Must See Nuit Blanche Events

IN VIEW - East End Arts - Future Danforth

Walter Segers and Lilliput Gallery (Make Love Not War Installation at August Kinn, 1374 Danforth Avenue)

ARTIST: Walter Segers
THEME: Future Danforth
PROJECT: MAKE LOVE NOT WAR

Together with Lilliput Gallery, Walter presents a movable doll house consisting of still 2D images and 3D altered toys titled MAKE LOVE NOT WAR. Each room in the house will tell a unique story that reminds us to make ‘love’ instead of ‘war’. The future of the Danforth is bright, with a vision of love instead of war, he develops a cohesion for the neighbourhood community.



Learn more here.

The Artists Protest Resistance
Artist: Artists Protest Projects
Medium: Projection
Project Type: Independent Projects
Neighbourhood: West Queen West
Projecting images, GIFs and videos onto public surfaces, contemporary artists will express themes of protest and resistance.

Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Exterior, north wall

“The Artists Protest Resistance” will ask audiences to consider how the province of Ontario and the city of Toronto are under siege from major political forces. Many artists are concerned about the erosion of hard-won, democratic, community standards here. Global political currents are trending towards the decimation of human values, too. If the time for action is at hand, how are artists to respond? A vital mode of expression for artists in voicing their concerns is their artwork. Venues for political forms of expression must extend beyond studio walls and art-gallery spaces. Thus the collective Artists Protest Projects was born. Participating artists range from well-established to emerging. "The Artists Protest Resistance" will also be presented at a second location: Samara Contemporary at 156 Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market.

Learn more here.

Both of these exciting Nuit Blanche installations feature the work of Akin MOCA alum and current Akin River artist Walter Segers. Walter Segers is a visual artist who emigrated from Belgium in 1993 and currently lives and works in Toronto. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in 2008. He finished his year long residency at Museum Of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) on September 30, 2019 where he worked on various photo-based projects.

Akin DIY Comics School meeting on November 4 at Akin St Clair

The Akin Collective D.I.Y. Comics School is a group that meets the first Monday of every month with the goal of working together to provide our own continuing comics education. Meetings take place in the Akin St. Clair Studio at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Open to everyone and anyone interested in creating comics!

This is a member-led initiative that will develop and change over time with participation from everyone. Anyone interested in comic making is welcome to join for one or all of our monthly meetings. Some materials are provided but feel free to bring a sketchbook or papers, pencils, pens or markers, and any comics or comic projects you wish to show and share with the group. The Akin St Clair Studio Comic and Zine Library is also available during meetings to inspire you!

If you are interested in continuing your education and development as a cartoonist and in helping others do the same, please come out and join us Monday, November 4th, from 7:30pm to 9:30i sh at the Akin St. Clair Studio in the “Don’s Meats” building at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Entrance to the studio is off of the parking lot, and located near the back of the building on the west side. It’s a giant door, and it will be open at the start of the meeting, but then closed, so if you come late, knock loud!

Questions or suggestions? email diycmx@gmail.com

You can join the Akin DIY Comics School Community on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diycmx/

Accessibility:
This building is partially accessible. The space is ground- level throughout. There are two entrances to the space, we encourage guests to use the side-door entrance. There is one step at the front door entrance and no steps at the side door entrance. There is one all gender bathroom. There is one step to get to the bathroom. There is no alternative bathroom or alternative route to the bathroom. The bathroom door is 30 inches wide. There are no grab bars in the washroom and the toilets are not raised. Akin St. Clair Studios regrets any barrier to access.

Getting here by TTC:
Akin St Clair Studios is accessible on the 512 St. Clair Streetcar Line and by bus, take either Bus 168 from Dundas West Station, or Bus 127 Spadina Station to Keele and St. Clair.

Parking:
There is residential parking on Hounslow Heath Road and other residential streets in the area.

Eulogy for the Coffin Factory at Nuit Blanche

We invite you to join Akin Ossington artist Nicole Crozier, and Akin Dupont artist Alison Postma (formerly members of the Coffin Factory) along with 22 other artists at Nuit Blanche at 89 Niagara St on October 5, 2019 for ‘Eulogy for the Coffin Factory’. 24 coffins adorned by former artist-tenants of the Coffin Factory will transform the audience into a funeral procession, mourning the passage of this creative hub.

“Eulogy for the Coffin Factory” is a ceremonial exhibition that will mourn the passage of the Coffin Factory at 89-109 Niagara Street. Originally built in the 1880s, this was home to the National Casket Company from 1908 until 1973. In more recent years, it has become known as the Coffin Factory, been used as artist studios and workshops, and served as an important space for the creative ecology of downtown. Now, these buildings are slated for redevelopment. Tenants were evicted in early 2019, marking the end of an era for the area. This project will provide an opportunity for the public to grieve, reflect and celebrate the Coffin Factory. Playing on the building’s casket-factory history, 24 former artist-tenants have been commissioned to adorn 24 coffins produced for the event. These will be displayed in a long row lining the south side of Niagara Street.

