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.

Learn How to Make a Living in the Arts at Ryerson University

Gain essential business skills needed throughout the creative chain.

Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education offers arts and entertainment administration courses to help you enhance your marketing, management, audience engagement, sponsorship, and social media promotion to support your creative work.

MAKING A LIVING IN THE ARTS COURSE: STARTS SEPTEMBER 9

This September, we are offering Making a Living in the Arts(course enrolment page: CDAM 100), a foundational course designed for arts managers, potential managers, and individual artists who want to learn the business skills required throughout the creative chain – creation, production, marketing and promotion, pricing and selling, distribution, and managing finance. Students will build a case study based or a real or imagined project of their own.

Your Instructor: Sandy Crawley

Learn directly from Sandy Crawley, who has worked in the arts for over 40 years (as performer, musician, musical director, instructor, and volunteer board member) and has provided management services to a number of nonprofit arts organizations for the last 15 years. He has played a leadership role in several organizations across the cultural sector, sharing knowledge and experience that informs his teaching.

Gallery 44 Launches Chapter 2 of “A maze of collapsing lines”

Gallery 44 is excited to launch Chapter 2 of A maze of collapsing lines; titled A Dark Room, Chapter 2 features the self-curated work of Black Artists Union members Jem Baptiste, Oreka James, Sylvia Limbana, Filmon Yohannes and Zoma.

A Dark Room takes the form of two mini-series that explore Black representation in film through self-expression and storytelling. The first mini-series, The Body Talks and I’m Listenin’, consists of two videos that highlight Black nightlife as the originator of many popular styles of dance that have been appropriated by mainstream culture. These videos function to give credit back to the originators of these dance styles, that include queer nightlife, and “voguing”, among others. The second series, I Declare this Meeting of the Midnight Society Closed, foregrounds storytelling as a way to learn Black histories and ancestral lineage, and honours the domestic labour performed by Black wimmin. These videos will be released sequentially, on a weekly basis.

Alongside the film series, A Dark Room serves as a place for interaction and discourse about Black film and Black media for the Black community; A Dark Room features an online archive, created by and for the community. Only members of the Black community will be given access to this section of the website, and will have the opportunity to embed and link to their own content, creating a crowd-sourced archive.

Paperhouse Studio - Fall 2019 Classes Open for Registration

This season's education programme has some of Paperhouse Studio’s classic and popular classes plus plenty of opportunities to pick up more skills in their brand new classes!

Classic classes include: Beginner Introduction to Papermaking, Pulp Painting Eco Printing, Papercutting Explorations and more!

Paperhouse Studio’s new classes include Papercutting Explorations, Unusually Shaped Boxes, Gold Tooling on Paper and more!

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.

Best Of Our Neighbourhood: BOON by Tune Your Ride Collective

August 13 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm & August 24 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Tune Your Ride Collective will host BOON: community open stages featuring local artists on a stage completely powered by stationary bicycles. Top performers will open the 10th Annual Toronto Bicycle Music Festival on August 24th.

Musicians, actors, authors, comedians, magicians, and dancers of all types, cultures, and ages are invited to share your talent at BOON: a family-friendly community open-stage powered completely by stationary bicycles.

Are you a performer who would like to sign up? See here: torontobicyclemusicfestival.com

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. 

Free Summer Programming at the Gardiner Museum

Community Arts Space: What we long for

July 9 to September 4

The Gardiner Museum presents a full summer of free programming, including community exhibitions, hands-on workshops, talks, and a podcast series co-presented with Hyperallergic. Inspired by the transformative possibilities of clay, the Community Arts Space is a platform for local artists, youth, curators, and community organizers.

How can we take care of ourselves, as well as each other?

This year’s Community Arts Space is inspired by the theme “What we long for”, and features four public projects that engage with community healing, survival tools, transformative justice, the gaps between community and institutional memory, and how craft creates opportunities for acknowledgment and action.

Visit gardinermuseum.com/whatwelongfor for the full schedule and to register for free events.

Shary Boyle, Triumph of the Will, 2010, Gardiner Museum, Gift of Sarah and Tom Milroy. Photo: Brian Boyle.

