Openings of Note: Akin Artist Exhibitions JULY 2018

Samar Hejazi - Xspace - Opening  June 29 - July 28 2018

June Clark - AGO - July 1st Opening - October 2018

Sara Pearson - Project Gallery - July 5- July 28 2018

Katrina Jurjans - Cutler and Gross - June & July 2018

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Akin MOCA artist Samar Hejazi will be exhibiting her recent audio visual piece Mawtini at Xspace Cultural Centre. Opening Friday June 29th 7-10 pm until July 28th 2018,  Maw6ini is an audio visual installation that simulates the internal experience of the Arab diaspora in the west through the appropriation of the english language. The installation is a combination of typographical artworks spanning across textile, soundscapes and video of the anthem Maw6ini(homeland), an Arabic song by Palestinian poet Ibrahim Touqan. Hejazi’s piece allows the viewer to reflect on how ancestry and present environment merge to inform elements of a new and continually shifting (cultural) identity.

Xpace Cultural Centre is a not-for-profit artist-run centre dedicated to providing emerging and student artists, designers, curators and writers with opportunities to showcase their work in a professional setting. Xpace is supported by the OCAD Student Union.     

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 12–6PM    Address: 303 Lansdowne Avenue Unit 2, Main Floor Toronto, ON M6K 2W5

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 June Clark , a member of Akin's Sunrise Studio, will be exhibiting work for the July 1st opening of the recently revisioned J.S. McLean Centre for Canadian Art , at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The J.S. McLean Centre for Canadian Art closed for renovations on March 6, 2018 and will re-open on Canada Day on July 1, 2018, following an extensive renovation. The re-configuration and re-installation of the Centre will see works by Indigenous, Inuit and Canadian artists put into conversation across time, to better reflect the Nation to Nation relationship that Canada was built upon. In recognition that the AGO is located on Mississauga Anishinaabe territory, all texts in the McLean Centre will be trilingual – in Anishnaabemowin, English and French. The Inuit collection will feature texts in Inuktitut, along with English and French.

“The re-opening of the McLean Centre is an exciting opportunity to place artists at the core of the installations, to tell stories from new perspectives and engage visitors with the very best works – both new and familiar – from the Gallery’s Indigenous and Canadian collection,” said Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art.

Once open, the McLean Centre will feature works by Indigenous artists Carl Beam, Ruth Cuthand, Robert Houle, Robert Markle, Kent Monkman, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Jessie Oonark, Jane Ash Poitras and Jeff Thomas among others, along with Inuit artists Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook. Canadian artists will include Florence Carlyle, Emily Carr, June Clark, Lawren Harris, Jamelie Hassan, Kazuo Nakamura, Joanne Tod, Joyce Wieland and many more. In addition to the Indigenous and Canadian works positioned together, the Centre will include dedicated spaces for both Inuit art and sculpture, and Indigenous artists. This reinstallation is part of the larger Gallery-wide Look: Forward project begun in 2017.

The installation of the AGO’s Indigenous and Canadian Collection is generously supported by:
Andrew & Marianne Guizzetti
Robert Harding & Angel Yang
The McLean Foundation

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Exhibition Dates: July 5 – 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday July 5th 6:00 – 8:00pm
Location: Project Gallery 1210 Dundas Street East

A member and the manager of Akin's Dupont Studio, Sara Pearson is a Toronto based artist who graduated with a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University. Using abstracted imagery of crystallic forms and suggestions of remembered landscapes from past travels, themes of transformation and healing are explored from a feminine perspective with a focus on the spiritual connection between womxn and nature.

Wanderer explores the process of loss, forgiveness and the rebuilding of one’s self. In life we wander, searching for meaning, identity and connection. Experiencing unexpected change, letting go of past attachments, picking ourselves up again with the support of those around us and traveling a new path.

In her new body of work Sara Pearson continues her obsession with themes of geological and gemological formations, working with mediums that reflect natural elements of the Earth such as bronze, rocks and clay. She is also interested in the overlap of digital and traditional processes, the visual tangle of abstract and representational methodologies of art making and the optical play of collage. This is Sara’s second solo show with Project Gallery. She currently lives and works in Toronto where she has been a member of Akin Collective for four years. She holds a BFA from OCAD University.