About Nuit Blanche:
For one sleepless night, experience Toronto transformed by hundreds of artists and nearly 90 art projects. This year's program responds to one event-wide curatorial theme of Continuum. The theme follows many paths during the event – set against a backdrop of the ever-present renewal of night into day, a continuum of experience and ideas is brought to light by the participating artists. A series of Nuit Talks will take place before and after the all night art event and nine extended art projects will remain on display through October 14.

Date: October 5, 2019
Time: Sunset to Sunrise – 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

MOCA Goes Dark: Night Visions Party Retrospective

Last month, Floor 1 at MOCA was transformed into an interactive art party, presented by some of the artists working in Akin’s 4th floor studios at MOCA. The Tower Automotive Building was once the site of legendary dance parties, raves, and punk gigs. The building’s wild legacy was revived for one night only with amazing art and music, lighting MOCA up in the dark.

The evening featured artist-led interactive installations and activities, beats by DJ Lulu Wei and DJ Sammy Rawal and the Akin Year 1 artist group exhibition An Index was open on Floor 4 throughout the evening. Thanks to everyone who attended the party, and congratulations to the collaborators who worked hard to make it happen!

DJ Lulu Wei
Her mix of pop, hip-hop, R&B and hi-energy house hits has been making queer folks dance for years in parties like New Ho Queen.

DJ Sammy Rawal
Sammy is the co-founder/resident DJ of Yes Yes Y’all, Canada’s largest queer hip hop/dancehall party that seeks to create spaces for LGBTQ2 POC.

Humboldt Magnussen
Curator, co-director of YTB Gallery and Akin MOCA Year 1 artist Humboldt Magnussen produced the Night Visions Party. Humboldt’s practice is interdisciplinary in nature. Often his work is rooted in performance and includes the creation and use of elaborate masks and helmets. He utilizes elements of humour and glamour to make difficult topics more accessible and to create entry points for people to engage with the work.

Design by Nuff
Akin MOCA Year 1 artist and designer David Nuff created live 3D visuals during the party on the big screen. His work blurs the lines between commerce and culture, art and design. Nuff’s interactive installation, Shard, a giant icy light crystal that responds to sound and motion, was also on display during the event.

Leone McComas
Leone McComas , an Akin MOCA Year 1 visual artist and designer specializing in painting, graphic design, and mural art, created live-paintings during the party. Her painting technique is both intuitive and process driven; a method producing highly detailed and saturated oil paintings that appear to glow from within.

Jieun June Kim
Akin MOCA Year 1 artist Jieun June Kim provided glow-in-the-dark face painting for guests at the party. Jieun is a painter and muralist whose body of work usually instigates conversation and interaction with viewers from different cultures.

Strike Design Studio
Akin MOCA Year 1 designer Emily Woudenberg of Strike Design Studio created all of the event graphics based on aluminum caps that were made in the 1940’s by Canadian steel company Alcan who formerly occupied the Akin MOCA building before it was abandoned. Strike is a Toronto-based design studio offering frank consultancy, innovative strategy and striking solutions for print and screens.

This party was organized and presented with the exhibition An Index which featured 24 artists from the inaugural Akin Studio Program. An Index made visible the labours of artistic creation through an open and honest charting of the processes, challenges, delights, and failures of making art in the city. Night Visions credited the importance of social play in creative production. For the first time ever MOCA Goes Dark, and welcomed guests to explore the museum transformed by local artists.

Event graphics by Strike Design Studio

Studio Mates Group Exhibition

September 26 - October 1, 2019
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 26, 7 PM – onwards
Gallery Hours: September 27 - Oct 1 • 12 to 7 PM, Closed Monday

Curated by Mel Hayes and Dalia Hassan and hosted at Black Cat Showroom (1785 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto).

Studio Mates is a group show featuring work by 16 artists who share a space at the Akin Lansdowne studios.

Studio Mates is a snapshot of a shared studio’s constantly changing occupants and their diverse work, capturing a dynamic environment where at any given moment there is a plethora of concepts, processes, materials and creations.

Featured artists:
Rakefet Arieli, Andrea Bailey, Elizabeth Basskin, Brianne Burnell, Rachel Butler, Claire Correia, Dalia Hassan, Mel Hayes, Kim Kermode, Michelle Evelyn Lee, Aaron Lozynsky, Linds Miyo, Eloisa Morra, Nick Murido, Michelle Rawlings, and Gwen Tooth.

