The Artist Project 2008: Part 1

Last night my friends Rina and Nat and I went to the opening night of the Artist Project, an independent art exhibition and sale at the Liberty Grand in downtown Toronto.

I liked going at night for the "party" as opposed to saving it for during the day on the weekend as there were no strollers and toddlers running around, which made the experience waaaay more enjoyable and less frantic. There were some Toronto personalities there, including Jeanne Beker and Anwar from Designer Guys, but the night was all about looking at beautiful pieces, meeting the artists behind them and even taking a special piece home if you were lucky! Both Nat and Rina made beautiful purchases- congrats girls!

Here are some of the highlights:

Fiona Ackerman     "Fictional Flora" 

Mixed media on paper  9” x 12”

Fiona's work is so bright and colourful and I fell even more in love with the specific work above after seeing the title (alliteration rocks my world!) She was also so sweet and gracious, which is always nice :)

        Anna Marie House     "Pears"        

Water Colour   16” by 10”

There is something so serene about water colours and I loved the traditional quality to Anna's work. My favourite piece involved mini-eggs on a table that were so cute and innocent but the colours of the pears on the lacey table cloth also spoke to me.

Dagmara Genda  "Wallpaper I"

latex paint, pen and ink, paper   30x 44in

Dagmara is from out west and her work was very different! She uses an interesting method involving paint and ink that results in raised images on paper that you cannot help but reach out and touch. Her wallpaper pieces were stunning with such a fine attention to detail in all the sketching. My favourite one involved touches of pale green and pink but this black and white piece above is also very cool.

Julian Calleros   "the sailor's wife"
Drawing and textiles on Linen     4'9 x 4'5

Julian moved to Canada from Mexico and his work is an homage to his roots. The above piece was my favourite. The fabrics used are so eclectic and I love how it all comes together on the soft linen. He also had a really cool piece involving Mexican porono-esque comics- very innovative!

Kelly Grace     "Firenze Carousel"

Gel Transfer  7 x 14"

I seriously considered bringing home this piece by Kelly Grace. (Love the name) The image was such a haunting sketch but I was very torn about paying such a high price for a gel transfer. The original painting is so stunning but it's in colour and its the haunting quality of the shaded black and white that captivated me.

I was also mesmerized by a large work by Christopher Hayes, which I could not find online to post here. It was a large red streetcar on top of a ticket stub printed on wood with bolted glass over the top. It's quite the homage to the city of Toronto and would be a very cool piece to own for a Toronto ex-pat.

Stay tuned for the part II of the Artists project later today!