To RSVP click here
Project Gallery is located at 1210 Dundas St E and open Tues-Sat 11-6pm
Please direct inquiries to devan@projectgallery.ca

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Through June and July 2018 -  Luxury British eyewear brand Cutler and Gross is proud to feature artist Katrina Jurjans, awith a presentation of “my transformation is ongoing” in the Toronto store, as part of Cutler and Gross Visionaires. The Visionaires series encompasses a range of collaborations between Cutler and Gross and artistic and creative talents, whether new, emerging or famous, who have the personality, creative vision and intelligent style to help us all see the world differently. To view “my transformation is ongoing” complemented by Cutler and Gross eyewear, visit Cutler and Gross, 758 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J 1E9 FOR MORE INFORMATION: torontopr@cutlerandgross.com www.cutlerandgross.com

About Katrina Jurjans Katrina graduated from Concordia University in 2014 with a BFA in Studio Art and Art History. In her last year of studies, she became increasingly fascinated with spatial theory and in particular spaces of transition and notions of ephemerality, memory, transformation and emotionality. Manifesting in various forms throughout the years, these ideas have been brought to the conceptual forefront of her painting practice, where they have been solidified into the visual language of pattern, layering, colour and spatial tension. About my transformation is ongoing Driven by emotion, the paintings presented explore the intensity and complexity of feelings within intimate relationships. Through the sharing of space – both physically and emotionally – the figures are suspended in a transient moment, symbolically framed by large blocks of colour occupying the peripheries. In turn, these peripheral spaces mark a distinct border between the captured moment and everything that exists beyond it, ruminating on the transformation that takes place when moving from one space - physically, temporally, emotionally - into another. This installation pushes this idea further by envisioning what exists beyond the canvas’ borders. Disrupting the idea that painting needs to exists within a fixed, two-dimensional space, it plays with the concept of transformation in both poetic and physical ways, as the painting’s patterns are transmuted into other forms. This installation will be up till the end of July 2018. k.jurjans@gmail.com @katrinajurjans

About Cutler and Gross Founded in 1969, British luxury eyewear brand Cutler and Gross combines the finest Italian craftsmanship with irrefutably cool style. Since its establishment in fashion’s halcyon days, the brand’s signature creativity has been applied to sunglasses and optical frames with their trademark numbered designs and absence of an ostentatious logo. The bold, individual style of Cutler and Gross has attracted some of the most prestigious names in the industry for collaborations – from design houses such as Erdem, Comme Des Garçons and Maison Martin Margiela, to creative icons including Victoria Beckham, Roksanda Ilincic and Bella Freud, as well as limited edition launches such as Jay-Z for Barney’s New York.

Renée Mathews: Transforming Discarded Denim →

“They’re not obviously current replacements for wigs, but in a very Jetsons type of way, I hope this is the beginning of thinking about other ways that we can change our hair and play around with identity.”

— Renée Mathews (4:03 CBC Arts video)

Renée Mathews is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Her current practice investigates vulnerability, sensuality, and identity in a Black Canadian context. Currently working out of Akin's St. Clair location, Mathews collection of denim wigs challenges the way we think about reusing commonplace items that are regularly discarded.

Drawing influence from the intricate hairstyle photography of Nigerian artist J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and the various styles seen on her daily commute,  Mathews evokes a sense of playfulness while maintaining individuality within the collection of transformed denim wigs.

Video from CBC Arts

Xpace Cultural Centre Summer Exhibitions feat. Samar Hejazi →

Samar Hejazi of Akin King (soon to be Akin x MOCA) will be exhibiting her recent audio visual piece Mawtini in Xpace Cultural Centre's Project Space from June 29 to July 28th 2018, opening reception on June 29th from 7-10PM.

Mawtini is an audio visual installation that simulates the internal experience of the Arab diaspora in the west through the appropriation of the english language. The installation is a combination of typographical artworks spanning across textile, soundscapes and video of the anthem Mawtini (homeland), an Arabic song by Palestinian poet Ibrahim Touqan. Hejazi’s piece allows the viewer to reflect on how ancestry and present environment merge to inform elements of a new and continually shifting (cultural) identity.

