Akin Sunrise Exhibition Reception and Open Studio - Saturday July 8, 6-9pm

Saturday July 8 / 6-9pm / Akin Sunrise - 100 sunrise Ave, studio 106A / Free to attend, everyone welcome, BYOB! 

Join us as we celebrate the launch of Akin Sunrise with a a group exhibition of work by our talented studio artists. Enjoy a drink and some light refreshments, have a tour of the artist’s studios, and mingle with Akin artists and community members in our programming space.

Featuring work by Akin Sunrise artists:

Beverly Allen - www.nomadarttoronto.com
Nancy Bennett - www.nancybennett.ca
Kristy Blackwell - www.kristyblackwell.com
Steve Byrnes - www.saatchiart.com/stevebyrnes
Renee Castonguay - www.tsa-art.com/faculty-staff/renee-castonguay
June Clark - www.juneclark.ca
Maxwell Galley - www.maxwellgalley.com
Madelaine Lyons Cooper - www.madelainelyonscooper.com
Katie Sadie - www.katiesadie.com
and Jeff Tallon - www.jefftallon.com

The exhibition will be on display in our programming space from July 8 - August 8. If you are unable to make it to the opening night reception and would like to view the exhibition, please email jeff@akincollective.com to make arrangements.

Accessibility:
There is step free access to the main entrance located at the side of the building parallel to the parking lot. The first door on the right hand side, once in the main entrance, is access to the studio. The studio entrance requires a key and there is no button to open the door, so someone may require assistance. There are narrow aisles and sharp turns to get into the gender-neutral washroom within the space. There are no grab bars in the bathroom and the toilet is not raised. There is a small lip on the floor upon entering the bathroom. Akin does have access to a wheelchair accessible gender-neutral washroom in the hall across from the Akin studio within the building.

Getting There:
By TTC: 
Take the Bloor-Danforth Subway Line to Coxwell Station. Proceed to city bus 70A or 70B. Exit bus at Sunrise Ave, it is a 400 meter walk to 100 Sunrise Avenue.

By car:
Akin Sunrise is easily accesible from the Don Valley Parkway. There is onsite parking.

Akin is now a member of COHIP! The Coworking Health Insurance Plan!

Akin is excited to announce that we are now a member of COHIP! The Coworking Health Insurance Plan is designed for freelancers, creatives, start-ups, small businesses and independent workers in any industry. COHIP provides members with affordable and accessible options for:

• Health
• Dental
• Disability
• Term Life/Life Insurance
• Travel Insurance
• Prescription Drug Coverage
• Extended Health Benefits

All COHIP plans can be customized to meet the unique needs of each member and can be customized to meet the unique needs of each member. Coverage is available for singles, couples, single parents and families.

'Long Road' by Laura Kay Keeling - New installation in the Akin Vitrine Gallery for the month of June

Akin is excited to present June’s Vitrine Gallery exhibition, ‘Long Road’ by Akin Dupont member, Laura Kay Keeling! 

“Long Road references a road trip taken in June 2016 which began in Vancouver with stops in Seattle, Portland, road side spots in Washington State and ended in Kelowna. These images were all taken on expired 35mm slide film along the highway in Washington State. Once developed, these images all had a really interesting and vibrant post-apocalyptic vibe to them which I found was an interesting backdrop to have against the natural environment that exists around us. During this trip, it was quite breathtaking to see how rapidly the environment around us would change. There were moments when the highway was the only thing separating a desert like scene on our left and lush rolling hills of farmland to our right.” 

Travels, daydreams, field guides, coffee and film. Laura Kay Keeling resides in Toronto, ON and pulls inspiration from beautiful everyday moments shared through her photography and collage work. She is currently working on a 'HOT ROCKS' series of collages which are composed of gemstone cut outs from old field guides. “I’ve always been drawn to extreme environments, things that come from nature. As a kid, I was obsessed with gemstones, they’re all so beautiful in their own unique way. I’m blown away that these exist around us. I like the idea of taking something that is inherently beautiful, pulling it apart and then putting it back together”

Long Road, 2017
Mixed Media
dimensions variable

The Akin Vitrine Gallery is located at the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street(entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner.