Child of Rock: Solo Exhibition by VAYA

September 5 to September 28, 2019

VAYA UNPLUGGED/Acoustic Performance: Thursday September 19 2019 • 6 PM to 7 PM

RSVP either event to info@urbangallery.ca 

ABOUT VAYA

An incisive & provocative artist, Akin Ossington member VAYA explores, mixes, meets & transcribes the darkness in the angels’ voices. An energetic claw on each canvas, VAYA dances as she works and often by candlelight to be closer to the imperceptible. "It's always a discovery the next day in daylight." She also employs a camera to share her creativity, "A way of getting out of yourself and becoming your own observer is fun and fascinating". VAYA has fun, dances, writes prayers on the souls of her music legend subjects. "I like to pay tribute to those who have suffered so much, laying some particles of peace over their restless souls - isn’t that the artist's role? Transfigure suffering into masterpieces?

"It's always a discovery the next day in daylight."

~Would she become animal or simply an expression of the painting, these faces that invite her to dance, whatever it is? 

"The limit is tiny between Madness and Genius." It's just a question of knowing how to pass the stirrup to this crazy horse that takes you to the depths. Keep your eyes closed in all confidence with it, holding the reins with your fingertips, while keeping a clear vision, discipline and flexibility.

When she has fun with a camera, VAYA plays the photographer as the muse. 

"A way of getting out of yourself and becoming your own observer is fun and fascinating".

VAYA has fun, dances, writes prayers on the souls of Legends, particularly iconic.

"I like to give a tribute to those who have suffered so much, some particles of peace over their restless souls: Isn’t it the Artist's role? Transfigure suffering into masterpieces?”

Akin Vitrine Gallery + Erin Candela

We are delighted to introduce our current Akin Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin King alumi, soon to be Akin MOCA artist and staff member Erin Candela. Erin’s work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1485 Dupont for the month of September and then 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of October.

Erin Candela is a Canadian artist originally from northern BC, currently living in Toronto. Often using historical documents such as photographs, public school books, nature encyclopedias and community journals, themes of Memory and identity are frequently present in her drawings. Ideas of North, Canadian landscape, and portentous depictions of wild creatures and characters are also common and contribute to a scattered and ambiguous narrative.

Things Go So Wrong?
Mixed Media
Dimensions Variable
2019

To contact the artist:
Instagram: @candles_
#Akinvitrine
www.erincandela.ca

Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2019 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin Dupont and Akin St. Clair. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at Dupont and second month at St. Clair. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.

‘Things Go So Wrong?’ will be on view for the month of September 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 October at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.

Charmaine Lurch: Compounding Vision

Compounding Vision by Charmaine Lurch at RiverBrink Art Museum

September 12, 2019 – February 1, 2020

Join us Thursday September 12th from 5 – 7 p.m. to celebrate the opening of Compounding Vision by Akin Sunrise artist Charmaine Lurch curated by Debra Antoncic.

Toronto-based artist Charmaine Lurch interrogates complex histories of humans and the environment. This exhibition presents the artist’s recent work exploring borders and boundaries, in painting, photography, sculpture and installation.

The exhibition runs from September 12th, 2019 – February 1, 2020 at RiverBrink Art Museum (116 Queenston Street, Queenston).

Charmaine Lurch is a sculptor, painter and installation artist who creates work that imagines inside and outside of history, involves quiet moments of joy, and draws our attention to human-environmental relationalities. an inherent sense of movement resides in the pieces. Lurch maps belonging and representation in space and place, outside of normative racial scripts. Her work has been exhibited at The Art Gallery of Ontario, Durham Art Gallery, the Montreal museum of art, Royal Ontario Museum , Station Gallery, Toronto Centre for the Arts, The Gladstone, Nuit Blanche, the National Gallery of Jamaica, and more.

VEER way out of line by Kai Hart

Exhibition September 3rd - 22nd, The Corridor Gallery

Explosive new paintings by Kai Hart, recent graduate from Centennial College’s Fine Arts Studio program. Intense and expressive large scale paintings take over the Corridor Gallery. City banners, urban caves, rumble, ancient symbology, this exhibition is way out of line!

Double Vision II: Clara Hirsch and Jake Hirsch-Allen

September 12-22

2nd floor gallery

Opening reception: September 12, 7-10pm, everyone welcome!

Double Vision II is the continuation of a mother-son collaboration, first shown in Madrid in 2016. It brings together Akin Alum Clara Hirsch’s painted images and the photographs of Jake Hirsch-Allen. Double Vision II portrays the tension between urban space and the natural environment. The series illustrates Clara’s conflicted perspective: on the one hand, a delight in architecture, culture and the vitality of urban life; and on the other, her love of nature and organic forms. This series also includes four of Jake’s stand-alone photographs.

Image via: clarahirsch.com

MOCA Artist Series: Stephanie Fortin, David Frankovich and Maggie McCutcheon

There are only a few weeks left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort in this final installation of the MOCA Artist Series. We have posted profiles of the artists throughout the summer and this is our final post; you can click here to see the entire series. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Stephanie Fortin, David Frankovich and Maggie McCutcheon.

