Whippersnapper Gallery: Join our board of directors! Deadline: April 10th.

Akin Lansdowne alum Whippersnapper Gallery is recruiting new Directors for its Board to help lead the gallery into the future. The Directors will support Whippersnapper continue to be a leader in the visual arts through the presentation of emerging artists, the provision of professional development and creation of public programming that starts conversations. We are recruiting individuals who support the mission and vision of the organization and can share 5-8 hours of their time monthly.
 
We are seeking members from our community that come with diverse perspectives, expertise, and experience in the arts sector. We have highlighted the following expertise as assets to the board:
•Designated CPAs*
• Legal*
• Human Resources
• Sponsorship and Fundraising
• Previous Board experience
 
*individuals with these skill sets are of particular need for the board in the coming term
 
While we appreciate the interest of all candidates, only selected individuals will be contacted for an interview. Candidates will have an opportunity to learn more about the organization and meet current Board members on April 17.
 
If interested please submit your resume and a brief letter of intent to: thenewwhippersnapper@gmail.com by April 10, 2019.

Akin Vitrine Gallery + Sara Pearson

Introducing our April 2019 artist, Sara Pearson. Sara is an Akin Dupont member and her multi medium installation, Wayfinder is on exhibition in the Akin Vitrine Galleries for the months of April and May.

Using material as a narrative tool, Wayfinder is a layered installation of collage imagery. Shimmering mineral watercolour on terraskin paper (made from stone) the overscaled landscape references a desired destination: as we travel through life and forge our path, we set goals, build foundations and envision our future. The floor of the gallery is covered with handmade unfired clay pebbles- impermanent objects that suggest that sometimes/many times the ground shifts, falls away, and we must again find our footing and start in a new direction. Standing on this landslide is a Wayfinder, a sculptural form of ceramic and aluminum mirror, a navigational tool used as a beacon or a landmark to guide us along our new path.

Sara Pearson is a Toronto based artist whose work has centered on the merging of science (geological and gemmological) and a self-reflexive fine arts practice choosing materials and references that relate as elemental to the earth. Through abstracted painting of gemstone refraction and land formation, and sculptural methods of bronze casting, ceramics and assemblage, she has explored concepts such as human value systems, the sublime quality of nature and the journey of transformation. Sara holds a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions with Patel Gallery, and has shown work in Ontario and British Columbia.

Wayfinder
Mineral watercolour on terraskin paper, ceramic, aluminum, and unfired clay.
Dimensions variable
2018

To contact the artist:
Instagram: @_sarapearson_
#Akinvitrine
www.sarapearsonart.com

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 talents 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.

‘Wayfinder’ will be on view for the month of April 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 May at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.

For more information about Sara and her work, follow our Instagram account @akinvitrine
**Sneak peek images of the work located in the event posts!

DesignTO's Designer Drinks with MUKË

Join DesignTO and MUKË Objects for the May edition of Designer Drinks, taking place on May 7, 2019 from 6 PM – 9 PM at Shamone.

Designer Drinks is an informal networking event taking place every first Tuesday of the month. Come have a drink and get to know the team behind MUKË, Michael Vickers and Michael Dellios, along with other members of Toronto’s art and design community.

ABOUT MUKË

MUKË (pronounced muck-ee) is a collaboration between Akin Co-director Michael Vickers and Akin co-founder Michael Dellios grounded in shared aesthetic sensibilities, form-forward creation and an exploration of materials and creative modes of production. Pressing the limits and potentials of marble, glass and a variety of metals, the pair create collections of contemporary design objects that are both sculptural and functional, but prioritize form and shape over use.

Dellios and Vickers share a combined vision of nearly two decades of experience looking at objects, shaping them and presenting them locally and internationally.

Contracts Workshop For Creative Freelancers

Copyright and contractual terminology that appears in licensing contracts will be defined and explained in contextual examples. Two sample contracts will also be shown to demonstrate how to use the terminology to parse contracts given to visual artists by clients and agents/reps.

This information is catered to visual artists, most specifically illustrators, photographers, designers and those who are in the business of licensing their intellectual property. Even if participants need to consult with I.P. lawyers in future, participants would understand the legal advice they are receiving.

Where: Good Gorilla - Creative Coworking Space, LL01, 401 Richmond St. W., Toronto.