The Projects: Art Movements

July 9 – August 20
Co-presented with Hyperallergic

Hosted by Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic, this limited-run podcast inspired by the Gardiner’s collection invites prominent artists like Kent Monkman and Shary Boyle to explore the social history of ceramics and its multifaceted role in our culture. Through personal anecdotes, art historical reflection, and archival recordings, this four-part series explores issues at the intersection of contemporary ceramics and museums.

Learn more here: https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/event/art-movements/

Intimate Encounters - Animate Histories

August 1 – 15
Co-presented with The 519, Salon Noir, and YYZ Artists Outlet

Inspired by the ‘cruising’ histories of nearby Queen’s Park, artist Abdi Osman and curator Ellyn Walker consider the diverse ways in which culturally-specific experiences of desire, physical expression, and social connection take up space across Toronto. Intimate Encounters ~ Animate Histories makes visible the dignity, love, and generative practices embedded in local Black, Trans, and Queer histories through community art-making workshops, talks, and an exhibition.

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/2ZPESQM

Reading Room: Queen’s Park Oral History Transcriptions
August 14 & September 12, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Join us for a collective reading and discussion of anonymous transcripts from artist Abdi Osman’s oral history research around cruising encounters in Queen’s Park.

The Sin Fronteras Monarch Butterfly Project – A Flight Path Without Borders

August 22 – September 4
Co-presented with Akin and Canada Nos Une Multicultural Organization

Coinciding with the arrival of the monarch butterflies in Canada and their departure to Mexico, the Davenport Perth Community Ministry, alongside Canada Nos Une Multicultural Organization, held a series of clay butterfly-making workshops facilitates by artists Lourdes (Lumy) Fuentes and Tina Conlon. These ceramic butterflies, installed in the Gardiner’s Exhibition Hall and Ancient Americas Gallery, are intended to mobilize conversation and action surrounding both the decline of the monarch and the migrant crisis.

Learn more here: https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/event/sin-fronteras-monarch-butterfly-project/

The Sin Fronteras Monarch Butterfly Project – A Flight Path Without Borders Project Launch
August 22, 6 – 8 pm
All are welcome to attend the public opening of The Sin Fronteras Monarch Butterfly Project, featuring a butterfly dance performed by seniors of the Davenport-Perth Community, music, refreshments, and more.

Family Sunday: Spread Your Wings
August 25, 11 am – 3 pm
Just before the monarch butterflies begin their annual migration to Mexico, join us for a special ceramic butterfly-making workshop in English and Spanish.

The Storefront Gallery at Arts Etobicoke Presents Etobicoke School of the Arts Dual Show

Dates: July 22 - August 23, 2019
Location: The Storefront Gallery
Opening Reception: July 31 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Join us on Wednesday, July 31, for the opening reception where the artists will speak about their artistic processes and concepts. Flow State is a dual show by grade 11 artists Ruby Davies and Eli Lang from Etobicoke School of the Arts.

Flow State is the state of creating where everything else around you, except your art, becomes irrelevant. Artists Eli Lang and Ruby Davies show off their unique, and yet complementary, artistic works in this brand new exhibition. Lang's breathtaking landscapes and Davies's wonderful representation of the body truly take the eye and imagination on a journey, and make anything else you see seem irrelevant!

"Untitled", Lang (Painting)

Doon Pioneer Park Community Centre Public Art Competition

Doon Pioneer Park Community Centre Public Art Competition

Artists/artist teams are invited to submit proposals for a one-stage competition to provide a site-specific work of public art that combines an artistic vision with functionality for an outdoor seating installation at Doon Pioneer Park Community Centre, Kitchener, Ontario. The competition is open to all emerging and established artists/teams residing in Canada. Each artist(s)/team is limited to one entry. 

Location:

The Doon Pioneer Park Community Centre is located in the southwest corner of the city at 150 Pioneer Park Drive, on the territory of Six Nations on the Haldimand Tract, near the majestic Grand River.  This area is forecasted to be the fastest growing neighbourhood in Kitchener over the next 20 years.  

People who visit and live here value the walkability of nearby trails, and a variety of wildlife in the area.  Residents describe Doon as a great place to live because of the “small town” feel.  One family says:  “It feels like a small community as there is still a divide between Doon and the rest of Kitchener in terms of transportation and the surrounding industrial lands”.

Submissions are due by Monday, September 23, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.

Collective Arts Summer Call for Art

The Collective Arts Summer Call for Art is open! Emerging artists from around the world help make their beer cans beautiful.