The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, or to arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact the artist: laurakay.keeling@gmail.com

www.itnvrstops.com
instagram.com/laurakaykeeling
instagram.com/lllllllllllllllllkk
#AkinVitrine

AKIN OSSINGTON: Akin Announces New Light Industrial Studios

Akin is thrilled to announce the launch of two new studio spaces at 888 Dupont Street on the north-east corner of Ossington and Dupont. This location will be Akin's first studios dedicated to providing workspace for light industrial art making, with new members moving in at the end of this month.

Photo credit: Brian Wilcox

Expanding on its twelve current studios located at 444 Dufferin Street, 87 Wade Avenue, 100 Sunrise Avenue and 1485 Dupont Street, Akin's new spaces will offer a range of affordable studios in various sizes and set ups for light industrial use.

Akin will develop programming specific to this unique new space in addition to our current range of workshops, studio critiques, gallery crawls, community programs and skill shares.

This exciting expansion will increase Akin’s size to approximately 22,000 square feet of studio space serving nearly 200 artists, enabling it to meet the ever-increasing demand for affordable workspace.

Since opening its first modest space almost 9 years ago, Akin has striven to make being an artist in the city a more fun and financially viable vocation. Now more than ever, we feel our role is an important one for Toronto's cultural community and our artists as we ensure that there is always space to create.

Akin's new 'Akin Ossington' location will be easily accessible by subway, streetcar, bus, bike, or car. By transit, visitors can access the studios by a short bus ride from Ossington subway station, or along the 26 Dupont bus route.

All rentals include 24/7 access to the studios, taxes, insurance, wifi, access to communal working areas as well as storage, kitchen, and bathroom.

For more information, pricing inquiries, to book a tour or to share ideas, please get in touch:

CONTACT:
info@akincollective.com


Please share widely!

Akin Projects Receives 2017 Project Support Award from Toronto Friends Of The Visual Arts

Akin Projects would like to extend their sincere thanks to Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts (TFVA) for their generous award totaling $9,600.

Support from TFVA will enable Akin Projects to offer extensive creative programming throughout the summer and autumn at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for their Youth Concurrent Disorders Program in collaboration with Toronto artists from Akin's Lansdowne and Dupont studios. This gift will enable clients and their families to use artistic expression to create artwork while confronting challenges in a healthy manner while exploring photography, ceramics and weaving with Akin artists Jessica Thalmann, Rebecca Jane Houston and Colleen McCarten.

Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1998. The organization gives financial support to the visual arts in the greater Toronto area and provides an educational program for its members. TFVA presents annual awards, which were recently announced at May Tribute Night. They have now awarded over $555,000 since 1998.

For more information on this years other award recipients, please see the full press release here.

Interested in supporting Akin and our community programs? Learn more here or get in touch! michael@akincollective.com

Michael Vickers of Akin Lansdowne profiled in the Toronto Guardian

Congratulations to Michael Vickers of Akin Lansdowne on being featured Artist Profile in the Toronto Guardian.

“Michael Vickers is a Toronto-based artist with a practice that works in the space between sculpture, painting and installation. His recent work investigates the limits of different materials and presentation methods – painted, curled and bent forms made of various painted aluminums and steels, etched and engraved stone and marble works, and installations that activate the exhibition space in different ways. ”

— Joel Levy for the Toronto Guardian

Click Here to read the rest of "A Day in the Life" with Local Toronto Artist Michael Vickers

Wunderkammer: Cabinet of Curiosities - Gala Opening May 13

The Toronto Etsy Street Team (TEST) invites you to join them for the gala opening of Wunderkammer: Cabinet of Curiosities, a science art show inspired by the eccentric, encyclopedic, natural history collections gathered since the Renaissance. Featuring work by a variety of local artists including Erin Candela of Akin Dufferin.

Cabinets of Curiosities featured treasured zoological, botanical, anatomical, fossil and gem specimen. Art and craft work depicting these specimen, cabinets of curiosity and the wonder of natural history are sought. Artists are encouraged to consider how their art might be displayed in ways which allude to the wunderkammer.

