our next program deadline is: December 16, 2024.
Priorities:
Artists who demonstrate an interest and consideration of art as a medium for social change and action.
Please follow the guidelines established by the Ontario Arts Council, apply directly through their website, and submit the following with your applications:
Brief artist statement
Confirmation letter from the gallery/museum/venue
Budget
CV
Digital images of work
