A Celebration of Lives Lived and Lives Dreamt Of will open in the Galleria of BCE Place on March 18 and run for three weeks.

The show, curated by Irene Luxbacher, will draw attention to the inner resources of remarkable senior citizens and, at the same time, celebrate the inner life of children as depicted through representations of their dreams.

The children's work will include pieces from the first exhibit of the Avenue Road Children's Art Gallery, entitled What Children Dream Of, which opened at the CBC building in December. The BCE show will include many additional works created by children from Dennis Avenue Public School and students of the Avenue Road Arts School.

The seniors' work represents the culmination of a project that the Avenue Road Arts School has undertaken in conjunction with the Symes 55+ Centre, a drop-in facility for the "well elderly" near St. Clair and Jane Street. Their creation, A Cloak of Many Memories, is a collaborative piece which was created over several months under the guidance of instructors Martha Johnson and Linda Prussick.

Included in the exhibit is Ottawa-based artist Jerry Grey's portrait series – Rare Spirits: A Personal Tribute to Vintage Elders. These larger than life portraits have been exhibited to great critical acclaim in Ottawa and Vancouver.

The series consists of both black-and-white and colour pastel portraits of many distinguished senior Canadians including, Bill Reid, Doris Shadbolt and Louis Rasminsky. The show is a remarkable expression of the determination and resourcefulness that can come with aging. Each portrait is accompanied by audio interviews with each one of the subjects.

The children's artwork focuses on their dreams – both nightdreams and their hopes and aspirations. Much of the work will be mounted in fanciful bedroom settings.

Sponsors of the exhibit are Brookfield Properties Ltd., C.A. Delaney Capital Management, Manulife Financial, Crayola Canada, the Edward M. Bronfman Family Foundation and an Anonymous Foundation. It takes place in the Allan Lambert Galleria of BCE Place (the main floor atrium) at 181 Bay St. between March 18 and April 5. The Atrium is open to the public between 8 am and 10 pm Admission is free.