Show runs May 11-28 at TEST Gallery, 906 Queen Street West. Opening Reception May 13.

Art Intersections Meetup with Adrienne Crossman and Thirza Cuthand - May 16

You are invited to join Adrienne Crossman and Thirza Cuthand for a presentation and Q&A at Akimbo's Art Intersections Meetup on Tuesday, May 16 from 6:30pm to 9pm at Gamma Space Collaborative Studio (862 Richmond Street West). Free! Wheelchair accessible. Please RSVP.

Schedule:
6:30pm - Doors Open
7pm - Guest presenters Adrienne Crossman and Thirza Cuthand, plus Q&A
8pm - Networking, Food & Beverages

Adrienne Crossman is an artist, educator and curator. Her practice involves the manipulation and deconstruction of digital media and popular culture in order to create new artifacts through formal re-interpretations. In the pursuit of creating a queer aesthetic, Crossman's work is concerned with the exploration of non-normative and non-binary spaces, while attempting to locate queer sensibilities in the everyday.

Thirza Jean Cuthand has been making short experimental narrative videos and films about sexuality, madness, youth, love, and race, which have screened in festivals internationally. In the summer of 2016 she began working on a 2D video game called A Bipolar Journey based on her experience learning and dealing with her bipolar disorder. It showed at ImagineNATIVE and she is planning to further develop it. She has also written three feature screenplays and sometimes does performance art.

Art Intersections Meetup is a meeting place for artists, moving image-makers, gamers and technologists who are experimenting with art-related digital content and how the moving image is presented in a connected world. Digital culture, social media and networks encourage new ways of storytelling, image making, idea sharing and collaboration. This Meetup celebrates artists and innovators who are embracing change leading the next wave of creativity.

Gamma Space Collaborative Studio is a not-for-profit arts organization, and community of 200+ members making, playing, and talking about videogames. They strive to be a welcoming and accessible space for everyone interested in games as art.

Contact Photography Festival 2017: 'WEAVE ME' by Jen Arron of Akin Dupont at The Blackcat Artspace

WEAVE ME is a new series of weaved photographs by Jen Arron of Akin Dupont. The exhibition will be shown at The Blackcat Artspace as part of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival 2017. The exhibit is a duo show with photographer Alexa Mazzarello and runs May 16 - 31. Opening night May 16th, 7-10pm, all are welcome.

What the show is about:
Two artists finding meaning in natural materials and how they can inform the way we live. Mazzarello has turned to plant life and landscapes to study connections between this world and the human form in her series THE DREAMING PLANT. Arron’s WEAVE ME pieces are woven studies, each one exposing raw edges and hidden meanings through imagery and natural fibres.

Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival 2017 is the largest photography event in the world with over 1500 artists in 200 exhibitions and happenings throughout the month in the Greater Toronto Area.

'High-Rise' by Jessica Thalmann in the Akin Vitrine Gallery

The Akin Vitrine Gallery launched on October 1, 2016 at our Dupont studios. This miniature gallery features the diverse talent of our members with a new installation each month.

Our current exhibition running for the month of May, features new work by Akin Lansdowne member, Jessica Thalmann.

“These people were content with their environment, and felt no particular objection to an impersonal steel and concrete landscape, no qualms about the invasion of their privacy by government agencies and organizations, and if anything welcoming these intrusions, using them for their own purposes. These people were the first to master a new kind of 20th century life. They thrived on the rapid turnover of acquaintances, the lack of involvement with others, and the total self-sufficiency of lives which, needing nothing, were never disappointed.”
– JG Ballard

High-Rise is a site-specific installation of hand-folded archival pigment prints investigating the exploding steel and glass landscape of downtown Toronto as a veritable condoland converges onto the apex of the city. The strange lives of condo-dwellers seem at once compact, luxurious and quietly desperate as reflected sunlight bounces between glass curtain walls, almost folding one unit onto one another, never knowing where one begins or ends.

Photographs of glass condos are folded using a special Miura pattern named for its inventor Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura. A Miura fold can be packed into a compact shape, and unfurled in a single motion. This pattern has even been used in solar panel arrays for space satellites in the Japanese space program have been Miura folded before launch and then spread out in space.

