Community Booths

Each year artist-run centres, artist collectives and non-profit galleries join TOAF to showcase selections of their members, raise awareness of their mandates and connect with new audiences. Here is a list of communities that will be joining us this year.

7 Works Collective

In 2018, Catherine Gutsche and Karen Mackay were accepted to the Gibraltar Point Artscape Artist Residency program. Both artists were so inspired by the experience of immersing themselves in their art practices for a concentrated time that they applied again in 2019. Both artists were again accepted and travelled to Toronto Island in May along with three additional artists from various art disciplines, forming a group of five multidisciplinary artists.

Along came 2020 with great plans to add another two artists to the group and spend an awesome week on Toronto Island. But, the world changed in 2020, and the, now seven, artists had to postpone their artist residency until 2021.

When the best-laid plans were upended these determined artists committed themselves to creative activities during that May week and furthered their hunt for inspiration by meeting on Zoom to see each other and talk about what they had done that week. It was during one of these meetings that the plan was hatched to challenge each other with biweekly art prompts. Each artist would show a work of art in their medium and the remaining six artists would respond in their own voice with a piece in their own medium, or an experimental medium outside of their usual work, inspired by the visual (and sometimes verbal) prompt. It wasn’t long before they began calling their group the 7 Works Collective.

Part of the excitement of this project during the pandemic lockdown was to listen to each artist describe their process of creating and the thinking behind their work of art inspired by the challenge piece, including showing the preliminary sketches or experiments. The collective is not made up of all painters or photographers, so learning about each other’s mediums was an interesting feature of their Zoom discussions.

Participating Artists:

Kathryn Bossy, Mario Cerroni, Lynn Dubinsky, Catherine Gutsche, Karen Wynne Mackay, Judi Miller, Jo-ann Zorzi

Al Green Sculpture Studio and School

The Al Green Sculpture Studio and School in downtown Toronto was founded in 2000 by sculptor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Al Green (1925-2016) and continues to be supported by the Greenrock Charitable Trust. 

The founding imperatives for Green were twofold: to create a not-for-profit, inclusive artistic community to foster the creative development of adults, from novice to professional, interested in learning and developing their knowledge, appreciation, and skills in sculpture, and to provide a welcoming, well-equipped studio environment with instruction and extended access beyond the regular work day and holidays to accommodate members’ varied schedules. 

The studio is primarily an additive sculpting centre that is keeping pace with the ever-changing technological advances, while still being firmly rooted in classical sculpting techniques, offering instruction in life modelling, direct sculpting techniques mould making, casting & resin casting, and 3-D scanning and printing. 

Since their inception, they have had more than 500 people pass through their studio, with a core of long-term members. The enjoyable environment and the sharing amongst members make their studio a unique environment for learning and working. 

In 2014, the studio and school became a registered charity. They have recently introduced a yearly scholarship for 2 spaces for BIPOC emerging artists, furthering their vision of inclusivity. 

With open houses, participation in International Sculpture Day, yearly group exhibitions, associations with The International Sculpture community and the Sculptor Society of Canada, as well as our Facebook and Instagram postings, and our website, they strive to keep sculpture relevant and accessible to the public. 

Participating Artists at Booth E 330:

Xavier Allen, Bruce Brown, Mei Chan-Long, Melanie Chikofsky, Barbara Cooper, Laird Henderson, Janet Hunter, Mark Mayerson, Donna Zekas

Spectra at G44

Spectra is a changing collective of innovative members of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography who exhibit in conjunction with CONTACT Photography Festival each year. As the name suggests, the work demonstrates the many possibilities that are open to contemporary photographers and celebrates the diversity of artistic practice revealing the ways seemingly disparate work can intersect.

Participating Artists at Booth E 333 – E 334:

David Brandy, Alex Coley, Chris Cuevas, Emma Juliette, Eliza Moore, Atia Pokorny, Som Prabh, Lilianne Schneider

Temino Jewellery

Temino Jewellery is an emerging artist group that was created to explore the possibility of handcrafting jewellery. Rainy Zhang, Yiwei Zhang and Hubert Bao are the core goldsmiths/designers; they each graduated from the George Brown College Jewellery Arts program. With their unique backgrounds, they are able to combine different elements and cultures into their jewellery and jump out of jewellery design as we know it.

Participating Artists at Booth E 329:

Hubert Bao, Rainy Zhang, Yiwei Zhang

Toronto Potters                         

Toronto Potters Association, established (1979) as an unincorporated non-profit, volunteer-run association, is committed to the organization and sponsorship of ceramics-related activities to inspire members’ artistic growth, offer exhibition and sales opportunities to members, provide a welcoming environment for newcomers and networking with arts groups. Toronto Potters Studio at Artscape Youngplace, a 40th Anniversary project, opened in 2018 as a working studio for members and a teaching studio for community ceramics classes. Their 21st Biennial Exhibition opened at the Gardiner Museum from August to September 2021. Annual Sales have moved online. Their quarterly e-newsletter and social media channels communicate activities to the public and the wide GTA membership through torontopotters.com and @torontopotters.

Participating Artists at Booth E 331 – E 332:

Tanya Atkinson, Jacquie Blondin, Carolynn Bloomer, Joyce Borst, Susan Card, Andrea Charise, Silvana Michetti, Lisa Robbins, Talia Silva, Rhonda Uppington, Natalie Waddell, Peidi Wang