This message comes to you a few days late, as I've recently made the decision to run in the municipal election this October! I'm very appreciative of the supportive messages and thoughtful questions I've received so far, and I've started thinking about scheduling meetings with colleagues, friends and community leaders. I'm gleaning what the mayor can and can't control and considering how to build a platform in line with that reality, but also with room to dream. Watch this space….
Aside from that announcement, I want to shout out the great work on view at 401 Richmond. Pree Rehal's exhibition ਨਾਲ-ਨਾਲ (Naal-Naal)at Tangled Arts + Disability has a cool “do-it-together” ethos based on Rehal's experience as an artist and educator; the solo show's offering is a mix of textile, video, zine, puppetry and other creative expressions (so '90s!). And Gallery 44 has its annual photography fundraiser exhibition, Salon 44 – there's a wonderful variety of materiality in this show, with lens-based works appearing on ceramic, bamboo and other novel “canvases”.
I noticed many pieces from the fundraiser sold during the opening – it's fun to think about such adventurous work heading into peoples' houses and offices! And speaking of fun, it's time for the second instalment of my Living Artfully series which will hopefully have you making a trip to the theatre soon.
The vibrant vista above, photographed by Eric Forget, is found in the subterranean Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre at 877 Yonge Street in Yorkville; right now, Nightwood Theatre and Tapestry Opera call the location their home base. This majestic mural, painted by illustrator and graphic designer Madison Van Rijn, creates a dramatic entryway befitting the greeting of guests on their way to a stage production.
After the mural was unveiled last spring, I attended a performance at the Centre and a few days later, I spoke to Van Rijn and Alexandra Donaldson, the artistic director of Nightwood Theatre who reached out to her about collaborating on the mural. I was told that the project came together after Nightwood was surreptitiously displaced.
“We were booted out of our space in the Distillery District, a space we were in for over 20 years,” Donaldson says. “And we were resolute in that moment about the fact that we needed to replenish the beautiful studio space that we had – which was now gone – for ourselves, and for also artists that use it in our community.” The move into the Yonge Street address, which is in the basement of an affordable housing property managed by the social justice landlord/developer St. Clare's Housing, signalled an ambitious mix of use. I encourage you to discover more about the partnership here in an article about combating NIMBYism with cultural innovation.
Van Rijn – whose artistic hospitality work is familiar to anyone who has visited Toronto haunts like Bar Isabel, La Palma, and the Louix Louis restaurant located in The St. Regis Hotel – also has a mural at an east end beer-forward boite called Avling. And that's where Donaldson, a local brew lover, discovered her work. Noting how good Avling's atmosphere makes her feel, Donaldson tapped Van Rijn to transform 877 Yonge Street's foyer into something with warmth and wow factor.
“I want it to feel like suddenly you're immersed in inspiration and beauty and optimism,” Donaldson told me. And certainly the bountiful palette and joyful forms found in the mural do just that. In terms of the descriptors Van Rijn was given for ideating, words sprang up such as welcoming, inviting and enveloping.
While she developed proposals for what the piece would ultimately look like, Van Rijn notes that she used the complicated contours of the entry space to inform the mural's gestures. “It's not necessarily based on a concept or grand idea,” she says of how the sprawling scene ultimately took shape. “When I was painting it, I was doing what the space was asking for. There are all these different angles and levels and vantage points, and I was walking around and seeing what feels right in the space.”
The next production run at 877 Yonge Street begins on March 26th, as Tapestry Opera launches a new adaptation and staging of Ana Sokolović’s Love Songs. Its two stars, soprano Xin Wang and tap dancer Rumi Jeraj, will surely shine; but Van Rijn's mural makes a potent magic all its own.
“I'm striving to create less ornamental, or decorative, art within interior design,” Van Rijn adds. “So that it's something that is more of an experience and is essential to the space – not just something that's pushed into the background.”
Another exciting theatrical collaboration to put on your radar right now is found in the current production of Jill Connell's The Herald, made in partnership between the theatrical collective It Could Still Happen and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Connell tasked Toronto-based creatives Tala Kamea and Alex McLeod of ORXSTRA to be the costume designers, and the looks devised (seen below) are sensual, evocative and decidedly fashion-forward.
And while we're on the topic of theatre and costume design, I'm incredibly excited to be speaking with Sahdia Cayemithe of Shaw Festival this coming Saturday during the Culture ON Tour I'm hosting! Read more about her and the tour below.
Born in Montreal, Sahdia Cayemithe is a set & costume designer. After a stint in fashion design, she joined a collective of creators(Worldwideʷʷ) with whom she learned the basics. Always in search of new challenges and wanting to broaden her horizons, she enrolled at the National Theatre School, where her new passion for spaces grew. From her imagination to the stage, Sahdia approaches each project with sensitivity, precision, and pleasure. Her technical skills include: sewing, pattern making, model making, SketchUp, Photoshop.
Throughout her journey, she designed the costumes for 365 Days/365 Plays (dir. Rose Plotek), the set design for the scenography exhibition 2nd EXPO24(Exhibition of the work of second-year set design students from the National Theatre School), the set design for L’amour vient du futur (dir. Véronique Côté), and the costume design for Je tremble 1 and 2 (dir. Marie-Ève Milot). Outside of school, she had the opportunity to join the Singulier Pluriel team as a costume designer for the production DESEO, directed by Ximena Ferrer. After being a design assistant for the Shaw in 2025 she is delighted to return again this year.
There are just five tickets left for the Culture ON Tour I'm hosting in Niagara with Ontario Culture Days this Saturday; ticket sales end tomorrow night to give us time to send an email out to everyone attending about dietary considerations and some housekeeping notes. One thing I want to point out is that there are quite a few solo tickets that have been snapped up, so if you're shy about coming alone, don't be!
I thought spotlighting a few more details about the day's plans would entice more of you to join us, and below are some words from Natasha Pedros, ambassador at the Niagara Artists Centre, to share more about what we'll see Saturday afternoon:
In the shadows of your home, curated by Rachelle Wunderink is a group exhibit that invites audiences to witness the often-unseen rhythms of care that quietly pulse through domestic life. From sleepless nights and sticky floors to fleeting moments of exhaustion, laughter, and grief, this exhibition honours the labour, maintenance, and emotional depth of mothering.
This exhibit features work by four artists: Setayesh Babaei, Bethany Kenyon, Amber Lee Williams, and Deniz Kanbal. Group exhibits create opportunities for artists to encounter each other’s work, learn from one another, and engage across generations of practice. They also offer audiences a dynamic cross-section of perspectives and approaches, making group exhibits a rich and engaging experience.
B Mosher’s A Fog That Won't Burn Away, found in the Centre's Plate Glass Gallery, is a mobile composed of suspended paper forms imprinted with speculative camouflage patterns. B’s sculptural work points towards our interconnectedness with our surroundings and the vulnerability hanging in the balance of our shared ecosystems.
Programming in our Plate Glass Gallery (street-level space) is visible 24 hours a day and makes art part of the everyday public landscape, allowing people to encounter it casually as they move through the city. This kind of accessibility removes barriers and invites a wider audience to engage with contemporary work on their own time.
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Opaloma is grateful to exist on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and is currently home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
