From Here to Wear community events with Akin alumni Norwin Anne on March 18 & 25

This month you can join Akin Studio alumni Norwin Anne at two free community drop-in events entitled 'From Here to Wear'. Each event offers an inclusive community space where curious, like-minded people can swap and repair clothing while also learning more about "textile waste".

This initiative aims to raise more awareness on the problems surrounding the management of “textile waste” and to help prevent them from being disposed of improperly. These events create a circular closed loop system for clothing that people no longer want, while promoting a reuse and “waste not, want not” mentality. It’s a fun alternative to shopping and an engaging way to upgrade your wardrobe — a conscious practice on how to be more intentional with the clothes you wear.

Click here to learn more about From Here to Wear.

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March 18

12pm-5pm at St Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Avenue, Toronto.

Click here for full event details or to register.

Presented in partnership with East End Arts

March 25

12pm-5pm at stackt Market - STUDIO 28, Bathurst Street Toronto.

Click here for full event details or to register.

Presented in partnership with stackt Market.

Images above: Black and white event posters with text that describes the event details that are in this blog post. The first poster has a white background, the centre is a black and white circular drawing of people, animals, landscapes, and various symbols. The second poster has a dark background and the image on the poster features a repeated image of a planet that creates a curving shape across the image. 

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About Norwin Anne

Norwin Anne is a Filipinx multidisciplinary artist / designer, (re)maker and eco-culture communicator. They studied Fashion Techniques and Design at George Brown College with a waste conscious approach and slow fashion mentality. Primarily working with secondhand materials, they started focusing on textile waste as a research study during school which evolved into learning more about waste generally to understand its environmental impacts and beyond. They want to continue developing their ideas and merge their knowledge of fashion with other subjects by creating wearable art and installations to visually translate complex topics through culture jamming. They always prioritize working with used objects and discarded materials. They’re dedicated to creating conceptual and functional things from what’s seen as useless. It initiates this challenge of exploring different alternatives and they try their best to avoid using new items as much as possible.

Norwin is an Akin Studio alumni from Akin Lansdowne and Akin King.

Natural Dyes - a creative workshop presented by Akin Ossington artist Meej Kaufman

Akin Ossington artist Meej Kaufman presents a natural dyeing class on the afternoon of November 9 at Romni Wools, at 208 Weston Road. You can learn to dye yarn with local plant material that Meej has been foraging and experimenting with all summer.

This class will cover the basics of dyeing, principles of respectful foraging and much more. You will dye 100 g of yarn (provided) with one or two colours, using marigold, walnut and rose of sharon flowers. There will be an opportunity to also use more advanced techniques as well.

If you are a knitter, crocheter or weaver, this is a perfect opportunity to learn to make unique yarn for your projects, with materials easily found in Toronto. If you aren't, this class would be a great gift for a friend or family member who does work with yarn, or you could take the class and give them a one of a kind ball of yarn.

To register, or for more information, call Meej Kaufman 647-341-8388

About the artist:
Miriam Kaufman, previously a part-time goldsmith and fibre artist, has recently jumped into creating full-time. While continuing to make silver and gold jewellery, Meej (as she is known to friends and family) is focusing more on making glass beads, metalwork related to fibre (shawl pins, shawl sticks and stitch markers) and on dyeing, spinning and knitting natural fibres. She has a tiny studio in a light industrial space at Ossington and Dupont. www.meejumarts.com

Call for Submissions: Textile Museum of Canada's Creative in Residence Program

The Creative in Residence program at the Textile Museum of Canada invites three emerging professionals – an artist, a curator, and an educator – to explore new forms of engagement with Museum audiences by animating exhibition spaces and activating the permanent collection. Deadline to apply is September 27, 2019 at 5:00pm EST.

The selected participants will be integrated into the daily life of the Museum during each three-month residency. Through access to resources and mentorship, they will advance their own creative practice, challenging both themselves and Museum visitors to engage with art, craft, and design in new and innovative ways through participation in demonstrations, public programs, performance, and conversation in the galleries. This is an opportunity to re-imagine the museum experience. This program is supported by a Seed Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Selected applicants will receive a $18,600 honorarium.

