Toronto Outdoor Art Fair X StreetARToronto (StART) will connect you to some of the city’s best street, mural and graffiti artists. Meet StART participating artists, and enjoy Live Painting and a feature mural photography exhibition at Nathan Phillips Square.
#StARTatTOAF
Live Painting
Location: Zone D, Nathan Phillips Square
Watch these talented mural and street artists create unique artwork live and in person. Artworks are available for purchase! Bid on the final works at the StreetARToronto Shipping Container.
Phillip Saunders
Friday, July 7 at 10:00 AM
Phillip Saunders is a multidisciplinary artist and arts educator based in Toronto, Ontario. His practice includes oil painting, charcoal drawing, mural making, and digital illustrations. Phillip explores two worlds in his art practice, his oil paintings contrast sharply against his mural works; his oil practice takes on a traditional realist approach reminiscent of the old masters, where his mural work takes on a contemporary pop art feel.
As pertaining to Phillip’s mural art, he explores the interplay of how colours couple with feeling in his colourful portraits. His distinctive use of colour and abstract patterns portray a unique perspective of human emotion through color theory, with the goal of invoking joy, reflection and happiness in the viewer.
Phillip also takes a keen interest in aspects of classical realism, his oil paintings are primarily focused on the Black Body set in landscapes of ancient times. For the past 4 years, Phillip’s oil paintings have been exploring the realms of ancient Bantu spirituality and what is seen as sacred, in hopes of resuscitating past religious cultural imagery. His work attempts to bond the past and present through figurative expressions nuanced in West African Igbo culture, which is exemplified in his most recent series, Hebrew Nuance. Although his work varies from canvas to street art murals and may not have the same aesthetic consistencies, his paintings are still linked through reoccurring spiritual overtones.
Melika Saeeda
Friday, July 7 at 2:00 PM
Melika Saeeda is an illustrator. She graduated from Art University of Tehran in 2008, and has been working on many illustrations and mural projects ever since. She has illustrated over a dozen picture books, including Little Rabbitte Series (Camlica Cocuck/ Turkey), The Bird (Kanoon-e- Parvareshi/ Iran), The Boy and 12 Month (Khorus Publication), and many more. In 2017, she moved to Canada and now lives in Toronto.
Erin McCluskey
Saturday, July 8 at 10:00 AM
Erin McCluskey is an emerging artist based in Toronto. She graduated from OCAD University with a Bachelor in Design majoring in Illustration. As a painter, illustrator, and mural artist, Erin uses her background in illustration and theatre to create images that exist on paper, walls, objects, spaces, and stages. In her mural practice, Erin enjoys creating large, colourful, scenes with flat shapes often exploring a variety of subjects such as nature, the body and the city. She is interested in the imagery that is present in our public spaces and she is passionate about using art as a catalyst for social change. Erin has created over 20 murals throughout Toronto and the GTA and has recently worked with the CBC, Arts Etobicoke, StreetArtToronto & more. She is currently in residence in the Akin Studio Program at the AutoBLDG.
Mo Thunder
Saturday, July 8 at 10:00 AM
Mo Thunder (they/them) is a nonbinary/fluid, neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist and facilitator who grew up in a small town along the St. Clair River, they currently live in T’karonto (Toronto), which has been home for over a decade. They are Haudenosaunee (Oneida Nation of the Thames), French-Canadian and Anishinaabe (Aamjiwnaang First Nation).
Mo holds a BFA in studio art with a focus on drawing, silkscreen printing, photography and video from Fanshawe College and the University of Lethbridge, however, they are also self and community-taught. They have over 15 years of experience in community arts facilitation, organization, education, collaboration and consultation. Since high school, they have been working in community arts creating soloed from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (TATI).
Through their multidisciplinary art practice (painting, murals, mixed media, beading, journaling, poetry and textiles), they create visual stories about their lived experiences in connection to their personal healing. Mo is also inspired by intergenerational connections and healing, family and memories, personal and collective empowerment, and all of creation, especially skyworld.
Mo and Shawn Howe co-created and co-facilitated a community art / creative expression program for young Indigenous folks in T’karonto, Our Stories Our Truths (OSOT) and a mural collective of BIPoC 2SLGBTQQIAP+ and gender-diverse creatives, Earth Sky Collective (ESC).
They have a deep love and passion for learning Oneida language, zines, journals, art supplies, music, neurodiversity, organization, sewing, fashion and tattoos!
Enna Kim
Saturday, July 8 at 2:00 PM
Enna Kim (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada. She explores her hyphenated Korean-Canadian identity through murals, storytelling and roller skating. Inspired by the lively Toronto street skate scene, she uses roller skating as primary storytelling tools to challenge notions of femininity in urban spaces. Enna has exhibited work for the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the Canadian National Exhibit (CNE), and events such as Artworx TO, BIG on Bloor Festival, BigArtTO and Burning Man. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Collective Arts Brewery in Toronto.
Francis Pratt
Sunday, July 9 at 10:00 AM
Francis Pratt works as a full-time artist/athlete painting murals and showing globally. Living in Toronto for over 17 years, his work draws from his Celtic-Germanic lineage as it informs his mark-making practice with origins in figurative painting and graffiti.
Known for his exploration in automatic ambidextrous marks, Francis developed a unique technique he calls ‘two paws” or “binaural mark making”. It is a physical, full body approach that incorporates both hands, creating woven symmetric patterns. This body of work corresponds to his mental, physical and spiritual well-being, alligning left and right brain cognitive function. The marks and automatic nature of this work is his way of channeling his roots, creating vibrant visionary images.
By incorporating symbols and practices from his druidic and pagan culture, Francis sees his work as a means to honour his ancestors tapping into something that is at its core true to himself.
