InterAccess Summer Workshop Series Announced

The InterAccess Studio is happy to announce a series of new media art workshops running from May to July in a wide variety of disciplines. Led by established and emerging new media artists, these workshops will introduce artists to a wide variety of practices. Click here for a full listing or to register.

Here is a selection of our favorites:

Solution Culture (Co-presented with Subtle Technologies)
Learn the basics of hydroponics and creating customized soil-less gardening systems for artistic and expressive applications.
Saturday, May 13, 1-4pm / Instructor: Paul Chartrand / More info

Sonic Geography
Explore sound and place by learning techniques for field recording. Then, bring field recordings back to the studio and learn how to manipulate them using interactive interfaces.
Saturday June 10, 12-4pm / Instructor: Dan Tapper / More info

Intro to 3D Printing
Learn how to use 3D printers safely and creatively in this introductory workshop.
Tuesday June 20, 7-10pm / Instructor: Amir Far / More info

Atari Punk Console
Make your own legendary DIY sound synthesizer! Learn about the 555 chip, practice your soldering and circuit building skills, and make some old school sounds with the Atari Punk Console!
Tuesday July 25, 7-8:30pm / Instructor: Gerald Grison / More info

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Main Squared Festival - Call for Submissions

Produced by East End Arts and curated by Labspace Studio, Main Squared is a multidisciplinary 10-day public art festival that will activate and explore the under-used public square at the corner of Main Street and Danforth Avenue in Toronto (August 26 – September 3, 2017).

Drawing inspiration and insight from historical “public squares” while tapping into community aspirations, the festival will invite residents, community members, and the general public to reimagine the square as a space for social engagement, discourse, and civic activism.

Blending contemporary art and community art projects, the festival will feature art installations, interactive activities, workshops, performances, and more.

Toronto and GTA artists and collectives are invited to submit proposals for the creation of new public art projects in addition to existing projects that are thematically aligned.

Deadline May 18, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

High-Rise, 2017
Folded Archival Pigment Prints
dimensions variable

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

www.jessicathalmann.com
Instagram: @jessthalmann1
#AkinVitrine

Akin Creative: Card Party! / Tomorrow evening at Akin Lansdowne

Join us tomorrow at Akin Lansdowne in studio 203 from 6:30-8:30pm for our second Card Party of 2017! It will be a fun, crafty time for you to let loose and make a card or two for someone you love! (Make a card for your partner, best friend, enemy or a stranger! Maybe you want to make a card for yourself :) Or of course Mother's day is coming up!)

Bring a friend, a snack, and your creativity! $10 per person - all materials included!  There is limited seating for this event. You must RSVP or register to attend. Email jen@akincollective.com to RSVP or get your ticket at www.universe.com/cardparty2017

Participants will be provided with one piece of heavy-duty hemp card stock, cut and scored to make a 4”x6” card as well as a brightly-colored 4”x6” envelope. You can purchase more card stock andj envelopes at the event for $0.50 each ($1 per set). We will also have beer for sale!

Supplies will be provided including:
- cardstock and envelopes
- a variety of coloured paper
- pencil crayons and pens
- watercolour paints and brushes
- spirograph and stamps
- stickers and stencils
- scissors and glue
- magazines to cut and paste
- glitter, beads, ribbon and more!

Feel free to bring additional supplies! See you tomorrow!

Surrealist Collage Workshop - Tickets still available!

Tickets are still available for our Surrealist Collage Workshop with renowned collage artist Danielle Cole.

What will we cover?

• We will begin with collage based on the Surrealist activity Corpse Bizarre
• Techniques for seamlessly cutting material to be used in collage
• Going beyond the glue stick – techniques for gluing fine and large pieces of collage without causing the material to bubble or tear
• How to source and combine collage materials in order to create a unique piece of art

What’s it all about?

Michelangelo said of his art ‘every block of stone has a statue inside and it is the task of the sculpture to discover it.’ This quote holds true for the construction of the collages. Sorting through hundreds of images, from magazines and books both new and old, until the magical moment when all the pieces come together to create a perfect piece of art. Collage is the perfect medium for creative thinkers, artists and crafty people. This is a hands-on workshop where you will be shown strategies for creating collages that are seamlessly built and helped towards creating a unique piece of art to take home at the end of the evening. All materials will be provided.