Jessica Thalmann is an artist, curator and writer currently based in Toronto and New York City. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Advanced Photographic Studies from ICP-Bard College and a BFA in Visual Arts from York University. She has worked at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto International Film Festival, C Magazine, the Art Gallery of York University and Yossi Milo Gallery. She has shown at various venues in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City including the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Flash Forward 2010, Whippersnapper Gallery, Nuit Blanche, the Artist Project, VIVO Media Arts Center, Aperture Foundation, the International Centre of Photography, Photoville, the Camera Club of New York and Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair.

High-Rise, 2017
Folded Archival Pigment Prints
dimensions variable

The gallery is located at the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, or to arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact the artist: jessica.thalmann@gmail.com

www.jessicathalmann.com
Instagram: @jessthalmann1
#AkinVitrine

Other Jesus: a new play by Public Recordings of Akin Lansdowne opens on May 6

What’s the difference between a person and a story about a person?

Other Jesus, a new play by Toronto’s award-winning Public Recordings of Akin Lansdowne premiers on May 6 at St. Matthew's United Church (729 St Clair Avenue West, Toronto). The show runs from May 6-14 with performances from Tuesday-Sunday at 8pm.

Box Office Information:
$25 General // $20 Arts Worker/Student/Senior/Under Employed
Advance Sales: 416-531-1827 // publicrecordings.org/projects/other-jesus
Tickets also available at the door

About Other Jesus
In the occupied territories of ancient Judea, a group of spiritual workers consider what’s real while trying to break even–until one of them turns out to have the magic touch. Other Jesus is a performance on the risk and reward of believing and belonging.

Click here to read an interview with Other Jesus writer Evan Webber about the creation of the show.

About Public Recordings Performance Projects
Public Recordings develops and presents projects that test hypotheses about group work through performance, education, publishing and other collective gestures. With the goal of providing a readable index of problems and solutions in and through experiential practice, we use the structural and administrative framework of a dance company to question the meanings and possibilities of shared space. Click here to donate to Public Recordings.

Names and Places - Book Release, Exhibition, & Print Expo featuring artwork and prints by Akin artists!

Names and Places  is a group exhibition that opens on April 20 at Northern Contemporary and will include new work by Akin Lansdowne artist Liang Wang. It is also a book launch for Names and Places Volume 3

Names and Places Volume 3 explores the unique relationship between graffiti and urban delivery trucks. From box trucks to cargo vans, these moving canvases present a wide range of opportunities for graffiti writers and photographers alike.

The art exhibition showcases paintings, photographs, and sculpture-based work inspired by trucks from artists across a wide range of disciplines.

The exhibition runs from April 20-30 and culminates in the Names and Places Print Expo on April 29 (11am-6pm) which is a one day market event featuring some of Toronto's coolest zinemakers, printmakers, small press and illustrators including Billy Franklin of Akin Dupont and Jackie Lee of Akin Sunrise. 

Grow Op at the Gladtsone Hotel launches this Wednesday featuring new work by Rebecca Jane Houston of Akin Lansdowne

Grow Op at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, celebrates its fifth year in April 2017 as an exhibition of art and design that cultivates ideas across a broad range of disciplines, examining how humans and other species live within and without natural systems of growth, change, abundance, scarcity, decay and life. Grow Op artists employ the tools of art, craft and design to question our conceptions of urban and wild, culture and nature. The show runs April 19 - 23

Featuring an exhibition on the second floor of ceramic cast Kee Klamps, rebar and bricks by Rebecca Jane Houston of Akin Lansdowne.  Rebecca will be available on Wednesday evening and during the day on Thursday to answer questions and discuss her work in person.

Exhibition Hours:
Wed Apr. 19, 7-9pm | Thurs Apr. 20, 11-10pm | Fri Apr. 21, 11-10pm | Sat Apr. 22, 10am-9pm | Sun Apr. 23, 10-5pm

Tickets:
General Admission $10, Student Day $5 (with ID), Family (of 4) $25.

Akin + PIxel & Bristle: Pop Up Series at the Drake Hotel - launch party April 18, 6-9pm!

