Sending typed letters, postcards, or small packages of treats via snail mail is sadly going the way of the dinosaur. It’s a rare surprise to find a handwritten letter in the mailbox among the pizza menus and flyers for the local gym. When it comes to mail art, the extra time and effort in composing the work is far more rewarding than attaching a .jpg and pressing send. For the receiver, opening a mailed masterpiece... [continue]

Yarrrrrrrrr! Strap on that eye patch, plop a parrot on your shoulder, and get set for some swashbuckling! Follow the dilapidated, yellowed map and sail on over to The Pirate Festival at the X-marks-the-spot location of Fort York. This historic site will be transformed into the uncharted Caribbean island of Torontuga, an 18th-century village where real life pirates display authentic pirate antics. A shipload of pirates shall be a mighty impressive crew. With enumerable sea... [continue]

A whole slew of 12” by 12” works by local and international artists will be exhibited in AWOL Gallery’s Square Foot Show. In its fifth year, the show has grown to such a scale that the works will be displayed in a 2,500 square foot room on the second floor of 100A Ossington Avenue rather than in AWOL’s own gallery space. Over 500 square feet within 2,500 square feet should give ample room to accommodate... [continue]

Neighbourhood festivals are a great way to either explore unfamiliar pockets of the city or actually meet the people who cross your path on a daily basis. Signage for this neighbourhood street festival at the corner of Wyndham Street and Brock brought our attention to tomorrow’s day of events and big FUN in The Brockton Triangle area. The wee bit of west end land known as The Brockton Triangle stretches from Dundas to the... [continue]

The West End has its share of arts events in the upcoming months but what’s happening in the East? The Riverdale Art Walk will feature art from over 100 artists on June 2 and 3 in galleries, shops and parks of the Riverdale and Leslieville areas. This juried arts exhibition is organized by the Artists’ Network of Riverdale along with businesses, friends and neighbours of the local community. Get involved with the event by volunteering... [continue]

On your mark, get set, go register for Run The ROM! The 5km run is scheduled for May 12 and it’s the latest in the Run With Art series from The Movement Movement. The main movers of The Movement Movement, dancer/choreographer Jenn Goodwin and artist/curator Jessica Rose, are inviting the public to run laps of the museum for public art’s sake. You could be running through Ancient Peru or perhaps Heaven or Hell. Sounds exotic!... [continue]

Submission deadlines are quickly approaching for some of this year’s most exciting weekends of outdoor artfulness and it’s time to get those applications together. The ALLEYJAUNT will return for its 5th year in alleyways, garages and green spaces in and around Trinity Bellwoods Park. Proposals are being accepted from local artists and art collectives for site-specific installations, projects that incoporate urban themes and artistic interventions. The alleyway art will be taking place August 11 and... [continue]

Downtown corners are speckled with hot dog vendors selling wieners to hungry pedestrians. There are no salad bar carts, no roti carts, no souvlaki carts, and no Chinese bun carts. Food vendors on the street sell hot diggity dogs due to Toronto's strict public health bylaws: Food preparation must be limited to the reheating of precooked meat products in the form of wieners or similar sausage products to be served on a bun. Hazardous raw... [continue]

Sometimes it feels like time is slipping away faster than ticket sales for tonight’s Al Gore talk at Con Hall. Catch time while you can! Hurry over to *new* gallery to bid on a selection of tick-tockalicious clocks created by 50 artists, such as It’s Almost Time by Lily Yung (above, left) or 4-D Comic by Donald Brackett (above, right). As a fundraiser for the Artists’ Health Centre Foundation, this first annual silent auction,... [continue]

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts, the organization wants us to get involved in their "50 for 50" Arts Challenge. Canadians are invited to meet the challenge by engaging in 50 arts-related activities over the course of the year. Do not fret if you’ve neglected the arts since Jan 1 due to laziness and winter hibernation; there's still ample time to reach the goal in the 45 weeks that... [continue]

When it’s minus something degrees outside and minus more degrees with the windchill, sitting and knitting in the warmth of your home is a good way to pass the time. Since indoor knitting is a luxury, why not throw something together for the less fortunate folks on the streets? Founded by Sadie Lewis, StreetKnit is a program that will bring your furry, fuzzy creations to the people who are in need of warmth. Be a... [continue]

