Busy Day in the Big City

On Saturday my family decided to jump in the car and go to Toronto, see some art, eat some food and visit with a few friends.
Here are a few of the wonderful things we saw.

First Open Studio. Love the entranceway in 401 Richmond and the great prints by Jeannie Thib

Saw Jennifer Linton's intriguing show, Domestikia.

Love this house she has built with so much detail, especially the bed and the snakes...

Had a quick lunch visit with Astrid Ho (printmaker and curator with Open Studio's print sales) and meant to take a few photos of the print sales office and gallery but ran out of time.  If you are looking for some wonderful original works on paper, you should visit Astrid.

like this beautiful print by Susan Collett (please excuse my rough snapshots)

While in 401 Richmond, I was drawn into The Red Head Gallery from a glimpse of some fantastic paper sculptures by Xiaojing Yan for her installation 'A Grasp of Shadows'.
You can view some images from the show on the gallery website or check out Xiaojing's
website to see more of her work. 

a couple different views of Xiaojing Yan's installation

Walked up to Dundas to visit Bookhou.  Have been following their gorgeous shop online for awhile and have been meaning to see the space in person and say 'hello' to Arounna. It seems that some of my friends in North England are fans of Bookhou as well and wanted me to pass on their praises.  Small world with this internet...
Purchased some sweet tea towels and a small bag for special pencils and things so they do not get lost in the bottom of my purse.

some beautiful small works by Arounna Khounnoraj

a detail of one of Arounna's works

Some friends from Guelph were having an art opening at Graven Feather, so we wandered back down to Queen St. to visit and view the work of Lydia Nieuwenkamp and Gillian Wilson

Lydia

Gillian

studio area and presses and people and wine and vegan baked goods. Yay Lydia!

more people and artwork and wine.  I did not get any great photos of the artwork so you should probably visit yourself. Always better in person. Of course you can also check out Gillian and Lydia's links above and view some work online.

Homes of artists

My home (present and past) is a series of constant renovation projects. Probably because as artists, my husband and I have gone for the 'fixer-upper' type house within our means.  The type of home usually advertised as one that just needs a creative touch, a dash of inspiration and lots of dreaming and scheming.  This means we have learned to be very handy and also to know where we should not bother ourselves and just hire the professionals.  Recently there have been a number of fellow artists homes on blogs and websites and thought I would share a few here in case you have missed them. I love the warm spaces made up of found treasures, hand me downs, art and all wonderful things home made. oh, and these three homes are in Ontario. nice.

this is the home and artist residency (Spark Box Studios)  of Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping.  you can see more here at design sponge. 

The sweet bedroom above is the room that I stayed in during my residency last September. 

The recent covet garden features the home of artists Arounna Khounnoraj and John Booth. you can see more here 

on their website/blog, a wonderful online magazine.  The previous issue featured the home of artist Cybele Young. 

and be sure to check out the lovely website for Arounna and John's Toronto store Bookhou