Beach Arts Scene

Two artists are exhibiting new work at Lazy Daisy’s Café, 1515 Gerrard St. E. at Coxwell, to the end of December.

Local artist Andrew Duff is a grad of both OCAD and NSCAD, and as he states in his bio, he “draws robots on just about everything.”

Though normally that includes drawing, painting and collage on everything from old paper to terra cotta pots, the work at Lazy Daisy is a new series of 8- by 10-inch drawings.

It might be best to let his words summarize the substance of his work: “Robots arrived in Andrew’s work early in 2004. At first they were angry little machines bound on destruction … But then these same robots, once so angry, became more flexible. Introspective … They remain surrogates – self-portraits of the artist as machine. But a machine coming to terms with technology, his place (literally) in it and the search for more.”

Also featured at the Lazy Daisy show is the playful work of Stephanie Coveart, a 21-year-old artist who lives, breathes and dreams animals.

Coveart, autistic, developmentally delayed and epileptic, has turned obstacles into advantages, expressing her love of life through the brightly-coloured drawings she creates, which are marketed under the Stephimals name with the help of her loving parents. Mom Tracey acts as publicist, while dad Rob takes care of graphic design for promo material and the website.

The East Danforth family have helped Stephanie’s work reach a wide audience, thanks to numerous shows in Toronto over the holidays. Stephimals will be on display at Dimensions Custom Framing, 732 Queen St. E., until Dec. 24, and at Mangia & Bevi, 260 King St. E., to Jan. 23. Ten per cent of the proceeds of every sale until Christmas Eve will be donated to a charity chosen by the client.

An artists’ reception will be held at Lazy Daisy’s Café from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, with both Duff and Coveart in attendance.

For more on Andrew Duff, check out facebook.com/art.by.andrew.duff, flickr.com/photos/werdnadotorg, his website werdna.org  or @andrewduff on Twitter. Coveart is online at stephimals.com, facebook.com/stephimals and on Twitter @stephimals. Lazy Daisy’s website is at lazydaisyscafe.ca.

 

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Beach-based photographer, writer, performer and self-styled “treader of the renaissance path” Christopher Little will be kicking off the new year with a photography show titled Electrical Ubiquity.

The OCAD and Sheridan grad hopes to prompt viewers of his work to ask questions about electricity – where it comes from, what the hidden costs are, and what we’ve given up to live lives “in such an electric way.”

The show runs from Jan. 2 to 10 at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre in Scarborough, 225 Confederation Dr., northeast of Kingston Road and Scarborough Golf Club Road. There will be an opening reception on Jan. 5. For more on the artist and his work, visit chstyle.com.

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