Coming up at the OCC

CraftTalks: Fresh, Local, Craft! Panel Discussion

Thursday, November 4th, 2010
6:00 - 7:30pm pm, open to everyone
The Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. West

As part of the exhibition programming for the last stop on the Greenbelt Quilt of Possibilities tour, the Fresh, Local, Craft! Panel Discussion will explore the dynamic between individual and communal processes of making in response to our relationship with the local environment. It celebrates the positive role that the Greenbelt plays in our lives, including its ability to bridge urban and rural life with the preservation of Ontario’s rich natural environment and will touch on the effectiveness and importance of advocacy through visual arts and issues of sustainability when approaching any creative process.

Kate Busby, Textile artist and Quilt Curator
Roisin Fagan, Textile artist and Quilt contributor
Burkhard Mausberg, President of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation
Andrew Davies, Director of no.9 Contemporary Art & the Environment
Candida Paltiel (moderator), film producer and former Artistic Director - CEO of Planet in Focus

*The Panel Discussion will be followed by the opening reception for the Fresh, Local, Craft! exhibition at the OCC Gallery on 990 Queen St. W., from 7:30 - 9:30 pm. See below for more details.

For more information contact Caitlin Plewes at cplewes@craft.on.ca or 416-925-4222 ext 222.
Made possible by support from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.


Exhibitions: Fresh, Local, Craft!

November 4 - December 12
Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, 990 Queen St. W., Toronto
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 4th, 7:30 – 9:30 pm

Fresh, Local, Craft! is an exhibition that fuses community-building and environmental activism with the processes of craft making. Springing from a fruitful partnership, Fresh, Local, Craft! also constitutes the final tour stop for the Greenbelt Quilt of Possibilities project.  The Quilt project originated through the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation’s request for assistance in creating a community work that celebrates and advocates for Ontario’s protected Greenbelt space.  In response, the OCC organized and implemented the project with Kate Busby as curator, and has been running a tour of the Quilt throughout 2010.

Fresh, Local, Craft! includes the work of: Glenna Agnew, Wendy Anderson Breedveld, Lizz Aston, Jayne Barrett, Tara Bursey, the Burr House Spinners and Weavers Guild, Maggie Butterfield Dickinson, Karen Chisvin, Natalie Drajewicz, Lise Downe, Roisin Fagan, Evann Frisque, Brette Gabel, Judy Gingrich, Fabienne Good, Margaret Gurica Hannigan, Clayton Haigh, Philip Hare, Beverley Hastings, Linda Heron, Pat Hertzberg, Kate Hunter, Mark Jaroszewicz, Sheila Jonah, Colleen Kennedy, Jen Kneulman, Mary Kroetsch, Katherine Laco, Sophia Lada, Kathy Lakatos, Kaitalin Lawford, Lory MacDonald, Nola McConnan, Valerie McLean, Karen Menzies, Lee Meszoros, Midori Nagai, Stacey Olson, Janet Patterson, Dorie Preston, Laura Preston, Julia Prime, Louisa Pucci, Danielle Reddick, Mary Ann Rich, Jean Pierre Schoss, Alison Seale, Brenda Secord, Don Stinson, Anastasia Tiller, Cheryl Trudeau, Catherine Vamvakas Lay, Linda Varekamp, Mary Walker, Wendy, Wallace, Helena Wehrstein, Liz Wilde, Erica Wilson, and Sandi Wong.

For more information see: www.craft.on.ca/Programs/Exhibitions/#upcoming


Exhibitions: Masterworks Southwest

Masterworks Southwest is a juried travelling exhibition of contemporary craft that has five different gallery stops throughout 2010. This exhibit showcases 39 pieces of contemporary craft from makers across Southwestern Ontario.

This weekend only, Masterworks Southwest makes a guest appearance at Artworks Show and Sale at Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener.  Visit the OCC's feature display to view select works from this outstanding exhibition.  A number of participating craftspeople will be on hand selling their work, sharing their inspirations and demonstrating their skills.

For complete show details visit www.myartworks.ca

The exhibition is currently at Guelph's Greenwood Quiltery & Gallery . (Sept 17-Oct 30). The next stop will be at the Station Arts Centre, Tillsonburg, November 12 - December 17 (Reception: Friday, November 12 7-9pm)

Please click on the icon below to download our double-sided postcard or our 44 page booklet.  This booklet will be available for purchase at each of the venues for $6 each.  Please contact mcalarco@craft.on.ca to order in advance.

Masterworks Southwest postcard (770 KB PDF)

Masterworks Southwest booklet (1.4 MB PDF)


CraftTalks: [FAT]
Toronto's Alternative Arts and Fashion Week

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
6:30 – 8:30 pm, open to everyone
OCAD University, Room #230 (lecture theatre on the second floor)

Vanja Vasic, Vessna Perunovich, and Zorica Vasic will present on [FAT], Toronto’s alternative arts and fashion week.

Vanja Vasic is Director of the Alternative Arts and Fashion Week that showcases fashion designers, visual artists, musicians, and performers from across the country and abroad.

Vessna Prunovich is a Toronto based visual artist who works in a variety of media ranging from sculpture and painting to video installation and performance.

Zorica Vasic is an installation and performance artist and teaches Design at OCADU.

Rachel MacHenry (moderator) is a textile artist and Head of Textiles for the Craft & Design Program at Sheridan College.

For more information contact Janna Hiemstra at jhiemstra@craft.on.ca.



Top images: Details of work by Lizz Aston, the Quilt of Possibilities, Wendy Anderson, Mark Jaroszewicz, and Jen Kneulman.

The Ontario Crafts Council is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. The OCC would also like to recognize the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Henry White Kinnear Foundation and McLean Foundation for their support of the Growing Ontario's Craft Community Project.