NSC – The Venue Opening Party!

Is this the new Red Light district in Toronto?  Hardly. Well…

But the opening party of NSC(Neubacher Shor Contemporary)- The Venue, was a clear indication that something very cool is happening in the art gallery world in Toronto.

Anya Shor and Manny Neubacher, art experts, gallery owners and otherwise known as The Art Stylists have collaborated with Eatertainment to create this amazing gallery and event space.  It’s fortunate when you find an old building like this and can turn it into something amazing.  When they found it, “it was some sort of storage warehouse,” said Anya, who also mentioned that she wanted to do more research on its history.

“The collaboration just came together one day when Manny and Anya approached me with the idea” said Sebastien Centner of Eatertainment.  “Using the space for events after gallery hours just made sense” said Anya.  And I have to agree.  Imagine having your wedding reception in a beautiful gallery surrounded by the cream of Canadian artists.  And with one of my fave artists, Thrush Holmes as a new addition to their roster, you can’t argue.

The opening was by far the event to kick off the spring party season. Food was yummy with drinks flowing on through the night. Morgan Shim provided the cool tunes. There were tons of celebs, artists and fashion designers.  We bumped into Bruno Billio, – artist extraordinaire, Leah Bazian– fashion designer, Glen Baxter – reporter, and lots of socialites and models.  I was having too much fun to take everyone’s picture, but here are a few:

NSC – The Venue is now open to the public Wednesday to Saturday 11 – 5pm, at 5 Brock Ave. just north of Queen St. W.

You’re invited to visit every Saturday during April for a celebratory tour and cocktail.

For gallery appointments or booking an event contact – 647-933-0193 or info@nscvenue.com.

Cheers! 

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The Artist Project Report

Happy Monday morning,

Last week was a busy, busy week with many openings and shows going on around the city.  Although I wanted to go to all of them, I just physically couldn’t.  Sorry Kathryn! (I promise I’ll make it up to you)

But today I want to start off by telling you a bit about The Artists Project.  Did anyone get a chance to go this year?  I know Claire (the winner of the Flohaus Fan contest) did.  Claire couldn’t stop talking about the amazing artist’s she saw and wondered why she hadn’t been to it before. One art convert. Check!

I was lucky to be able to go on opening day again and what a change it was from last year.  Last year, opening day was like a ghost town; maybe a few people down each lane – typical for newer shows.  But this year it was a completely different story.  The entrance was bustling with people lingering and when we entered the hall the amount of people made me do a “wow”.  There was just the right amount of people to maneuver the lanes and booths without much trouble.  Anymore and you wouldn’t have been able to see the art or talk to the artist’s.  As it was, there were a few artists that I had to go back to.

This is the type of opening I want to see.  It’s not only good for the artist’s but it shows that the public is really starting to appreciate this type of artist market show.  This is the only big art show where you can go and actually connect with the artists’.  The curatorial picks were very well done. The show included a good array of talks, contests and special events, feature installations. But one feature that I was really looking forward to, fell flat for me.

Leah Bazian viewing 3D images

Integrating technology with art is just a given these days, so when Sony and the show organizers decided to include The 3D World Lounge, I was really excited.   Now, I’ve been to large video installations and I wasn’t expecting to be overwhelmed because this show is a “market” after all, but what I experienced at the lounge left me feeling jipped.  Selected from hundreds of applicants, five photographers were awarded the space to display their works using Sony’s 3D technology.  The photographs were displayed on 2 medium sized monitors on either end of along space flanked by sofas. The images were really nice and were interesting in 3d, but if the purpose was to sell Sony 3D TV’s, I wasn’t sold.  And frankly, there is something missing when you view static images on a technology meant for moving objects.  Perhaps if the monitors were large and numerous with all of the images being displayed at the same time, then maybe …

Besides that, the show was truly stellar in my book.  So if you missed it, be sure to mark your calendar for next year.  Stay tuned for the artist’s that caught my eye in upcoming posts.

Cheers!

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One of Kind Winter 2010 Report

The One of a Kind Winter Show and Sale started last Thursday if you didn’t know. And this year the focus is on “The Artisans”. A great campaign because the organizers are going back to their roots. It’s not just about the crafts but truly about the artisanal expertise of these items. And this year I saw many new fantastic artisans. The only problem was that I changed my strategy.

You do know, that when attending the One of Kind, it’s all about the strategy. I usually skip the media tour for this one and go first thing on opening day. I like to see the vendors in action, with some visitors. This year, I goofed because time was an issue and I went Saturday afternoon – the busiest time. Four hours later, my eyes were blurry, I saw about 2/3rds and only a handful of new artisans.

And of course we started it off with my friend Marietta making the first good luck purchase at Honeybea.  Honeybea Designhive has the cutest clothing and accessories.  And the Bumwarmers, seriously cute, were flying out the door.  Becky Caulford was going to the studio that night to make more!

I always visit Leah Bazian to see what beautiful new scarves she has. A veteran at the show, Leah is constantly reinventing the scarf and how to wear them. Her scarves are always the best liked Christmas present in my family. Check out her contest to win a free scarf this month!

I noticed a glow from 2 aisles over, as if they were calling me. We walked over and saw Sculpted Light by Joanne Rich. First time at the show, her booth was fantastic and so were her creations. Made from molded reed forms and then she pastes all kinds of things from leaves to grasses around the forms. Truly beautiful pieces of light sculpture.

Since one of my new fetishes is felt,  we stumbled upon C comme Ca. Cindy Cantin uses felt to make the most unique household goods from ipod holders to baskets.  Love, love, love…

And then out of the blue, we came to tulip + i.  I’ll confess that throughout the whole show Marietta and I were lamenting how when we had our children there was hardly any really beautiful products for us to purchase, like there is now.  So, daydreaming about what we would be buying for our grandchildren in 10 or so years, we fell in love with Natalie Adamov’s line of natural linen products for baby and décor.  Natalie goes out of her way to source just the right colour theme that makes her silkscreened products so gorgeous.

The One of Kind runs until  Dec. 5, so don’t miss it!

Cheers!

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