Through meditations on traditional practices and present environments, Hejazi's work merges eastern and western styles to express how the crossing of cultures can form new identities. Her choice in medium follows the conceptual needs of the piece which is primarily embroidery, but also includes works on paper and new media.

Akin Vitrine Gallery + Ghazaleh Avarzamani

Akin Projects is pleased to present our June/July Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin MOCA member, Ghazaleh Avarzamani. Through the notion of nature as a medium, her piece The Exfoliation, will explore both the geopolitical and intimate connotations of home — from exile, displacement, and refugeeism on a global scale, to the everyday and extraordinary realms of domestic life and hospitality.

Humans classify natural species by place; i.e., those that belong and those that do not belong to a certain location. Some plants or animals, which are “non-native” to a specific location and rapidly spread, are believed to cause severe damage to the local environment, economy or human health. These are often described as “aliens,” “invaders,” or “pests.” Increasingly, since the 1950s, both human and non-human migration discourses have used the figure of the “non-native” or the “alien” as a negative input for “native” contexts. The Exfoliation re-thinks the “alien” as an entity that actually constructs a new reality and brings valuable cultural hybridization. As a result, the idea of the pristine landscape and who defines it is questioned, as perceptions of “native,” “alien,” and “invasive” species profoundly change over time.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s selected exhibitions include Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium museum in Norway; Bocconi Gallery in Italy; Ab/Anbar Gallery in Iran; Asia House in the UK; Etemad Gallery in UAE; and Artmark gallery in Austria. She has been the recipient of Toronto Art Council in 2018, Ontario Art Council award in 2017 and the Red Mansion Art Prize in 2013. In 2016, She curated Jabberwocky, a group exhibition at Ab/Anbar Gallery in Tehran.

The Exfoliation
mixed media
2018

To contact the artist:
www.ghazalehavarzamani.com
Instagram: @ghazalehavarzamani

The Exfoliation will be on view for the month of June in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in 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 Saturday.

The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of July at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.

You can catch the exhibition on the Akin Summer Gallery Crawl on June 23. Click here for more information. 

For more information about Ghazaleh and her work, follow our Instagram account @akinvitrine.
 

Eternal Garden: An exhibition of work by Akin King artist Jen Pilles

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”  - Alan Watts

Eternal Garden is an exhibition of works on paper and wood that celebrate the natural world and its power. 

Eternal Garden
June 1 - 30, 2018
Volta Espresso (866 Bathurst St, Toronto)
Open 7am - 5pm every day

There will be a small reception for the exhibition on Saturday June 23 from 10am-12pm at Volta Espresso. Everyone is welcome! 

About the artist: 
Jen Pilles has been an Akin artist since 2013 and currently works out of Akin King. She is a freelance illustrator, comic artist and self publisher. Her drawings and colourful illustrations are created using a combination of mediums including ink, gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil. Jen’s work is heavily inspired by nature, and influenced by her love of science, myth,and the human condition. She loves storytelling and creates comics and visual narratives that are suitable for both adults and children. 

Jen creates artwork for a variety of clients including publishers, public institutions, not-for-profit organizations, small businesses, and private clients. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts with Honours in Illustration from Sheridan College. 

www.jenpilles.com

New Works by Akin Member, Kyle Yip, at NUIT ROSE Festival →

NUIT ROSE is back for its fifth annual festival of queer art and performance this week. Taking the theme Unbound, this year’s festival features art that crosses borders, both real and imagined. The 2018 festival takes place over five nights in June, with programming across Toronto neighbourhoods, including West Queen West, University & College, and the Church-Wellesley Village.

This year's festival features the work of Akin Ossington member, Kyle Yip, among many other creatives. Kyle Yip also known as Discrete, is a Toronto based multimedia artist, DJ, producer and label owner of Savvy Records. He is known not only for his Juno Award Nominated full-length album, but also his remixes for international artists such as Brabe, Society of Silence and many more.

