Toronto Craft Alert

Man, I LOVED Thunder Bay.  Never having been this far north, this was the most anticipated stop on my craft tour of Ontario and I was not dissapointed.  Incredible industrial architecture, a surprisingly robust Finnish culture (the largest Finnish population outside of Finland, who knew?), super warm people, insane thrift, and a bit of a “land that time forgot” vibe going on in the restaurants, cafes and shops.  My discussions with makers revealed that a cultural regeneration is taking place and that we should [...]

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Knit Night on the Brain (2011). Installation by The Beehive Collective. Photo by Kate Hunter.

Last year’s Supercrawl (the annual music-enhanced version of Hamilton’s monthly James Street North Art Crawl) blew everyones minds.  While the bands were incredible and the eats & treats delicious, the thing that really got me was the caliber of public art that studded the streets and sidewalks of James North. Beehive-like pods engulfed street lamps, trees painted day-glo in tentacle-like formations overtook roadways, and knit brickwork [...]

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Knit #1 by Lyn Carter courtesy of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries website.

Did you know that Cambridge Galleries are super into textiles? Hosts of the annual Fibreworks juried art exhibition, Cambridge Galleries frequently features exhibitions of Canadian textile artists (notably Lyn Carter and Anna Torma) and also have an very impressive amount of contemporary textile work in their permanent collection. Catch a glimpse of some of their collection in the exhibition Select Works, opening this Tuesday. A [...]

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Self-published book In My Baba’s Kitchen by Monique Motut-Firth, courtesy of the Eyelevel Reshelving Initiative 5 website.

The Eyelevel Reshelving Initiative is an exhibition of zines and small works that happens every two years at Eyelevel Gallery, a fantastic artist-run centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Zinesters and self-publishers, take heed! Register online, and send your work in by the end of the month!

ERI 5 is an exhibition and sale of artist books, zines, multiples and other kinds of artist-made [...]

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Crafts & wine make fine bedfellows, and this show taking place in Pelham, ON (about 1.5 hours from Toronto) will give you the chance to enjoy both!  As a bonus proceeds from the fair go towards local community charity, Pelham Cares.  Early bird deadline to apply to vend (with a reduced booth fee) is January 31st. Visit the website for more information and to apply: http://www.firstsundaystroll.blogspot.com

If you are looking to vend closer to home, these two shows are looking for makers (via the [...]

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Sandra Gregson’s Ulysses, 2010. Photo courtesy of the World of Threads website.

Came across this call recently for the next World of Threads Festival– an annual event based out of Oakville that brings together fibre artists from Canada and all over the world. Check out their website for more information, and while you’re at it, give their excellent interview series a gander, which profiles fibre artists from T.O. and abroad.

The World of Threads [...]

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