Go find a brilliant topic of discussion at Loop Gallery’s miniature sculpture exhibit entitled art: to ease crappy conversation. This group show features work of artists living in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, and New York. The sculptures are smaller than 10x10x10” but they're visible to the human eye. Unless the artist has decided not to sell their work, the pieces are being sold for $200 each, with 10% of sales going to the Toronto Food... [continue]

Energy efficient LED lights in the sky are as enchanting and romantic as the starry nights of the countryside. Perhaps that’s a lie. Regardless, LED lighting displays have been set up in 19 neighbourhoods across the city for the 40th annual Cavalcade of Lights. Even in the less than attractive Bloordale Village, “blue and white illuminated festoons [are] suspended on light poles lining Bloor St from Lansdowne to Dufferin.” Festoons, eh? Take the Cavalcade... [continue]

Regent Park is 69 unattractive acres of our city’s east end, bordered by Gerard south to Shuter St and Parliament east to River St. The area was considered a slum until the 1940s and 50s when a social housing community was built to ameliorate the slumminess. Currently, the area consists of delapidated buildings overstuffed with occupants, which are surrounded by sketchiness on the streets. At a cost of $1 billion, the City of Toronto is... [continue]

The AGO’s Henry Moore Sculpture Centre has the largest public collection of Henry Moore pieces in the world. Although Large Two Forms, the Henry Moore sculpture that was at the corner of Dundas and McCaul, has been temporarily removed due to the AGO Transformation, the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre remains intact throughout the construction. Unfortunately, the room with the Moore pieces has undergone its own transformation as part of Wallworks, which features artists’ work on... [continue]

C Magazine has been around since 1984 and it’s got a new look thanks to Antonio de Luca, who happens to be the creative director of The Walrus. The quarterly, Canadian (Toronto-based) publication on international, contemporary art contains informative ARTicles that put Canadian art into an international context as well as bringing us updates on arts abroad. We've yet to see the new and revamped copy of C Magazine (the accompanying photo is the cover... [continue]

Heading to Chapters on Bloor (by Yorkville), this Torontoist staffer was shocked to realize that the bookstore had been morphed into a Mega-Winners-HighEnd-Superstore. Upscale and Winners goes together just like a swiss chesse, nutella, and chopped liver sandwich on focaccia bread. Venturing into the shoe section of the store, it was mere moments before we realized that this Winners was full of losers. Fancy woman to her fancy woman friend: “Pointy toes! Ucchchghgh! All those...... [continue]

This weekend is the Canadian Art Foundation’s 11th Annual Canadian Art Gallery Hop Toronto. This weekend is also Artscape’s 4th Annual Queen West Art Crawl. Two big art events this weekend? Holy Jesus! What to do? The kickoff for the Gallery Hop is tonight. But before you pick up the phone to reserve a last minute ticket beware the $250 admission price to the event at the Kool Haus (patron tables for 10 are... [continue]

Ohbijou FAQ: What is Ohbijou? Isn't Ohbijou the name of my Aunt's chihuahua? Ohbijou is a local band whose music has wonderful orchestration. Members of Ohbijou would describe their music as “orchestrestral softpop/rock/bebop/R‘nB/bluegrass/andmore.” It’s a genre of its own that doesn’t include the sounds of bagpipe. Who is Ohbijou? Ohbijou consists of talented musicians: Casey Mecija (lead vocals, guitar), Jenny Mecija (backup vocals, violin), Jamie Bunton (drums), Ryan Carley (keys), Anissa Hart (cello), and Heather... [continue]

Art! Alleyways! Don’t it sound fantasmo? This year’s Alley Jaunt is taking place this weekend (Saturday AND Sunday) in the alleyways of the area surrounding Trinity Bellwoods Park (11am til 6pm). The Jaunt will feature art installations, performances, and other wonderfully marvellous artiness inside of garages, outside of garages, and around garages in alleyways. Paul McClure, Jennifer Bulthuis, and Lise Beaudry are the creators of Alley Jaunt and they’ve got extra curators (Claire Eckert, Anne... [continue]