This Week

Two shows I'm involved with in some capacity are opening this week.  On Wednesday, Ancestry and Artistry: Maya Textiles from Guatemala opens at the Textile Museum.  I've worked as Curatorial Assistant on this (amazing) project on and off since 2011, so this is huge deal.  Still more work to do before Wednesday, but the show is shaping up beautifully.

James Gardner's FRANK is a window installation at Gallery 1313 and will mark the first installation I programmed for the gallery's window box.  This one opens the next day, Thursday the 30th, from 7-10pm.  From the release:

FRANK is an ever-evolving entity of insulation foam. He has been built up, cut apart and stuffed into rooms and awkward spaces again and again, and will continue to be again and again. The sculpture in its many incarnations is an experiment in the language of abstract sculpture and undermines conceptions of a finished and static work of art.  FRANK aims to achieve a complexity of form and colour through a constant reworking of material and by visually exploiting and developing the affects of duration and exposure on an unstable medium.

James Gardner is an artist and member of VSVSVS, a collective and artist-run centre based out of a warehouse in the portlands of Toronto.


Action!

"The Ward"

Read a great article in the Toronto Star yesterday highlighting the (largely forgotten) history of the downtown Toronto neighbourhood once called "The Ward"-- home to thousands of immigrants who arrived in the city between the 1890s and 1920s.  This neighbourhood, which my work happens to be right in the heart of, was home to Toronto's first Chinatown and was even earlier a bustling-- if utterly impoverished-- multicultural community.  John Lorinc of the Star asks: "How should the present-day city excavate and commemorate the heritage of this ghost neighbourhood and its critical role in the shaping of modern Toronto?" An important and timely question as heritage buildings are jeopardized by the unprecedented amount of development happening in the downtown core right now.  FYI: "The Ward" was demolished in the 1950s to make way for Nathan Phillips Square, New City Hall and hospital row on University Avenue.

Kim Stanford at Gallery 1313

Wanted to plug my friend Kim's upcoming show at Gallery 1313 here.  I wrote an exhibition text for the window box component of her show, that will be available on G1313's website after the show opens.  Congrats, Kim!

Kim Stanford
Dirty
Process Gallery
May 15th - 26th 2013


Reception: Thursday May 16th, 7-10pm

Gallery 1313 is pleased to present a new installation exhibition by member Kim Stanford entitled Dirty.

Stanford's inspiration for this series of works developed through her frustration with picking up others' dirty socks multiple times a day, and continues her investigation into how a monumental repetition of tiny mundane moments informs relations with self and others. Through material exploration and repetition, Stanford mutates a small familiar object - used socks - into larger, absurd work that both attracts and repels, and opens a conversation about the universal dialectic between the taken-for-granted and a search for meaning.

Stanford studied visual art at the Toronto School of Art (TSA) and OCADU, as well as critical social theory in her graduate degree at the University of Toronto. This installation is generously supported by a Toronto Arts Council emerging artist grant. Writings by Stephanie D'Amico and Tara Bursey accompany the exhibit.

Advance press:  http://tinyurl.com/c53qkzr and http://tinyurl.com/cgxzg89
For more information, visit: www.kimstanford.com

Symposium Recap

I've been too darn busy with graduation and work to post these photos of the She Said Boom Feminist Zine Symposium, that happened two weekends ago.  The workshop on Saturday, April 27th was definitely a highlight-- an all-day collaborative zine-making session with several talented and brilliant women of all ages. I wanted to thank and acknowledge everyone who took part for their amazing contributions: Emily Cook, Sarah Snyder, Lia Frederiksen, Aviva Cohen, Andrea Manica, J.P. King (honorary woman for the day!), Samantha Miller, Marta Ryczko, Renee Saucier, Lydia Ogwang, Meredith Marty-Dugas and Robyn Marty-Dugas.  And of course big ups to my fellow organizers Erin Oh, Shannon Gerard and Amy Egerdeen.