Find his work this week at the following NUIT ROSE events:

NUIT ROSE - Opening Night & Group Exhibition

Wednesday, June 13th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm

NUIT ROSE x Tapette Pop-up Art Party

Thursday, June 14th, 10:00 pm - 2:00 am

Super Wonder Gallery

Friday, June 15th, 1:00 pm - 2:00 am

Akin Members at Field Trip Music and Arts Fesitval →

Field Trip brings some of the world’s best music right to the heart of Toronto, but the festival is also about much more than that. Food, art, comedy, family, fashion and a spirit of discovery count among the many inspirations, and each year’s Field Trip is dedicated to collaborative explorations of those themes. At this year's festival you can find Akin Ossington members Leora Israel's and Jenn Kitagawa's work is on display in the Field Trip Marketplace and in one of the Art and Design areas.

Leora Israel is a Toronto potter with a focus on functional wares with a modern twist. You can shop her line of beautiful ceramics, The Otter Potter, in the Field Trip Marketplace this weekend. The Field Trip Marketplace is an annual hub where fans can browse unique wares from some of Toronto’s most talented crafters and designers.

Jenn Kitagawa is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Toronto, Canada. Her vision is to experiment with different mediums, techniques and materials to create a diverse body of work generating excitement in the viewer. You can find her gigantic bean bag installation just south of the Fort York stage.

Akin Dupont artist Mark Buck presents 'MARKBUCK.ART PREMIERE ART EXHIBITION 1987- 2017' at Artscape Youngplace

Akin Dupont Artist Mark Buck presents 'MARKBUCK.ART PREMIERE ART EXHIBITION 1987- 2017' from June 5 - 16 in studio 107 at Artscape Youngplace.

This solo show will be exhibiting over 25 of Mark’s art: from acrylic on canvas and paper, mixed media, silkscreen mono prints and some sculptures. All the artwork is available for purchase.

Mark will be discussing his artwork and techniques on Saturday, June 9 2018 at 12:30 PM and again at 3:00 PM. Please RSVP which time slot you will be attending with your number of guests to me@markbuck.art.

Mark Buck was born in Toronto in 1953. Art has always been part of Mark’s life. Mark’s multi-faceted talents are reflected in his own artwork which he creates. His silkscreen mono prints, acrylic paintings on canvas or paper, mixed media creations often have a “Jackson Pollock” effect which represents the metamorphosis of form, texture, shape or colour. Mark remarks: “The struggle of each colour, form, texture and shape, like man against the elements and nature, are in a never-ending struggle for their freedom and identity.” Mark’s artistic style is very influenced by the Bauhaus Shape Principles. For more information visit www.markbuck.art

EXHIBITION HOURS:
MON:   12:00 PM-5:00 PM
TUE:    1:00  PM - 7:00  PM
WED:  12:00 PM - 5:00  PM
THU:   1:00 PM  - 7:00  PM
FRI:    12:00 PM - 5:00  PM
SAT:   12:00 PM - 5:00  PM
SUN:    12:00 PM - 5:00  PM

Summer Art Shows Featuring Andrea Bailey →

Andrea Bailey of Akin Lansdowne uses colour to suggest mood, time, light and place.  Most of her paintings are acrylic on paper.  Recently, she has been working with oil paints on canvas using a palette knife.

Andrea Bailey will be at the Riverdale Art Walk on June 2nd and 3rd in booth 136 and the Rosedale Art Fair on June 9th and 10th. 

The Riverdale Art Walk is a two‐day, public fine art exhibition showcasing over 170 established and emerging artists in Jimmie Simpson Park in Toronto’s flourishing Queen East arts district.

The Rosedale Art Fair is two-day event that showcases the notable work of over 50 emerging to established artists from across the GTA, at participating Rosedale stores and restaurants.

Painters Make Better Lovers Group Show →

Painters Make Better Lovers is a group painting show inspired by American painter Molly Zuckerman-Hartung’s 95 Theses on Painting. Using her manifesto as a jumping off point, the group proposes works that examine and reflect their own personal, political, and theoretical motivations as painters. As emerging artists, they seek a greater understanding of how elements including: aesthetics, the history of painting, and gender inform the underlying ethos of their work. Like Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, the artists work intuitively and celebrate painting as an ongoing conversation with oneself, other artists, and the environments they inhabit.