In addition to his artistic pursuits, Francis is also a dedicated athlete. Training and maintaining physical health is an integral part of his artistic modality. His movement and immediacy in both art and sports are interwoven.
His art is not just a means of creative expression within the modern urban environment; it is a way to forge a deeper connection with his own personal heritage, the natural world and the cycles that govern it.
Daniela Rocha
Sunday, July 9 at 2:00 PM
Daniela Rocha is a Canadian-Colombian artist based in Toronto. Her work is influenced by the vibrant cultures she experienced living, traveling, and working across Latin America. She is empowered and inspired to paint themes of nature, culture, and identity-enriching Canadian multiculturalism. Most of her murals can be found in Canada and Colombia. Her most recent work focuses on flora, fauna, nature, and connecting people with the earth.
Participating StreetARToronto Artists
StreetARToronto Walking Mural Tour
Wednesday, July 5 at 10:30 AM | In-Person Sign Up Here & Watch on Instagram Live
Location: The Bickford Centre (777 Bloor St. West)
Meeting Spot: South side of The Bickford Centre in Bickford Park, it can be accessed via a sloped, paved path from Grace St. that leads into the park.
Join Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette, co-founder of Red Urban Nation (RUN) artists collective, in exploring a series of Indigenous murals that tell stories of ‘Plants as Medicine’.
Red Urban Nations artist collective was founded 2018 by Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette with the first installations of murals on the Bickford centre. There have been 3 phases of murals created and installed at Bickford Centre TDSB board building by RUN since 2018 and a 4th phase to be completed in 2023 making it a total of 20 Indigenous murals with the completion of the 4th phase.
RUN has intentionally conveyed murals that teach and honour our ancestral plants teachings of our traditional medicines on the land. Also found flourishing are the plant ancestors themselves in the front of Bickford Centre in the Miinikaan Innovation and Designs 5 plot garden.
Chef Johl will begin the walking medicine teaching tour of the garden with our sacred sage smudge and acknowledgement of the ancestors before he leads the Indigenous mural tour of Bickford Centre.
Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette
Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette is Anishnawbe and Algonquin. He was born in North Bay, Ontario and his grandmother is from Nippissing First Nation. His clan is Mink clan. Johl was raised on wild game, fishing and seasonal berry-picks and cooking over the fire. Chef Johl is the owner of NishDish Marketeria and Catering, which specializes in Anishnawbe cuisine since 2005. He is one of Tkaronto’s leading First Nations food sovereigntists and has dedicated his life to identifying, sourcing, relearning and reclaiming what the traditional Anishnawbe diet is. His unwavering commitment to this vision has broadened his work beyond NishDish. He is a public speaker on many topics related to food sovereignty and social entrepreneurship, and has taught countless food demos and traditional food skills workshops.
Johl is a teacher of one of the only Anishnawbe land-based culinary arts program, Ojibiikaan Indigenous Culinary Arts Program. This led to some of the first traditionally planted Three Sisters gardens in the GTA. The gifts to Johl of centuries-old ancestral seeds started the ongoing development of an extensive Indigenous seed bank. The expansion of NishDish’s Indigenous food gardens around the city laid the groundwork for the birth of a brand new not-for-profit organization that Chef Johl founded in 2018, called Ojibiikaan Indigenous Cultural Network.
In 2012, Chef Johl co-founded RUN, Red Urban Nation, a grassroots project that envisioned a focused Indigenous community district in Toronto. In December 2017, he founded TIBA, the Toronto Indigenous Business Association, renewing the pursuit of an Anishnawbe district for Toronto and building a strong coalition of First Nations social entrepreneurs and business owners.
Johl launched the Indigenous Harvesters and Artisans Market at the Bickford Centre in 2018 and 2019, with multiple partnerships, where he curated a series of murals painted by Indigenous artists.
Chef Johl received Aboriginal Businessman of the Year award in 2013. He is a featured co-host of MasterChef Canada for a special Indigenous food challenge episode in 2019.
StART and the City: The Evolution of Street Art in Toronto
Location: Zone D, Nathan Phillips Square
Rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion since its inception in 2012 StreetARToronto (StART) has sought out and worked with artists from diverse communities to create and showcase some of the best mural, street and graffiti art and artists globally. These artists and artworks have transformed Toronto’s public streets, laneways, and parks into a city-wide art gallery!
The photography exhibit showcases a diverse range of street art of many forms over the past decade. The walls are adorned with vibrant photos that take you on a journey across many of the murals and artworks across our great city. You can explore and purchase professional canvas, and gator board-mounted photographs of some of the brilliant street art. Come visit and speak to StART Hosts who can share information and inspirational stories of the many projects and programs since 2012. The current exhibit features the evolution of StART projects throughout its 11-year history, using Toronto’s unique architecture as its picture frame – not just an amazing art piece, but a piece of Toronto history too!
You can see more StART artworks using the StreetARToronto Map at streetartoronto.ca.
About StreetARToronto (StART)
Toronto is now home to some of the best street, mural and graffiti art and artists in the world! StreetARToronto is committed to creating value with and for them, from their entry onto the street art scene with access to small canvasses and micro grants, all the way up to large scale murals on high-rise buildings, international artist exchanges, and more.
Since its inception in 2012, StART programs and projects have been rooted in a set of values that demonstrate the positive and powerful impacts of diversity and inclusion, foster community engagement and civic pride, add colour and vitality to neighbourhoods, encourage active transportation, showcase Toronto artists and contribute to their skills development, mentor emerging talent, foster positive relationships between residents, business owners and operators, artists and arts organizations and create a sense of belonging among all.