For more information please direct any questions via email to Susan Fohr, Curator of Education, at sfohr@textilemuseum.ca

Fall + Winter Workshops at Contemporary Textile Studio Coop

SILKSCREEN PRINTING
with Sharon Epstein
OCTOBER 5, 19, 26 & NOVEMBER 9, 16, 23
Spend three Saturdays building your skills and knowledge of the silkscreen printing process with an experienced instructor who will guide you through the technical and creative aspects of this exciting technique. Open to all skill levels.

WOVEN MATERIALITY - WEAVE A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CLOTH
with Amanda Wood
SEPTEMBER 15
This workshop will introduce traditional cloth weaving techniques within a contemporary, materials based context. Students will work on pre-warped Ashford rigid heddle looms to create a textured multi-functional cloth. Suitable for all skill levels.

STUDIO PRINT NIGHT
with Erin MacKeen
TUESDAYS (6:00 - 9:00 pm)

Are you looking for a space to work on a printing project? Join us for Print Night and get access to our fully-equipped space to work independently. Technical assistance and screen preparation services available.

Surgi Dolls on display at the Textile Museum

Exhibition: Friday, April 5-Thursday, April 11, 2019
Ticketed Reception: Thursday, April 11, 7:00-10:00pm
Online Auction Ends Thursday, April 11, 2019

The Textile Museum of Canada is partnering with Project Sunshine Canada for a new fundraising initiative in support of family-oriented programs at both organizations. Professional artists, designers, and celebrities are creating one-of-a-kind, collectable Surgi Dolls, to be auctioned online and displayed at the Museum from April 5-11. Surgi Dolls represent an intersection of healing and creativity through textiles: Project Sunshine gives children blank dolls of diverse skin tones to make their own, to travel with them through their medical journey and provide a sense of comfort and control. By participating in the auction, you could take home your very own collectible Surgi Doll - these art objects are not for hospital use. The auction will culminate in a ticketed event at the Museum on April 11, 7-10 pm, with special guest Sally Siren.

Akin King member Rakefet Arieli, Akin alumni Emily Norry and many other talented artists were invited to decorate a Surgi Doll for The Doll Project: #SewMuchHeart. The Textile Museum of Canada has partnered with Project Sunshine Canada for a new fundraising initiative in support of family-oriented programs at both organizations. Get a chance to see the dolls in person at the Textile Museum until April 11th. Or bid on them online here.

Stop Thinking, Start Working: On Pattern, Repetition, Obsession, and Letting Go

If you find yourself in Oshawa in the next month, swing into the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and check out this solo show by Akin alumni Colleen McCarten. The show opens tomorrow and runs until December 3. There will be a reception is on Friday December 1, 7-9 pm and Colleen will be giving an artist talk on Saturday December 2, from 1-3 pm. 

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Looking at the journey of the line, in regards to the similarities between thread/textile techniques and drawing, this show will explore the technical aspect of textile construction as well as the relationship that happens between minimalism and the handmade; emphasizing the techniques and textures that come through allowing and embracing ‘mistakes’.

The pieces in this show will take inspiration from minimalism, op art, and the digital age, but using traditional textile construction techniques such as weaving and sewing. This show will consist of fabric sculptures and drawings that have been created in tandem with each other in an exploratory sense and they will look at how a subtle shift in material or technique can have drastic changes to the end result of the piece.

About Colleen: 
Colleen McCarten (formerly a member of both Akin Dufferin and Akin Dupont) is an emerging Toronto-based artist whose work is based primarily in textile, weaving, sewing and other fibre-based practices, as well as drawing and collage. She uses these techniques to examine the legacy of 20th Century art movements such as Op Art, Minimalism and hard-edged abstraction. McCarten holds a Bachelors of Material Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCADU), and is the recipient of the Material Art and Design Medal for her graduating year. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Harbourfront Centre and the Textile Museum of Canada, and she has received awards for her textile-based practice, including the “Best in Fibre” award at the 2014 iteration of the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. She has also produced artworks for commercial and retail clients, including Simons, and will be exhibiting in Angell Gallery’s Project Space this summer.