Painters Make Better Lovers

Location: Northern Contemporary

Dates: May 31st - June 5th, 2018.

Opening Reception: May 31st, 2018 at 6:30PM

Painters Make Better Lovers features the work of Rebekah Andrade of Akin King, Cristine Yunyk, Adelaide Thorhallsdottir, Inga Gircyte, and Kristin Morthens.

Through languages of painting and sculpture, Rebekah Andrade’s work explores definitions of the ideal form in its many expressions of architecture, geometry, space, and colour. Within these elements, she is interested in our desire to perfect characteristics and draws inspiration from challenging personal instincts to control and manipulate her inhabited spaces. Using this as a jumping off point the methods and boundaries of subject and medium are negotiated, intuitively evolving her geometric combinations, application of paint, and construction of forms. With a minimalistic approach of transitioning overlapping layers of ambiguous lines, texture, faded curves, and contrasting colours, we become emotionally receptive to the spaces within her paintings.  Rebekah holds a BFA in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and is currently completing a Graphic Design certificate through Parsons School of Design in New York City. Her work has shown in Chile, Vancouver, and Toronto.

TONIGHT ONLY: Mind Blend Exhibition Feat. Samar Hejazi →

Blank Canvas Presents: Mind Blend. A one day group art show featuring nine artists who each represent a different medium of art, including Samar Hejazi of Akin King (soon to be Akin MOCA). Blank Canvas invites you to a medium bending atmosphere with each piece aimed to challenge the viewers’ understanding of different art forms. There will be plenty of Instagrammable moments!

Featured Artists: 

Ness Lee https://www.instagram.com/nessleee/
Jordan Sook https://www.instagram.com/jordansook/
Tahsin https://www.instagram.com/tahsinthegood/
Tabban https://www.instagram.com/tabban__/
Jessica D'Angelo https://www.instagram.com/seriousbetty/
Brianna Roye https://www.instagram.com/briannablank/
Katherina Ilenseer https://katherinailenseer.cargocollective.com
Claire Davis https://www.instagram.com/citystitch/
Samar https://www.instagram.com/samarhejazi/

Samar Hejazi is an artist of Palestinian descent, born in the U.S. and raised in diverse communities in the Middle East and Canada, she uses her art to question ideas surrounding identity. 

Through meditations on traditional practices and her present environments, Samar's work merges eastern and western styles to express how the crossing of cultures can form new identities. Her choice in medium follows the conceptual needs of the piece which has primarily been embroidery, but also includes works on paper and new media.

Show sponsored by: Ace Hill
Curated by John Samuels and Stefany Lee
Sounds by Beat Sampras

Hours: 7-11PM
Admission: $10 at the door

*This is a 19+ event*
*Free Space is not accessible*

Community Arts Space Open Studio: Treaty Talk with Akin King artist Louis Esmé this Saturday at the Gardiner Museum

Sat May 26, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen's Park, Toronto
Registration required. 

Part of the Community Arts Space: Recent Histories at the Gardiner Museum, Treaty Talk is Co-presented with Akin King artist Louis Esmé and Titiesg Wîcinímintôwak Bluejays Dancing Together Collective. 

Join knowledgeable community members Jodi Lynn Maracle (Kanien’kehá:ka) and Shane H. Camastro (anishinaabe) in this short, interactive workshop on Treaty relationships and responsibilities in Dish with One Spoon Territory. As practicing artists and educators from this place, they will facilitate activities and discussions to root community arts and museum practices in these original agreements.

About the Community Arts Space: Recent Histories:
Inspired by the transformative aspects of ceramics, both real and metaphorical, the Community Arts Space is the Gardiner’s incubator for arts-based community projects. In collaboration with local artists, designers, and collectives, the Museum will mount five public projects that examine how cultural knowledge is passed on or performed, and the role of the museum in cultivating the so-called lived and living memory.