Image source: https://stephaniefortin.com

Stephanie Fortin

Stephanie Fortin’s studio methods and research involve resist based techniques - clamping, folding, stitching, wrapping, ikat weaving, natural dye and pigments - plant, animal and mineral. Growing and harvesting dye plants and stitching.

These techniques blur transitions of line, shape and form; regardless of the attention in preparation and creation, there are unexpected moments that occur. The shape and imagery is dependent on the pressure applied during the resist - in kind, resist dyeing becomes an excellent metaphor for life. The process demands closeness, precision, physical and mental endurance that has a narrative of stress on both land and body. Opposing elements of control and lack of control, come together. The body and objects resist colour in the work. There is a directness and connection between the body, the land and colour, that materializes give-and take.

The abstraction grants choice reaction, engaging imagination. Asking viewers to be present and mindful, while contemplating the hidden circumstance of process and colour that go unseen at a scan; and enjoy looking at the same time.

www.stephaniefortin.com

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Image source: http://davidfrankovich.com Photo by Teresa Ascencao

David Frankovich

David Frankovich (born 1985) is an artist based in Helsinki and Toronto working in performance and experimental media. They hold a BFA in Film and Video from York University, Toronto (2007) and are currently pursuing an MA in Live Art and Performance Studies from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Their work is based in the body and its relation to others, including material, space and audience. They have exhibited internationally, including FADO Performance Art Centre (Toronto), Rhubarb Festival (Toronto), Mountain: Standard Time Performative Arts Festival (Calgary), Perform Now! Festival (Winterthur), ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival (Kuopio), CREATurE Live Art Festival (Kaunas), Cyprus International Performance Art Festival (Nicosia), Performance Studies International (Shanghai), Tonight (Helsinki) and Nomadic Arts Festival (Charciabałda and Warsaw).

www.davidfrankovich.com

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Image Source: https://www.limitednobility.com

Maggie McCutcheon

Maggie McCutcheon studied Comparative Literature, copy writing, and creative writing and worked as a writer before realizing she was driven by a need to create something more enduring. She returned to school and studied Furniture Craft & Design at Sheridan College. Since graduating in 2016, she has been working for herself and producing custom pieces, commissions, and the occasional small run of original designs.

Limited Nobility is a Toronto-based, luxury furniture design and production company producing small runs of original designs as well as one-off commissions. It was created in 2017 by Maggie McCutcheon with one eye on languorous indulgence, the second on the significance of materials, and the third on true forms.

Each Limited Nobility piece is on nodding terms with the canon of the past as it embraces elegantly contemporary forms. She creates work that is at once opulent and luxurious without sacrificing purpose, comfort, or concept. McCutcheon believes unwaveringly in the beauty of materials and in the truths belying organic and pure forms.

www.limitednobility.com

Thank you for joining us for the MOCA Artist Series - stay tuned to the blog for our announcement about the Year 2 cohort of artists who are preparing to move into the studios at the Museum in October.

MOCA Artist Series: Christian Butterfield, Jamie Ellis Pasquale and Stanzie Tooth

There is only one month left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort. We have posted profiles of some of the artists throughout the summer and will continue until mid September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Christian Butterfield, Jamie Ellis Pasquale and Stanzie Tooth.

Image source: www.corkingallery.com/artists/contemporary/christian-butterfield

Christian Butterfield

Christian Butterfield is a young Torontonian artist working on the interception of mass media and the painting of the human form. Since 2016 he has been developing a series of portraits, exploring the traditions of painting and popular culture. He uses Time magazine as a source and includes text extracts onto painted faces to comment with humour on our current society. The words in his texts are signifiers in relation to the abstraction of the human figure. Christian Butterfield is represented by Corkin Gallery.

www.corkingallery.com/artists/contemporary/christian-butterfield

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Image source: https://cargocollective.com/jamieellispasquale

Jamie Ellis Pasquale

Born in London, England where he attended the University of Greenwich studying for a bachelors in Landscape Architecture. Now living and working in Toronto where his work shows a nod to the classical history of representational and figurative painting. He is currently working on personal projects and progression in the field of portraiture.

Working from observations of nature and my immediate environment Jamie Ellis Pasquale creates objects of fascination that reflect his emotions. Paintings that are belonging to the essence of life and the nature of pure being. Inspired by art history and the formal definitions of painting, Jamie continues to push the boundaries of painting both representational and abstract to reflect a contemporary idiom previously not seen before from a black british artist.

https://cargocollective.com/jamieellispasquale

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Image source: https://www.stanzietooth.com/collection/coming-home-2018

Stanzie Tooth

Canadian artist Stanzie Tooth works primarily in painting, though her practice also diverges into sculpture, collage and installation. Tooth holds a BFA from the Ontario College of Art & Design (2007) and an MFA from the University of Ottawa (2015), where she was awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Stanzie was the 2015 recipient of the Joseph Plaskett Award for Painting, through which she spent time traveling and creating new work, completing residencies in Berlin and Iceland, as well as self-directed research in Greece and Italy. She has been acknowledged for her work by Canadian Art Magazine, The Toronto Star, Now Magazine and Studio Beat. Her work is included in the collections of The Royal Bank, Toronto Dominion Bank, A.T. Tolley Collection and several private collections. Stanzie Tooth currently lives in Toronto. Stanzie is represented by General Hardware Contemporary.

www.stanzietooth.com

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Stay tuned next weekend as we wrap up the Akin MOCA Artist Series with our final post!

