During Summer 2025, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Jan Hadlaw and Dr. Leslie Korrick as an xDx intern stationed at the Archives of Ontario to conceptualize and curate an exhibition on the work of Ontario based designer, Thomas Lamb (1938-1997). Working in research collaboration, we strategized the audience, goal and theme of the exhibition details. With the decision to create an exhibition of visual notes covering three aspects of Lamb’s career and design practice, the exhibition conveys Lamb’s career as related to exhibition making, chair design and nature inspiration. My contribution towards the co-curated exhibition highlights the relationship between Lamb’s design practice and natural environments. Various primary records convey the influence and involvement of nature as inspiration for Lamb’s design works. Evidence of nature as impactful to Lamb’s design processes can be noted across materials of project conceptualization to completion.
The following materials, selected from the Thomas Lamb fonds, demonstrate the strong relationship between Lamb’s works and the natural world. I am grateful to my experiences as an xDx intern for expanding my knowledge of Canadian design, providing further opportunities for curation, increasing my knowledge of archival practices and governmental positions related to community outreach.
Over the course of the xDS internship, I also had the privilege of collaborating with numerous team members across different departments of the Archives of Ontario. While assisting archivists, I had the opportunity to process and organize an acquisition of primary records from the fonds of Canadian educator, author, sculptor and designer Stephen Hogbin. Hogbin’s fonds revealed the conceptualizations, inspirations and skills of an artist passionate about design as an environmentally conscious practice of craftsmanship. Working on Hogbin’s fond granted me insight into the multitude of processes involved in accessioning fonds of value to the Ontario government and governmental actions to preserve legacies of Canadian artists.
Collaboration with the Outreach and Education team provided me with in depth understanding regarding active efforts of the Archives of Ontario to foster reconciliation, through culturally sensitive and inclusive programming. It was a privilege to be a part of educational workshops that prioritized increasing archive access to underrepresented communities. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work closely with team leaders in developing both a virtual and in person educational program aimed at school groups, on topics of Canadian Black History and War Propaganda.
Collaboration with the Outreach and Education team provided me with in depth understanding regarding active efforts of the Archives of Ontario to foster reconciliation, through culturally sensitive and inclusive programming. It was a privilege to be a part of educational workshops that prioritized increasing archive access to underrepresented communities. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work closely with team leaders in developing both a virtual and in person educational program aimed at school groups, on topics of Canadian Black History and War Propaganda.
Aliyah Clarke, xDX/AO Summer Intern
