Home Sweet Home Artists and Projects

Home Sweet Home Opening- Thurday April 3rd 5-7pm
Join us in celebrating our final exhibition, a presentation of 13 community collaborations and neighborhood interventions. Toronto artists collaborate with students from Lucy McCormick, long-time shopkeepers along Dundas W., children, seniors and residents of Evangeline House, to create engaging and interpretive photography, textile, sculpture and installation projects that explore their relationships to ‘home’ and the Junction. Please bring a small meaningful object that can be incorporated into Kaitlin Gate’s Precious Possessions work. Exhibition will run until April 30th.


DAVID BATTISTELLA
Project: Part of the Junction’s fading charm has been how the storefronts have transformed from apartments back to retail and their built purpose. Another element that reminds me of the Junction’s charm are the storefront churches that find a way to hide between retail stores, and between past and present. People gather here to worship, to find what ever they are looking for and maybe more importantly to be together on the street. As the Junction is bound to feel the weight of ‘renewal’ in the coming years, the places that give way when this dam bursts are places like the storefront apartments and these 15 or so storefront churches that have shaped the character of the Junction for the 14 years I have know it.

Bio: David Battistella is a film maker and pacifist. His films are built on the theme of nostalgia and it's affects on memory. A diverse artist David is also an actor, writer, cinematographer and has even created a spoken word record. With StoreFront churches david has attempted to document a small slice of unique Junction culture.



SARAH CULLEN- Drawing/ Mapping Devices
Project:I will be facilitating residents to make maps of the Junction with my Pendulum Drawing/Mapping Devices. These mapping/drawing boxes provide a unique visual record of a journey. They are maps, but not maps that one can necessarily follow. This record is an added incentive to wander and explore by foot; and to wander physically and mentally.

Bio: I am a Toronto based artist currently living on Toronto Island. I earned a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2005. Most recently I was invited to participate in an artist’s residency at the Banff Centre for six weeks this past fall. My main interests these days lie in exploring walking and mapping based work. I also draw, sew, knit, and enjoy pin-hole photography.

MICHELLE FERRY & JANE O'HARA- These are a few of my favorite things
Project: We will curate the display of the These are a Few of our Favorite Things photography project that residents of the Junction have been working on over the past two months. Participants were given disposable cameras and asked to take photos of their favorite buildings, neighbors, shop signs, places that are hidden treasures, and features of their home.

Bio: Jane O’Hara and Michelle Ferry are grade 12 student at Humberside Collegiate Institute. They both became introduced to the Gathering Space through the Cranky Movie Project. Jane’s life long interest in art and culture was introduced to her at a very early age from both her parents. Michelle is looking forward to pursuing a degree in Drama and Psychology at Glendon in the fall. Both Michelle and Jane are enthusiastic about curating the ‘These are a few of my favorite things’ exhibition.



KAITLIN GATES- Precious Possessions
Project: We bring items into a space to make it “feel like home.” Cherished belongings rich with history, memories and emotions are introduced into a space to conjure feelings of comfort, security, familiarity, the feeling of being home. Removal of these precious possessions can revert a home back to a mere structure. We are able to invite our neighbors into our lives by sharing our objects that, no matter where we are, transform a space into a home. Participants are asked to bring in a precious possession that, no matter where they are, makes them feel at home. I will sew the items into cupped paper hands with gold thread.

Bio: Kaitlin Gates is a Toronto-based artist and recent graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design where received her BFA in Printmaking. She has been part of many professional group shows with fellow printmakers. Kaitlin is inspired by her personal exploration of her feelings toward romantic love and the way society allows people to accept this very powerful force. Much of her work is based on stenciling, patterning and framing strong central images.



THE GATHERING SPACE- Home Sweet Home
Project: Over the winter visitors to The Gathering Space sheltered against the biting cold and cozied up to mugs of coffee and warm hours of stitching verses of poems, lines of songs, inspiring sayings and memorable anecdotes onto swathes of pastel gingham and florals. The result is a hodge podge collection of textile momentos that harken back to your grandmother’s living room. The frames were generously donated by Pat at Picture it Framed. Thanks to Mimi for helping us sort them out!