DEADLINE: Sept. 30, 2019

Submit your work online to be considered for the next series of label art! Collective Arts pay severy artist who is chosen and encourages you to submit work you've already produced.

Not an artist? Pass this on to the artistic people in your life!

Art + Brewing

Collective Arts Brewing is a grassroots craft brewery that aims to fuse the creativity of craft beer with the inspired talents of emerging artists and musicians. Collective Arts Brewing was founded on two beliefs: The first that creativity fosters creativity. And the second, that creativity yields delicious pints. We feature limited-edition works of art on our beer cans and labels, and we work to make sure the liquid on the inside is as diverse and creative as the artists we profile.

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.

Art Starts' Street Art Festival - Tomorrow!

The Art Starts Street Art Festival (ASSAF) will creatively animate Glenholme Ave. from Eglinton Ave. to Lanark Ave. through a full day of FREE performances, art exhibits, and hands-on collaborative art making.

Over 15 local professional artists will inject colour, music, and free creative art-making across different artistic disciplines on Saturday, July 27th, 2019 from 11 am to 5 pm. You can expect mural making, puppet making, belly dancing, self-portrait making, and much more!

Participate in collaborative art-making and performances by artists such as: professional belly dancer Jaicyea Smith, ukulele player and singer 'K Funk', spoken word artist Patrick Walters, portraiture artist Yara El Safi, and MANY more!

Help Animate Storefronts for Nuit Blanche - Call for Proposals

Nuit Blanche - East Danforth is just around the corner, and East End Arts is still accepting submissions for this unique artist opportunity: IN VIEW: East Danforth Storefront Installations.

IN VIEW pairs local business owners with artists from across the city to transform their storefront windows for the evening of Nuit Blanche (October 5, 2019) under the theme of Future Danforth. Thematically, Future Danforth invites artists to (re)interpret what the future of East Danforth looks like and means to them and the broader community.

Think you've got a fun idea that could fit? Apply today before the deadline! Each artist will receive a $500 Artist Honorarium, inclusive of HST.

Application Deadline: Wednesday July 31, 2019 by 11:59 pm, EST

Akin Lakeshore: Akin Transforms Unused Etobicoke Office Space into Artist Studios

July 22, 2019.

Akin is excited to announce its expansion into Etobicoke with the addition of its newest location, Akin Lakeshore. Converting 6,000sqft of an unused and vacant commercial building located at 2970 Lakeshore Blvd West into usable space for local artists, Akin Lakeshore will provide more than 30 dedicated art studios and workspaces available to rent for creative endeavours of all kinds. 

Studios at Akin Lakeshore will range in price and size, starting at 25sqft or $165/month to 140sqft for $551/month, as well as large, open communal areas to accommodate Shared Memberships for $70/month. All rentals include 24/7 access to the studio building, taxes, insurance, wifi, and access to the communal working areas, storage, kitchen, and bathroom facilities.

In addition to studio space, Akin plans to expand its programming initiatives at this new location and introduce a series of free and low-cost public events launching in the Fall of 2019. 

This exciting expansion will increase Akin’s size to approximately 45,000 sqft of studio space serving nearly 400 artists, enabling Akin to continue addressing the ever-increasing scarcity of affordable workspace across our city.

Special thank you to local arts organizations Arts Etobicoke, Lakeshore Arts and the Humber Arts Commons for welcoming us into the neighbourhood!

If you are interested in renting a studio at Akin Lakeshore, please join us for one of our Open Studio days in August where you can have a look around the new space, and find out more about Akin! Our staff will be available to answer your questions and show you around. Everyone is welcome! Please note that the studios are located on the third floor of the building and there is no elevator. Akin regrets this barrier to access. 

Open Studio Days:
August 16 from 6-9pm
August 20 from 4-7pm 

We will be scheduling one-on-one tours in September for anyone who cannot make it to the Open House days. Please get in touch for more information, pricing inquiries, to book a tour or to share ideas. We look forward to hearing from you!

CONTACT:
Jen Pilles, Studio Operations Manager
info@akincollective.com

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Getting there by TTC:
Akin Lakeshore is a 3 minute walk from the Lakeshore Blvd West at Fifth St TTC stop which services the 145 Bus and 301 / 501 Streetcars. It is a 2 minute walk from the Islington Ave at Lakeshore Blvd West stop which services the 110 Bus and 337 Bus. Plan your trip: http://www.ttc.ca/Trip_planner/index.jsp

Parking:
There is paid parking located at 2903 Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 2 minute walk from the studio. There is also a Green P Parking Lot located at 120 Sixth St, south of Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 3 minute walk from the studio.

