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Works in Progress by Ruth Adler

Currently I am working on an exhibition that reflects my recent work with textiles and highlights different methods of engaging with fabric and paint.

A number of years ago I brought a sewing machine into my studio as well as fabric; some my own design, and others collected over the past thirty years. I began to experiment with different ways of using fabric in my painting practice.

I live in an urban center and am drawn to discount markets and fabric outlet stores. The frenetic energy, saturated colour and provisional nature of my downtown Toronto environment excites and moves me. My neighbourhood not only influences my work but is also the site where I acquire the fabric and objects that I use together with paint in my artworks. — Ruth

See Ruth’s work: Fabric Lands On view until December 22, 2018 Artscape Youngplace 180 Shaw Street, Toronto

Exhibition Walk-Through December 9, 2018 1-2pm December 15, 2018, 2-3:30pm Artscape Youngplace

Find Ruth: Instagram: @r_adlera ruthadler.com

#RuthAdler #Artist #Art #Textile #Fabric

Works in Progress by Thrush Holmes

Thrush is currently working on a series of paintings that will be shown in Toronto as part of an upcoming studio party and an exhibition in LA slated for 2019. Paintings executed with fire extinguishers, overlaid with crude neon figures and abstractions, and a smashed up and tagged cube van, are some of what he has planned.

Bio: Thrush Holmes is a self-taught, Toronto-based artist who has exhibited widely throughout Canada, the US and Europe. Holmes creates diverse compositions, both intimate and tremendous in scale. The scope of his current work is wide, tackling notions of art, myth, introspection, and biography, while maneuvering a wide range of iconography, visual vocabulary, and mediums.

See Thrush’s work: 11.5 Years of Neon Studio Party and Show Saturday, Dec 1, 7-11pm 116 Geary Ave, unit 208, Toronto, ON

Find Thrush: Instagram @thrushholmes www.thrushholmes.com

#Thrush Holmes #Toronto #Neon #Art #Painting #ContemporaryArt

Works in Progress by Dayna Danger

In this work artist Dayna Danger brings a unique series of portraits that integrate complex black matt and glossy beadwork woven into leather BDSM masks. Each highly detailed mask incorporates personalized symbols directly linked to the Indigenous individuals represented in the photographs. The intricate chain of time consuming and tedious beadwork was carried out with love by Indigenous relations among Danger’s community namely, Tricia Livingston, Nicole Redstar, and Rudi Acker. Danger includes Indigenous people with variant gender expressions to create spaces for bodies and identities that have been historically violently erased by settler colonialism. Similarly to a BDSM scene, Dayna carefully negotiates each photograph with the highest respect between them and their participants in studio. These 60 by 75 inch portraits take up as much space as possible to confront the viewer and contradict the identities that are typically viewed, the control that settler’s seek over Indigenous bodies, institutionalized sexualities, and reaffirm consensual practices while empowering Indigenous individuals in a kink context. Masks is a continuing artistic and healing process created as an act of resistance and resilience, towards colonial interpretations and language, integral to reforging socially visible identities. Much like the entirety of Danger’s practice, this series thrives off of collaboration and community engagement.

See Dayna Danger work:

Ke'tapekiaq Ma’qimikew: The Land Sings / La terre chante In collaboration with Ursula Johnson On until January 12, 2019 SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, QC, H3B 1A2 Canada

StretchMark: A New Chapter Acquisition Project December 1, 2018 – March 24, 2019 Organized by Art Gallery of Alberta

Let’s talk about sex, bb Co-curated by Erin Sutherland + Carina Magazzeni April 27 – August 4, 2019 Agnes Etherington Art Centre Katarokwi/Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Find Dayna Danger: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook: @gaynadanger Website: www.daynadanger.com

#daynadanger #akimbo #connects

Works in Progress by Michelle MacKinnon

Working with powdered graphite and pencil on paper, Canadian artist Michelle MacKinnon explores sentiments of home through her recollection of the people who occupy it both currently and previously.

MacKinnon has always been fascinated with family as a defining social structure, as seen in her first solo exhibition Other Self, where she depicted those most influential to her in honest and oversized detail.

In her exhibition, A Rendering of the Once Familiar, MacKinnon reflects on how one can be comforted by the notion of home when its conventional state becomes physically no longer present, how it can endure and evolve within people and objects, and what its existence beyond spatial and temporal boundaries may be. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at Alison Milne Gallery.