About Louis Esmé:
Louis Esmé (Mi’kmaq-Acadian, Irish) is an artist, writer, and illustrator whose social art practice spans over 20 years working within grassroots, artist-run, and academic spaces. A co-founder of Titiesg Wîcinímintôwak // Bluejays Dancing Together Collective, which has gathered knowledge, stories, and desires for re-urbanized Two-Spirit people and their relations since 2012, Esmé’s work is granny craft/old media with social commentary akin to Statler & Waldorf from Sesame Street. For the Gardiner’s Intervention Project, which will evoke participation and educational potential within the expanded field of ceram­ics, Esmé will make seven clay districts representing the Mi’kmaq Seven Directions in the Gardiner’s Exhibition Hall, lobby, and permanent collection galleries. Vessels referencing Woodland pottery forms will reckon with ongoing colonialisms, while offering witness to Indigenous survivance on the Dish with One Spoon Territory.

Community Arts Space Open Studio Schedule: 

1 – 5 pm | Micro Comedies, Macro Tragedies
2 – 4 pm | Treaty Talk
2 – 5 pm | ‘Take a Future, Leave a Future’ All-Ages Game
3 – 4 pm | Invisible Footprints Panel
4 – 5 pm | Panic in the Labyrinth Open Mic

The Community Arts Space is the Gardiner Museum’s annual summer incubator program for arts-based community projects conceived by up-and-coming local creatives. Since 2015, we’ve partner with artists, curators, and cultural innovators to present free, accessible programming—from live musical performances and film screenings, to collaborative art workshops—all inspired by the transformative aspects of clay.

This year’s theme, Recent Histories, is inspired the Gardiner’s mission to be an active force in the community, and to truly reflect the histories, lived experiences, and traditions of its publics. Through five different project streams, our partners will transform the Museum according to this theme, activating our 307-square-metre third-floor Exhibition Hall as well as our Outdoor Plaza.

Sneak Peek of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA this weekend!

One weekend every year, Doors Open Toronto provides an opportunity to explore some of the most architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city – many of which are not usually open to the public.

Akin would like to invite you to join us this weekend at 158 Sterling Road as the doors open to a sneak preview of the new home of the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA). Featuring all five floors of the museum. MOCA will be open 12pm-5pm Saturday and Sunday for Doors Open Toronto. Last entry will be at 4:30pm.

This preview of the building will highlight the architecture of the exhibition and programming spaces. Take the opportunity to join MOCA as a member and learn about upcoming exhibitions. An Akin staff member will be on site on Floor 4 to answers questions about Akin. 

Akin will facilitate the rental of artist studios on Floor 4 of the museum through the Akin Studio Program. Selected artists will be moving their studio into the museum for a term of one year and will share their practices with the museum’s visitors through programs such as open studio events.

Floor 4 of MOCA will integrate these studios, with residencies and a workshop space for educational programs. The studios will vary in size from approximately 50 to 250 square feet and will be designed by Akin to create a light and welcoming environment for artists to develop their work. Similar to Akin’s other seven locations, the space will foster a community atmosphere and the exchange of ideas.

For more information about the Akin Studio Program please visit akin.art/moca

Akin Vitrine Gallery + Kate Drwecka →

We are very excited to present new work by Akin St. Clair member, Kate Drwecka in our Vitrine Galleries for the months of May and June! 

Her installation is based on her most recent project, Becoming: a 31 page printed horror comic, the first in a series of mini comics exploring horror’s ability to process real trauma through representation. The original pages measure roughly 16.75" x 21.25", and the final product is a mini-comic that is 5.5" x 8.5". This installation features some of the original pages, and a recreation of the iconic mirror and monster from the comic. 

Becoming is a story of repression, denial of self, and how that presents itself in our lives. Laila is a woman who lives alone with her past, haunted by a ghastly figure living in her mirror. The reflection calls to Laila's unacknowledged history, begging her to confront her denied history. As Laila continues to refuse her past, the figure in the mirror grows stronger, to eventually manifest outside the mirror. 

Kate Drwecka is a freelance cartoonist/illustrator working and living in Toronto. She grew up in the cold climates of Canada, and studied at the School of Visual Arts in NY. As a small child, Kate wanted to grow up and become Freddie Mercury. She still does.