When: April 25th, 6:30-9:00pm

About the instructor

Kathryn Adams is an award-winning illustrator who began her freelance career in 1987. She has been teaching Business Practices for Illustrators at Sheridan College since 2001, OCADU since 2005 and U of T (medical illustration) since 2015. She also teaches Guerrilla Entrepreneurship at OCADU. In addition, Kathryn maintains her freelance illustration business working for a wide variety of international clients, as well as her private practice doing business consulting for artists.

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival 2019 Programming Announced!

Renowned American artist Carrie Mae Weems will headline the 23rd edition of the citywide event spanning the month of May. As Weems’ first solo presentation in Canada, her exhibition in five parts will include an array of pivotal, celebrated works, some in unique new iterations. Her work will be shown at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, at CONTACT Gallery, and at three outdoor sites in Toronto’s Entertainment District, including the exterior of the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Weems will also give a public lecture discussing her practice.

Festival Launch Party
Ryerson Image Centre
33 Gould St
Wednesday May 1, 7-11pm
Free and open to the public

On view:
Scotiabank Photography Award: Moyra Davey
Meryl McMaster, As Immense as the Sky
Adrian Raymer, Rejects
Maximum Exposure 24

Throughout Toronto every May, CONTACT presents lens-based works by acclaimed and emerging artists, documentary photographers, and photojournalists from Canada and around the world. The core programming of Primary Exhibitions (co-presentations with major museums, galleries, and artist-run centres), and Public Installations (site-specific public art projects), are a central focus of the Festival. These are cultivated through partnerships, commissions and new discoveries, framing the cultural, social, and political events of our times. The Featured and Open Exhibitions present a range of works by local and international artists at leading galleries and alternative spaces across the city. The Festival also includes a wide range of Events including the CONTACT Photobook Fair, a symposium, lectures, talks, panels, and workshops.

Call for Submissions: Art History - Why Does It Matter?

Art History: Why Does it Matter is a juried group exhibition that will be presented online and in the Students of Art Intaglio Journal. Select works will also have the opportunity to be displayed in Hart House on the 31st of May during Alumni Week.

This exhibition especially seeks those artworks that engage with questions of history and investigate art historical frameworks. The Intaglio journal supports the presentation of high quality visual and interdisciplinary contemporary art. For this exhibition we are accepting proposals of work from student artists, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as recently graduated and emerging artists. Submissions are not limited to a single genre. Painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video, sound, performance and new media are welcome.

Deadline for submissions: April 19th, 2019, midnight.

Selected artists will be notified in early May 2019.

Successful applications will be featured on the Intaglio website and have their work published in print. The journal will be launched in conjunction with the Department of Art’s alumni week events.

SAFER! Creating Safer Spaces In The Arts - STRESSED! Session

WHAT’S THIS GOT TO DO WITH STRESS?

While some stress is a normal part of an artist’s life, it can also be caused by unacceptable aspects of the arts sector. This workshop will explore the concept of safe spaces as a response to artists’ experiences of harassment and assault and offer practical steps organizations and individuals can take to build safer spaces for artists.

In this workshop, you can expect to:

• Learn what to do if you’ve experienced, witnessed or heard of instances of harassment or assault

• Learn what venues and organizations can do to help foster safer spaces

• Participate in an open group discussion about how to create safer spaces and the benefits of doing so (optional)

Location: Dance Studio, The Al & Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre, Toronto Western Hospital

Date: May 1st 2019.

Time: 4-6pm

WHO IS FACILITATING?

Matthew Eldridge is a Registered Social Worker. He has held social work positions across southern Ontario at hospitals, family health teams and a community health centre. Matt has a background as a competitive trampolinist/gymnast and performed as an acrobat in the Cirque du Soleil production of Dralion. As the Clinic Coordinator at The Al & Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre, Matt brings together his twin passions for the arts and for healthcare.

STRESSED! SESSIONS

This workshop is part of the series “STRESSED! How to handle an artists’ life in 9 sessions”. All sessions take place on the 1st Wednesday of the month, 4-6pm, at The Al & Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre from September 2018 – May 2019.

COUNTERPOINT: SUMMA 2019 - McMaster University BFA Student Exhibition

Since entering the McMaster Studio Art program in 2015, our class has developed and grown as individuals and as a group. There is harmony found within the juxtaposition of our individual concepts, thoughts, and ideas. By contrasting one another, we make way to highlight the individuality of each respective artist; not overpowering each other, but forming a melodic equilibrium. With the elements of our art practices merging and influencing one another, Counterpoint is a commemoration of experiences and artistic endeavours.
– The McMaster BFA Class of 2019

Follow the graduating class on Instagram @mcmastersumma2019 for a preview of their work.

