All of the Glory, None of the Spending by Charlotte Van Ryn (@charlottevryn) is now on view at Akin Vitrine Gallery until the end of March! 1747 St. Clair Ave W at Akin St Clair - viewable 24/7 from the sidewalk.
Read MoreThe exhibition will be up from February 9th - March 9th. The gallery is visible from the street 24/7, if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to drop by and take a look. In the meantime, read on to find out more about Tam’s work and inspirations!
Image above: Artist Tam Phan, waring a respirator mask
About the artist:
Tam Phan is a Vietnamese-Canadian artist based in Toronto who loves working with stained glass. Her practice explores themes of nostalgia, wonder, feeling lost, and identity. Her new installation titled ‘Every Day I Wake Up and I'm Still in Tokyo’ will run from February 9th - March 9th in the Akin Vitrine, and will showcase various stained glass pieces, lite brite toys, and a gifted TTC lightbox. The installation is inspired by her trips to Vietnam and Japan.
See more work on Tam’s instagram
Tell us about your exhibition!
Tam: “Everyday I Wake Up and I'm Still in Tokyo was inspired by a trip I went on to Japan and Vietnam in 2023. I felt lost on this trip and it impacted how I viewed myself and my identity. Although unsteady, I felt comfortable with my reading and conversational skills in Vietnam, plus I had family there who made me feel mostly at home. But once I got to Japan I felt lost again, and those feelings were amplified by being physically lost in a place where I couldn't understand anything.
I decided to take lots of pictures of the shop and restaurant signs, and three were my inspiration for the stained glass collection I have in the Vitrine Gallery. Each one is colourful, vibrant, and has Kanji in it, but there's a small feeling of sadness when I look at each of them. I manipulated the colours, design and shapes but ultimately kept most of them true to the original.
Thank you to the Toronto Arts Council who generously supported this project.”
Image above: Artist Tam Phan is standing beside the Akin Vitrine Gallery and looking at it. In the gallery are many colourful pieces of stained glass artwork incluing a large piece featuring a piece of chocolate cake with red cherries on it in front of an orange and blue background.
What was your first medium and what's your favourite tool/material right now?
Tam: “Just a paper and pencil! I was also obsessed with gel pens.”
Do you have a studio routine?
Tam: “I am definitely a project-focused artist. My studio mates will not see me for months until I have a new passion project. Then you'll see me in the studio every day, cutting, grinding and foiling like a mad scientist.”
Do you have creative prompts or habits to help you get started? Any self-care tips to share?
Tam: “Just do it! Go to the studio even if you don't have everything ready. I'm always surprised by how inspiring it can be to just give yourself space in the right environment. I also divide my time at the studio with playing badminton, and I find the two (making art, play badminton) inspire and motivate each other in odd ways.”
What are some of the benefits of being in the studio for you? What brought you to Akin?
Tam: “There are so many benefits. Even though every morning is a constant battle to get out of the door, once I'm at the studio I feel my creative side break through. The community, having an alternate space for creativity, and for this specific project, every single one of my studio mates helped me from cutting to design to installation or even just a short pep talk. It was incredible and made me so emotional. Everyone wanted me to succeed.
I signed up for a space at Akin during the pandemic when I desperately needed a change of scenery and a chance to work with my hands. Being at Akin has changed my worldview in many ways.”
What are you NOT very good at? What do you WANT to be good at?
Tam: “Not good: meeting deadlines. Want to be good at: meeting deadlines!!”
This project was produced with the support of the City of Toronto through Toronto Arts Council. #poweredbyTAC
We are delighted to introduce our current Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin River artist Walter Segers. Walter's work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of May and then 1485 Dupont for the month of June.
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR is an installation consisting of a movable doll house @lilliputgallery, still 2D images and 3D altered toys exploring the interaction between location and individuals. Each room in the doll house tells a unique story that reminds us that the future is bright with a vision of LOVE instead of WAR.
Working primarily with dolls such as Ken and Barbie, toy soldiers and toy animals, the battle of nations or battle between cats and dogs becomes intimate instead of combative.
Children use toys to discover their identity, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults on occasion use toys to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, and to remember and reinforce lessons from their youth.
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR is communicating a positive message, a fantasy world that Walter would like to see as being real. Why not make the focus of your life something happy!
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR
Found objects, taxidermy, photography and doll house @lilliputgallery
Site Specific Installation, Dimensions Variable
2019-2020
To contact the artist:
Instagram: @waltersegers
Website: www.waltersegers.com
#Akinvitrine
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2020 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin St. Clair and Akin Dupont. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at St. Clair and second month at Dupont. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
Walter’s work will be on view for the month of May in our St. Clair Avenue West Akin Vitrine Gallery, 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin Dupont Vitrine Gallery where it will be on view for the month of June. Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
We are delighted to introduce our current Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin artist Michelle Rawlings. Michelle's work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of April and then 1485 Dupont for the month of May.