Currently Kate is working on a series about an all-girl supernatural detective agency, and a series of horror comics. Kate is an original member of the Akin Comic Club and has recently helped organize the Akin Comic Day event. A one-day celebration of comic books, comic making and comic artists! 

Becoming will be on view for the month of May in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in 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 Saturday.

The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of June at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.

ALL CAPS: Art Show Featuring Luvsumone and Berma →

ALL CAPS is an interdisciplinary show featuring the art of Moises Frank aka Luvsumone (currently practicing out of Akin's St. Clair studios) and Berma aka Berma! Connecting through their love of all things art, jokes and shawarma, ALL CAPS is a show that brings together the creativity of two of Toronto’s hardest working artists.

ALL CAPS will feature works for sale from Luvsumone and Berma’s first ever collection of poetry for sale! Be prepared for some surprises as well! 

When: Friday, May 18th 2018

Time: 7:00 to 11:00PM

Cover: $5 per person

*BYOB

TCAF Panel: Building a Comics Community Feat. Althea Balmes →

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) kicks off this weekend with a stellar line up of artists, writers, panels, workshops, kids programming and more. One event of note is the Building a Comics Community panel featuring Akin King member, Althea Balmes.

What: Building a Comics Community Panel

Where: Marriott Hotel (Summerhill Ballroom)

When: May 13th 2018 at 2:45PM

Althea Balmes is a multidisciplinary visual storyteller and artist educator who is interested in collaborative creative expressions to tell stories and make art. Her work has been shown at Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, Kaohsiung International Film Festival, Scarborough Arts Bridging Festival as well as Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, A-Space Gallery, Blackwood Gallery, Mayworks Festival among others. Her illustrations and comics has also been published by Briarpatch Magazine, Rice Paper Magazine, The Peak Magazine, Our Times Magazine, and Looseleaf Magazine.

TCAF exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. The festival seeks to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them.

Financial Planning For Artists - June 6th 2018

An artist’s step-by-step, beginner’s guide to financial planning. 

Wednesday June 6 / Council Chambers at Toronto City Hall - 100 Queen St West / 6:30-8:30pm / PWYC (Suggested Donation $10) / Please register to attend at www.universe.com/artfinance2018


Many artists wonder if they can afford to do what they love. You can with a plan! Join us for an evening full of financial strategies that will help you make the most of your money, so you can make the most of your practice. 

This session includes free worksheets and take home resources to guide you through each step of your financial planning process.

This workshop will cover 8 Steps to a Financial Plan:

Create Goals
Know Where You Stand
Find Income
Save
Track
Make a Budget
Reduce Debt
Make the Plan

The workshop includes:

Presentation on financial planning
Short break
Q&A period at the end
Printed copy of the presentation and FAQs
Free worksheets and resources to take away and guide you through each step of your own financial planning process

Participants should bring:

Pen/pencil/device for note-taking if they wish
Their creativity and questions!

About the presenter:

Diana Bahr is an OCAD U graduate in Drawing & Painting (2016), and former OCAD U staff from the Financial Aid department where she provided financial literacy and professional practice workshops to student artists and designers for five years. She has a master’s degree in education from the University of Toronto and works as an Educational Counsellor for a women’s employment agency. She is an emerging multi-disciplinary artist and has exhibited her work at various locations including a traveling show in New York, the Ontario Science Centre, the Brain Project in Toronto, and Mercedes Benz in Mississauga. She is currently co-organizing and participating in a year-long artist residency program in the east end of Toronto.

The event venue is fully wheelchair accessible and please let us know of any other accessibility needs, including ASL interpretation, so that we can assist you. Please email michael@akincollective.com at least one week before the event and we will do our best to accommodate you. Thank you.

Akin presents to The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage →

“How can cultural hubs and organizations such as ours be supported at the federal level? By changing the rules and focusing on the possibilities of leasing incentives, questioning tax benefits, and facilitating access to unused, government-owned property.”

— Oliver Pauk and Michael Vickers

Last week, artists and Akin Co-Directors Oliver Pauk and Michael Vickers headed to Parliament Hill to speak on the importance of preserving and creating artist studios, the role of creative spaces in city building, and how the federal government can better support artists across the country through new policy changes. 