THE ARTISTS
Norah Andresen, Lucia Cackovic, Jayda Conti, Sean Cooper, Neville Dennis, Deeshani Fernando, Safiyyah Figaro, Deanna Gallo, Meghan Giudice, Andjelija Jancic, Emily Kester, Katherine A. Laird, Caroline Eun-ae Lee, Anthony Lok, Robyn McCallum, Delaney McVeigh, Audrey Pearson, Josh Ravenhill, Jason Lee Rhyno

COUNTERPOINT: SUMMA 2019
Graduating McMaster University BFA Student Exhibition
Guest Curator: Hitoko Okada

LOCATION: THE COTTON FACTORY
270 Sherman Ave N, Hamilton, ON L8L 6N4
April 6 – 17, 2019

OPENING RECEPTION and AWARDS:
Saturday, April 6, 11:30 am – 3 pm at The Cotton Factory
Following the reception, open hours are April 8 – 12, and April 16 – 17 from 11 am – 3 pm

MCMASTER UNIVERSITY BFA PROGRAM
Studio Art at McMaster University is a small, highly-selective program, giving students exceptional opportunities to gain in-depth knowledge of numerous areas of study, including printmaking, drawing, sculpture, painting, mixed-media, installation, and ceramics/foundry. Along with major studio courses, this allows students to build a significant body of work and to explore and develop their artistic talents. Find out more.

*McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) has hosted the Studio Art Graduation exhibition for more than 30 years but necessary building updates forced it to temporarily close March 19 – August 23, 2019. The MMA continues to support the BFA student activities including the SUMMA exhibition, sponsors art student awards, and looks forward to future SUMMA presentations.

Art Hunt - 401 Richmond Scavenger Hunt - Next Thursday!

On Thursday, April 11th, 2019 from 5-6PM, Art Hunt, the building-wide scavenger hunt is back at 401 Richmond!

Folks will be given a series of clues, taking them around the basement and first floor of the building to discover the secret locations of hidden one-of-a-kind art treasures made out of wooden eggs!

It's finders’ keepers so arrive on time and get hunting because prizes go quickly!

Clues will be shared through social media, so follow @401Richmond on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #401ArtHunt to keep up-to-date with clues throughout the night!

Once you have collected your one-of-a-kind wooden egg, watch a live dance performance by Canada’s Ballet Jörgen beginning at 5:45pm in the Urbanspace Gallery. Performances will take place at 5:45pm, 6:15pm, 6:30pm and, 6:45pm.

Stop by The Roastery located on the first floor of 401 Richmond Street West from 5pm to 7pm to enjoy a live musical performance by two-time Juno award winning world fusion and African Jazz musician Donné Roberts whose “music makes winter feel like summer.”

After the scavenger hunt wraps up, a Brickolage Tour hosted by arts administrator, writer and curator, William Huffman will take place from 6-7pm. The meeting place for the tour is the front lobby of 401 Richmond Street West.

This is a family-friendly event. Free Admission.

Happy Hunting!

Applications Open for Mildred's Lane Summer Sessions

“The entire site has become a living museum, or rather – a new contemporary art complex(ity).”

— Mildred's Lane

Mildred’s Lane is a rustic, 96-acre site deep in the woods of rural northeastern Pennsylvania, in the upper Delaware River Valley, which borders New York state. It is an ongoing collaboration between J. Morgan Puett, Mark Dion (artist behind The Life of a Dead Tree, on view at MOCA beginning May 24th 2019), their son Grey Rabbit Puett, and their friends and colleagues. It is a home and an experiment in living. Mildred’s Lane attempts to coevolve a rigorous pedagogical strategy, where a working-living-researching environment has been developed to foster engagement with every aspect of life.

The entire site has become a living museum, or rather – a new contemporary art complex(ity). It is now important to sidestep the debates around what is art ( or design, architecture and fashion) in order to activate these turbulent multiplicities. It is more a question of praxis and action, is it in an institution? Storefront? A gallery? Deep in the woods? At Home?

The Mildred’s Lane site is a home where the Artist/Practitioner, the Student and the Institution have collapsed roles as they attempt to coevolve with an emergent strategy.

