Finding Home

A visual story of loss, love, and finding home, this project marries the six-word memoir concept (popularized by Smith Magazine) and photography. The interactive photo exhibition will take you to the streets of old Damascus, exploring themes of identity, culture, and tradition: the different influences that shape the concept of home when considering immigration.

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Mao Correa : Solitary Portraits 2017

Date: February 9 – 25, 2017
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday 1-6 pm 
Place: Toronto Centre for the Arts
Cost: Free
Closed: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 for Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship Grant Program info session

Opening Reception:
Date: February 9, 2017
Time: 5-8pm

Join Mao Correa in his most recent art-journey: Solitary Portraits (series 2017) and in welcoming the Express-Art(e) Colombia… A women-window project for a country momentum.

My Dear Veterans

A photography exhibition by Ludmila Schnaider

The “My Dear Veterans” project (2014-2016) is about Canadian WWII veterans living in Toronto, many of whom are almost 100 years old. They have a history which we will never know if we do not help them share it with us.This collection of over 60 artistic portraits includes portraits of veterans and landscape photos from Auschwitz.

Lower Gallery, Toronto Centre for the Arts

5040 Yonge St.

November 11-25th, 2016

Reception November 11, 12-3pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday 1-4:30pm or by appointment

Film Screening: The liberation of Auschwitz (Poland)

mydearveterans.com

Jesus Mora – Cosmovision Maya

This September, Jesus Mora’s exhibits Cosmovision Maya at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Presented by North York Arts, a Fellowship from The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, Mora’s series of paintings explore the teaches of Mayan cosmology he has learned from Bartolo Alvarez, a K’iche’ elder of the community.

Using the ancient texts of the Pop Wuj, a series of paintings were created using Mayan iconography. Mora writes: “The subjects of my work have a life cycle of their own, within which are contained reality, fantasy, the microscopic world and the universe. This represents a constant conversation between ourselves and our surroundings not only in the material world but also in the subconscious one.” You can see paintings from Cosmovision Maya at the Toronto Centre for the Arts in the Lower Gallery from September 8th to the 28th.

A reception will be held on Mexican Independence Day, September 15th, from 5:30-7:30pm.

Learn more about Jesus Mora at: http://www.jesusmoraart.com

SPECTRUM: North York Visual Artists Exhibition

Cost: FREE

Date: Thursday, April 14 – Thursday, April 28
         Reception April 14, 2016

Time: Reception 7-9pm

Gallery hours:
Tuesday-Wednesday: 1-5pm
Thursday closed
Friday: 1-8pm

Place: Toronto Centre for the Arts, Lower Gallery

The NYVA 2nd annual exhibition showcases local visual artists from across North York! Since 1998, North York Visual Artists has maintained its appeal as an intimate, supportive group for artists from beginner to professional and for those working in diverse mediums. Join us this month to celebrate a fantastic group of artists!

Also open when productions are playing in the Theatre, from doors open to end of intermission
http://www.tocentre.com/whats-on

Seniors Art Exhibition

Maha Munaf Photography Exhibition – “Faces & Places”

Join us for the opening of Maha Munaf’s solo exhibition, Faces & Places, taking place on February 11th from 6pm at the lower gallery in Toronto Centre for the Arts, where Maha will lead a guided artist-tour of the exhibition at 6:30pm.

Some of the images featured in the exhibition document places that are forever altered by history. Contextually the photographs from the Aleppo series now capture and speak to everyday moments which have become significant as the physical and the human geography of the space is altered by historical events.

Maha uncovers the connection between immortal art, people and their everyday lives.
The juxtaposition of old and new, modern and ancient, new growth and decay as well as the capturing of moments we always speed by, invites viewers to take pause and contemplate a moment in time.

The reception will feature a musical performance by The Levon Ichkhanian LEVANT trio.

Exhibition runs February 10-24, 2016
Tuesday/ Wednesday 1-5pm
Friday 1-8pm
*after hours and weekend viewings by appointment, please contact melissa@northyorkarts.org

Reception and Artist-Run Tour on February 11, 2016
6-8pm
Toronto Centre for the Arts, Lower Gallery
5040 Yonge Street

Jack Ford Photography Collection: Exhibit at the Lower Gallery, Toronto Centre for the Arts

At 20, Jack Ford saw the world through a different lens, when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and landed a spot in the, 414 Photo Unit Squadron.

During the Second World War, he carried a small accordion style camera with him at all times, his job was to document history in action:  civilians and children on the roadside, aerial views of bombed towns and sometimes still burning German enemy targets.

In order to shoot the aerial shots, a special camera was mounted behind the pilot of a Spitfire airplane. Together, he and his squadron took thousands of photos. Processing would take place in a rushed manner in the back of a truck, somewhere on the side of the road.

His most memorable event was soon after D-Day, when Winston Churchill unexpectedly showed up with British Field Marshall, Bernard Montgomery and King George VI for a surprise visit near Caen, France. Jack, a kid at the time, was shaking with fear, hardly able to hold the camera steady.

After the war, as an advertising executive in Toronto, Jack continued his affiliation with photography, when he worked with images and creative story boards to develop new ad campaigns.

For five years he has lived in the veterans’ residence at Sunnybrook. Each week he visits his wife and true love Joan, who is in a nursing home only a short distance from the hospital. Along with distance, dementia has come between them.

Some days she knows he is there and other times he’s not so sure. “It’s not the way I planned things would be, but I’ve come to accept it,” he says.

At the Veterans Centre, Jack looks forward to regular sessions in the photography studio with his art therapist. Together, they work with Jack’s collection, discussing the different wartime scenes and scanning them onto a large iMac computer.

“Even though I have macular degeneration and have very little sight left now, I have realized a new passion for photography and best of all my collection of old war photos, has been brought back to life!”