Free Contemporary Art Bus Tour on April 30

Free Contemporary Art Bus Tour! The tour begins at 12 noon at the Koffler Gallery (Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street) and continues to the Doris McCarthy Gallery and the Art Gallery of York University, returning to the Koffler Gallery by 4:15 pm. Guided tours will be offered at each venue.

The bus tour is FREE, seats are limited. To reserve, contact the Koffler Gallery at 647.925.0643 x 221 or ssaad@kofflerarts.org

Please note that light snacks and refreshments will be provided throughout the tour; guests are welcome to pack their own lunches.

For more information about the specific exhibitions you will see during the tour click here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PiGEON: a Psycho-Geographic-ExcursiON

The Gardiner Museum and Friends of Ogden Park invite your to join them on an urban birding walk entitled PiGEON Psycho-Geographic-ExcursiON this Saturday Apr 29 from 9AM-12PM.

Created in collaboration with data from FLAP Canada, the walk will examine how bird collision detection offers a 'canary in the coal mine' to signal troubling changes in our own everyday patterns of movement through the city. Harnessing the practice of psycho-geography, the walk will explore the Bloor St Cultural Corridor in order to examine what it means to move through the neighborhood from the perspective of the bird.  The excursion will be a fantastic flight into the way human stories intersect with the stories of other species, forming a multi-species worldview.

The walk costs $25 and includes a limited edition map/poster, free brown-bagged lunch and free entry into the current exhibition at The Gardiner Museum: Janet Macpherson: A Canadian Bestiary.
(Arts workers are welcome to use special promo code "ogdenpark" for a 20% discount on tickets)

About Friends of Ogden Park:
Friends of Ogden Park is a Toronto-based artist collective spearheaded by artists Ella Dawn McGeough and Dustin Wilson in 2014, whose purpose is to organize games and activities that function as forms of research. Transdisciplinary in scope, Ogden Park exists without the context of a fixed place. It is a disembodied mind that temporarily occupies various hosts. Whether park, gallery, or online platform, Ogden Park’s host-body functions as an experimental computational device, transforming these sites into a virtual field for game-based research.

About FLAP Canada:
FLAP Canada’s mission is to safeguard migratory birds in the urban environment through education, policy development, research, rescue and rehabilitation. Since 1993, volunteers with FLAP have combed the Financial District of Toronto searching for birds stunned, injured or killed by collisions with lit towers during their nocturnal migration. A few years later, the non-profit organization discovered that daytime collisions with glass is of even greater concern, responsible for the deaths of billions of migrants worldwide. As a result, its rescue zones have increased covering Scarborough, North York, Markham and Mississauga. FLAP now works with many other cities across North America in efforts to create safe passage for migratory birds.

Urban Workers Skill Share

The Akin community has been working with the Urban Workers Project and Centennial College to put on a Skill Share this Saturday April 29th at Story Arts Centre 951 Carlaw Ave, Toronto Ontario. Join us and other independent and self-employed workers to share best practices and to learn from one another. You will connect with experts to get your most burning questions answered, share your hard earned lessons and build community. Together we’ll skill up while we envision how to make work and life more secure in this new economy. We’ve teamed up other incredible partner organizations in the freelance, labour, and arts & culture communities. We'll have lawyers, accountants and other experts on hand to lead sessions and consult one-on-one on topics like taxes, setting rates, writing contracts, branding, invoicing, getting paid on time, and what to do when that doesn’t happen. Oliver and Rachel will be doing a skill share on artist run not-for-profits. Wavelength Music and Xpace Cultural Centre will also be representing DIY organizing and artist run not-for-profits. We'll also talk about the big picture issues we're facing - like access to benefits,  income security and child care and what we can do to make change. Participants will leave with a resources tool kit that includes contract templates, resources useful to freelancers and swag from our partners.

We are proud to be able to offer on site child care for the duration of the daytime event. Please email info(at)urbanworker.ca if you require child care and indicate so in the registration form.  The earlier we have this information the better so we can make arrangements with our care providers.

