ROM Mounts Soulful Caribana Show
The ROM will be jumping tonight at the kick off of From the Soul, a Scotiabank Caribana art exhibit that lays claim to the title of Canada’s largest ever juried display of works by African Canadian artists. Graphic and colourful, the 170 works by 50 artists were pulled together by curator Joan Butterfield (above with work by Ashley McKenzie-Barnes, top, and Rachel Natalie Rawlins), a festival director and chair of the Association of African-Canadian Artists.
Piped-in soca and calypso music set the appropriate tone as Joan walked me through the show earlier today. All of the work on display is new and has been created expressly for this exhibition. “I usually compose a short poem that defines the theme but this year I wanted to let the artists just do their own thing, I wanted them to paint from the soul,” she explains.
Butterfield selected the work from about 200 submissions. “The artists paint on canvas, whereas this whole room is MY canvas. I’m painting the room with the artworks,” she says.
Big Plans for New Theatre Centre
The Theatre Centre threw open the doors of its stately new home Sunday, inviting media to tour what was originally a Carnegie Library and is currently a Toronto Public Health building (since 1964). With condo developments cutting a swath across this section of West Queen West, the Theatre Centre — with the support of local community groups like Active 18 — has rallied to establish deeper roots in this changing neighbourhood, which includes the soon-to-be-completed Artscape Triangle Lofts just down the block.
Theatre Centre Chair Gail Packwood (left with Artistic Director Franco Boni) gave me a tour of what promises to be a very impressive new facility when it’s completed in three to four years. Renowned heritage architect Phil Goldsmith has re-imagined the building at 1115 Queen Street West and proposed moving the main entrance and box office around the corner onto Lisgar Street, where an accessibility ramp can be installed; a glassed-in café will be added to the existing structure.
Best of all is the main theatre space, a double height room with a beautifully coffered ceiling. Goldsmith’s plans provide for four different seating configurations accommodating up to 229 seats: “We want the space to be as useable and multi-purpose as possible,” says Packwood. A lobby/gallery and public event space is also part of the plan.
“Adam Giambrone is the Councillor in this ward and he’s been really instrumental in helping us work with the City,” says Packwood.” The Metcalf Foundation funded the initial development work with Phil Goldsmith and the feasibility study. We’ve also received money from the Trillium Foundation and from Canadian Heritage. We need to raise about $5.2 million of which we’ve already secured $1.3 million. We have a ways to go but there are other government agencies we’re in talks with so we’re hopeful.”
Photos by Christopher Jones
DX Surveys Design Icons Past, Present
The Design Exchange has uncorked its permanent collection and combined iconic examples of Canadian design with contemporary pieces in an exhibition that connects the dots between past and present. Running through October 10, Bent Out of Shape features famous pieces like Jacques Guillon’s Cord Chair and Thor Hansen’s Geese in Flight textile (below, both 1950s) alongside coveted contemporary pieces like the Brothers Dressler’s OnEdge lounge chair and Bev Hisey’s In the Woods carpet (above).
Curator AnneMarie Minardi, below, kindly walked me through the exhibit prior to a launch party Thursday evening (July 15); she is pictured beside Waclaw and Stykolt Czerwinski, and Hilary Stratford’s Lounge Chair and beneath Propellor Design’s Meridian series pendant lights.
“I’ve been here for a few years and I’ve always gone through the collection wishing I could do a show this large,” says Minardi. “Then the challenge was how to make it modern and contemporary.”
One innovation employed by the gallery is the inclusion of QR codes with each object; just scan the code with a smart phone to launch a DX webpage with all the pertinent designer info.
“We’re utilizing a really new technology to access information about much older objects,” the curator observes.
Although many of the contemporary furnishings push the boundaries of affordability — “They’re produced in small scale runs, which means they don’t benefit from the economies of scale” notes Minardi — there are everyday items like Umbra’s ubiquitous Garbino trash can: “The fact that it’s so inexpensive and widely available is part of what has made it so iconic,” she adds.
WHERE/WHEN: Bent Out of Shape at the DX (234 Bay Street, 416.363.6121) until October 10; adults $10, students and seniors $8, DX members free.
Grossmann’s Summer Swan Song
To describe conductor/educator Agnes Grossmann as a formidable presence is almost an understatement; the moment you step into her orbit you are swept up by her intense energy. Serious, forthright but not without a sense of humour, the Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music has dedicated herself to putting this month-long academy and festival on the cultural map.
“Ontario has never had a summer music program like this,” she acknowledges. “Alberta has Banff, Quebec has Orford, but there was nothing like this in Ontario when we started five years ago. Initially, we wondered, are the people going to come? Are they going to stay in their cottages?”
Grossmann quickly discovered that she wasn’t just competing for the attentions of local music lovers; if she wanted to really establish Summer Music she would have to compete for the favours of international talents who can pick and choose which festivals they take part in.
The maestra has obviously done an excellent job. Beginning July 20 and running through August 14, Toronto Summer Music will host performances and master classes by superstar baritone Matthias Goerne with pianist Andreas Haefliger, Anton Kuerti, Menahem Pressler, Andre Leplante and Connie Shih, Pacifica String Quartet, Vienna Piano Trio, Andrew Burashko and the Art of Time Ensemble, and many, many more.
Lisa Pasold’s Literary Yorkville
Strolling the posh sidewalks of Yorkville, it’s hard to imagine that this quaint former village was a slightly derelict, bohemian drag as recently as 40 years ago. Best known for its 1960s and early ’70s coffee house scene, Yorkville was the launching pad for music talents like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Ronnie Hawkins and so many more.
But the area also has a rich literary history, which is what author and tour guide Lisa Pasold will be focusing on tomorrow afternoon (3 – 5 pm), as she leads local and international guests through the streets and laneways that gave rise to literary lights like Milton Acorn, Matt Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, bpNichol, Dennis Lee and others.
Pasold’s tour (email her for details, advance reservations are required), is part of a week-long “vacation for the soul” called Classical Pursuits organized by Ann Kirkland. Every summer in Toronto, more than 100 individuals from around the world retreat from the hurly-burly of daily life to engage in unhurried discussion and personal reflection about the world’s great literature, music, and art. Taking place all this week on the leafy campus of UofT’s Victoria College, Classical Pursuits features a variety of guest lecturers and tour guides; Kirkland likens the week to “slow food for the intellect.”
Yesterday, Pasold gave me a preview of her walk, which digs back into Yorkville’s 19th century history before fleshing out the literary side of things. We strolled past the sites of former coffee houses like the Riverboat, above, and the Mynah Bird, where authors rivaled the folkies with readings of seminal Canadian works.