Apply For Summer Sessions

Whether or not you are affiliated with a sending institution, applying is an easy and straightforward process for independents of all ages.

Deadline: May 1st 2019.

There are daily activities including intensive workshops, lectures, and seminars by dynamic contributing guests, thinkers and creative producers that outnumber fellows by three to one. Everyone works together – in collaboration – on large-scale artist site works. Together guests conceptualize and produce socials that engage town interactions and local government.  Visitors are inter-connected, international characters from all disciplines that help guide you into creating new sustainable habits for the future through the philosophical, experience-based teachings of workstyles. Importantly, you will make lifelong friends and attachments, especially to Mildred’s Lane.

The Life of a Dead Tree by Mark Dion - Coming Soon!

Opening May 24th on MOCA’s 3rd floor, The Life of a Dead Tree by Mark Dion brings a massive, fully grown, deceased tree, along with its inhabitants, to MOCA for the museum’s first summer exhibition in the Tower Automotive Building. This specially conceived project marks the 100th anniversary of the Tower Automotive building and brings attention to our role in observing and caring for Toronto’s natural ecosystems.

Appropriately sourced from a cemetery, a site that continues to play a role in sustaining Toronto’s urban forest, the dead tree will be the central host for a “live” and sensory experience. With the support of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto and other partners, visitors can observe and participate in a kind-of autopsy of the tree that will unfold over the course of a two-month exhibition period. This shared investigation will remove, preserve and document all the various life forms the tree continues to support. Most importantly, the project will act as a site for conversations around specific pernicious, invasive insects threatening North American forests, such as the Emerald Ash Borer and Elm Bark Beetle.

The Lift of a Dead Tree by Mark Dion

Location: MOCA, 3rd Floor, 158 Sterling Rd, Toronto, ON

Date: May 24–July 29, 2019

Trees and forests have long populated Dion’s imagination and a particular body of production. He is well-known for artworks that question how we experience, study, display and think about the natural world. Through this particular project, a range of partners will be called upon to help expand the conversation and research being undertaken at MOCA. Dion states: “to build a culture of nature that features regeneration over destruction, sustainability over depletion and nurturing over domination, it requires input from a diverse collation of thinkers, makers, and doers. Art is one of many areas which can be important to this constellation.”

MOCA will offer a variety of public programs that will run in parallel with the exhibition. A series of talks and walks will discuss the myriad of lifeforms supported by dead trees, including Dead Trees for: Birds; Insects; Fungi etc.. There will also be opportunities for visitors to participate in the autopsy of the tree, as well as undertake drawing classes that examine the organisms sourced from the tree, along with focusing on the intricate textures of the tree itself.

Art for Lunch with Michael Vickers - Tomorrow!

Looking for something to do on your lunch break this Friday? Come out to the MacLaren Art Centre for a discussion with artist Michael Vickers, Co-Director of Akin, which provides affordable studio space to practising artists and a range of public programs in Toronto through its sister non-profit organization, Akin Projects.

Art for Lunch with Michael Vickers from Akin
When: Friday, April 5, 12:15 to 1 pm
Where: Rotary Education Centre, 37 Mulcaster Street, Barrie, ON
Admission: free

About the Artist

Michael Vickers works in sculpture, installation and painting. His practice addresses the seductive and poetic qualities of form and text, while investigating the limits of different materials and presentation methods. Vickers holds an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the University of Toronto and a BA from the University of Ottawa. He has exhibited his work at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Mercer Union, Toronto; the Siena Art Institute, Italy; and Clark House Initiative, Mumbai. His multidisciplinary practice has been featured in publications such as Art F City, Esse Arts + Opinions, Canadian Art, The Toronto Star, and GQ Magazine. Michael Vickers is a former resident of Barrie and is currently based in Toronto.

About the Gallery

The MacLaren Art Centre is the regional public art gallery serving the residents of Barrie, the County of Simcoe and the surrounding area. The Gallery has a permanent collection of contemporary Canadian art held in trust for the public and presents a year-round programme of world-class exhibitions, education activities and special events.

Call for Applications: Hilary Slater Studio, Georgian Bay

Call all artists and nature enthusiasts! Escape the city this Summer and visit this lovely 2-acre property on the cliff top, overlooking Georgian Bay and Blue Mountain.

Come relax, unwind and create in the heart of Georgian Bay. Yoga on the beach, swim in the lake, canoeing, sunrises, sunsets, silence, forest walks, meditation or learn something new!

