Here’s part 2 of my Saturday stroll through the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE) last weekend at Nathan Phillips Square. In the last post, I featured shots of artists who work in mixed media/sculpture. This post features highlights from screenprinting/silkscreening/illustration artists. There was lots of fresh work at the Exhibition I hadn’t seen before – it was hard choosing which one to take home.
If you couldn’t make it this year or are 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.
Here’s some of my screenprinting/silkscreening/illustration faves (with some background info mainly taken from each artists’ website):
Leyre Arroyo Abaroa‘s work focuses on the idea of shared interior spaces with a standard of social behaviour and the interaction between people in these spaces (e.g. having drinks a bar, bridal parties). She use a mixture between painting and illustration.
Beth Frey‘s illustrations were on display. Although her background includes painting, sculpture, performance, and video, she became attracted to the portability and simplicity of materials that drawing provided, and now primarily works with pens and markers on paper, working elements from her other disciplines into her pieces.
Daphne Gerou is a Toronto based visual artist whose overall art practice points to drawing as a primary medium. Positioning cuddly animals in the context of war and darkness, her works infuse a sense of eerie innocence lost and gained.
bespoke uprising was created in 2007 by Roisin Fagan in Halifax, Nova Scotia. All Roisin’s products are handmade, from dyeing the cloth to screenprinting her original drawings to embellishment, pattern drafting and sewing. Her hope is that her company will “bring Maritime romanticism and an artisanal flare into nurseries the country over.’
Over towards the north-east end of Nathan Phillips Square was work from current students (a fave area of mine to check out at fairs and exhibitions). Sabrina Scott is an emerging student artist who’s work mixes nostalgic images of religion and Canadian history with uncanny futuristic elements such as UFOs and robots. She also produces handmade journals. She won the Best of Mixed Media (Student) award.
The work of Neil Lapierre, another emerging student artist, were illustrations which featured bright surreal Cubist-esque figures in unusual situations.
Three hours of intense viewing during hot sunny weather – so much to see at the TOAE! Here’s a photo of Nathan Phillips Square while I was taking a break. If you are planning on going to Toronto next summer try to fit this Exhibition in!
