Museum + Arts Pass Blog

Game On 2.0 at the Ontario Science Centre

We love gaming, from classics such as Mario Bros. to the highly addictive Candy Crush Saga. Celebrate video games with our MAP partner, the Ontario Science Centre, and their latest exhibition Game On 2.0.

Game On 2.0 takes a look at the history of gaming, from the earliest computer games to today's 3D and virtual reality games. The exhibit features over 60 years of design, development and production. Plus, there are more than 150 playable games, allowing participants to follow the evolution of arcade games into what is now a multi-billion dollar industry.

Want an in-depth look at video gaming? Visit your local library branch for these titles on the history, relevance and joy of video games:

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time

1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture

Learn how to practice safe gaming by asking library staff about these books:

Video Gaming (Ages 8-11)

A Smart Kid's Guide to Playing Online Games (Ages 9-12)

At the Controls: Questioning Video and Computer Games (Ages 8-10)

Young gamers aspiring to a career in the gaming industry will want to take a look at these books:

Video Game Programming for Kids (Ages 8-12)

Game On: Have You Got What It Takes to be a Video Game Developer (Ages 10-12)

Video Game Designer (Ages 9+)

Also, library branches around the city offer programs for gamers, visit the library's website for more details.

Summer Exceptions

Please note the following venues will not accept MAP passes on these dates:

Black Creek Pioneer Village: June 15-16, 2013 (Father's Day weekend) July 1, 2013 (Canada Day) July 13, 14, 20 & 21, 2013 (Mid Century Carnival) August 5, 2013 (Civic Holiday) September 1, 2013 (Labour Day) Toronto Zoo: July 1, 2013 (Canada Day) August 5, 2013 (Civic Holiday) September 1, 2013 (Labour Day)

Community Quilting at Gibson House

Help our MAP partner, Gibson House (a City of Toronto Historic Museum), create a community quilt project for the museum.

Historically, social quilting was a practical way of completing large projects efficiently, allowing a group of people to share the work and to also share each other’s company. Today, group quilting contributes towards community building. In our fast paced lives, this is a wonderful way for people in our large and diverse city to take time to relax and interact socially with people in their neighbourhood, while also learning a practical skill.

Gibson House's quilt project meets every other Thursday from 6-8 PM and is open to all ages and skill levels. Call Gibson House at 416-395-7432 for more information.

Interested in taking up quilting? Come to the library and ask staff about our collection of books and DVDs on quilting, some of which are featured below.

Great books for beginners and junior quilters:

My First Quilting Book (Ages 7+)

The Jumbo Book of Needlecrafts (Ages 9-12)

Start to Quilt (Ages 10+)

Kids Can Quilt (Ages 10-13)

The Quilting Bee (Ages 4-8)

Learn new patterns and techniques with these helpful guides:

One Stitch Quilting: The Basics

Modern Patchwork: 12 Quilts to Take You Beyond the Basics

Ultimate Quilting Bible: A Complete Reference with Step-by-Step Techniques

Alex Anderson Teaches You to Start Quilting (DVD)

Discover the story behind the Quilt of Belonging (which is made up of 263 blocks representing Aboriginal groups and immigrant nationalities in Canada) and find out more about the history of quilting in Canada with these titles:

The Quilt of Belonging: Stitching Together the Stories of a Nation (Ages 9+)

Quilt of Belonging: The Invitation Project

Ontario's Heritage Quilts

Canadian Heritage Quilting

 

Museum of Inuit Art - Main Exhibition Space Temporarily Closed for Renovations

Please note, until further notice, the Museum of Inuit Art's permanent exhibition space is temporarily closed for renovations.

The Museum's special exhibition space, currently featuring Speaking the Inuit Way, and retail gallery remains open.

In the mean time, drop by your local library and ask staff about these books on Inuit Art:

Kanaginak Pootoogook

The Way of Inuit Art

Celebrating Inuit Art, 1948-1970

Speaking the Inuit Way at the Museum of Inuit Art

Discover the diversity of the Inuit language with Speaking the Inuit Way at our MAP partner, the Museum of Inuit Art (on now until May 24th). This exhibit highlights how language reflects historical and contemporary Inuit culture and identity, its regional differences and modern revitalization efforts. 

Visit the library to find out more about our Native Peoples Collection and to borrow these stories in English and French with accompanying Inuit language text:

French and Inuktitut

L'anniversaire d'Aputik

L'echo du Nord

Un Inukshuk solitaire

English and Inuktitut

Aliguq (Ages 4-7)

Arctic Memories (Ages 9+)

Uumajut: Learn about Arctic Wildlife (Aes 4-8)

Uumajut: Learn about Arctic Wildlife, Vol. 2 (Ages 4-8)

English and Inuit language

No Borders (Ages 8+)

Proud to be Inuvialuit (Ages 8+)

The Delta is My Home (Ages 8+)

Don't forget to go to Spadina Road Branch on May 25th from 2 PM to 3 PM for the Museum of Inuit Art's MAP Family Saturday program. Free fun for the whole family!