Art options include: Drawing, Watercolours, Enamel jewellery, Homemade Bread-making.

Delicious organic vegetarian meals included, and the option of a cosy bed under the eaves in our historical art-filled log cabin, to boot!

2019 Images Festival is Almost Here!

The Images Festival is one of the most enduring and respected platforms in the world for the exhibition and dissemination of independent film and media art. The festival takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, and has been attended by more than 25,000 people each year. The 2019 edition will take place from April 11 – 18th and will include approximately 16 in-cinema programs, 14 gallery exhibitions, 10 public program events, and five live performances. Images has spent the last 31 years presenting media works that range from the formally and aesthetically challenging, to the personal and lyrical and is committed to cultivating a passionate arts community who see moving image culture as a means or understanding our contemporary context.

Opening Night: Software Garden by Rory Pilgrim
Thursday April 11, 7:00PM
The Royal Cinema, 608 College St.

Nurtured over two years of collaboration, workshops, and live concerts, artist and musician Rory Pilgrim premieres his debut music video album Software Garden in Canada. In contrast to a recent fascination with technology’s dystopian impact on public and private life, Software Garden asks how we meet from both behind and beyond our screens. Over the course of 11 tracks and performances, we encounter proposals for tenderness with digital and robotic entities in tow. Without cynicism, irony, or repudiation, the enmeshing of lyrical, cinematic, and choreographed sequences pour between stage, studio, and screen.

Opening night will be followed by Opening Night Party featuring Korea Town Acid at The Baby G.

HEAT (a work-in-progress) by Aisha Sasha John
Saturday April 13, 10:00PM
The Costume House, 165 Geary Ave.

Aisha Sasha John’s medium is energy. Her solo dance show the aisha of is premiered at the Whitney museum in 2017; in 2018 it was presented by the mai and Toronto’s 2018 summerworks festival. I have to live. (McClelland & Stewart) was a finalist for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Keynote Lecture: Visions of Black Secret Technology by Charles Mudede
Saturday April 13, 3:00PM
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave.

This talk will begin by closely examining the movie Black Panther to determine not only how black technology is visualized, but, more importantly, what this visualization tells us about our understanding, manner of coding, and modes of experiencing technology as a whole.

401 Richmond Gallery Tour with Geneviève Wallen
Saturday April 13, 12:00PM
The Commons, 401 Richmond St. W.

Join curator and writer Geneviève Wallen on tour of the exhibitions at 401 Richmond.

Meet at the lobby of 401 Richmond for a walking tour of Outliers on Tour at Tangled Art + Disability, Sharona Franklin’s installation in the Gallery 44 Vitrines, New Psychedelia of Industrial Healing, Sarah Pupo’s solo exhibition burning through the body, Emilija Škarnulytė’s video work Sirenomelia at VTape.

The tour will conclude at Pamila Matharu’s solo exhibition One of These Things is Not Like The Other, at A Space. Followed by an artist talk by Matharu at 1:00pm.

Artist Talk: KC Wei
Sunday April 14, 3:00PM
Small World Museum, 101-180 Shaw St.

Canadian Spotlight artist KC Wei will deliver a talk about her music, publishing and community driven projects, as well as her latest film, art rock? The Popular Esoteric (2018) — a recent document of overlaps in Vancouver's underground music and art scenes. Her talk with be followed by a conversation with journalist and critic Merray Gerges.

Wei's first feature film, Murky Colours (2016) will screen on April 13.

Call for Proposals: Outside the Box

The City of Toronto invites local area artists to submit proposals to create works of art on City traffic signal boxes throughout Toronto. There are over 2,200 traffic signal boxes located across Toronto at signalized intersections. These boxes are often covered with posters and are a prime target for graffiti vandalism.

The Outside the Box public art initiative helps to bring diverse and interesting public art to neighbourhoods, reduces the impact of graffiti vandalism and postering, contributes to the vitality and attractiveness of the streetscape, helps to beautify City infrastructure and streets, and supports local and emerging artists.

Artwork on traffic signal boxes functions as a form of communication to a passer-by with the goal to create a vibrant, inclusive and interesting urban environment. Successful proposals will be innovative in design, foster community pride, counteract graffiti vandalism and contribute to a sense of identity for residents and businesses.

The Outside the Box program is an initiative of the City of Toronto's Transportation Services Division. Since it was launched in 2013, over 295 boxes have been hand-painted by local artists.