Jennifer Dany Aubé, Subin Ee and Sara Mozafari

There is only one month left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort. We have posted profiles of some of the artists throughout the summer and will continue until mid September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Jennifer Dany Aubé, Su Bin Ee and Sara Mozafari.

Image source: Jennifer Dany Aubé

Jennifer Dany Aubé

Jennifer Dany Aubé grew up in Hamilton, and studied fine arts at the University of Quebec. She was recognized as one of the emerging artists of the region upon graduation. Since Jennifer has travelled extensively, lived in India for 1.5 years, studied Yoga and volunteered at several yoga ashrams for several years. These experiences greatly influenced her art. Her artistic explorations started by experimenting with various textures to abstractly evoke the different textures that exist within the body. Removing the skin from the imagery removes the external focus of gender, race and physical beauty, to reveal the inner spirit that lies within the flesh.

As her Yoga practice grew, the aesthetics of her works changed, and her gestural movements became pregnant with more meaning. Jennifer’s recent works are called Yantras, sacred forms in which energies are held, and a visual tool used during meditation. Her work aims to ‘scratch the surface and reveal the light underneath’.

www.jenniferdany.ca

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Image source: sheridanartsblog.com

Subin Ee

Drawing is a primary practice in Subin Ee’s work. She sees drawing as a form of a language: an instinctual language, that does not require a symbolic syntax like a spoken language. However, it is similar in a sense that it is also immediate. In her drawings, Subin’s body is translated into lines and shapes. Her primary goal is to capture a fleeting moment. Her drawings therefore reflect the presence of her body through gestural mark making. She lays down multiple of layers using hard ground mediums such as charcoal, india ink, and black pastels, then she starts to erase the image. She will scrape the image, pour water and oil, scratch with a fork, apply gesso and white charcoal. The result is a collaborative image with herself, paper, mediums, and the surface that she lays the piece onto.

She is interested in the life of the drawings after completion. When the drawings are installed, the piece is capable of having conversations with the viewers.

www.subinee.com
www.instagram.com/silentpause

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Image source: www.instagram.com/sara_mozafari_art

Sara Mozafari

Sara Mozafari was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1981. Having grown up through the war between Iran and Iraq, and the suppression of the political and social activists, religious minorities, and women, social issues became the primary concern in her life and they were reflected on her artworks. Naturally, she was drawn to oil painting and had her first group exhibition in 2000 in Iran. She started studying Fine Arts Studio at Centennial College after she moved to Toronto. It was then when she was introduced to sculpture and installation art and noticed the significance of space in expressing an idea and experiencing an art piece. That led her to continue her study in Architectural Studies and Visual Studies at the University of Toronto and graduated with distinction in 2017.

Although in all these years she explored and applied different mediums, techniques, and styles to create artworks, she has found common ground which ties all the forms of art that she has exposed to, and that is Iranian social and political issues in a way she has experienced them.

www.saramozafari.com
www.instagram.com/sara_mozafari_art

You can see work by Jennifer, Subin and Sara from now until–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last nine months. 

Only a few days left to check out Tsunami by Gwen Tooth at Red Head Gallery

There are only a few days left to check out Tsunami, a solo exhibition by Akin Lansdowne artist Gwen Tooth at Red Head Gallery. The show runs until August 24, 2019. The exhibition is Gwen’s exploration of expressing the soul, energy and movement of bodies of water.

“This exploration into the destructive and damaging force of tsunami walls took me further into the dark side and danger of uncontrollable walls of water. I incorporated bits of gold foil, and many types of textured mediums, such as black lava, resin, sand and glass beads, to express the nature and power of the churning and fast-moving wall of water as it picked up debris, crunched prized possessions, and stirred up the ground beneath it. This was and is the force of total destruction. I look back upon the evolution of my work as the semblance of reality disappears, yet the essence and feeling remain. With the installation of these paintings in close proximity, as I stand in the middle of the room, I am feeling that nature is in charge, not humans.”
- Gwen Tooth

About Gwen Tooth:
Gwen is an experimental and expressionist painter. She has in recent years completed several series of acrylic paintings revealing the moods and energies of water – whirlpools, waterfalls, and tsunamis. Gwen is a member of Propeller and of Gallery 1313. She is an Associate member of the Society of Canadian Artists. Gwen holds a B.A. from Western University, a BFA (Honours) 2005 from Ontario College of Art and Design University and a Fine Arts Certificate (Honours) from Humber College. www.zhibit.org/gwentooth

MOCA Artist Series: Maren Boedeker, Raoul Olou, and Emma White

There are only a few weeks left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a new and unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the multi-talented group of artists from our inaugural cohort. We have posted profiles over the past few weeks of some of the artists and will continue until September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Maren Boedeker, Raoul Olou, and Emma White.