Experience is an installation made up of 3-dimensional letters displayed at different heights and depths. The word is playfully broken apart causing viewers to pause to decipher what it says as they take in the different forms and planes of the window display. The result is an unexpected visual experience reminding us to stop every once in a while and take in the world around us.
Experience
Paper
Dimensions variable
2020
To contact the artist:
Instagram: @ms.rawlings
#Akinvitrine
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2020 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin St. Clair and Akin Dupont. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at St. Clair and second month at Dupont. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
Michelle’s work will be on view for the month of April in our St. Clair Avenue West Akin Vitrine Gallery, 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin Dupont Vitrine Gallery where it will be on view for the month of May. Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
We are delighted to introduce our current Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin Dupont artist Liliana Vera. Liliana's work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of March and then 1485 Dupont for the month of April.
I want to be defined by the things I love,
not the things I hate,
nor the things I am afraid of.
“i found it in the forest” is about the personal journeys we venture into, the idea of the sacred pilgrimage to answer our most pressing questions. It is about the places themselves, places ready to trip us if not prepared, places willing to give but that will take something from us too.
These journeys we must take alone; sometimes dubious but with heightened senses.
I invite you to reflect on the journey you are wandering on and hope you find shelter to rest and continue forward.
Ever since starting on Akin on 2017, I have been working with the theme of “hand portraits” and have found a comfortable space working on wooden panels, since the material respects the details pencil traces while adding a little of its own decisions when mixed with gouache, bleeding colour into different parts of my pieces. But I have curiosity to shift between mediums, and lately have experimented with paper and wire to create black-grey-white small sculptures. I found the Vitrine to be a good opportunity to try something I want: storytelling in maquette form.
I found it in the forest
Sewn paper and text
Dimensions variable
2020
To contact the artist:
Instagram: @thecatintherain
#Akinvitrine
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2020 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin St. Clair and Akin Dupont. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at St. Clair and second month at Dupont. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
Liliana’s work will be on view for the month of March in our St. Clair Avenue West Akin Vitrine Gallery, 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin Dupont Vitrine Gallery where it will be on view for the month of April. Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
We are delighted to introduce our current Akin Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin Ossington artist Nicole Crozier. Nicole’s work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1485 Dupont for the month of November and then 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of December.
Nicole Crozier is a Toronto-based visual artist and arts manager. Her work surrealistically explores the animate potential of accessories and decoration in relation to the female body. She aims to cultivate an aesthetic that is simultaneously seductive and unsettling as a means of investigating the overlap between desire, fantasy, identity, and self-image.
Bordering on the baroque, “Beckon” is a painter’s experimental foray into sculptural installation. The work plays with our magpie-like attraction to bright, reflective objects, promising delights with outstretched, inviting gestures, but from incorporeal hands surreally disassociated from reality. These hands, reminiscent of mannequin models positioned in storefront windows, are slowly being consumed by ornaments once meant to decorate them in a shrine-like ode to the power of the display. “Beckon” insists on seduction while highlighting the dangers of desire, utilizing the disembodied hand as a means of creating a point of association as well as disconnect with the viewer. It simultaneously invites and threatens, beckons and repels, offers promise and yet leads nowhere.
Beckon
Mixed Media
Dimensions Variable
2019
To contact the artist:
Instagram: @nicolebcrozier
#Akinvitrine
www.nicolebcrozier.com
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2019 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin Dupont and Akin St. Clair. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at Dupont and second month at St. Clair. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
‘Beckon’ will be on view for the month of November in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of December at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
We are delighted to introduce our current Akin Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin King alumi, soon to be Akin MOCA artist and staff member Erin Candela. Erin’s work will be on exhibit in our galleries beginning at 1485 Dupont for the month of September and then 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the month of October.
Erin Candela is a Canadian artist originally from northern BC, currently living in Toronto. Often using historical documents such as photographs, public school books, nature encyclopedias and community journals, themes of Memory and identity are frequently present in her drawings. Ideas of North, Canadian landscape, and portentous depictions of wild creatures and characters are also common and contribute to a scattered and ambiguous narrative.
Things Go So Wrong?
Mixed Media
Dimensions Variable
2019
To contact the artist:
Instagram: @candles_
#Akinvitrine
www.erincandela.ca
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2019 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin Dupont and Akin St. Clair. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at Dupont and second month at St. Clair. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
‘Things Go So Wrong?’ will be on view for the month of September in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of October at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
Photo from Andrew Kennedy. Painting on the right: Timing, on the left: You Fight.
