Dear Friend of TOAF,

Some of our loyal collectors will tell you, with enthusiasm: “I discovered them here first.” That’s the magic of TOAF’s Student Zone — always the Fair’s most electric corner, and this year, featuring 45 students in-person and online, it’s bigger and more vibrant than ever.

We’re thrilled to welcome this year’s recipients of OCAD University’s Toronto Outdoor Art Fair Career Launchers Award, plus a curated GradEx pop-up, Layers of Essence — brought to life by a student curatorial collective: Fatma Juma, Natalie Peddie, and Jingwei Wang. We love that the conversation between emerging curators and artists is starting right here. This year also marks a decade of partnership with OCAD U — one we greatly cherish.

We’re also excited to welcome artists from our new partnership with Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU), joining us all the way from the West Coast.

And don’t miss the group showcase from Student Art Innovation Lab (S.A.I.L.) — an award-winning program within the Fine Arts Department at the University of Waterloo.

Take your time here. Get to know the voices shaping the future of Canadian art.

Catch the buzz,

anahita & TOAF Team

P.S. If you haven’t already, join our $65 for 65 Years campaign. Your gift goes directly toward helping artists collect each other’s work, and every dollar is matched.

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Spotlight on Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Zone C, Booths 302 – 305

Explore a dynamic selection of emerging artists from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU). Representing both the Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and Master’s of Fine Arts programs across a range of mediums and approaches, these students reflect the breadth of emerging creative practice at the #1 University for Art + Design in Canada.

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Layers of Essence
A Grad-Ex Pop Up

Zone A, Booths 3 – 5

Layers of Essence showcases a variety of works by emerging artists from OCAD University’s GradEx 111. These four artists’ practices utilize drawing & painting, photography, and illustration to explore themes such as self-reflection, perception, memory, and identity. They use intentional colours to convey a variety of different moods and messages in their work, using strategies ranging from abstraction to detailed narrative illustrations. This exhibition invites the viewer to question perspectives on lived experiences and to deeply reflect within.

The development of this exhibition was supported by a student curatorial collective that includes: Fatma Juma, Natalie Peddie and Jingwei Wang.

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OCAD U Career Launchers

Zone A, Booths 1 – 2, 20 – 24

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S.A.I.L.  (Student Art Innovation Lab)

Zone A, Booths 11 – 12

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More Emerging Artists

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Our Friends at Winsor & Newton

We’re excited to welcome Winsor & Newton to TOAF this year in partnership with Above Ground Art Supplies as part of the Art Mail campaign — a celebration of creativity, connection, and sharing art through the mail.

Visit the Winsor & Newton booth in Zone E, just north of the Archer sculpture, to explore artist materials trusted since 1832 and learn how you can take part in Art Mail! Stop by Above Ground Art Supplies to pick up your free Winsor & Newton watercolor postcard (gift with purchase). Artists attending TOAF will also have the opportunity to receive Winsor & Newton samples at the event while supplies last. If you create with Art Mail materials during the festival, be sure to tag @winsorandnewton and share your work with the community.