Wonderful MAP Patron Review of the Textile Museum of Canada

Are you curious about our MAP partner, the Textile Museum of Canada? Not sure what to expect? Adam, a Toronto Public Library patron, used a MAP pass to visit the Textile Museum of Canada recently and shares his eye opening experience with us.

“I've seen the Textile Museum in passing a few times when travelling on the Dundas streetcar. When the opportunity came to get a pass to the museum through the TPL's MAP program, I decided to roll-the-dice. I was delighted on three accounts. The museum itself is tucked into a relatively unremarkable tower on the south side of Dundas at Centre Avenue. Steps away from the St. Patrick Station and a 5 minute walk from Dundas Station it's an easy location to get to. The museum is not a sprawling space; its entry foyer is quite snug and gives no indication of the remarkable gallery space above. A quick elevator ride to the main gallery and you step right into the display space. This was the first highlight. The space is really engaging; the main gallery operates in the round so one can start and end in opposite directions. The second highlight of the museum was the children's space for letting kids get their hands into the creation of textile based crafts - including weaving. Small hand looms littered the space along with a child operable treadle loom. Here museum staff got kids involved in making their own fabrics! A totally unexpected and delightful part of the space. The third highlight was the gift shop. It’s like a Silk Road caravan exploded in a corner of the museum's third floor. I'm not sure words can do it justice. It’s a fascinating collection of hand crafted scarves, ties, fabrics and books. If someone in your life is interested in either fashion or sewing or just art, this is a fascinating little shop in its own right. I will definitely keep an eye on the space for upcoming events.”

For an opportunity to experience some of our city's hidden cultural gems, visit your local Toronto Public Library branch to borrow a Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass.

Kids Weaving (Ages 8-12)

You Can Weave! Projects for Young Weavers (Ages 9-12)

The Magic Weaver of Rugs: A Tale of the Navajo (Ages 7+)

Wild Rose's Weaving (Ages 4-8)

MAP Family Saturdays - May 2013

The MAP Family Saturdays series of family programs return this spring!

If you haven't had the opportunity to experience what our museum partners have to offer, here's your chance! On Saturdays in May, visit your local library for crafts, games, artifacts and activities from Toronto's top attractions. Programs last one hour and suit kids 5-12 and their caregivers.

Visit North York Central Library, Don Mills and McGregor Park to explore Bata Shoe Museum objects and hear the stories behind the shoes. Make your own shoe-shaped magnet craft.

Join us at York Woods and Richview branches, where Black Creek Pioneer Village will show you how to tease, card and spin wool. Take home your own woollen bracelet.

Work with the Gardiner Museum's professional ceramic artists at the Brentwood and Lillian H. Smith branches to make clay animals.

Curious about the Inuit? Visit Museum of Inuit Art staff at Downsview, Morningside and Spadina Road branches. Touch museum artifacts, play traditional Inuit games, and make your own piece of Inuit inspired art.

Royal Ontario Museum will be at Parkdale and Parliament Street branches, where you can learn about dinosaur discoveries and make a dinosaur craft to take home.

Sanderson branch will host the Textile Museum of Canada, where you can learn about how cloth is made and make your very own colourful bookmark.

Visit Dufferin/St. Clair and Barbara Frum branches where Colborne Lodge in High Park (Toronto Historic Museum) to discover games and toys from more than 150 years ago, plus story time and share some riddles. Scarborough Museum (Toronto Historic Museum) presents the Early Settler Experience. Enjoy games, toys and stories as you discover Scarborough's past at Kennedy/Eglinton, Bendale and Eglinton Square branches. Leaside and Danforth/Coxwell branches welcome Todmorden Mills Heritage Site (Toronto Historic Museum) who will give a hands-on demonstration on how kids lived and played a hundred years ago in Toronto. Also, create a take home craft.

Polar bears, grizzly bears and giant pandas call the Toronto Zoo their home. Come to Goldhawk Park, Burrows Hall and Steeles branches and join the Toronto Zoo to learn more about what bears eat, where they live, and the games they play. Don't forget to bring your own wild teddy bear!

 

* Some branches require pre-registration. Call or visit the branch for more information.

Sneaker Culture at the Bata Shoe Museum

True or false: Sneakers are a fashion statement not athletic footwear? Whether you are a sneakerhead or not, beginning April 25th, lace on your favourite pair of sneakers and head over to our MAP partner, the Bata Shoe Museum for their latest exhibition Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.

Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture explores the history of the sneaker from the Victorian era to today. On display will be rare and limited edition sneakers, pieces by famous sneaker designers and collectors, and much more.