See Michelle’s work:

A Rendering of the Once Familiar Alison Milne Gallery 134 Osler St. Toronto, ON, M6N 2Y8 On view until November 3, 2018

Find Michelle: Instagram: @michelleleahmackinnon @alisonmilnegallery

Website: www.michellemackinnon.ca www.alisonmilne.com

#akimbo #akimboconnects #MichelleMackinnon #drawing #pencil

Works in Progress by Alexis Bulman

Bound Between Seasons is a series of tarp sculptures, familiar shapes and stored forms that subtly connects my experience with Scoliosis to a seasonal occurrence that appears scattered across Canadian properties in late Autumn: Objects tightly swaddled in brightly-coloured tarps.

The project integrates physical difference into a body of work subtly by studying and celebrating the behavioural similarities between the human body and the places where we converge with the land. In one instance a form could be a car under a tarp, or, beneath the surface may lay something more internally complex, less easily understood, and more isolating in nature.

I’ve had the pleasure of touring Bound Between Seasons around the east coast. The first stop was Third Shift, Saint John, NB, then Art in the Open, Charlottetown, PEI. Currently I’m installing these sculptures in Fredericton, NB as the artist in residence with Connexion Artist Run Centre. The final stop of this tour is Nocturne, Halifax, NS. As this project moves later into the Fall I’ve enjoyed seeing the tarped forms that inspired this project popping up in yards across the east coast.

The Bound Between Seasons sculptures are a project in their own right, but they also serve to become the forms and figures depicted in a series of large-scale drawings. The drawings will allow the sculptures to live in a new environment on paper, displaced from their photographed landscapes. Doing so will remove context, making the drawn sculptures appear even more isolated and abstract.

When I arrive back to my Montreal studio I’ll settle into a long studio practice of producing these drawings. —Alexis Bulman

See Alexis’ work: Artist in Residence Connexion Artist Run Centre, Fredericton, NB September 29 - October 11, 2018

Nocturne: Art at Night Halifax, NS October 13, 2018

The Body Electric Exhibition and International Conference on Resident Education Presented at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Halifax, NS October 18 - 20, 2018

Sick Theories A Trans-Disciplinary Conference on Sickness & Sexuality/ screening component University of Toronto, ON November 8 - 9, 2018

VIBE: Transforming ableism through the arts Exhibition symposium Concordia University, Montréal, QC November 30 - December 2, 2018

Find Alexis: Instagram: alexisbulman Website: www.alexisbulman.com

Work in Progress by Erin Loree

In her upcoming exhibition, Forth and Back, Loree presents a series of pairs of paintings that continue her exploration of the opposing forces of freedom and constraint. In each pair, the first painting displays the artist’s typically unrestrained, intuitive approach, while the second demonstrates an attempt to replicate the composition of the first – a highly constrained experiment. What began as a playful exercise, became a purposeful analysis and deconstruction of a previously instinctive method. In challenging herself to duplicate the marks and painterly accidents observed in the first painting, Loree was required to significantly deepen her understanding of her materials and process.

In pausing to reflect on and identify the nuances within her painting process, a number of questions arose for the artist: How does one replicate a gesture in an authentic way without the work feeling contrived? What are the relative benefits of the planned and unplanned? Where is the border between premeditation and contrivance? How does one engage with and find meaning in the repetitive and the predictable? Is it possible to simultaneously refine and expand a work of art?

In deliberately concealing the order of the paintings, Loree leaves the viewer to compare and contrast their differentiating elements, and to speculate on the correct ordering within each pair. Through the necessary extended viewing, Loree hopes to induce a meditation on the force/flow dichotomy similar to her own.

See Erin’s work: Forth and Back Peter Robertson Gallery 12323 - 104 Ave. NW Edmonton, AB September 29 - October 20, 2018 Reception: Saturday September 29, 2 - 4pm