Image source: Maren Boedeker. Untitled 1, 2018.

Maren Boedeker

Maren Boedeker studied visual arts and art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Münster, Germany.

Her abstract, large-scale canvases have been shown in galleries in Germany, Belgium and Canada. She received the artist-in-residency-grant Liguria, Italy and was awarded first place in the exhibition "Art for Europe", curated by the European Community in Brussels, Belgium.

Besides her artistic practice, she has continuously been working with children, teens and adults as an art teacher and instructor.

https://www.marenboedeker.com/

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Image source: Sarah Bodri @sarahbodri

Raoul Olou

Raoul Olou is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto. His work focus on home, belonging and archiving the mundane.

https://raoulolou.com/

https://www.instagram.com/raoul_o

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Image source: Emma White. Vita Coco, 2019

Emma White

Emma White is a recent graduate of Fine Art at Queen’s University, and is new to Toronto. Her main focus is oil painting, although she works with many mediums (such as sculpture and collage) in the process of creating a final painting. 

She is extremely influenced by her surrounding environment. This can be a natural setting or a parking lot; it can be somewhere she has lived for years or a vacation spot she passed through in a few minutes. What makes these places important to me is that she has seen them, and through the act of looking, she has left her trace there forever.

This irreversible act of occupying a space is something that she attempts to express through her work. When someone looks at my piece, they’ve now touched the work themselves, as well as the place that the piece depicts. She thinks of the artworks as portals to these special places. 

www.emmawhite.net/

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You can see work by Maren, Raoul and Emma from now until–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last nine months. 

We also hope you can join us for MOCA Goes Dark, an interactive art party on August 17 by the artists and curators of the exhibition An Index. Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists.

MOCA Artist Series: Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Humboldt Magnussen, Adria Mirabelli and Tanya Louise Workman

There are only two months left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort. We have posted profiles over the past few weeks of some of the artists and will continue until September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Humboldt Magnussen and Adria Mirabelli.

Image source: Ghazaleh Avarzamani

Ghazaleh Avarzamani

Ghazaleh Avarzamani (b. 1980, Tehran) is an artist currently based in Toronto. She was trained in painting at Azad Art University, Tehran and holds a Master of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins, London. Avarzamani’s practice examines the role of experience, memory, psychology, modern rationality and educational methodologies in the construction of knowledge. Considering a range of spaces, structures and devices for interactivity, self-development and play, her work questions the contextual biases that shape meanings and values. Exploring these concerns in relation to growth and erasure, Avarzamani aims to expose the paradoxical realities beneath the surface of society.

Her art practice encompasses a variety of forms, including sewing, needlework, patchwork, printing, ceramics and installation. This craft dimension of her work is combined with research that seeks to discover the socio-historical relevance of these disciplines, as it reflects on her own experience and larger cultural issues.

www.ghazalehavarzamani.com
www.instagram.com/ghazaleh.avarzamani

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Image source: www.instagram.com/humboldtmagnussen

Humboldt Magnussen

Humboldt Magnussen is an artist and curator from rural Saskatchewan. Magnussen holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies at OCAD University focusing on performance art and masculinity studies and a BFA from Concordia University from 2011 in Studio Arts. Humboldt weaves in autobiographical elements with larger political and social context to talk about the lack of safety and protection for queer people, even in designated “Safe Spaces”. He is interested in ways to visualize complicated notions of identity and gender / sexuality which can contribute to the growing conversation on these topics in Canada.

His practice is interdisciplinary in nature. Often his work is rooted in performance and includes the creation and use of elaborate masks and helmets. He utilizes elements of humour and glamour to make difficult topics more accessible and to create entry points for people to engage with the work.

www.instagram.com/humboldtmagnussen

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Image source: Adria Mirabelli

Adria Mirabelli

Adria Mirabelli graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2015 with a major in Drawing and Painting and Minor in Textiles. Having also studied at Parsons Paris her work is influenced by conceptual themes and narratives alongside art and craft processes. Adria uses a variety of media and practices to create her works, utilizing collage, drawing, textile manipulation, installation, poetry and sculpture. Her works are often autobiographical and explore themes of space + place, temporality, belonging, love, and longing. Her process involves the collection of extensive, rotational archives of physical materials including ephemera, photographs, digital images, and texts, often saved from spaces of lived experience. This ever-developing catalog serves as the inspiration and materials for her final works, which manifest in various physical and digital forms.