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.

MOCA Goes Dark: Night Visions Dance and Art Party on August 17

For the first time ever MOCA Goes Dark, and invites you to explore  the museum transformed by the artists and curators of the exhibition “An Index” from the Akin Studio Program at MOCA.

Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists. 158 Sterling Road was once the site of illicit dance parties, raves, and punk gigs that were legendary. Taking inspiration from its past as an underground nightlife hub, we will relive this wild legacy for one night only with amazing art and music that will light MOCA up in the dark. Starting at nine o’clock, come play with artist-led interactive installations and activities on the ground floor. Dance among art with beats by DJ Lulu Wei on our black light dance floor.

This party is presented with the exhibition An Index, featuring twenty-four artists from the inaugural Akin Studio Program. An Index makes 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 credits the importance of social play in creative production. For the first time ever MOCA Goes Dark, and invites you to explore the museum transformed by local artists. Cash-only bar will be available.

MOCA Toronto aims to be a barrier-free and accessible museum for all.

Doors at 9:00pm

Advance tickets are encouraged and are available at https://experience.museumofcontemporaryart.ca/452/802

$15 dollars regular, $10 MOCA members and students.
MOCA members log in first to add tickets to your cart.

REUNION: Sunday Drive returns in August with an immersive art show in Lakefield, Ontario

SUNDAY DRIVE ART PROJECTS is once again exposing audiences to art in unexpected places, this time presenting contemporary art in the picturesque rural setting of the Kawarthas. Returning with a new show format, in a new town, Sunday Drive will present REUNION, an immersive art experience on a private farm just outside of Peterborough in Douro-Dummer, running Friday and Saturday evenings in August 2019. 

For Torontonians, Sunday Drive is providing buses leaving from Toronto on specific nights. These buses are exceptionally fun with food and drinks provided. REUNION happens at sundown in open fields and wooded areas. Once you arrive in Lakefield, a bus hosted by the farm’s owners, is waiting to take visitors to REUNION, ten minutes away. This short ride provides time for visitors to get the full backstory of how REUNION came to be, to meet the artists who own the farm and deepen the experience they are about to have.

The show runs approximately 90 minutes. Tickets are $20. Group rates are available.

SHOW DATES: August 9, 10, 16 and 17 (please note, busses from Toronto are only for select shows).
BUSSES FROM TORONTO: August 10 and 17 (Future dates will be announced as current dates get filled. )

“We’re not providing too many details so that audiences get the most from the experience. This is definitely a show you need to experience for yourself.”

- Tania Thompson, Sunday Drive’s Creative Director

ABOUT SUNDAY DRIVE:
Sunday Drive is a registered not-for-profit organization presenting contemporary arts events to audiences in unexpected places. Run by a passionate group of arts professionals drawn to open spaces and concentrated culture. Sunday Drive has one foot in the city and one foot in the country, believing contemporary art should be accessible to everyone, everywhere. For more information visit www.sundaydrive.org or call 416-985-3369

Art Bus 2019

From June through October, get on board the Art Bus that will travel from downtown Toronto directly to the McMichael in Kleinburg. For only $15 + general admission, spend the day viewing the exhibitions, and walking the grounds on 100 acres of forested land along the Humber River. The McMichael is a major public gallery uniquely devoted to collecting the art of Canada located in the charming Village of Kleinburg, approximately a 30 minute drive from the city of Toronto.

Toronto departure: 11 am
McMichael departure: 4 pm
Departure point: 80 Spadina Ave.
Departure dates: July 21, July 28, August 4, August 11, August 18, August 28, September 1, September 8, September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20 and October 27

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is located on the original lands of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe People. It is uniquely situated along the Carrying Place Trail which historically provided an integral connection for Aboriginal people between Ontario’s Lakeshore and the Lake Simcoe-Georgian Bay Region. As an institution, McMichael recognizes the importance of acknowledging the original territories of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe First Nations people.

The McMichael’s permanent collection consists of over 6,500 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists who have contributed to the development of Canadian art.