Variety Spices Up The Artist Project
No matter what your taste in visual art, you’ll find something to gush over at The Artist Project, a weekend-long show and sale that kicked off last night at the Queen Elizabeth Building in Exhibition Place (until March 7). With 175 artists taking part, the show ranges from commercial, Canadian landscapes to edgy digital art, sculpture, glass work, photography, printmaking, even conceptual and installation art.
Talking to the artists about their work was one of the highlights of last night’s launch party. Print maker Rose Hirano (above from left), took the time to explain how she executes her vaguely abstract, multi-coloured, reductive woodblock prints: starting with the lightest colours, Rose carves away more and more of the printable area with each pass of ink as she progresses towards the darkest parts of her composition. Next to Rose, is digital artist Ron Wild who assembles his science-inspired “smart maps” entirely in Photoshop, then outputs them on Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Photographer Russel Bohier, above right, specializes in images of architecture with a preference for crumbling, decaying structures. His large-scale works are finished with a super-high gloss epoxy resin. All three artists are based here in Toronto.
Our City, Our Stories powered by Canon
Sometimes a photographer’s story is just as interesting as the pictures he or she takes. That’s definitely the case with Our City, Our Stories powered by Canon, a youth photo contest initiated by Toronto’s Economic Development and Culture division and Canon Canada, produced in association with Arts Etobicoke, Lakeshore Arts, the Scarborough Arts Council and the UrbanArts Community Arts Council.
This community arts project has tapped into the wealth of young talent across the city. Entrants were encouraged to tell a story that reflects who they are and where they come from. The work of the 10 finalists, including Dance with the Shadows, above, by Kevin Graham) is being shown in Toronto City Hall’s Rotunda from February 16 to 21; the exhibit then moves on to the Etobicoke Civic Centre from March 11 to 25 and to the Scarborough Civic Centre from April 12 to 21.
Home Is Where the Art Is
The Gardiner Museum’s first major exhibition of 2010 was unveiled to the media this morning in advance of its official launch tomorrow: From the Melting Pot into the Fire, Contemporary Ceramics in Israel is a complex show, much more conceptual art than pretty pots and vessels.
Ceramic artist Yael Novak, left, whose installation Between the Pots is featured, joined the museum’s Chief Curator Charles Mason in leading the tour. “The show is about identity and sense of place in a multicultural, immigrant society,” said Novak, whose work takes advantage of the negative space “between the pots” to depict the multifarious building forms prevalent throughout the nation. “You have the iconic architectural shapes of Israel,” says the artist, “the influence of the kibbutz but also the domed and minaret shapes of the Arabic villages. The installation combines my two loves, architecture and pottery but I created my landscape out of air; architecture is about volume, my architecture is air, it’s an illusion.’
New Network Supports Community Arts
As coordinator of the Neighbourhood Arts Network, my job brings me into daily contact with truly inspiring people and organizations across the city. This new Toronto-wide organization is the result of months of planning and a partnership between the Toronto Arts Foundation and Art Starts. The Neighbourhood Arts Network is dedicated to supporting and enhancing community-engaged arts in Toronto.
Last week, I dropped in to Sketch’s downtown studio where a team of screenprinters was creating custom aprons for the Neighbourhood Arts Network launch. Sketch’s King Street headquarters offers accessible studio space and training for street-involved and homeless youth. Sketch was the recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s 2008 Arts for Youth Award.
Although I had never met them before, Ezekial (left, with myself), Ozzy and Julian were gracious enough to let me weasel in on their fun.
Snow in the Forecast All Winter Long
Michael Snow doesn’t much care for the cult of personality. When his current exhibition, Recent Snow, opened at the Power Plant last month, a newspaper profile focused more on his sense of humour than it did on his art — Snow was not amused. Yet, after touring the exhibition with the artist yesterday, I admit my sympathies lie with the journalist. Snow is a witty raconteur and that same humour spills from his work, in one case, rather literally. In Serve, Deserve, the image of a place setting is projected onto a small tabletop; food is dropped from above onto the plates, delivered, in a sense, in the beam of light; when the service is complete, the video loop reverses and the meal ascends back to where it came from. Light giveth and light taketh away; Snow chuckles as he relates the concept.
All of the pieces in Recent Snow are projected works: Snow has been a film and video pioneer since the 1950s. “I was lucky enough to get a job doing some animation work early on and that really sparked my interest in film,” he recalls.