NANCY VIVA DAVIS HALIFAX, DONNA JOHNSTON, KATHY CALLANHAN, NICK POWER, ROCCO, XANA DUNCAN, RICHARD- Lucy McCormick? What is this place?

“People see the world as white and black… But we’re definitely within the grey.”

Lucy McCormick Senior School is a congregated setting for students with developmental disabilities.

Actually “Lucy” is the real name of the school and the students it serves are what gives the school its life.

The project Lucy McCormick? What is this place? reveals only one aspect of the life at Lucy. The teachers felt that they could not include the students in the photographs. We have chosen instead to photograph our classrooms, hallways and special teaching areas. We hope to portray the objects that we use on a daily basis as ordinary. The photos reveal that we are anything but ordinary. This is as it should be, because we teach extraordinary people. - The Teachers at Lucy McCormick Senior School

Lucy McCormick Senior School is a school that has its students at its centre. The nature of this documentary photographic project Lucy McCormick: What is the place? is such that the absence of students in the photographs reflects the nature of the ethics of both community arts and the school. Both groups want to protect vulnerable subjects while still speaking to the nature of disability and teaching while they engage together in an exploratory project about teaching and learning at the site of Lucy McCormick. The brief nature of the project spoke to the extraordinary kindness of the teachers, staff and administration at Lucy…. As the artist I can hope in the future to engage in a longer-term project that would do justice to the complexities of this wonderful place. - Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, community artist

Bio: My practices are grounded in a history as a conceptual artist and influenced by the re-enchantment projects that perceive the value of art not as a potential object of consumption, display or investment but relationally. Art wants us to understand it, to perceive it and through this encounter be able to return to the mundane world in a changed way. My project work includes the cultivation of imagination, empathy, social justice, compassion and awareness.

KIM JACKSON- Junction Sound Project
Project: My interest in audio is to displace and reconfigure sounds common to the Junction’s urban environment, and replace them in the context from which they rose. My method is to record samples and make loops of the samples that build into contrived patterns. Out of this process will emerge instances of specific sounds, such as a cash register, bird song, alarms, rings, sirens, traffic, and trains- in other words ‘keynote’ sounds of the Junction.

Bio: I am new to the Junction. I've worked here for two years as a cook and have just become a resident. Since being in the neighborhood I have been struck with the willingness of people here to engage with one another, and have felt inspired by this feeling of quick familiarity. I have learned bits and pieces of a fascinating historical continuum that includes industry and a working class reality, as well as a culture of middle-class aspirations that exist beside a strong presence of economic disenfranchisement. I have felt compelled to respond to the Junction as a sort of battleground between dominant culture and individual voice.



RHONDA NOLAN
Project: The altered book – This is a reclaimed book found in a Junction thrift shop, altered and transformed into a memoir. This book tells the story of a woman from the Junction. Her life develops out of an artistic interpretation of historical and contemporary facts combining photos, snippets of information, recipes, fabrics, and anything else that tells of the woman’s joys and sorrows. Illustrations and embellishments are added along the way.

Bio: Rhonda Nolan comes from a graphic design background, including papermaking, card design, illustration and bookarts. She has designed greeting cards for distribution in Canada and the US.and invitations for corporate and private functions .Her work has been commissioned by private industry, small and corporate businesses over the years. For her illustrations and her art, she uses a mixed media, fluid paint/collage style, layered with glazes and text . She also likes to use found objects in her work. She is a firm believer in self expression through illustrated journaling. This has led to the development and facilitation of journaling with paint workshop. Her conviction that this method of expression can lead to a healthier, happier life is borne of her own personal exploration of inner self, and the resulting new energy and creative spirit. www.rhondanolan.com




SHANNON PHAIR & PETRINA NG- Dear Toronto,
Project:Dear Toronto, is a community art project that invites residents (and visitors) to write a letter to Toronto. If you knew Toronto was listening, what would you say? We all have something to share with Toronto: words of advice, fond memories, constructive criticism, or well-deserved compliments. Write a note, sketch your favourite city scene or respond to some of Dear Toronto’s, past mail.

