Akin at the Artist Project
Featuring members of the Akin Studio Program at Auto BLDG
Akin was pleased to participate in the 2023 edition of Artist Project Toronto. Visitors were invited to discover and connect with over 250 independent artists from April 13-16, 2023 at the Better Living Centre and experience a stimulating environment designed to ignite enriching conversations and foster a personal connection with art. Throughout the event you could explore thousands of artworks, large scale installations, enjoy curator led art tours and take home that special work that truly resonates with you.
This year, visitors could view and interact with new works by members of the Akin Studio Program at Auto BLDG. Artists were on site throughout the show to discuss their work and answer questions. Booth number 1009.
Didn’t make it to the show? Click the button below to view the Virtual Gallery of the Akin at the Artist Project booth:
Participating Artists:
Amada Estabillo
Amada Estabillo is a Canadian-born artist of mixed Filipino-Irish heritage. Amada attended York University and earned a BFA in Visual Art as well as a BEd. She is currently participating in the studio residency through the Akin Collective at the Auto BLDG on Sterling Rd and teaches art in York region. Amada’s work explores the boundary between representation and abstraction through a variety of subjects such as landscape, figure, self-portrait, and most recently textiles. She combines gestural mark-making with a formal consideration of line, colour, pattern and space. Current works on raw canvas explore the textile nature of the canvas through sewing and embroidery. Her materials include acrylic, oil stick, and wool on canvas.
amadaestabillo.partial.gallery
@are_e
Chico Togni
For over 15 years Chico Togni has been making large sculptures, and creating situations and happenings that take place in structures built with discarded wood, cardboard, metal and other found materials. Togni received a B.F.A. in Sculpture from The São Paulo University (USP), Brazil, and exhibited internationally, from South to North America and Europe, most recently in Paris, France, and Leipzig, Germany. Togni was also an Artist Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and an artist in residency at Citè International des Arts, Paris, and Museumsquartier Vienna. In 2021 he started experimenting with quilting and developed the Bellaroche Stories, an expanding series that narrates the trajectory of rocks, power tools and visual puzzles, a work in progress which he continues to produce at his studio at the AKIN Auto Building since he moved to Toronto.
chicotogni.hotglue.me
@bellarochestories
Emily MacClennan
My paintings examine how everyday city places can sit in our hearts. Careful consideration in executing the work leads to discovery and creates familiarity — gradually, the ordinary becomes important. I collect the stories that arise from sharing the work, and feel connected to an environment that grates against the natural, quiet places that I normally cherish. I was raised in the Maritimes, graduated from NSCAD, and now paint in downtown Toronto. While going about my day I snap a picture, digitally manipulate it to meet my initial impression and design plan, then paint it with close attention paid to select shadows, textures and patterns.
www.emilymaclennanart.com
@emilymaclennanart
Erin McCluskey
Erin McCluskey is an emerging artist based in Toronto. She graduated from OCAD University with a BDES in Illustration. As a painter, illustrator and mural artist, Erin uses her background in Illustration and Theatre to create images that exist on paper, walls, objects, spaces, and stages. Erin has created murals throughout the GTA and has received the honorable mention in Painting at TOAF. She is currently in residence in the Akin Studio Program at the AutoBLDG.
www.erin-mccluskey.com
@mcclusk
Felicia Cirstea
Felicia Cirstea is a Romanian-Canadian contemporary visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. Born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, Felicia Cirstea completed her studies at OCAD University and Toronto School of Arts. Her practice involves drawing and painting while investigating themes of personal identity, self-discovery, survival and cultural displacement. Using abstraction and representation Felicia’s paintings carry a visual language influenced by architectural landmarks of Europe, nature, biology and Romanian folklore while depicting human forms such as faces as the main subject matter.
