Sunday, March 20, 2022

Hi, art lovers!

I’m going to keep this short but (very) sweet. Last Monday, I found a message from Fentster gallery in my inbox. They’re located on College Street in Toronto, on the northern edge of Kensington Market, and they use the front window of a Jewish community space as a street-facing gallery for rotating exhibitions. Since late November, anyone zipping along the sidewalk has been able to see drawings by Yaara Eshet and Aya Rosen, colourful notebook pages that have been hung in a sort of three-column mobile.

Are those names familiar? This might be why. Yaara and Aya appeared in this short video we produced last year. Yaara lives in Toronto; Aya, in Brooklyn. And despite never once meeting in person, they’ve been swapping sketchbooks back and forth for years, a long-standing collaboration that’s powered by the postal service.

Another little detail from that video? Yaara and Aya talk about how much they’d love to throw a joint exhibition some day.

Well, Evelyn Tauben at Fentster saw that clip. (Evelyn’s the curator there.) “I read/watched this CBC feature and immediately connected with the artists,” Evelyn wrote. “And we set to work right away developing a new project.”

Um, that’s fantastic. And I wish I could say I knew about more stories like this.

Did something you saw on CBC Arts inspire you to make something? Tell me! You know how to get in touch. Looking forward to having more updates like this one to share.

(In Toronto? You can see Yaara and Aya’s drawings at Fentster gallery through April 3.)

And because we promised you eye candy ...

@gvsgvs/Instagram

Artists everywhere continue to find ways of supporting the people of Ukraine. One example: Toronto-born filmmaker Gordon von Steiner is selling prints of this image as a fundraiser for emergency relief. It’s a still from a film he shot in the country in 2019.

@andrew.salgado.art/Instagram

And another Canadian-born artist, Andrew Salgado, is auctioning this piece for Ukraine relief. Find details on Instagram.

@torontobiennial/Instagram

Considering a gallery trip this weekend? Here’s what MOCA Toronto looks like right now. I Am Your Relative, a new project by Jeffrey Gibson, was co-commissioned by the museum and the Toronto Biennial of Art. (FYI, that event kicks off Saturday.)

Kelly Richardson

As seen on CBC Arts! This work by Kelly Richardson is now appearing at the Kamloops Art Gallery to April 2.

Sheida Shekarian

Wow. This one image is packed with enough eye candy for 10 newsletters. It’s called A few more halfhearted tries and it’s by Ontario illustrator Sheida Shekarian.

You've got to see this

Getty Images

Monday, the masks come off. So what does that mean for arts venues?

As Ontario ends its masking mandate, theatres and museums have been left to enforce their own safety rules.

Gloria Swain

The pandemic diary of an immunocompromised artist

Toronto’s Gloria Swain reflects on two years of isolation. “It was not easy coming to terms with the fact that the worst was yet to come,” she writes. “But art is what comforted me.”

Vito Amati

Scarborough is having a moment

Moviegoers are flocking to see Scarborough, and according to Amanda Parris, the indie film’s success is just one more example of the incredible arts and culture born of the Toronto suburb.

Follow this artist

Shary Boyle

@magiclanterns

@magiclanterns/Instagram

Why stop with a follow? If you’re in Toronto, go see this exhibition today.

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!