'A Portrait Gallery' Group Show Featuring Akin Member Andrew Kennedy →

Akin Dupont member Andrew V. Kennedy will be exhibiting two works in the group show 'A Portrait Gallery' at Propeller Gallery in Toronto: 'Always Within Our Hearts' (72" x 60", Oil and printed text on canvas) and 'Timing' (40" x 30", Oil on board). 

Through the use of painting, portraiture, and text, Andrew's work seeks to explore the 'water' surrounding the modern human condition. Andrew received a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Painting from Brooklyn College. 

'A Portrait Gallery' runs from May 2 to May 13th at Propeller Gallery.

Opening reception on Saturday May 5th, 2 to 5pm.

Exhibition features the work of Andrew Kennedy, Audrey Smith, Corynn Kokolakis, Elham Fatapour, Elsa Hashemi, Evelyn Rapin, Five Eight, Gabrielle Lasporte, Janet Horne Cozens, Janet Kimantas, Jason Lee Rhyno, Kari Serrao, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Lea Belegris, Lisandro Pena Madeline Strang, Michelle Winters, Mo Jamal, Paul Kilbertus, Qiao Wang, Ross Winter, Shahla Etemad-zadeh Jamal, Shawna Munro, Vanessa Le Page, Wilfred Wong and Zoey Zoric.

Akin Artist's Spring Courses at Toronto School of Art

Akin members Rebecca Houston, Jess Thalmann, and Candice Davies are instructors of some amazing courses happening this spring at the Toronto School of Art. Join these Spring interdisciplinary courses that follow our belief of Artists Teaching Artists!

Mouldmaking and Multiples with Rebecca Houston  
starting wednesday May 9, 6PM-9PM 

Artists create multiples to emphasize a contemplation of form, to challenge us to see difference or the unique in the face of repetition, to ask questions about value in an age of disposable, identical consumer products or as a meditation on the very process of making. In this course, we will make a series of objects using moulds in plaster and create installations with those objects. Projects will include making push moulds of symmetrical objects and creating multiples with air-drying or oven-hardening clay, making a larger object cast in plaster and a collaborative project in which students will swap cast objects. Casting in plaster has certain limitations as compared to silicone, but also certain benefits. It is cheaper, less toxic and can be used for ceramic slip casting.

Beyond the flat: The photograph as Material and Object with Jessica Thalmann
starting Thursday May 10, 6PM-9PM 

This course investigates the intersection of contemporary photography with sculpture, print, painting, drawings and new media. Since Conceptual Photography, artists have been challenging the ideas and implications of the image, pushing the boundaries of what can be considered a photograph. The inherent qualities of the medium will be explored in this class as it brings together a group of stylistically diverse but similarly innovative artists. Students are guided through technical demonstrations to alter photographs including paper folding, cutting, embroidery, surface treatments and digital interventions. Beginning with the waning days of conceptual art, this class presents a wide variety of artists including Matthew Brandt, Marco Breuer, Alison Rossiter, Letha Wilson, Sigmar Polke, Julie Cockburn, Jessica Eaton, and Gerhard Richter— all of which have reconsidered and reinvented the role of light, color, composition, materiality, and subject in the both analogue and digital photography.

Beyond the Surface: A Contemporary Approach to Drawing with Candice Davies
starting Wednesday, May 2, 10AM-1PM

This course examines the link between drawing, material and space, with a key emphasis placed on contemporary approaches to drawing. Students will reconsider the relationship between the drawn surface and the conceptual/physical concepts of form, space and display. The following questions will be asked:  What defines a drawing?  Are there limits to drawing, and if so how do you overcome them or exploit them?  What are contemporary approaches to drawing?  How can a drawing exist in space, from the space on the page to physical space of ones surrounding?  Can a drawing be a three dimensional object and how can material transform the drawn surface?  What are alternative methods of display in drawing and how can these methods enhance the drawn surface?

This course consists of weekly exercises, discussions, and group critiques. Traditional elements of drawing are utilized, such as various types and sizes of paper and the graphite pencil, providing a foundation in which to build upon. Students are encouraged to think outside the box, to think beyond traditional notions of drawing and display, in order to reconsider drawing in contemporary art.