Join us on April 18 from 6-9pm to kick off a series of exciting pop-ups happening at the Drake Hotel. Meet the artists and designers, enjoy a drink + shop the pop-ups early!

ABOUT THE POP UPS:
Discover the work of local artists and designers from Akin Collective Studios and Pixel & Bristle Design Market as they set up shop in the lobby of The Drake Hotel twice a week.

AKIN ARTIST SCHEDULE:

Thursday April 20, 6-9pm: Allie Croza of Akin Dufferin (Your Pal Al)

Saturday April 29, 1-4pm: Laura Keeling of Akin Dupont

Thursday May 4, 6-9pm: Jen Pilles of Akin Lansdowne

Saturday May 13, 1-4pm: Jessica Thalmann of Akin Lansdowne

Saturday May 27, 1-4pm: Erin Candela of Akin Dufferin

Thursday June 1, 6-9pm: Shanna Van Maurik of Akin Dupont

Saturday June 10, 1-4pm: Emma Dolan of Akin Dupont

Thursday June 15, 6-9pm: Kayla Polan of Akin Dupont

Saturday June 24, 1-4pm: Jackie Lee of Akin Sunrise

Thursday June 29, 6-9pm: Adria Mirabelli of Akin Dupont

Thursday April 20, 6-9pm: Allie Croza of Akin Dufferin (Your Pal Al)

Saturday April 29, 1-4pm: Laura Keeling of Akin Dupont

Thursday May 4, 6-9pm: Jen Pilles of Akin Lansdowne

Saturday May 13, 1-4pm: Jessica Thalmann of Akin Lansdowne

Saturday May 27, 1-4pm: Erin Candela of Akin Dufferin

Thursday June 1, 6-9pm: Shanna Van Maurik of Akin Dupont

Saturday June 10, 1-4pm: Emma Dolan of Akin Dupont

Thursday June 15, 6-9pm: Kayla Polan of Akin Dupont

Saturday June 24, 1-4pm: Jackie Lee of Akin Sunrise

Thursday June 29, 6-9pm: Adria Mirabelli of Akin Dupont

Akin Projects at Kazoo Print Expo! Tomorrow!

Akin Projects is thrilled to be returning to Kazoo! Print expo for another year! We will be selling fine art prints, zines, books, stickers, pins and more created by the talented artists of Akin Collective studios! Come visit our table tomorrow and see the amazing work!

The Kazoo! Print Expo is an annual event in Guelph Ontario. Featuring letterpress, printmaking, comics, zines, posters, books, art prints, postcards, illustrations, newsletters, t-shirts by incredible artists from around the province. The Kazoo! Print Expo is a part of Kazoo! Fest, a 5-day annual music and arts festival in Guelph, Ontario. Find out more at kazookazoo.ca.

FREE ENTRY
FAMILY FRIENDLY
PHYSICALLY ACCESSIBLE SPACE (printexpo@kazookazoo.ca for details!)
SCENT & NUT FREE (please leave these at home!)

The Readable City - a group exhibition opening tonight at Angell Gallery featuring work by Jessica Thalmann of Akin Lansdowne

The Readable City
Opening Reception: Today! (Friday, April 7) 7-9PM at Angell Gallery
On View: April 7 - 29, 2017

The Readable City features installation, sculpture, film, video, collage and photography by Toronto - and Montreal-based artists including Jessica Thalmann of Akin Lansdowne. Curated by associate director Bill Clarke, and taking its title from a phrase in French scholar Michel de Certeau's essay "Walking in the City".

The exhibition presents an opportunity to reflect on our built environments, and consider how, through collective action, we can produce cities in which all inhabitants can say, "I feel good here."

About Jessica Thalmann:
Jessica Thalmann is an artist, curator and writer currently based in Toronto and New York City. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Advanced Photographic Studies from ICP-Bard College and a BFA in Visual Arts from York University. She has worked at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto International Film Festival, C Magazine, the Art Gallery of York University and Yossi Milo Gallery. 

