I took a mini-trip to Toronto this past weekend and found out just in time that the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE) was on. So I hiked over to Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of the city on Saturday and strolled for over three hours through the hundreds of white tents showcasing established and new artists from all over Canada.  Thanks to the mint chocolate chip ice cream that kept me going through a the scorching Saturday.

The quality of work at the Exhibition amazing and it was refreshing to see all this talent in one place. As I walked around I was really drawn to mainly silkscreened/screenprinted/illustration pieces, as well as mixed media/sculptural pieces. So I’ve broken down higlights in two separate posts into these two separate categories.

For those of you who couldn’t make it this year or who wanted to apply and were curious to know what kind of work is shown, hopefully this will give you an idea. More photos can be seen in the 2010 TOAE set on my Flickr page.

First up mixed media/sculptural pieces with some context (mainly taken from each artists’ website):

Neil Klassen‘s large portraits marries tar with the stern faces of the Old West to draw comparisons between these rebels and the Big Oil culture experienced globally today. His work on view, Outlaws, aims to raise questions about the implications of the world’s dependence on oil as a resource.

Lizzie Vickery‘s large scale Digital C-prints capture everyday moments, some in minature form.

Magdolene Dykstra‘s figurative sculptures express snap shots of conflicted existence:  hurt, depravity, brokenness mixed with hope. Each character develops from the interactions with the people around her.

Jenny Clark‘s ceramic work features maiolica glaze with nature inspired designs.

Gillian Farnsworth’s paintings use repeated house and landscape imagery as a vehicle to experiment with texture and materials. She uses rusted and polished steel, wood, plaster, collage, and encaustic applied in layers. Thematically they strive to express a personal experience while searching for a unique Canadian identity. They also address the organic versus the synthetic, in relation to our disappearing landscape and the rebuilding of artificial replacements.

Joan McNeil collages are architectural and abstract, qualities which arise from her background as an architect. She works with all kinds of papers; painted paper, magazine cutouts, wallpaper, street posters, tracing paper, old drawings, old books, old letraset. The papers are glued on to a wood panel, sealed, and coated with epoxy resin which gives added depth and a shiny, hard finish.

Marjolyn van der hart‘s paintings are inspired by her memory, imagination and suspended moments of her daily life. Each painting is layered with several images, tissue paper and modeling paste. Through the use of texture, color, and contrasts of light, she aims to stop the viewer in their tracks and register the narrative.

Lucky Jackson uses bold lines and collage elements in her pieces . Vintage fabric, embroidered stitching, pastels, guache and wood grain are all employed to create graphic and strong, but still intimate and personal portraits

Also check out Lucky who was featured in an Etsy Storque article.

Last, and one of my favourites, is Marianne Corless work. Her large-scale 2-dimensional mixed media pieces are made largely from recycled fur. They include fur flags and fur portraits, including the Queen, the Queen Mum, Prince Charles, Celine Dion and Marilyn Monroe. designed to provoke thought about Canadian history, and to provide a sensual experience using the powerful qualities of the material.

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Next post: silkscreened prints/lithographs at TOAE!