www.feliciaart.com
@feliciacirstea
Hamid Mohammadi
Hamid Mohammadi has studied architecture at Dalhousie University, figurative painting at NSCAD and industrial design at Carleton University. Hamid’s work looks at people as well as their built, natural and imagined environments through multiple optimistic and contemplative lenses. In his artwork Hamid projects images, symbols, thoughts and movements relating to happiness and positivity. He presents figures in an inclusive way seeking a universal visual language. Euphoria and Utopia are concepts that he explores in his paintings, drawings and illustrations. With the absence of specific social, cultural or racial references Hamid makes his work more broadly relevant to wide groups of people.
www.goodplacestudio.com
@goodplace_studio
Jason Bomers
Jason Bomers is an artist living in the west end of Toronto. Jason is a multidisciplinary artist; the materials and process of his projects are concept-driven and in the past he has created paintings, drawings, sculptures, performances, installations, photographs or a combination of these different mediums. Jason’s current work explores masculinity, the patriarchy, creativity and mental health in a variety of different projects. Costume and performance play a role in exploring the lack of vulnerability in men. There is a dark humorous quality to Jason’s work; what makes the viewer laugh also exposes the tight restrictions men are confined to.
www.jasonbomers.com
@Jason_Bomers_Artsta
Linds Miyo
I’m Linds Miyo, self-taught abstract painter. Originally from California, I now live and work in Toronto. While always in creative fields, I decided to try painting professionally in 2018. Within a year, I had a studio in a museum, with the Akin Studio Residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. Since then, I’ve shown and sold my work internationally. As a painter, I’m always working at creating light, at making paint glow - the strong, direct light of my California childhood is a huge inspiration to me. I’m also a trauma survivor, which manifests in my work as a quest for balance. The balance between intention and that which is beyond our control, the meeting place between our best efforts and happenstance… The balance between movement and stillness. Light and Dark. As much as I love color, I use broad representational panes of textured black in my work, washing layers of colour over top… Even if you can’t see the black, it’s always there, hiding in plain sight. I fold the dark relief of the past into multi-dimensional present-day, with a sense of intimacy, honesty, and happiness.
www.wonderandstory.com
@wonderandstory
Maren Boedeker
Maren Boedeker is a visual artist currently based in Toronto. She earned an MA in Fine Arts and Art Education from the Academy of Fine Arts Münster, Germany. She received the Liguria, Italy, artist-in-residence-award from AFA Münster. Maren Boedeker was also awarded first place in the exhibition “Art for Europe”, curated by the European Community in Brussels, Belgium. Following her transition from Germany to Canada, she was selected for AKIN Studio Program artist residencies at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (2019), Collision Gallery at Commerce Court Toronto (2020) and at AutoBLDG (2021-2023). Besides her artistic practice, Maren has continuously been working with children, teens and adults as an art teacher and instructor.
www.marenboedeker.com
@marenboedeker.artist
Mel Hayes
Mel Hayes is a multi-disciplinary artist, who pushes the boundaries between visual arts and graphic design. Originally trained as a graphic designer and BDes graduate from the Alberta University of the Arts. Her studies informed her approach to abstract painting and sculpture, relying on shapes and composition to elevate her ideas and evoke strong emotions.
www.melhayes.art
@melhayes.art
Tiana Robinson
Tiana Robinson is a Canadian artist, born in May Pen Jamaica. Her journey as an artist began at an early age, as she was always doodling in class, or at home. In middle school she was nominated to participate in the Leaf Dreams scholarship program which gave her the opportunity to freely enroll in art classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario where she was constantly being exposed to instructors who were working artist themselves. Tiana attended C.W. Jeffery’s Collegiate Institute special arts program, and It was here that she was introduced to the Modern Batik Art artform during a workshop. Batik Art involves the application of simple ink outlines, light to dark gradation of dyes and using wax as a resist for separating colours. Tiana was a quick study and gained rapid recognition for her work, including the purchase of her best-known image, “The Nation of Mothers”, which was purchase by the City of Toronto and now hangs in the Mayor’s office. Tiana graduated with a Bachelor of Design from York-Sheridan Design Program and is currently working as a Graphic Designer while still exploring her love of art.
www.tianarobinson.ca
@devinetruth