The true cost of this event is $100 per person but accessibility is our top priority so we are offering a sliding scale: $20, $50 or Pay What You Can.  If you love what we're up to and can afford investing in the movement for secure livelihoods in the new economy, we appreciate you making a donation through the PWYC ticket.

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

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

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

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

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

Accessibility Info for Galleries in Downtown Toronto

We've been slowly collecting the accessibility information of fine art galleries around Toronto. Here's what we have collected so far. If you have any comments or additional information get in touch info@akincollective.com

Accessibility Info:

🖼️  While there are plans to make the church building housing Creative Space Residency accessible, it is not currently accessible. The studio, an apartment inside the church, is up one flight of stairs. There is free street parking along many side streets surrounding the church, and pay parking on Queen Street East. There is roughly 3 or 4 steps to enter. There are washrooms on the main floor and second floor. It is two flights up to the studio.

🖼️  Cobalt Gallery does not have designated handicap parking. There are steps to enter the gallery and no automated doors. The washroom is not on the ground level. Their is no grab bar in the bathroom and the toilet is not raised.

♿  Daniel Faria Gallery has step free access to main entrance though there is a small lip. If it is difficult to enter through the door there's a garage door. The door is not automated. Almost all public areas are level. There is a ground level washroom. It is not designed for wheelchairs and may not be wide enough for some wheelchairs to turn around. There are no grab bars in bathroom. The toilet is not raised.

♿  Division Gallery has step free access to main entrance. If it is difficult to enter through the door there's a garage door. The door is not automated. All public areas are level. There is a ground level accessible washroom. There are no grab bars in bathroom. The toilet is not raised. 

♿  The Great Escape Book Store  is a converted garage behind my bookstore on Kingston Road.  The garage is located in an alley with street access from Scarborough Rd. It has double barn doors that allow wheelchair access.  The store has access from Kingston a Road on the sidewalk with a ramp but there isn't any access to the washroom, or for a wheelchair to go through the store.

♿  Mercer Union has step free access to main entrance, though there is a small lip. The door is not automated. Almost all public areas are level. There is a ground level accessible washroom. There are no grab bars in bathroom.  The toilet is not raised.

🖼️  There street parking near the Project Gallery on Queen Street East, but there is no designated handicap parking. There are no level or accessible entrances. The front entrance has one small step and the doors are not automated. The washroom is on the ground level, but there are no grab bars in the washroom and the toilet is not raised.

♿  Robert Kananaj Gallery has private parking beside the building for 4 vehicles, and there is street parking in front. There is no special designated handicap spot. Robert Kananaj Gallery has a street level entrance, but there is a gap up three inches from the sidewalk up over the threshold. The door is not automated but can be propped open. All public areas are level.  The washroom is on the ground level. There is a grab bar in bathroom. The toilet is not raised. 

♿  Scrap Metal Gallery There is no designated disability parking. There is one spot available for whomever just outside the gallery. There is a ramp at the entrance of the Gallery or on occasion someone inside will need to lift the garage door for a wheelchair to enter. The doors are not automated. The washrooms are on the ground level. Almost all public areas are level. There are no grab bars in bathroom.  The toilet is not raised.

♿  Studio 888 has street parking only. There is one step to enter the gallery but there is also a ramp. Studio 888 does not have automated doors but if the weather permits, the door is often propped open. The gallery is on the ground floor. The public washroom is large but navigating a wheelchair may prove awkward. Studio 888 has a ramp main gallery space and it is all accessible after entering. Is no there grab bars in bathroom and the seat is not raised.

♿  XPACE Cultural Centre has step free access to main entrance. The door is not automated. Almost all public areas are level. There is a ground level accessible washroom with a grab bar. The toilet is not raised. 

🖼️  There is street parking near Yellow House Gallery. There are three steps to enter the gallery. Once inside the gallery it is all one level with no more steps.