Find Erin: www.erinloree.com IG: @erin_loree

#erinloree #art #artists on tumblr #painter #painting #oilpaint #abstractart

Work in Progress by Alia Youssef

Alia is the creator of The Sisters Project, a photography and video series that combats negative stereotypes of Muslim women by showcasing the diverse stories of inspirational women across Canada, while also creating a space of inclusion and belonging for all self-identifying Muslim women to embrace and celebrate their unique identities. The series began December 2016 and features new stories of Canadian Muslim women weekly on the project's instagram/facebook page/ and blog. It's inaugural gallery exhibition will be at the Ryerson Image Centre September 2018. About Alia: Alia Youssef is a Toronto-based artist whose work focuses on portraiture and storytelling through photography, video, and text. She is passionate about bringing light to underrepresented stories; especially those surrounding womanhood, familiar relationships, and gendered Islamophobia. Her long-term series, The Sisters Project, combats negative stereotypes of Muslim women by showcasing the diverse stories of inspirational women. This summer, Alia expanded The Sisters Project by doing a cross Canada tour highlighting Muslim women’s stories from 12 cities. This work has been published by The Globe and Mail, CBC, Buzzfeed, The Ethnic Aisle, Refinery29 and many more online and print media. Within this past year Alia has had exhibitions at the Ryerson Artspace, Gallery 44 Members Gallery, and the Parliament of Canada. She is a graduate of Ryerson University’s photography program.

See Alia’s work: The Sisters Project September 12 – October 14, 2018 Ryerson Image Centre's Student Gallery 33 Gould St, Toronto, ON M5B 1E9

Find Alia: www.aliayoussef.com www.thesistersproject.ca @aliayphotography @the.sisters.project

Work in Progress by Bonnie Devine

Bonnie Devine uses various media and mapping strategies to explore the complex colonial histories of the north shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, which include the cities of Mississauga and Toronto and the traditional territories of the Michi Saagiig (Mississauga) and the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Grand River).

Circles and Lines: Michi Saagig aims to honour the relationships between the two original land occupiers and inhabitants; the Mississauga's and the Haudenosaunee: both evicted, sovereign Nations with thousands of years of intellectual knowledge and unwavering protection, and relationship to the land.

Through the combination of a series of scrolls, maps, media, and braided reeds, Circles and Lines: Michi Saagig aims to reconnect and ground us on the traditional territory and land we benefit from, live on, and call home.

See Bonnie’s Work: Bonnie Devine | Circles and Lines: Michi Saagig | Guest-curated by Raven Davis September 6 – December 21, 2018 + Opening Reception and Artist Talk, September 6, 6 – 9 PM Art Gallery of Mississauga 300 City Centre Drive. Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1

Find Bonnie: https://www2.ocadu.ca/bio/bonnie-devine

Find Raven: http://ravendavisart.tumblr.com/ Images: Titled/Untitled Diptych. Mixed media on board, 2018 48 x 18 inches, 122 x 45.7 cm (total dimensions)

Lands Required to Sustain Diptych. Mixed media on board, 2018 48 x 18 inches, 122 x 45.7 cm (total dimensions)

Impassable Diptych. Mixed media on board, 2018 48 x 18 inches, 122 x 45.7 cm (total dimensions)

#bonniedevine #ravendavis #agm #canadaianart #akimboconnects

Work in Progress by Catherine Bolduc

For the last three months, I have been working on a project entitle L’île aux mouettes. In this installation, domestic and ornamental objects (tables, plates, artificial birds, shell lampshades, etc.) are staged in the manner of a shadow theatre. First, the viewer sees silhouettes which evoke an island landscape moving on a screen. The viewer then discovers the shadows are generated by objects (colored water, fans, lamps, etc.) behind the screen.

L’île aux mouettes refers to an island on Malartic Lake in Abitibi (Quebec) where I have spent several summers in my childhood and which, in my personal history, evokes the archetype of a magic landscape. Because moving from the city (where people work) to the suburb (where they live), then from the suburb towards the chalet (where they rest) is somehow always motivated by the illusory promise of "a better somewhere else", L’île aux mouettes draws an idyllic place based on imagination rather than reality. — Catherine Bolduc

See Catherine’s Work:

L’île aux mouettes Triennale Banlieue! / Salle Alfred-Pellan de la Maison des arts de Laval 1395, boul de la Concorde O, Laval, QC July 29 - November 4, 2018

Find Catherine: www.catherinebolduc.com IG: @cathbold TW: @BolducCatherine FB: /catherinebolducartiste

Work in Progress by Kent Monkman

Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience is a large-scale exhibition curated by Cree artist Kent Monkman. This major solo project uses art and artifacts to interrogate Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective. By providing a searing critique on colonial policies, Shame and Prejudice offers a counterpoint to the celebratory tone of Canada’s 150th birthday commemorations.