ARTIST FEE

Selected artists will receive a fee of a $750 (honorarium and materials including HST) for each completed traffic signal box and licencing rights that will enable the City to reproduce the final design for promotional purposes.

Deadline: Monday, April 8th, 5pm EST

Akin Creative Presents: Monotype Printmaking with Gabriel Deerman

Monotype printing is a painterly and direct process of applying ink or paint to a plate (in this case plexiglass) and transferring that image to paper using an etching press or pin press - creating one of a kind prints.
In this workshop artist Gabriel Deerman will introduce you to monotype printing with watercolour and acrylic paints. Each participant will have time to produce and print two plates, resulting in finished original works on paper.

The simplicity of the process, forgiving nature of the materials and immediate results make this technique very popular among painters and those who find printmaking to be too process intensive and finicky. While monotype is simple and direct the visual look of the prints and broad possibilities for experimental applications are limitless.

Date: April 26, 2019

Time: 6:00-9:00pm

Location: REMOTE GALLERY, 568 Richmond Street West, Toronto

$25/person - materials included - Suitable for all experience levels.
Register to attend at https://www.universe.com/monotype-remote

Provided materials:
Paper, acrylic printing ink, watercolour paint, gum arabic, use of 8"x10" plexiglass plates and etching press.

High quality Arches printmaking paper will be available for a small fee of $2 per 9"x11" sheet (store cost). Each participant will have time to print at least 2 plates. Participants are encouraged to bring watercolour paints and brushes, as well as printed/drawn images (8"x10") to use as source material (for tracing) if they wish.

About the Instructor:
Gabriel Deerman (1979, Bolinas, California, USA) has a practice that is largely grounded in painting, drawing and printmaking but recent forays into sculpture, kinetic devices and installation are leading steadily away from disciplinary categorization. Deerman completed an MFA at Transart Institute (New York / Berlin), a BFA from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a practicing and certified art instructor and has exhibited internationally. Gabriel was the owner/director of independent arts venues in Vancouver and Montreal and is co-founder of Salmon River Studios— an educational art studio, artist residency and cultural events space located on his farm in Tamworth, Ontario. www.gabrieldeerman.com

About the venue:
This event is being hosted in Akin’s new exhibition and programming space, REMOTE GALLERY. The gallery is an accessible space. It has an accessible, gender neutral bathroom with handrails. The entrance to the space is equipped with automatic doors.

Akin Creative Presents: Pysanky Egg Decorating with Natalie Waddell

Learn traditional techniques to decorate your own festive egg! Eggs are decorated with designs in the technique known as "wax resist". Traditional symbols, designs and patterns are applied with melted beeswax using a tool called a kistka. Eggs are then dipped into successively darker dye baths. At the end of the process the beeswax is melted off to reveal a dazzling display of colour.

Most popularly known as a Ukrainian tradition this is actually common across many Eastern European countries and the practice has been around for thousands of years in celebration of Spring and fertility.

Date: Saturday, April 13th, 2019

Time: 1pm-4pm

Location: Remote Gallery - 568 Richmond St. West, Toronto

$25/person - all materials included / limited seating: get your ticket at https://www.universe.com/intro-pysanky-egg-decorating

All materials are included. Please note that we will be working with: indelible dyes, raw eggs, and a candle flame.

About the instructor:
Natalie Waddell is a Toronto ceramic artist and a passionate 'Maker of Things' currently practicing out of Akin’s King location. Always exploring different materials and techniques she saw a photo of Pysanky eggs 7 years ago and has been making them ever since.

Accessibility information can be found at http://www.akincollective.com/richmond

Please let us know of any other accessibility needs so that we can assist. Email janet@akincollective.com with advance notice and we will do our best to accommodate you! Thank you.

'Don't We Know' by Laura Kay Keeling

Laura Kay Keeling’s newest collage series Don’t We Know, features interesting and beautiful images found in field guides, 35mm film photographs, National Geographic Magazines and other vintage books which have been cut apart and put back together in a new way. Not only does Keeling love photographing nature, she also enjoys allowing it to inspire her and guide her collages to become a new representation of things organically found in nature. Themes she is exploring with these new works include but are not limited to: ideas and concepts of “home”, the internet, television and effect of social media.

