Beach Arts Scene

Photos x 7: Artisans At Work is hosting a show featuring nude, figurative and erotic artwork during the month of April.; ; ;; ; Photo by Bronwen Parker;

 

Beach artist Nathalie Vachon will have paintings on display just west of the neighbourhood in advance of the upcoming Beach Studio Tour (April 29 to May 1, more on the tour in the April 19 Beach Arts Scene).

Vachon is an artist, writer and storyteller, and has been taking part in the Beach Studio Tour for more than a decade. She completed a minor in fine arts at Wilfred Laurier University, and studied further at the Honolulu Academy of Art and Lesley College in Massachusetts.

Vachon’s lively paintings mix simplified shapes with vibrant colour, with many depicting landscapes and nature scenes. Her work will adorn the walls of a new coffee shop called The Shmooz, at 590 Pape Ave., south of Danforth. Check out her work locally at The Sweetest Things Gift Shop at 928 Kingston Rd.

 

Artisans At Work hosts Barenaked: Portraits, Figuratives and Erotic Art during the month of April.

Covering everything from traditional portraiture to the “slightly taboo forms of erotica,” the show is intended to question what actually makes a piece of artwork erotic. Definitions fluctuate according to the era, cultural factors, and context, leaving the definition subjective.

Find out where you set your boundary between figurative and erotic work at the gallery and shop, at 2071 Danforth Ave., just west of Woodbine Avenue.

 

 

Areej Art Gallery presents The Oriental Carpet, a solo installation and multiple performances by Qahtan Alameen, on now until April 10.

Alameen, a native of Iraq, writes in his artist’s statement that his work is inspired by dreams that were formed listening to stories from his mother and grandmother during childhood.

“With my move to North America, I have found escape from the deserts and conflicts of Iraq, and through my art, I am now able to give expression and substance to the imaginary world of my inner soul,” he writes.

Areej is at 2640 Danforth Ave., east of Main Street. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.

 

 

The F8 photo collective presents its latest show Anywhere But Toronto. Following up the East End-based group’s previous show, dedicated to this city, the eight photographers highlight images from anywhere else.

Images range from Northern Ontario to Antarctica, Paris to Mexico, and from Havana to Canada’s East Coast. The photographers are Joe Calleja, Margit Koivisto, Maureen Littlewood, Catherine MacKinnon, Michael MacLaverty, Natalia Shields, Rod Trider, and John Wallace.

Anywhere But Toronto will run from April 7 to 15 (by appointment) at Dignam Gallery, in the Women’s Art Association at 23 Prince Arthur Ave. Receptions with the photographers in attendance will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 10.

 

The Kingston Social will host a show by Mao Correa until the end of April.

Correa is a Toronto-based plastic artist, photographer and graphic designer originally from Bogotá, Colombia. He studied painting, drawing, anthropology and plastic arts in university, and has worked for more than two decades as an exhibiting artist. Toronto Star readers may recognize Correa’s name and work from a January 2016 article featuring his basement apartment-turned-private gallery.

In his artist’s statement, Correa writes that his work, made entirely from recycled material, is intended to meld artistic expression with environmental awareness.

“I’m now not only breaking down pre-existing materials, reinterpreting and offering them a new form with a new purpose, but also reintegrating my soul to a new country,” he writes.

Defragment will run at the gallery until April 30. An opening reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 9. The Kingston Social is at 1427 Kingston Rd.

 

Neighbourhood Gallery, at the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation church, presents two new shows starting on April 10 and running until the end of May.

Finding Wonder: Seeing is Believing will be on display in Neighbourhood Gallery South. The show coincides with the Contact Photography Festival, running city-wide for the month of May.

The show features the work of photographers Bronwen Parker and Bradley Matson, two artists who find inspiration in the finer details. From shadows to cracks in the ground to peeling paint, both use natural light and timing to emphasize the parts of the world most ignore, with no digital enhancement.

Art of a Sacred Nature: Works by children and youth of Neighbourhood will run in Neighbourhood Gallery North.

Youth from age 6 up to 19 submitted work depicting whatever they feel is sacred in their lives. Some of the pieces were made working with Neighbourhood Gallery curator and art instructor Lauren McKinley Renzetti. Drawing, painting and photography are all represented.

An opening reception for both shows will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 10. Neighbourhood Gallery is at 79 Hiawatha Rd., south of Gerrard Street East. The gallery is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays (Sunday services are at 10:30 a.m.).

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