'A Measure' by Emma Aurelia in the Akin Vitrine Gallery

"A Measure" is an ephemeral multi-media installation by Toronto artist and Akin Lansdowne member, Emma Aurelia on exhibition for the month of April. A hand dyed, hand woven sand bag resembling water hangs from the ceiling by industrial chain. The bag has been filled with 20 kg of both wet and dry sand. Grains seep through the open weave of the cloth representing the time sensitivity of threats posed on natural resources.

Graduating from OCADU's fibre program, Emma works primarily in textiles but her practice extends in many other directions including sound and ceramics. Emma was the recipient of the AKIN Collective Career Launcher Award granted to a student based on work exhibited at OCADU's GradEx 2016.

The Akin Vitrine Gallery launched on October 1, 2016 at our Dupont studios. This miniature gallery features the diverse talent of our members with a new installation each month.

The gallery is located at the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday to arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact us at info@akincollective.com

www.emmaaurelia.ca
Instagram: @emma_aurelia_
#AkinVitrine

Shanna Van Maurik interviewed on Hayley's World

Our very own Shanna Van Maurik of Akin Dupont was recently featured on Hayley's World , the blog of infamous and influential Canadian fashion designer Hayley Elsaesser. 

In the interview, Shanna talks about her work, inspiration, fashion and of course SCUMLAND:

“Everyone in Scumland is kinda gross, imperfect and a second-rate version of their real world selves. I’ve always felt a little bit out of place and I think that’s part of where being an artist comes in. I love doing things with my hands and creating. If you can’t afford something or something isn’t given to you, you can make what you have special as long as you’re creative. If you don’t fit into this world, make your own. ”

— Shanna Van Maurik for Hayley's World

WASTELAND a new collection from Amplify Apparel at Fashion Art Toronto

Operating out of Akin Dupont, Amplify Apparel pushes the limits of wearable art and fashion with shocking and beautiful couture designs. Artist and designer Allie Wood never ceases to amaze us with her unique and visionary collections - every piece is a hand-crafted work of art that is not only wearable but evokes a powerful energy when seen on the runway.

Highly detailed, and slightly surreal, the collections created by Amplify Apparel not only focus on fashion but on evoking a unique narrative. Don't miss the latest collection, WASTELAND which will debut at Fashion Art Toronto on April 21.

About WASTELAND:
In a dark dystopian future the world is in turmoil, and on the outskirts what remains of the human race struggles to survive. Society as we know it has collapsed and the military is on the brink of a nuclear war. Across the barren WASTELAND warriors battle for the upper hand, toxic fumes rise into the overcast sky and scavengers steal from the weak. The gritty intensity of survival is captured in this collection through the use of distressed textiles, elaborate wearable sculptures, and a combination of feather and faux fur accessories. WASTELAND depicts a turbulent future, where hope is fleeting and desperation plagues the earth. Can humanity survive the apocalypse?

WASTELAND at Fashion Art Toronto:
April 21st at Daniels Spectrum Theatre
use discount code 'ARTIST2017' for $15 off

About Fashion Art Toronto:
Fashion Art Toronto is an arts & fashion week that celebrates contemporary art + design through runway shows, live performances, fashion films, photography exhibits and art installations in an effort to push forward and redefine our perception of the fashion phenomenon.

Introducing Akin Sunrise!

Akin Sunrise is located on the territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and traditional territory of the Wendat, but we're still learning and are committed to better understanding what that means to us including our obligations and how to act on them.

Akin Sunrise, located at 100 Sunrise Ave in North York, has 11 studios ranging from 58 square foot to 196 square foot as well as a private office and a large, beautiful dedicated programming space where we will soon begin introducing a wide range of public programming. Akin Projects would like to thank G&N Developments Inc. for their special collaboration on this space.

Photography by Akin Sunrise member Katie Sadie.

We would like to invite you to join us at Akin Sunrise on March 29 for our first official event at this location, the Akin Show & Tell! This is a time for Akin members and other Toronto artists to show completed works or works in progress and get friendly feedback and answers from their peers in a casual studio setting. Everyone is welcome! Feel free to bring art to share, bring a friend or two, bring snacks or drinks or just bring yourself! Come for the conversation or just to meet people and hang out.