Adria strives to create works that explore experiences of fear, desire, and love in regard to personhood, place and nostalgia. She makes work in an effort to create spaces of connection and acceptance through moments of beauty.

www.adriamirabelli.com
www.instagram.com/adriamirabelli

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Photo by Sean Patenaude

Tanya Louise Workman

Tanya Louise Workman is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist, storytelling facilitator and journalist who works with audio, images and text to unravel the relationships between voice and our embodied selves. Her photographic, multimedia and audio work has been exhibited and screened in spaces in Toronto and internationally. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University, a post-graduate certificate in creative writing from the Humber School for Writers and a photojournalism diploma from Loyalist College.

Through spoken word, sound, installation, images and writing, I tune in to the embodied experience. My body is a radio, both a receiver and a transmitter; I listen in to make audible, visible and tactile what the body holds – what reverberates between interior and exterior selves, between what is seen and heard.

Tanya is a candidate in the low-residency MFA program at Maine Media College + Workshops in Rockport, Maine, and is one of the artists-in-residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto as part of the inaugural Akin Studio Program at MOCA. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University, a post-graduate certificate in creative writing from the Humber School for Writers and a photojournalism diploma from Loyalist College.

She is currently working on her first book.

www.tanyaworkman.com
www.instagram.com/tanyalouiseworkman

You can see work by Humboldt, Adria and Tanya from now until–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last nine months. 

We also hope you can join us for MOCA Goes Dark, an interactive art party on August 17 by the artists and curators of the exhibition An Index. Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists.

MOCA Artist Series: Leone McComas, Carrie Chisholm and Liang Wang

We are in the home stretch for Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of thetalented group of artists from our inaugural cohort. We have posted profiles of some of the artists throughout the summer and will continue until mid September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Leone McComas, Carrie Chisholm and Liang Wang.

Image source: Leone McComas

Leone McComas

McComas’ painting practice examines ideas of the self and the internalization of social ideologies–capturing states through conceptualized figure/environment relationships and digitally influenced landscapes. Following a growing sense of artistic responsibility, her current work is created from a place of hope (not pain), as reflected by visual metaphors of transformation and a desire to maintain a painting’s luminosity. Her painting technique is both intuitive and process driven; a method producing highly detailed and saturated oil paintings that appear to glow from within.

McComas graduated from OCADU receiving her BDes in 2013 and participated in the Faculty of Art’s 36th Florence Off-Campus Program. She is a recipient of the OIEOS 2010 Scholarship, OAC 2018 Visual Arts Project Grant, and is an AKIN artist at MOCA Toronto.

http://www.leonemccomas.com/

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Image source: Carrie Chisholm

Carrie Chisholm

Carrie Chisholm, AOCAD, MFA is an award-winning artist/designer and communications professional who draws inspiration from her engagement with arts and culture communities and institutions at home and abroad. She is a strong proponent for capacity building in the culture sector and has made valuable contributions through events/project/operations management, governance, strategic visioning, public relations, programming, promotions, volunteerism and audience development. 

When not championing her cause, Carrie methodically devotes her time to her mixed media art practice, interspersing 2-D (drawing/painting) and 3-D (sculpture/installation) applications. She is particularly fascinated with the optical affects and illusions generated by the elements of line, colour and light such as ornamentation, pattern, transparency, shadow casting and reflection. Conceptually her work questions the philosophical nature of an individual's free will when confronted by the allure of consumerism. These interests have been mined over the course of Carrie’s practice, which commenced after the completion of her studies in Florence, Italy in 2000. 

https://www.carriechisholm.com/

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Image source: Liang Wang

Liang Wang

Liang Wang is a Toronto-based painter raised in various parts of Taiwan, China, Australia and Canada. He has exhibited work in numerous groups shows at locations including Northern Contemporary Gallery (Toronto); Federation Gallery, Turnbull Gallery (Vancouver); and Rutherford Galleria (Edmonton). His work is in private collections in Canada and New Zealand. One day I saw the sunset forty-four times is his first solo show. Wang currently teaches painting at the McCanny Secondary School.

http://www.bywangliang.com/

You can see work by Leone, Carrie and Liang from now until–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to varying degrees by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last few months. 

Sorry to bother you - on now!

Sorry To Bother You

Abstraction in an age of anxiety

July 11 - September 1, 2019

Corkin Gallery - 7 Tank House Lane, Distillery District, Toronto

Artists:
Virgil Baruchel
Christian Butterfield
Hana Elmasry
Neil Maguire
Rafael Yaluff

Sorry to bother you explores the disquiet and apprehension of contemporary life. Troubled and inspired by the looming global crises of environment, identity and economic viability, these brave works respond as signs of empathy in an age of anxiety.

Christian Butterfield, Akin staff member Hana Elmasry and Neil Maguire mix tradition of abstract painting with found objects and collage. Rafael Yaluff draws on pop art and comics to reflect upon our culture of consumption. Using electric colours, Virgil Baruchel blurs the real world with virtual existence through his tapestries and pastels.

