Art Encounters 2025
A Dream in Full Bloom

Another dream of ours is in full bloom this year. Over 70 artists are receiving exhibition or travel bursaries and artist fees through TOAF’s Access and Outreach program, Art Encounters.

Since 2016, TOAF has been at the forefront of access and accessibility-forward programming, deepening our connections with the community and championing artist support. This year, we pushed it even further, opening new doors for New Generation artists (30 and under). The promise is thrilling. 

This is our largest and most dynamic Art Encounters yet, made possible with the generosity of our funders and national and local partners. Art Encounters isn’t just growing, it’s leading.

And the cherry on top is the luminous feature exhibition: Ethereal Forms, curated by Jesse King. This dreamy showcase weaves together evocative works by eight artists participating in the Fair through an Indigenous lens, inviting us to pause, and move through various modes of feeling, worlds, and perspectives.

This feature exhibition marks the culmination of our evolving partnership with the Indigenous Curatorial Collective for the second consecutive year at TOAF, made possible through the Emerging Curator Award, generously supported by Flavio Belli.

Take your time exploring Ethereal Forms, Art Encounters artists and the community members who will be joining at Nathan Phillips Square.

And finally, we are rolling out our lively Digital Programs and favourite Curated Collections, perfect for those joining us from afar. 

Enjoy Made This to Be Heard, a collection of bold and subtle yet powerful works curated by artist Sami Tsang. 

We are excited to see the earthy elegance of John Sabourin‘s sculptural carvings from the Northwest Territories in a few weeks. His studio tour is not to be missed. 

With anticipation,

anahita & TOAF Team.

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Ethereal Forms
Curated by Jesse King

Zone E, Booth 513-514

Ethereal Forms evokes a sense of lightness and transcendence that suggests realms beyond the physical; bringing together artists whose practices navigate memory, identity, landscape, and the unseen. 

Through an Indigenous lens, King examines new worlds and lives. The viewer is invited into a space in which conversation is fostered by the differing energies of each piece. Ethereal Forms permits moments that are not bound by time, and thus continue; forever changing through each new interpretation and perspective. The works hint at endless forms existing through many portals that are waiting to be discovered. The viewer is invited to go beyond the central plane and enter a world in which different realities coexist. This showcase evokes serenity, chaos, solitude, and confusion, all of which are shaped by our interpretations and exist within the shared space between the artists and the viewer.

Julia Asimakopulos is a Montreal-based artist who creates abstract works using the versatile material of concrete. Her pieces—hybrids between painting and sculpture—reflect the fragility of life, the passage of time, and the experience of loss.

Tobias Luttmer is a self-taught sculptor from Calgary who works primarily in granite and stainless steel. He is inspired by nature and mythology.

Francie McGlynn is a multidisciplinary artist based in St. Catharines with an interest in pre-patriarchal spirituality. Her 3D assemblages—made from organic, found, and scavenged items—explore how contemporary spirituality intersects with that of ancient humans.

Alexander Millington is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist and professional fine art framer. His practice merges figurative abstraction with the material precision of experimental paper cutting and collage, exploring the interplay of presence and absence through intricately layered compositions.

Keenan O’Toole is a Toronto-based artist whose practice explores form, colour, and scale through traditional ceramic-building methods. She engages in a cyclical process of translating structural references into both two- and three-dimensional compositions.

Zahra Saleki is an Iranian-Canadian artist and settler based in Tkaronto. Her artistic practice encompasses video, installation art, and photography.

Sharl G. Smith is a Jamaican-born, Kitchener/Waterloo–based Canadian sculptor. Her artistic journey revolves around reimagining the ancient craft of bead-stitching, transforming it into an innovative and engaging form of public art and architecture.

Emily Zou is a Toronto-based artist whose practice explores the intersection of climate awareness and mental health. She creates intricate, small- to large-scale sculptures from found objects to confront material waste and unsustainable consumerism.

Andrew Zimbel is a Toronto-based photographer. His artistic vision is driven by the subtle nuances of the world around him, focusing on beauty that often goes unnoticed.

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Studio Tour

John Sabourin

Meet TOAF64 artists and see where the magic happens! Follow TOAF on Instagram to tune in.

John Sabourin is a stone carver based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. His intricate sculptures explore the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. Drawing inspiration from the Dehcho Dene stories and legends he heard in his youth, Sabourin reimagines traditional motifs through a contemporary lens. Take a step inside his studio and learn about his process!

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Thank you

The support for the program is led by the Lindy Green Family Foundation, the inaugural supporter of this initiative, TD Bank Group, Element Event Solutions and individual donors.

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