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New Exhibit in the Kelly Library Transforms the Classroom into a Gallery

Dec 11, 2025 by jessica

Kelly Library News

A new student-curated art exhibit in the John M. Kelly Library invites visitors to engage with the Donovan Collection in new ways. Ted Rettig in Context places works by one the collection’s most represented artists, Ted Rettig, alongside other pieces in the collection.

The pairings were selected by first-year students enrolled in the inaugural SMC One Course, “The Donovan Seminar: Visual Art and Meaning” and are accompanied by student-written curatorial statements.

Throughout the semester, students explored the relationship between art and meaning, using pieces from the Donovan Collection, which can be found all around the St. Michael’s campus, as their primary material.

“This course taught me that I need to look a little deeper and have more context to understand art and the world around me,” said Ella Doubleday, a first-year student enrolled in the Donovan Seminar. “I really appreciated how we were able to bounce ideas off of each other during the seminar and that collaboration really helped the exhibition flow nicely.”

Professor Stephen Tardif, who led the seminar, praised the students’ work, saying, “I am very proud of my students. They leaned into the seminar format of the class by collaborating and conducting high-quality research. Their hard work paid off with an exhibition that can be enjoyed by the greater community.”

The exhibit is set up in the Kelly Library Multi-Purpose Room, which also served as the seminar’s classroom.

“The students took the lead on how the art was to be displayed. In our final seminar we talked a lot about how the exhibit would flow. We explored the space together and thought carefully about the layout. It’s fitting, because we turned the classroom into a gallery space, just as the Donovan Collection turns spaces on campus into a gallery of sorts,” says Professor Tardif.

In addition to students gaining hands-on curatorial experience, the exhibit also makes the Donovan Collection more accessible to the campus community. The opening on December 4 drew students, staff, faculty, and community members, including friends of Ted Rettig.

“I hope the impressions that the students managed to create by pairing these works together will challenge and stimulate people to think, feel and experience different ideas that maybe they are not accustomed to,” said Linda Roy, a parishioner of St. Basil’s and friend of Ted Rettig who attended the opening.

One of the draws of the exhibit is witnessing the students’ curatorial choices.

“I think it’s wonderful because you really do get multiple perspectives on how these works can be viewed, interpreted and experienced. Art can touch people differently at different stages of life and here I get insight into the younger generation’s outlook. What speaks to me about this exhibit is that you don’t have to be an art major to understand why these pieces are placed together. You don’t have to be an already practicing or aspiring artist or a student of art to understand or experience the pairings,” says Alice Wong-Rettig, who is also connected to the artist and attended the exhibit opening.

The Big Maps: The Sisters of Service as Canadian Trailblazers, an exciting new exhibition coming to the John M. Kelly Library, will document the history of an unconventional and uniquely Canadian women’s religious institute whose members engaged in groundbreaking work across the country.

The Big Maps opens October 23 at 6 p.m. with a talk by Mark McGowan, Professor Emeritus of History and Celtic Studies at the University of Toronto and Principal Emeritus of St. Michael’s College, on the pioneering vision of Sister Catherine Donnelly, who founded the order, and the role of the Sisters of Service (SOS) in welcoming, housing, and teaching new Canadians from diverse cultural backgrounds.

^{photo credit: Sisters of Service Fonds, Special Collections, John M. Kelly Library, University of St. Michael’s College}

The exhibit, located on the first floor of the Kelly Library and curated by Kelly archivist Francesca Rousselle, links the Institute of the SOS with an informal defining motto: “Look at the big maps. Take the long view. Don’t tie yourselves down with too many written rules and customs. Always remain flexible”, which was framed on the office wall of co-founder Rev. George Daly, CSsR.

In time, as Donnelly’s vision of teaching Sisters in Western Canada was expanded to encompass all Catholic immigrants, her spirit and determination was embedded into the SOS charism. The Kelly’s new exhibit unveils Donnelly’s personality with an iconic image of her, axe in full swing, chopping a tree to clear a rugged road in British Columbia. It also includes artifacts and photos from the 60 SOS Canadian missions.

Also displayed will be a habit introduced in 1963, years before other women’s religious communities changed to a modified habit, a detail that demonstrates the Sisters’ adjustment to the societal and Vatican II changes of the 1960s.

“There are several things that set the Sisters of Service apart,” Rousselle says of the order, founded in Toronto in 1922. “Many members had already had careers. They had the kind of experience and maturity needed to take on practical tasks, right down to hauling water.”

James Roussain, the William D. Sharpe Chief Librarian and Director of Special Collections at the Kelly Library, says the exhibit documents the role the Sisters played in the history of Canada. “In telling their stories, we are highlighting the role the SOS played in the founding and growth of immigrant communities across Canada,” says Roussain. “These women were strong builders of community and looked after themselves.”

Sister Anna McNally, who held a series of educational positions in North Saskatchewan upon the closing of residential schools, remarks that the SOS sought people in the greatest need. “Our commitment was to come to help the people until they could take over, which they did,” she says.

The exhibit also pays tribute to the early support of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, who assigned senior Sisters as Superior and Novice Mistress for the first six years, as well as the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists).

The Big Maps exhibition was mounted to celebrate the donation of the SOS archives to the Kelly Library’s Special Collections: Archives and Rare Books, where they are available for public consultation.

The Big Maps exhibition will be on display on the ground floor of the Kelly Library until summer 2026. To attend the opening night, please RSVP.