Don’t We Know

Location: QEPCCC, Corridor Exhibition (main corridor, entrance into the gallery at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre in Oakville)

Dates: January 20th- May 31st, 2019

Rough Gem by Laura Kay Keeling. On view now at QEPCCC.

About Laura Kay Keeling

Travels, daydreams, field guides, coffee and film. Laura Kay Keeling, a member of Akin’s Dupont location, resides in Toronto, ON and pulls inspiration from beautiful everyday moments shared through her 35mm photography, collage work and installation projects. She has always been drawn to extreme environments and things that come from nature. Her focus is on creating work that instills an overall feeling of calm, curiosity and peacefulness within others as well as introducing opportunities for celebration and self reflection often with her own humorous twist. She aims to explore the idea of “home”, how we utilize and design living spaces and form connections with our communities. She is driven to explore the connection between art and nature and environmental elements are often the main focus of her work.   

Akin Artists Included in blog TO's list of Up and Coming Artists

This past weekend blogTO released their list of 10 up and coming Toronto artists and many are current Akin members. The list includes Kendra Yee of Akin Ossington, Joshua Advincula, Chason Yeboah, Liang Wang of Akin MOCA, Jill Smith of Akin Dupont, Amika Cooper, Charlotte Penabel, Raquel Da Silva of Akin MOCA, Alexander Robinson, and Allana Cooper. BlogTO compiled the list of up and coming artists based on suggestions from local arts institutions and organizations. The individuals who made it onto the list are all visual creatives who have emerged on the scene in the last couple of years with some exciting work. Some of them already have a few solo exhibits under their belt, while others' CVs consist solely of group exhibits. Regardless of how many past shows these artists have done, the future looks promising (blogTO, 2019).

Continue reading to learn more about the Akin artists who made it onto the list.

Diverting Cracks Found in the Cement, 2017 by Kendra Yee

Kendra Yee

Kendra Yee is a Toronto-based artist, designer, and curator. Her work consists of mixed-media paintings, ceramic sculptures, and panel-based illustrations. Yee pulls tales from her personal history, lived experiences and collective memory to form speculative worlds where fluid characters come to life through the conversations of interactive bodies.  

Yee is currently developing a program with Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Center that centers around alternative education. In fall 2018, selected women participants aged 13-19 in the west end area of Toronto will join together to create an independent comics anthology surrounding topics on personal identity.

Liang Wang beside his painting The Colour of the Wheat, 2017, Oil on panel, 18” x 24”

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.

Us by Jill Smith, performed at Forest City Gallery, 2018, part of in attendance

Jill Smith

Jill Smith is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Ontario (1995). Her most recent work explores everyday absurdity, as well as the connective possibilities of materiality. By re-contextualizing familiar motifs with organic, bodily forms, her work calls into question how one both exists and performs as a social body. While Smith’s work stimulates the imagination through whimsical and nonsensical colour and form, it is the relatable, yet ambiguous materiality that offers a platform to question the familiar, and escape to the alien and the uncanny.

Detail view of work by Raquel Da Silva

Raquel Da Silva

Finishing up her degree in Painting and Furniture Design at OCAD, Da Silva's super clean and colourful acrylic paintings have caught the attention from the likes of Nike (she designed a shoe for them in August). Plus her furniture is rad too (blogTO, 2019).

CAMH One Brave Night 2019

From now until May 10th, Akin Dupont member Jill Smith is participating in CAMH's One Brave Night and raising funds to support mental health. Jill Smith recently started a new position at the CAMH Foundation. And this campaign is near and dear to her heart! 

Did you know that one in five Canadians experience mental illness in any given year? And yet many don't consider it a real health issue. By supporting this fundraising campaign with a donation, YOU can shine a spotlight on mental health. Together, we will help shape a world where mental illness is seen in the same light as every other illness, and all people receive the care they need and deserve. 

Jill Smith is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Ontario (1995). Her most recent work explores everyday absurdity, as well as the connective possibilities of materiality. By re-contextualizing familiar motifs with organic, bodily forms, her work calls into question how one both exists and performs as a social body. While Smith’s work stimulates the imagination through whimsical and nonsensical colour and form, it is the relatable, yet ambiguous materiality that offers a platform to question the familiar, and escape to the alien and the uncanny.

As a thank you, for each donation Jill Smith will be making a mini ceramic sculpture. She will be delivering/shipping them to each donor after May 10th. Please donate today and help Jill Smith reach her fundraising goal $1,000.00. Every little bit helps!