In Shame and Prejudice, Monkman takes the viewer on a journey beginning 150 years before Confederation, from the period of New France and the burgeoning fur trade to contemporary urban life in Winnipeg’s north end. The exhibition presents a story of Canada through the lens of Indigenous resilience, exposing the devastation caused by the reserve system, residential schools, mass incarceration, and urban disenfranchisement. Monkman’s paintings, drawings, and installations are presented in dialogue with historical objects from Canadian museum collections. Appearances by Monkman’s alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle – a gender-fluid supernatural being, time-traveller, and shape-shifter – dismantle stereotypes and reveal essential perspectives on Canadian history.

In Shame and Prejudice, elements of art, history, and satire come together to create a richly nuanced and visceral narrative of the making of Canada. See Kent’s work in these current exhibitions:

Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience Confederation Centre of the Arts 145 Richmond St, Charlottetown, PEI June 23 - September 15, 2018

Kent Monkman - Miss Chief’s Praying Hands Project Gallery Toronto 1210 Dundas St. East, Toronto, ON August 2 - September 1, 2018

Beauty and the Beast Canadian Cultural Centre 130, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré F – 75008, Paris, France May 17 - September 5, 2018

Find Kent: http://www.kentmonkman.com/ IG: @KentMonkman TW: @kentmonkman FB: /MissChiefEagleTestickle

Images by Ryan Van Der Hout

Work in Progress by Patrick Cruz

In his 23rd solo exhibition, Cruz will employ minimalist strategies and aesthetic elements inspired by the tropics and other predominant styles found and encountered in the contemporary art community of Toronto. His continuous interest in Cargo Cults and other capitalist byproducts will be examined in this exhibition thus creating a constellation of works that loosely alludes to the paradoxical effects of globalization.

See Patrick’s work in this exhibition:

to mimic a chameleon June 28 - July 21, 2018 Franz Kaka B1, 87 Wade Ave (Basement) Toronto, ON

Find Patrick: patrickcruz.org Instagram:@pcrust

Work in Progress by Diana Thorneycroft

“Black Forest (dark waters) is an installation made up of three components: Herd, a 40' ramp covered with snow and over 160 plastic toy horses, half of which have been altered; The Village; a 12x8' plinth filled with architectural constructions and inhabited by horses, herdsmen and their paraphernalia, and a series of 19 photographs that carry the unfolding narrative.

The horses, herdsmen and their interactions exist in the realm of the uncanny and the grotesque; informed by fairy tales and mythology, the Black Forest is a dangerous place that provides the stage for intersecting dynamics of power, violence, ritual, desire and care.”—Diana Thorneycroft

See Diana’s work in these exhibitions:

Black Forest (dark waters) Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba 710 Rosser Ave #2, Brandon, MB June 28 - August 24, 2018

Black Forest (dark waters) Art Gallery of Burlington 1333 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON September 21 - November 18, 2018 Opening Reception: September 21, 6pm Artist Talk: September 22, 2pm

Find Diana: http://dianathorneycroft.com/

Work in Progress by Audie Murray

“Can I Squish Your Face? is a collection of photographs that includes individual prints of many subjects having their faces physically squished by the photographer. The hand of the artist is visible in each photo to allow the investigation of notions linked to connectivity.

In order to squish the persons face the photographer needs to interact with them in some way before asking if their face could be touched. This interaction was usually a conversation with people that were familiar to the photographer, or with a new person. The result of this act bring up thoughts around connecting with other people in general and all that could stem from these links; such as the idea of consent through connectivity, levels of comfort through connection, and what enables and disables two people to unite. Can I Squish Your Face? is a humorous photo set at the surface but alludes to deeper reflection about connection through the physical presence of the photographers hand but also through the use of black and white photography. The implications of black and white photography often refer to feelings of importance and understanding which allows the viewer to look beyond the humour.” — Audie Murray

See Audie’s work in these current exhibitions:

[Res]idual June 16 - August 11, 2018 Hamilton Artists Inc. 155 James St. N Hamilton, ON Read the Akimblog review of [Res]idual

Bad Stitch May 19 - June 30, 2018 Macaulay & Co. Fine Art 293 East 2nd Ave. Vancouver, BC

Li Salay May 25 - September 9, 2018 Art Gallery of Alberta 2 Sir Winston Churchill Sq. Edmonton, AB Then, Now and Next April 8 - September 2, 2018 Clay and Glass Gallery 25 Caroline St. N. Waterloo, ON Find Audie: Instagram: @pandaodds audiemurray.com

Work in Progress by David Constantino Salazar

“I’m currently finishing a new series of wall reliefs made up of hand sculpted animals that will be cast in plastic and mounted on vinyl plank flooring.”