To launch the first ever North American exhibition examining the history of sneaker culture, the Bata Shoe Museum is throwing a Grand Opening Party! On April 25th, from 9 pm to 2 am the museum will be open to give sneaker fans a chance to check out the new exhibition and listen to the sounds of DJ Bobbito Grcia aka Kool Bob Love and DJ Tabs. Visit the Bata Shoe Museum for ticket information.

For the junior sneaker enthusiast, take a look at these library books:

Nasty, Stinky Sneakers (Fiction, Ages 8-11)

Sam's Sneaker Search (Fiction, Ages 3+)

Athletic Shoes (Ages 9+)

Les Souliers Magiques (Children's French Fiction)

Sneaker Wars details the fascinating story about the sibling rivalry and business dealings of Adi Dassler and Rudi Dassler, the founders of two of today's leading athletic shoe companies, Adidas and Puma.

Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud that Forever Changed the Business of Sports

Sneaker Freaker presents a look into how sneaker collecting has become mainstream. Loaded with photographs of highly collectable sneakers, interviews with sneaker designers and essays by sneaker collectors.

Sneaker Freaker: The Ultimate Handbook By, For and About the Sneaker-Obsessed

For some great visual guides to the history of sneakers, visit the Toronto Reference Library's Art Department on the 5th floor and ask staff about these books:

The Sneaker Book

Where'd You Get Those? New York City's Sneaker Culture, 1960-1987

Earth Day Celebrations

Looking for ways to celebrate Earth Day this weekend? Join our MAP partners for fun and educational activities.

Visit Todmorden Mills Heritage Site (a City of Toronto Historic Museum) on April 21, from noon to 4 pm, for a tour of their Wildflower Preserve, learn about owls and what they eat, and help create environmentally friendly artwork.

On April 20 & 21, from 10 am to 4 pm, the Toronto Zoo will host "Party for the Planet". Enjoy programs such as Backyard Naturalists, FrogWatch and EcoKids and learn about conservation, recycling and how to live in a more environmentally friendly way.

Want to make every day Earth Day? Join us at the library for Earth Day programs and don't forget to ask staff about the crafty and informative books featured here and much more!

Earth Day (Ages 4+)

All New Crafts for Earth Day (Age 7-11)

Earth Day (Ages 7-8)

Earth Day Crafts (Ages 7+)

Toronto's Downton Abbey

While waiting, impatiently, for the next season of the hit television series, Downton Abbey, make sure to visit our MAP partner, the Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens (a City of Toronto Historic Museum) for Toronto's Downton Abbey.

For over 100 years, Spadina was home to three generations of the Austin family. Spadina Museum's Toronto's Downton Abbey tour takes you on a journey from simple servants' quarters, to a kitchen worthy of Mrs. Patmore and an elegant dining room which would impress even the Dowager Countess of Grantham; offering a glimpse into what life was like in a 1920s & 1930s Toronto mansion.

Want the real dirt about life in service? Ask library staff about these titles:

Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants

Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-Century Britain (eBook)

The Real Life Downton Abbey: How Life was Really Lived in Stately Homes a Century Ago (eBook)

Tracing Your Servant Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

Explore the world of Downton Abbey with these books, available at the library:

Chronicles of Downton Abbey

World of Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey: The Complete Scripts, Season One

Downton Abbey: Script Book, Season Two

Philosophy, parody graphic novel and cooking. Take a look at what Downton Abbey has inspired:

Agent Gates and the Secret Adventures of Devonton Abbey: A Parody (eBook)

Downton Abbey and Philosophy (eBook)

Edwardian Cooking: 80 Recipes Inspired by Downton Abbey's Elegant Meals

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey (Fiction)

Family Activities at the Gardiner Museum

Are you in need of some family fun on a quiet Sunday? Visit our MAP program partner, the Gardiner Museum for their Family Days programs, which take place every Sunday and are free with admission. During the month of April, their spring-themed activities will help to bring in the new season.

Craft Sunday
Sunday, April 14 - 1 pm to 4 pm
Make a beautiful cherry blossom scene using special paper and tissue.

Discover more about the traditions and significance of the cherry blossom in Japanese culture by visiting the library for the following titles:

Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: An Old Japanese Tale (Ages 6+)

Japanese Traditions: Rice Cakes, Cherry Blossoms and Matsuri: A Year of Seasonal Japanese Festivities

Thea Stilton and the Cherry Blossom Adventure (Ages 7-10)

The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement

Guided Tour and Craft 
Sunday, April 21 - 1 pm to 4 pm
Explore the museum with a Gardiner Museum volunteer and discover the world of ceramics. After the tour head over to the front lobby to make colourful butterflies.

Find out more about our fluttering friends by asking your local library staff for the following titles:

Butterfly World: Jewels of the Sky (Children's DVD)

Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian (Ages 6-9)

Butterflies (Ages 5-8)

How to Raise Monarch Butterflies (Ages 8-12)

Concert Sunday
Sunday, April 28 - 1 pm to 4 pm
Take in a lively family concert.