We are excited to introduce our Akin Vitrine Gallery artist, Andrew Kennedy. Andrew has been an Akin Dupont member since 2016, and his piece ‘Fighting Alone’ will be on exhibit in our galleries located at 1485 Dupont and 1747 St. Clair Avenue West for the months of July and August respectively.
His installation ‘Fighting Alone’ explores issues surrounding human agency, individual dignity, and political demoralization. What might be more important; the group someone belongs to, or their capacity as an individual? Whose job is it to ‘fix’ the problems of our society; is it the citizen or the politician? Can human beings who tend to find meaning in life through their realization as an individual, also find meaning in group responsibility? The viewer is encouraged to bring their own thoughts and beliefs when considering the installation. After all, there are no ‘hard truths’ when contemplating the ephemeral atmosphere surrounding the current human condition.
Andrew V. Kennedy was born in New York, NY, and currently lives and works in the greater Toronto area. He received a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in Painting from Brooklyn College. His work has always been centered around the dignity of the individual, and their life in society. Issues of politics, modernity, sociology, and our ‘inner lives’ can also be seen in his work. Kennedy’s exploration of these issues began with simple portraiture; but eventually grew to include the use of text. His work has been exhibited both in New York City, and Toronto, ON.
‘Fighting Alone’ will be on view for the month of July in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of August at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
Akin Projects is pleased to present our June/July Vitrine Gallery artist, Akin MOCA member, Ghazaleh Avarzamani. Through the notion of nature as a medium, her piece The Exfoliation, will explore both the geopolitical and intimate connotations of home — from exile, displacement, and refugeeism on a global scale, to the everyday and extraordinary realms of domestic life and hospitality.
Humans classify natural species by place; i.e., those that belong and those that do not belong to a certain location. Some plants or animals, which are “non-native” to a specific location and rapidly spread, are believed to cause severe damage to the local environment, economy or human health. These are often described as “aliens,” “invaders,” or “pests.” Increasingly, since the 1950s, both human and non-human migration discourses have used the figure of the “non-native” or the “alien” as a negative input for “native” contexts. The Exfoliation re-thinks the “alien” as an entity that actually constructs a new reality and brings valuable cultural hybridization. As a result, the idea of the pristine landscape and who defines it is questioned, as perceptions of “native,” “alien,” and “invasive” species profoundly change over time.
Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s selected exhibitions include Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium museum in Norway; Bocconi Gallery in Italy; Ab/Anbar Gallery in Iran; Asia House in the UK; Etemad Gallery in UAE; and Artmark gallery in Austria. She has been the recipient of Toronto Art Council in 2018, Ontario Art Council award in 2017 and the Red Mansion Art Prize in 2013. In 2016, She curated Jabberwocky, a group exhibition at Ab/Anbar Gallery in Tehran.
The Exfoliation
mixed media
2018
To contact the artist:
www.ghazalehavarzamani.com
Instagram: @ghazalehavarzamani
The Exfoliation will be on view for the month of June in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of July at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
You can catch the exhibition on the Akin Summer Gallery Crawl on June 23. Click here for more information.
For more information about Ghazaleh and her work, follow our Instagram account @akinvitrine.
We are very excited to present new work by Akin St. Clair member, Kate Drwecka in our Vitrine Galleries for the months of May and June!
Her installation is based on her most recent project, Becoming: a 31 page printed horror comic, the first in a series of mini comics exploring horror’s ability to process real trauma through representation. The original pages measure roughly 16.75" x 21.25", and the final product is a mini-comic that is 5.5" x 8.5". This installation features some of the original pages, and a recreation of the iconic mirror and monster from the comic.
Becoming is a story of repression, denial of self, and how that presents itself in our lives. Laila is a woman who lives alone with her past, haunted by a ghastly figure living in her mirror. The reflection calls to Laila's unacknowledged history, begging her to confront her denied history. As Laila continues to refuse her past, the figure in the mirror grows stronger, to eventually manifest outside the mirror.
Kate Drwecka is a freelance cartoonist/illustrator working and living in Toronto. She grew up in the cold climates of Canada, and studied at the School of Visual Arts in NY. As a small child, Kate wanted to grow up and become Freddie Mercury. She still does.
Currently Kate is working on a series about an all-girl supernatural detective agency, and a series of horror comics. Kate is an original member of the Akin Comic Club and has recently helped organize the Akin Comic Day event. A one-day celebration of comic books, comic making and comic artists!