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

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

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

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

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

Open Studio Printmaking Courses

Open Studio offers courses 3 times a year beginning in September, December and April. Courses provide a unique opportunity to work with professional printmaking artists, and are specifically designed for adults with no previous experience. Limited class sizes allow for individual needs and development. Classes vary in length of commitment, there are organized here in order of commitment. All courses and workshops take place at Open Studio, 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104, Toronto, Ontario. Please forward inquiries to office@openstudio.on.ca.

8-WEEK COURSES

Etching -Participants will work with metal plates and acid to create a range of images, textures and lines. The aquatint etching process, which produces a range of flat tones, will also be explored.

Lithography -Participants will learn to draw and paint onto the surface of a finely ground limestone, which is then chemically processed before printing.

Screenprinting -Participants will use direct stencil methods to transfer ink onto paper. This course is suitable for photo-based, hand drawn or computer manipulated imagery.

4-WEEK COURSES

Photo Etching -Participants will use photopolymer film to transform photographs, digital imagery or drawings into etchings.

CMYK Screenprinting -Participants will use four-colour process printing to convert photographic images into full-colour screenprints.

1-DAY WORKSHOPS

Linocut Relief Printing -Participants will explore different linoleum block cutting, inking and printing techniques using oil-based inks to create images of two or more colours.

Letterpress Printing  -Participants will use a Vandercook press to explore letterpress block printing using linocuts, hand set type, dingbats and pre-exposed photopolymer plates.

WEEKEND WORKSHOPS

Mokuhanga Intensive -Participants will find out how to transfer and carve an image into a woodblock, which is then inked and hand printed on Japanese paper. Japanese woodblock printing is distinguished by the use of transparent and opaque water-based pigments and requires a hand printing tool.

Abstract Monotype on a Lithography Press -Participants will be introduced to the dynamic possibilities of monotyping on a lithography press. Hands on demonstrations will cover positive and negative mark making, paper handling, ink modification, and proper printing strategies.

Mezzotint -Participants will learn how to properly prepare a copper plate, creating a textured surface that will print as a full black. Mezzotint is a non-acid, intaglio technique that produces rich blacks and soft tonal gradations.

T-Shirt Screenprinting -Participants will learn the basics of screenprinting t-shirts. No prior printing experience necessary. Participants will be able to purchase t-shirts prior to the workshop or can bring their own.

Collagraph -Participants will learn about collagraph plate making—originating from collage—by experimenting with non-traditional materials to create colourful and textured multiples.

OTHER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

The Open Session program allows participants who have printmaking experience to work independently with minimal supervision. The program is especially useful to students who want to transition from classes to renting at Open Studio. Open Studio’s Technical Director must approve registration. Please contact Open Studio for more details.

Private Instruction Customized sessions are arranged by a Technical Director to provide individuals with specialized instruction outside of standard classes. A minimum deposit of $100 is required. Please call Open Studio for more information.

Studio Tours and Demos

Open Studio offers a range of tours and demonstrations for post-secondary students, adult groups and corporate groups. Tours and demos are great opportunities for team building, social groups and extended learning. Tours are offered Tuesday to Friday, during the hours of 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a minimum of two-week advance booking. Please call 416-504-8238 for more information.

Akin's First East-End Gallery Crawl

Saturday, May 13 / 11am- 3pm / Meet at Project Gallery, 1109 Queen St E / FREE

Join Akin for our very first gallery crawl in Toronto's east end! Free and all are welcome. Stick around and join us on a patio after!

1. We will meet at Project Gallery (1109 Queen St E) at 11am

2. After our visit we will take the 501 Streetcar East to Studio 888 (2359 Queen St E) Please note that this leg of the journey involves using the TTC. This is a free event but please bring your own TTC fare/tokens. If you require another form of transpiration please get in touch and we will provide alternative transportation.

3. Walk to Creative Space Residency (70 Silver Birch Ave)

4. Walk to Cobalt Gallery (870 Kingston Rd)

5. Walk to Yellow House Gallery (921 Kingston Rd)

6. Visit Great Escape Book Store (957 Kingston Road)

Map of locations is here: https://tinyurl.com/n5xes45

Questions? email michael@akincollective.com

--

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:

There street parking near the Project Gallery on Queen Street East, but there is no designated handicap parking. There are no level or accessible entrances. The front entrance has one small step and the doors are not automated. The washroom is on the ground level, but there are no grab bars in the washroom and the toilet is not raised.

