Workers Arts & Heritage Centre
51 Stuart Street L8L 1B5 Hamilton, ON, Canada

Look what arrived today!!! We commissioned three amazing artists to illustrate WAHC’s three core values of dignity, equity, and solidarity in celebration of our 25th anniversary! Then we printed them on Canadian union-made tote bags and postcards. Dignity has been illustrated by Vancouver-based artist Marlene Yuen. ... Equity has been illustrated by Brampton-based artist Chelsea Charles. Solidarity has been illustrated by Toronto-based arist Michael DeForge. Tote bags are available to purchase for $25 plus shipping on WAHC’s website and come with a free postcard! Stock up on your favourites asap! https://wahc-museum.ca/wahc-values-tote-bags/ You can find out more of these artists’ work at their respective websites! Marlene Yuen - https://marleneyuen.com/ Chelsea Charles - http://www.chelseacharlesillustration.com/ Michael DeForge - http://www.michael-deforge.com/ #WAHC25Years #UnionMade #Dignity #Equity #Solidarity #CanLab #WorkingPeople #HamOnt #ToteBags

Our SAM 25 program is now live on our website! This year’s cover was designed by talented artist Charlit Floriano and it’s chockablock with recipes and music playlists to enhance your #SAM25Spaghetti dinner. Then read through #ButtonStories and complete the Spirit of 1946 word search. Don’t forget to bid on your favourite silent auction package and purchase one of WAHC’s new tote bags! The program is also an opportunity to thank our sponsors and supporters! We couldn’t do ou...r important work without you! https://wahc-museum.ca/SAM-25/program P.S. This year’s program uses QR codes to give you speedy, easy access to website links. Just point your smartphone camera at the QR code square and you’ll be taken directly to the linked website! #WAHC25Years #CanLab #Zine #Program #Printed #MusicPlaylists #HamOnt #LabourHistory #1946 #StelcoStrike #WorkingPeoplesHistory

Come check out our newest show in our community gallery: Button Up! Pinback Buttons and Social Movements Browse over 500 buttons from our permanent collection. We’re open until 4pm, mask up and swing by! . . . .... Image description: A man stands with one hand on his hip, holding a coffee looking at the exhibition wall. The wall is filled with 180 pinback buttons which are laid out in a grid and separated by colour creating the effect of a rainbow. The exhibition text can be seen in the background in vinyl mounted on the wall. #wahc #pinbackbuttons #button #hamont #exhibition See more

WELCOME BACK TO WAHC! Katie McVicar is masked up and ready to see you and so are we! We’re thrilled to announce that we are reopening our physical location at 51 Stuart Street in Hamilton on September 2, 2020!... We have spent time to make sure that visitors and staff at WAHC will be safe with new COVID-19 protocols. Our hours have also changed slightly on Saturdays for the rest of the year. Here’s what you need to know when you visit WAHC in person: HOURS: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: 10 am to 4 pm Saturday from 12 (Noon) to 4 pm Admission is free! SAFETY: We will require you to wear a mask indoors at all times. You don’t to book a visit in advance, but we will need to get your name and contact information for contact tracing purposes. This will be taken by a WAHC staff member when you arrive. Your information will be kept confidential and private and will not be used for anything other than COVID-19 related purposes. Stay home if you are feeling sick! We have lots of hand sanitizer available, please use it! Follow the arrows and stay two metres away from other visitors who are not a part of your group. This information is located on our website: https://wahc-museum.ca/visit-us/ We can’t wait to see you (safely) in September!

What does dignity mean to you? #wahcvalues #workingpeople #dignity #wahc25years

Here’s a perfect Remembrance Day message from a button from our permanent collection, that to remember is to end all war. Image description: two fingers hold a square shaped pinback button. Two white doves with red poppies in their mouths are illustrated on the button which reads: to remember is to end all war.... #canadaremembers #wahc #hamont See more

Check out Felecia and Sonali's chat! Felecia has some great tips for transit passengers and the wisdom of self-care during the pandemic.

Do you love buttons? We sure do and we’re excited to share many from WAHC’s collection for the first time ever online with you! As a part of SAM 25 and our 25th anniversary celebrations, WAHC has launched a digital gallery and catalogue of hundreds of buttons from our collection. Take a look and find your favourites via the gallery link below! Also keep an eye out for more news on Button Up! our upcoming exhibition launching shortly in the Community Gallery and as we share insights and #buttonstories from our collection. http://wahc.fyi/buttons-gallery #buttons #museumcollection #canlab #labourhistory #wahc25years

Meet Felecia Goulbourne, a Hamilton bus driver persevering through the pandemic! Felecia’s story is now up on Workers’ City, an ongoing online project which presents the rich working past and present of Hamilton workers. We’re adding a new layer to Workers’ City starting with Felecia as we introduce contemporary stories of workers' experiences during the pandemic. Read more here: https://www.workerscity.ca/felecia-bus-driver Then join Felecia and Sonali our programming and exhibition specialist tomorrow at 1pm on Facebook live for a more in depth discussion of Felecia and her work. #covidchronicles #hamont #transit