Becoming will be on view for the month of May in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of June at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2018 programming in two Vitrine Galleries at our St. Clair studios and Dupont studios. These miniature galleries will feature the diverse talent of our studio members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at Akin Dupont and second month at Akin St. Clair.
Our February/March exhibit features the work of Akin Lansdowne member, Eloisa Morra. Eloisa’s work deals with the problems of perception in figurative painting and the inclusion of multiple narratives in a picture.
As Philip Guston once wrote, “A good painting should be a clear enigma”. How can the artist create a visual alphabet, avoiding both the trivialization of reality of naturalism and the stillness of the symbol? Clear Enigma presents an imagined space where two different creatures — the Eye and the Duende — meet, exploring the multiple feelings and stories generated by their encounter.
‘Clear Enigma'
Mixed Media
Variable Dimensions
The exhibition runs for the month of February in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday. To arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact us at info@akincollective.com
‘Clear Enigma’ will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of March at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.
To contact the artist:
Instagram: eloisa_morra
For more information about our artists and our programming join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.
Introducing our Akin Vitrine Gallery December exhibition, “All Are Welcome” by Akin Dupont member, Bernadette Peets.
“I have been thinking a lot about how recent immigrants and in particular refugees who come to Canada feel about us, this country and in particular what their experience is of our landscapes.
Is Canadian society the open, warm and friendly culture that we like to think it is for these newcomers? Is our pristine landscape available to them? Does it represent a refuge or is it viewed as threatening due to its vastness and unknown dangers?
I often use wild animals in my shadow boxes to represent the vulnerability of the human characters in the narrative. In this case, the deer with the bullseye carries the symbol of the 'hunted' while at the same time acting as a warning to these individuals. The orange screen across the front is meant to slightly obscure the scene so that the viewer must look even closer to be able to see it completely. The screen says "All Are Welcome" but also acts as a barrier or an enclosure reminiscent of a refugee camp. The scenes on the side walls remind us of the origins of the travellers and the reflective surface creates a way for all of the scenes and characters to merge.
I think that we still need to go some distance in our understanding of how these newcomers may be feeling in their new reality and how we might bridge the gap between viewing them as 'other' and more as part of our communities.”
Bernadette was born in Toronto where she currently lives and works. Her studio is in the Akin Collective at 1485 Dupont Street. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996 where she majored in Drawing, Painting and Art History. She lived in Florence Italy for two years (1987–88 & 1994–95) where she continued to study Art History and develop her craft as a painter.
She has explored many themes over the past 20 years of her art practice and while she has mainly used painting as her medium she has also included three dimensional installation work as well as other pictorial devices that include shadow boxes, photographs, drawing and printmaking.
Her subjects of interest have been rooted in her political, social and aesthetic ideals. Whether she is using her work as a platform for a discussion on topics as diverse as the female body image to issues relating to the Indigenous Nations in Canada, her approach is always connected to her strong sense of design, colour and technical precision.
Craft is important to her as an effective means of communication. She believes that having a high quality of execution in her work facilitates a more effective communication of her intent.
‘All Are Welcome'
Mixed Media
Variable Dimensions
The Akin Vitrine Gallery is located at the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner.
The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, or to arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact the artist: bernadettepeets1@gmail.com
www.bernadettepeets.com
Instagram: @b_peets
#AkinVitrine
The Akin Vitrine Gallery is excited to present new work by Akin Lansdowne studio artist, Claire Correia, on exhibit until the end of September.
The Angel of History
She said: what is history?
And he said: history is an angel being blown backwards into the future
He said: history is a pile of debris
And the angel wants to go back and fix things
To repair the things that have been broken
But there is a storm blowing from paradise
And the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future
And this storm, this storm is called progress
Laurie Anderson – excerpt from The Dream Before. 1989.
Claire Correia is a multi-media artist who works with both two and three-dimensional media including soft glass, in combination with small scale metal-working, paper engineering, and use of wood and other materials. Her installations, relief wall pieces and kinetic sculptures express ideas about energy, environment, and the Earth as a living entity. Claire also is a mother, paints, maintains a rigorous sketchbook practice, is a design educator in the School of Graphic Design at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, and is a pastry cook at the Dundas Park Kitchen in Toronto, Canada.
The Angel of History, 2017
Mixed Media
dimensions variable
The Akin Vitrine Gallery is located at the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner.
The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, or to arrange a viewing outside of those hours please contact the artist: clairelcorreia@yahoo.com
website: www.clairecorreia.com
instagram: @claire.correia
#AkinVitrine
Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present the Vitrine Gallery, a valued addition to our Dupont studios. This miniature gallery will feature the diverse talent of our members with a new installation each month.