Studio 888 has street parking only. There is one step to enter the gallery but there is also a ramp. Studio 888 does not have automated doors but if the weather permits, the door is often propped open. The gallery is on the ground floor. The public washroom is large but navigating a wheelchair may prove awkward. Studio 888 has a ramp main gallery space and it is all accessible after entering. Is no there grab bars in bathroom and the seat is not raised.

While there are plans to make the church building housing Creative Space Residency accessible, it is not currently accessible. The studio, an apartment inside the church, is up one flight of stairs. There is free street parking along many side streets surrounding the church, and pay parking on Queen Street East. There is roughly 3 or 4 steps to enter. There are washrooms on the main floor and second floor. It is two flights up to the studio.

Cobalt Gallery does not have designated handicap parking. There are steps to enter the gallery and no automated doors. The washroom is not on the ground level. Their is no grab bar in the bathroom and the toilet is not raised.

There is street parking near Yellow House Gallery. There are three steps to enter the gallery. Once inside the gallery it is all one level with no more steps.

The Great Escape Book Store is a converted garage behind a bookstore on Kingston Road. The garage is located in an alley with street access from Scarborough Rd. It has double barn doors that allow wheelchair access. The store has access from Kingston a Road on the sidewalk with a ramp but there isn't any access to the washroom, or for a wheelchair to go through the store.

Akin Show & Tell #55 at Akin Dupont - Wednesday April 26

Join us next Wednesday for a relaxed and fun ‘Show and Tell for Artists’ at Akin Dupont. This is a time for Akin members and other Toronto artists to show completed works or works in progress and get friendly feedback and answers from their peers in a casual studio setting.

Feel free to bring art to share, bring a friend or two, bring snacks or drinks or just bring yourself! Come for the conversation or just to meet people and hang out.

Akin Dupont - 1485 Dupont St - Studio 204 (entrance on Campbell Ave)
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch! Email michael@akincollective.com See you there!

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

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

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

AKIN ARTIST SCHEDULE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West Toronto Railpath Art walk - Saturday April 22 - FREE!

Join Friends of West Toronto Railpath, The STEPS Initiative, Crazy Dames, Akin Projects and ====\\DERAIL Platform for Art + Architecture for an exploration of the past, present and future of art initiatives along the Railpath. We’ll check out some street art projects, graffiti, installations, artist run galleries and studios, and we’ll talk about what kind of new imagery you’d like to see along the Railpath in 2017.

Meet at Henderson Brewing Co. (128A Sterling Road) at the west side of the Brewery, between the Brewery and the West Toronto Railpath at 2pm. This is a free event.

Check out these Exhibitions!

Seneca Illustration Graduation Show

April 18-21, 2017

Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw St, Toronto ON M6J 2W5

Closing Reception: April 20, 2017, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Gallery Hours: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. daily

Seneca's Independent Illustration Diploma is excited to present its 12th Graduate Exhibition. Seneca College's Illustration program produces a diverse array of talented artists in both digital and traditional mediums. These skills produce individuals ready to work in many different specialties in illustration, including comics, indie arts, children’s books, concept art, spot and packaging illustration. The Illustration Diploma offered within the School of Creative Arts and Animation at Seneca College is unique in the province.

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Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Launch Party

Friday April 28, 7-11pm

Ryerson Image Centre, 33 Gould St,

In recognition of the 150th anniversary of confederation, this year CONTACT will include images ranging from documentary explorations of the nation’s shifting landscape and inhabitants, to projects that challenge perceptions of history and definitions of photography.

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Seneca Coalesce 2017: Opus

Monday, May 8th, 6:30PM - 12:00AM

Steam Whistle Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto

Opus is Seneca's multi-disciplinary celebration of works from across the School of Creative Arts and Animation. Seneca Coalesce is the annual gallery showcase of new works produced by Seneca’s graduates in interactive media, illustration, photography, graphic design, art fundamentals, acting, documentary filmmaking, four animation programs, and highlighting past films from SCAA’s summer institutes in animation and documentary filmmaking.