Tag Archives: exhibition

Your VPL Pride Month Preview

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Is it a little early for a Pride Month post? Maybe just a tad… but we have so many things coming up for all ages in June that we can’t keep it to ourselves and we want to make sure everyone knows about them. And besides, is it ever too early or too late to celebrate and acknowledge our 2SLGBTQIA+ citizens? I think not!

So what do you have to look forward to as we get into June?

Header for Queerative Doodling program.

Well, since this is a blog for grownups, I’ll start with the grown-up program. On Wednesday, June 3rd, 6:30pm at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre branch, we are once again hosting Queerative Doodling. This year we’re partnering with McMichael Canadian Art Collection to help our attendees learn about the role of art in queer culture and history, and they will get the chance to be a part of that legacy while creating their own vision boards. This is a registered program with limited spaces, and you can sign up for it on our Eventbrite page here.

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Cipher | Decipher Cryptology Exhibit

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image of cipher wheel
Photo © Canada Science and Technology Museum

Interested in organizing a school visit? See the end of this post for more details.  

Pssst….want to know a secret? Better yet—want to decode a secret? The Bathurst Clark Resource Library is currently hosting the awesome Cipher Decipher exhibit that explores the past and present of encrypted communications. This large-scale exhibit includes hands-on puzzles and ciphers that demonstrate cryptology in practice, which children and adults alike will find entertaining (and maybe even challenging!).  

So what exactly is cryptology? It’s a practice of hiding (and uncovering) secrets; for example, the translation of words into numbers and symbols that only certain people hold the key to. It’s something used by everyone from schoolchildren writing notes in code to higher-ups in the government and military.  

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Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story @ the ROM

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Royal Ontario Museum has a special exhibition on the largest creature on earth: blue whale. This exhibition is important not only in terms of global research on this mysterious animal, but also, it is a story close to home for Canadians; the exhibition showcases a Canadian effort on preservation and study of species.

Image result for blue whale exhibition at ROMHere is the background story:

In 2014, 9 blue whales were trapped and died on the coast of Newfoundland. Their loss represents about 3% of the Northwest Atlantic’s blue whale population; in Canada that’s almost equivalent to the human population of Saskatchewan. Blue whales usually sink when they die, but in an unusual occurrence two of the blue whales washed ashore in Trout River and Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador, offering an unprecedented opportunity for research.

A team of researchers and staff from the ROM salvaged one of the whales, preserved its bone and its heart, which was a first time internationally.

Image result for blue whale exhibition at ROMThis exhibition is very well put together; it is both informative and interactive. In addition, it is aesthetically pleasing. I was in awe when I saw the complete skeleton of the blue whale in the middle of the room. It really made me aware of the world that we live in, and I cannot help but feeling so small. I learned a lot about these majestic giants, and the hard and often less celebrated work that put into exhibitions like this by scientists and researchers.

This exhibition is enjoyable to all ages and I recommend you to check it out. Out of the Depths will be at the ROM until September 4th, 2017.

Link to this special exhibition: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/blue-whale

Related reads:

The Blue Whale

Blackfish

The Whale: in Search of the Giants of the Sea

Whale