Get Some Art

Overwhelmed by the offerings at this weekend’s Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition? Here’s a handy list to help aspiring collectors figure out what not to miss.
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1. FOR ANYONE WHO'S WISHED FLOWERS WERE FOREVER

Amanda McCavour, Booth 304, amandamccavour.com

One of Canada’s most stunningly original young artists, McCavour creates her suspended sculptural installations entirely of thread, using a technique that involves sewing onto soluble fabric, then dissolving that fabric in water. What’s left behind are haunting forms unlike anything you have ever seen. Her booth at the TOAE features a “floating garden,” where 450 embroidered flowers— buttercups, English asters, and daisies—hang from the ceiling.

Single flowers $150 each; individual “forget me not” brooches $25–$35; smaller framed works $2,500.

2. FOR BEING WOWED BY THE EPIC MAJESTY OF CANADA... IN YOUR OWN HOME

Jason Brown, Booth 252, jasonmbrown.ca

This Elliot Lake–born photographer focuses on depicting two extremes in Canadian landscapes: large, diversified, urban centres and small, rural, single-industry towns. Brown’s unexpected oversized views of these historic and socially significant spaces have an honest, compelling beauty, reminiscent of Edward Burtynsky and Jeff Wall.

$500–$2,000.

3. FOR FANS OF FRIDA KAHLO AND FAIRYTALES

Julie Liger-Belair, Booth 192, julieligerbelair.com

If Frida Kahlo and Marc Chagall had a love child, its work might look like the collaged pieces of Julie Liger-Belair. This local artist and OCADU grad uses feathers, photos, Japanese paper, and tin to create vibrant three-dimensional pieces with interactive elements like miniature doors. To create her one-of-a-kind creations, Liger-Belair draws on myths, fairytales, and her own robust imagination.

$50–$1,200.

4. FOR WORDPLAY AFICIONADOS

Wolf Kohler, Booth 281, wolfkohler.blogspot.com

A self-taught poet and painter, Kohler explores the relationship between symbols and art in his work. Using paint, casino online oil, crayons, and coloured pencils, he creates subtle, understated canvases that feature words and numbers. The layered surfaces of his compositions resemble exterior walls that have been postered and painted over many times.

$125–$3,200.

5. FOR A QUICK HIT OF ZEN

Christopher Flock, Booth 144, studioreid.com

This Canadian-born, Japanese-trained ceramic artist—whose work appears in many of Canada’s best private and public collections—makes exquisite teapots with fantastically sculpted reed handles. Each one is a study in the contrast of textures and a minimalist masterpiece.

Prices available in person.

6. FOR VINTAGE FREAKS

Alison Fleming, Booth 94, alisonfleming.com

At last year’s TOAE, this British Columbia–trained artist took home the “best in exhibition” prize for her paintings of isolated moments in urban architecture. Channelling the spirit of Edward Hopper, Fleming recreates the signage, glass reflections, and worn surfaces of storefronts from decades past in a thoroughly modern style.

$400–$1,500.

7. FOR SCIENCE NERDS

Jason McKay, Booth 343, jaymckay.ca

Jason McKay just graduated from OCADU, but his gorgeous images, inspired by cosmology and biology, have already been snapped up by the permanent collections of the City of Toronto and the University of London. Without being academic, McKay offers a 21st-century abstract expressionist take on science and the excitement of its discoveries.

$175–$1,400.

8. FOR BEING AWED BY FRAGILITY

Karli Sears, Booth 76, karlisearsglass.com

A Sheridan College graduate whose work has found homes in collections across Europe, Canada, and the U.S., Sears combines structured patterns with lyrical forms to make botanically inspired, hand-blown, ethereal glass sculpture and jewellery that are as luminous and light as eggshells.

Jewellery $45–$500; sculpture $750–$1,300.