Bio: Dear Toronto, consists of emerging artists, Shannon Phair and Petrina Ng, recent graduates of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto. Their individual practices range from painting to collage to video to installation to printmaking. Collectively, their community-based collaborative project, Dear Toronto, was first exhibited at Shannon and Petrina’s graduating thesis exhibition in March 2007. It was reinvented for AlleyJaunt 2007 and was recently invited to exhibit at Xpace later this year.



ERIN RILEY, LISE BEAUDRY & LOREE LAWRENCE- Junction Shopkeepers
“The shopkeepers best friend” is a moniker that I was given many years ago by a friend who was bemused by the time I spent talking with shopkeepers when I went into their places of business. I don’t know why I like to chat so much with them but I do. I’m curious and I generally like meeting people. I’m also particularly drawn to talking with small business owners who care about their neighbourhood, have a chair for visitors and a love of conversation.

The Junction is home to a large number of shopkeepers who make this community an engaging place to live, work and visit. As I continue my work with The Gathering Space, I look forward to the pleasure of getting to know more about the people who make this place home.

Thank you to Stephanos and Anna Androkopoulos (Sweet Trolley Bakery), Ralph Cini (Ralph the Barber), Rita Lobe (Henry’s Variety), Shaheed, Zalina and Judy Mohammed (Triple Z Roti), and Simon Neiman (Simon Tailors) for letting us take pictures of you and your stores and, most importantly, for taking time to talk.

This photographic and audio exhibit is the start to a larger and longer piece (with edited audio tracks!).

Photographers:
Lise Beaudry – Stephanos Androkopoulos, Shaheed Mohammed and Simon Neiman
Erin Riley – Ralph Cini and Rita Lobe

Design & Printing:
Erin Riley

Interviewer:
Loree Lawrence





JULIE TUCKER- Pledge
Project: My audio project Pledge will bring together a group of children from the Junction neighborhood to create a pledge in support of a fictitious community group or club of their creation. The children decide the identity of the group and outline the parameters for membership. The pledge they will write will be representative of their groups’ moral code. This project is a recitation of a fictitious pledge reminiscent of pledges recited by Girl Guides or Brownies.

Bio: Julie Rae Tucker received Masters of Fine Arts degree at the University Of Windsor. Her current practice involves installation and audio recordings. Recently, she has received an Emerging Artist Grant from the Ontario Arts Council.



CARMEN VICTOR
Project: I have made a fractured photo collage of photos of doors and windows in Junction Resident’s homes. My collage examines the varied and changeable nature of ‘home’, and attempts to blur the distinction between external circumstance and internal experience.

Bio:Carmen Victor has an MFA from the University of Victoria, BC. She lives and works in Toronto.



Kristen Wulff- Inhabiting the Uninhabitable
Project: My outdoor site specific intervention Inhabiting the Uninhabitable is an ongoing investigation into how the idea of ‘home’ is communicated in iconic representation. It also aims to address our current urban environment where houses are often purchased before a building even begins construction; drawing our attention to how we are able to imagine or envision a space before its realization. I hope to raise questions about our own ideas about the ‘home’: How is it marketed? How can it evolve? What are the required elements to transform a house into a home?

Bio:Kristen Wulff is a Toronto based installation artist and curator who recently received her BFA from the Sculpture Department of the Ontario College of Art and Design. As an emerging artist, she is excited to explore alternative methods of making and showing her work. Her art focuses on the challenges within language and the relationships that develop between objects, sites, and individuals. http://www.terminus1525.ca/studio/view/5870