“This work examines the domestication, manipulation and occasional exploitation of animals in order to not only to sustain life but also for profit. I wonder how we became a society that in order to mass produce nature we had to remove it as far away from its origins in order to meet a growing human demand.”—David Salazar

See David at these upcoming events: David Consantino Salazar Artist Talk Presentation May 29, 2018, 7pm – 8pm ARTiculations Art Supply 2928 Dundas St W, Toronto

PLUS Art Festival 2018 June 8-10, 2018 Gladstone Hotel 1214 Queen St W, Toronto

Akin Studio Program Resident 2018-2019 MOCA, Toronto Find David: Instagram: @dc.salazar www.davidsalazar.ca

Work in Progress by Nicholas Rosin

“By creating mass-produced forms, I engrave my work with contemporary narratives, patterns and text to explore addiction, technology, religion, and disposable culture.

“The upcoming exhibition at Hermes Gallery Disposable Income, examines throwaway vessels and their gross social and environmental impact on society. Creating a series of every-day disposable objects using precious and non-precious metals, I elevate the forms to emphasize the longevity of their impact. Heavily influenced by language, satire, and pop-culture, I use my illustrative style of engraving to convey the overwhelming branding and absurdity of the waste associated with these objects. I see disposable containers as ritualistic objects that can take on the level of luxury good through mass consumption.”—Nicholas Rosin

See Nick’s upcoming exhibition: Disposable Income by Nicholas Rosin & Adaption by Kaashif Ghanie Curated by Becky Welter-Nolan Hermes Gallery 5682 North St. Halifax NS Exhibition: June 2 - 24, Sat & Sun 12-6pm Opening Reception: June 1, 6pm

Find Nick: Instagram: @njr.jeweller njrosin.com

Work in Progress by Dianne Bos

Canadian artist Dianne Bos uses pinhole photography to challenge the view of photography as a way to "capture an instant in time." Her recent work includes printed pinhole photographs, handmade cameras, walk-in light installations, and sound pieces.

As part of the exhibition The Midnight Sun Camera Obscura Project, Bos built Star Shed, a multi-aperture camera obscura chamber, in front of the McMaster Museum of Art at McMaster University in Hamilton. She drilled holes into the shed wall, patterned according to the stars as they would now be seen in the southern skies. Peering inside the Star Shed we do not see the constellations, but rather a kaleidoscopic field of the campus landscape, projected upside-down and in reverse.

“I am fascinated by the history of photography and the ways different devices change our perception of time and space,” says Bos. “Pinhole photography allows me to create my own unique camera objects and to suggest a relationship between it and the image it makes. Large scale public works such as this allow me to explore the science and wonder of optics, light and space, without needing to take a photograph.”

See her Star Shed at: The Midnight Sun Camera Obscura Project McMaster Museum of Art Exhibition: May 10 – August 18

Find Dianne: diannebos.ca Instagram: @dbosphoto

Work in Progress by Camille Jodoin-Eng

"These are images of a piece titled Electri-City. I'm trying to solve the disconnect I feel between my mind and body through my work. The psychological and physical meld together into an imagined cityscape, an effort to visualize the mind as a tangible place to walk around in. To reflect my own conscious, subconscious and body through a familiar structure in order to gain perspective. Its architecture houses a personal visual language of symbols. A wordless language born from intuition, emotion, and instinct." —Camille Jodoin-Eng

Camille Jodoin-Eng (b.1991) is an artist based in Toronto. When words fail, other ways to emote emerge to bridge universal experience and personal reality. Jodoin-Eng has developed a personal visual language of symbols that reveal the intuitive, emotional, and indefinite. Using mirrored structures, light, plastic, metal, wood, drawings and digital processes she creates a psychic space that stretches beyond its physical constraints, inverting and reflecting itself into infinitude.

See her upcoming exhibition at: Chromatic Festival 2018 (9th edition) Former Montreal School of Fine Arts 3450 St Urbain St, Montreal, QC Exhibition: May 26 - June 2 Opening Reception: May 26 chromatic.ca

Find Camille: camille-jodoineng.ca Instagram: @camillefuzz artworksconsulting.net/camille-jodoin-eng/

Work in progress photo by Camille Jodoin-Eng; detail photos by Chris Levett.

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