Have you swung by our main gallery? Catch Dana Prieto’s and Katheryn Wabegijig’s ‘what they hold within’ on view until December 5th. Here’s a close up of Dana Prieto’s ‘a rupture, not a compromise.’ Prieto presents a series of vessels some of which are clay objects while others are historical vessels found at WAHC when the building was restored in the 90s. The work draws on the social, economic, cultural, environmental and spiritual significance of vessels, inviting viewe...rs to think of containment as a complex site of shelter, separation, restraint and wreckage. #WAHC2020whattheyholdwithin #exhibition #art #artists #danaprieto #katherynwabegijig #hamont See more

October 5 is World Teachers’ Day! This button from WAHC’s historical collection pretty much sums it up! Education is a vital human right and quality education depends on the labour of education workers. We stand in solidarity with all teachers and education workers as they work to secure safe work and fair wages while also educating future generations. #ontarioteachers #etfo #osstf #oecta #hwetl #worldteachersday #qualityeducation #teachersareamazing

Today is Orange Shirt Day. Orange Shirt Day was created in 2013 by Residential School survivor Phyllis Webstad, who like thousands of other Indigenous children, was subject to kidnapping, abuse, and cultural genocide at the hands of the Canadian government. Today we wear orange to remember and honour the survivors of the residential schools and promote a future where every child matters. Learn more and support Orange Shirt Day by wearing orange, attending a virtual event, a...nd visiting www.orangeshirtday.org Woodland Cultural Centre has some awesome virtual events to commemorate Orange Shirt Day all week long. Find out more here! https://woodlandculturalcentre.ca/orange-shirt-day-virtual/ #OrangeShirtDay2020

Dana Prieto’s and Katheryn Wabegijig’s ‘what they hold within,’ opens today in the main gallery and is on view until December 5th Here is a detail shot of Katheryn Wabegijig’s ‘of this one tiny vessel.’ This piece utilizes up-cycled pounded copper pennies arranged in a staccato, graphic and sculptural pattern. It is a visualization of extracted sound waves produced from the pounding of this one tiny vessel with a hammer and nail set. This cathartic process aims to strike the colonial mark from this commodified culturally significant material symbolizing how seemingly small acts of resistance and re-Indigenization are vital to a greater composition. #wahc2020whattheyholdwithin #WAHC #workersartsandheritage #exhibition #art #artist #danaprieto #katherynwabegijig #hamont

We education workers! We’re proud to have buttons from many Ontario education workers’ unions in WAHC’s collection. Test your skills in our new digital memory game featuring some of these buttons! https://wahc-museum.ca//education-workers-union-buttons-m/

Installation is in full swing in the main gallery for Dana Prieto’s and Katheryn Wabegijig’s . The exhibition opens to the public next week on September 23. Here’s Dan our fantastic Heritage Facilities specialist in action ... #WAHC2020whattheyholdwithin #wahc #workersartsandheritage #exhibition #art #artists #danaprieto #katherynwabegijig #hamont #install See more

Join us for an exhibition of new work by Argentine artist Dana Prieto and Anishinaabe artist Katheryn Wabegijig. The exhibition opens to the public September 23rd and closes December 5th. Due to COVID-19, there will not be an opening reception. ... This site specific project poetically mobilizes clay and copper through the thoughtful study of vessels. Prieto and Wabegijig’s collaboration is rooted in a deep concern for learning, discussing and enacting sustainable and radical forms of care for the land and water among responsible Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships. Their new works hold space for contemplating the pounding legacies of their shared material histories. Stay tuned for more information about the exhibition and upcoming auxiliary programming! #WAHC2020whattheyholdwithin #wahc #workersartsandheritage #exhibition #art #artists #danaprieto #katherynwabegijig #hamont See more

Happy Labour Day! We’re so inspired by the banners and messages from many creative people who’ve participated in banner making to highlight essential workers and #makeallworkvisible Migrant workers, retail workers, and care workers perform necessary, vital work in our communities, yet they’re often denied job stability, a living wage, and adequate shelter and healthcare. Let’s continue to raise our voices and efforts in collective action for the future of all workers!... Thanks Atkinson Foundation for your enthusiasm and support with these banner making kits! #LabourDay2020 #MakeAllWorkVisible #FairWage #DecentWork #CanLab #EssentialWorkers

Join us on FB Live in 15 minutes for our All Together Now! Take Home Banner Making Kits Show & Tell with Sonali! Learn a bit about the history of Labour Day, banner history, and techniques to use in making your own banners at home! #makeallworkvisible #LabourDay2020

Come by and see the extension of the fantastic exhibition One Big Union: The Revolutionary Graphics of the IWW upstairs in our Community Gallery! This exhibition provides a glimpse into the radical graphic language of the IWW and features prints, print blocks and selected IWW ephemera and publications from the collection of Bryan Palmer. It will be showing in the Community Gallery until October 30th, 2020.... Learn more about this exhibition on our website! https://wahc-museum.ca//one-big-union-the-revolutionary-g/