ROM Speaks
Still Life in the Digital Age

Detail of painting depicting game and fruit laid on a table.

Date

Thursday, Jan 15, 2026 19:30 - 20:30

Location

Level B1,
Eaton Theatre

Admission

$40.00 Regular Price
ROM Member: $36.00

Audience

Adults
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About

Within the special exhibition, Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools: 300 Years of Flemish Masterworks are exquisite examples of painted objects - flowers, fruit, game, even skulls - still life masterpieces that reflect an evocative evolution of how artists depicted everyday objects. These detailed compositions were used to highlight new perspectives and techniques, and convey to the viewer deeper moral or spiritual messages. 

Through vibrant realism and meticulous attention to detail, still life artists invite viewers to reflect on themes such as mortality, vanity, and devotion. Just as the artists of Flanders honed their craft using new materials and techniques, today's artists are also exploring contemporary perspectives and methods to create new works.

Tonight's special event expands on the universal themes of the exhibition, while highlighting how digital techniques are being used today to create new works. The evening features a presentation by distinguished Toronto-based digital painter T. M. Glass, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Sara Angel, Founder, Executive Director, and Publisher of the Art Canada Institute (ACI). 

A reception will follow the event, which includes an invitation to visit the special exhibition.

Artist

Blue Poppy in a Blue and White Chinese Vase, T. M. Glass, 2018.
T. M. Glass

T. M. Glass is a Toronto-based digital painter known for evocative fine art photography and multimedia installations. Influenced by Arts & Crafts philosophies and inspired by natural rhythms, the artist's work captures - through a contemplative and meticulously crafted lens - fleeting moments of beauty within domestic spaces.

The artist's still life photographs often showcase collaborations with renowned local floral artist Lidia Tacconelli, and feature vessel objects from the collections at ROM.

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Moderator

Sara Angel
Sara Angel

Sara Angel is the Founder, Executive Director and Publisher of the Art Canada Institute (ACI). She launched the Institute in 2013 to democratize the country's visual culture for a diverse, multi-vocal, 21st century audience, and to make it available to all, regardless of one's knowledge of the subject, or proximity or access to a bricks-and-mortar museum. Today, ACI is a national institution and the leading digital initiative in Canadian art research, education, and promotion, which makes knowledge on the subject available to all free-of-charge. 

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Panelists

Alexa Greist
Alexa Greist

Alexa Greist is Curator and R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Previously, she held research and curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where her work focused on Italian printed drawing books. Her area of specialty is Italian Renaissance and Baroque prints and drawings.

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Dr. Sara Diamond
Dr. Sara Diamond

Dr. Sara Diamond holds an Honours BA in communications and history, a master’s in digital media and a PhD in computing, IT and engineering. As OCAD University’s president and vice-chancellor for 15 years, Diamond led OCAD U to retain its traditional strengths in art and design while becoming a leader in Digital Media, initiating the Digital Futures Initiative and building the Digital Media Research and Innovation Institute. She is currently President Emerita and OCAD University Research Chair, leading the Visual Analytics Laboratory. 

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The Phoebus Foundation logo

Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools: 300 Years of Flemish Masterworks is co-organized by the Denver Art Museum and The Phoebus Foundation SON, Antwerp (Belgium).

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