Being an active artist in Toronto often leads to exploring the great neighbourhoods of the city. The downtown core, established gallery areas, emerging gallery areas and just isolated pockets like The Junction, Kensington or Roncey just to name a few.

Ben Navaee Gallery on East Queen Street is one of those funky up-and-coming places. Old, new, chic and shabby all at the same time. Ben provides as much a community service as an art gallery. No art snobs here, just a good place to be, go to see some local art and exhibit/share ideas with other artists. Go to see art in the spacious gallery and maybe end up in a Yoga class.

I’ll have about a dozen pieces on exhibit March 13-22. There will be a simple reception 3:30 pm on Saturday March 14. Stop by and say hello if you’re around.

The Hangman Gallery has a special place in my heart. I had one of my my first exhibits there after my third coming. Many emerging artists get their first chance to exhibit here. I have a small studio in the back of the gallery, but, alas, have had little time to spend there … I’ll try to stop by more often if I can get art life a tad more focused.

756 Queen Street East, Toronto Ontario, M4M 1H4
416.465.0302
Open 12-5 Tuesday - Sunday


http://web.me.com/rachelconduit/TheArtistsNetwork/Current_Show.html

The last time I exhibited the work currently on display at Hangman was last May at The Vogue Room, a now de-funked nightclub. I had to do battle with the Toronto Sheriff to get my work out of hock … artists beware.

The theme is big and splashy … I actually attempted to capture the math of a champagne party and it somehow worked. Exhibit will be up until March 8.

For the Month of February I’ll be exhibiting at the Rainbow Artist Gallery. The exhibit is hosted by Art for All Canada. www.artforallcanada.org
Sheila Mithchell heads up this organization and actively seeks out venues for artists to display their works. Sheila, incidentally, has an exhibit of her own this month.

The Rainbow space is quite unique. It is located on Front Street in Toronto’s Lawrence Market. It has a sort of art-deco commercial feeling and has a huge amount of traffic. Certainly, most folks are rushing off for popcorn and pop … and more likely to pay attention to the movie trailers than art … but some do stop. It really is the artist’s responsibility to get people to look.

Sculptor Fran Bouvman www.franbouwman.com has some truly creative work here along with Diane Feaver.

This is a nice opportunity to catch a flick and enjoy some interesting art.