Tangled and urgent, the works in this show are a tentative tap on the shoulder. What can we do? Who do we want to be? Are we able to adapt?

MOCA Artist Series: Steve Lee, Emily Woudenberg and Nuff

There is a little more than two months left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , an independent and collaborative studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Akin is thrilled to continue sharing profiles of the talented group of artists from our year 1 artists. We have posted profiles over the past few weeks of some of the artists and will continue until September; you can click here to see previous posts. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Steve Lee, Emily Woudenberg and Nuff.

Image source: A’Design Award & Competition

Steve Lee

Steve is the founder and lead designer at Aprilli Design Studio, mostly focusing on architectural design projects and interactive art installations. He is a licensed architect in California and Ontario with 8+ years of working experience in Seoul, New York and Los Angeles prior to opening Aprilli Design Studio. As principal in charge, he focuses on design development and project actualization through all phases of projects including architectural design and product design. Steve has deep interest in creating innovative objects, spaces and atmospheric conditions which aesthetically, psychologically and functionally enhance the quality of living environments.

Prior to founding Aprilli Design Studio, he has worked at architectural design firms such as Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Koetter Kim Associates and RTKL Associates focusing on international high rise, mixed use and hospitality projects in various countries.

Since 2014, he has been a lecturer at various universities including UCLA March II program “Suprastudio” and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

www.aprilli.com/
www.instagram.com/aprilli_design_studio/

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Image source: Emily Woudenberg

Emily Woudenberg

Strike is a Toronto-based design studio founded and lead by Emily Woudenberg that offers frank design consultancy, innovative strategy and striking solutions for print and screens — with a client portfolio ranging from creative industries to corporations.

Emily is an entrepreneurial designer that is passionate about using design processes to bridge mediums and messages. With experience in art direction, product development, digital brand strategy and design thinking.

www.strikedesignstudio.com/

www.instagram.com/studioonstrike/

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Image source: Nuff

Nuff

Nuff creates quite design with simple forms. In an anti-disciplinary practice, he uses whatever he can to make a mark. His work spans from commercial to fine art and lives in both public and private spaces.

Nuff has been doing computer-creative-artsy-media things since about 2001, when a friend showed up at the studio with a CD containing basically every piece of software under the sun. Professionally, Nuff has been working since graduating in 2007.

Currently, Nuff spends most days designing brand identities, digital products and illustrations, and nights making interactive installations. Nuff is generally available to work with you within a few weeks, depending on current workload.

www..designbynuff.com/
www.instagram.com/designbynuff/

You can see work by Emily and Nuff from now until–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last nine months. 

We also hope you can join us for MOCA Goes Dark, an interactive art party on August 17 by the artists and curators of the exhibition An Index. Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists.

MOCA Artist Series: Eva Kolcze, Michaela Macleod, and Walter Segers

There are only a few months left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been profiling the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort on the Akin blog. Today we are happy to share profiles of four of the Year 1 artists, Eva Kolcze, Michaela Macleod and Walter Segers. You can click here to see previous posts in the MOCA Artist Series.

Image source: Eva Kolcze

Eva Kolcze

Eva Kolcze is a Toronto based artist who creates films and installations that investigate themes of landscape, architecture and the body. Her work has screened at venues and festivals including the National Gallery of Canada, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), Anthology Film Archives, the Gardiner Museum, Nuit Blanche, Cinémathèque québécoise, Birch Contemporary and the Images Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from OCAD University and a Master of Fine Art from York University.

www.evakolcze.com
www.instagram.com/evakolcze

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Michaela Macleod

Michaela is from Moncton, New Brunswick and earned her professional degree in architecture from the University of Waterloo. She was awarded the Ontario’s Architects Association Guild Medal Award and the Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners for her research work on contaminated landscapes located within the public realm. She is an intern architect with the Ontario Association of Architects and founder of Polymetis, an architecture and landscape studio based in Toronto. She also works as a sessional instructor at the University of Toronto.

www.polymetis.net
www.instagram.com/polymetis_projects

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Walter Segers

Walter Segers emigrated from Belgium in 1993 and currently lives and works in Toronto. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in 2008 with honors and received OCADU’s prestigious M.C. McCain Post Graduate Photography Residency in 2009. His photo-based works explore issues surrounding gender, sexuality, immigration and identity.

www.waltersegers.com
www.instagram.com/waltersegers

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You can see work by Eva, Michaela, and Walter from July 25–September 8, 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) as a part of An Index. The exhibition An Index comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals by the first cohort of Akin residency artists who entered the year-long studio programme in September 2018.

While the participating artists’ practices range widely in terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within an open-plan studio structure for the last nine months. 

Join us on Wednesday July 24 for the opening reception of An Index from 6-9pm on Floor 4 of the Museum.

We also hope you can join us for MOCA Goes Dark, an interactive art party on August 17 by the artists and curators of the exhibition An Index. Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists.