The Artist Project 2018 Opening Night Party

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The 11th annual Artist Project 2018 was held from February 23 to February 25 at the Better Living Centre, Toronto Exhibition Place. It brought together over 250 Canadian and international artists and talents under one roof, exhibiting over 5000 pieces of artworks. A portion of the night’s ticket sales was donated to Artbound‘s Creative Deeds Programs.

Jeff Turner Art

Sud Forno Jeff Turner Art at therapist project 2018 openingparty

Claire Bartleman’s Twice Taken

There were a lot of exciting art pieces, installations and performances during the Opening Party and throughout the weekend.
Nathalie Sanche’s incredible “Shine On” was the front entrance installation. It was made entirely from paper. The paper has been manipulated into shapes according to the architectural style of the Better Living Centre, creating a light and welcoming experience.
Swatch presented the Time Flies Artist Competition where invited artists showcased their interpretation on the theme, Time Flies. Artist Marina Nazarova’s impressive mural “Time to Fly” reflects her view that one’s endeavours and restlessness are permanent and inevitable. People climb stairs, chase dreams, lose control, fall down and get back up again.
OCAD University’s Centre for Emerging Artists and Designers presented “Under Construction,” a performance by James Knott. This piece explored the notion of constructed realities where white blocks were continually being rearranged into new formations, then deconstructed and reconstructed.
Max Hart Barnell’s photography project “ Take a Picture, Toronto” is a result of Barnell’s installing disposable cameras in the streets of Toronto and inviting people to take a picture. The end goal is to put together photos taken in various neighbourhoods, cities and ultimately countries to show our shared humanity.
Claire Bartleman’s sculpture “Twice Taken” was made from unfinished crochet and knitted projects.
Isabella Di Sclafani’s clay sculpture installation “Black Galaxy” features her unique people characters.
Some of the pieces that we also really enjoyed were by artists Morgan Jones, Victoria Chin’s “Fragmentation,” Marianne Burlew’s “Double-Flash,” Michael Sparaco, Reid Orsten, Tony Taylor, Radha Chaddah, Pornigami, Kari Serrao, Damian Dudek and Jeff Turner.
There was so much to see and experience throughout the fair. Art Chats seminars included Curator Confidential with Mia Nielsen, Art Buying Tips for New Collectors with Kelly Juhasz, The Passion Project: Exploring Art, Fashion Identity Through Wearable Art with Ariel Adkins and Erika Floysvik, Brilliant! Brilliant! With Anda Kubis and How to Protect Your Art Physically + Digitally with Emily Glover and Sarah Gurevich. Ariel Adkins, Artfully Awear did performances based on the paintings of Mike Smalley.
Art Battle Canada #638 hosted the live competitive painting series with 14 artists creating their most exciting work in 20 minutes.
Untapped Emerging Artists Competition was presented by DeSerres and had 20 of Canada’s best up and coming artists who were given the space to show their works.
In the Installation Zone, 15 artists used various mediums to express their innovative concepts.
Art Walks were held daily, and guests had the opportunity to meet various artists and learn about their creative process. Topics included Exploring Artist Mediums, The Millennial Mood, Artwork and Atmosphere, the Use of Memory and Urban vs. Rural Landscapes.
During the opening party, there were significant tunes by the talented DJ Matthew Romeo and DJ Your Girl Flav.
Seeing all of the artworks makes one hungry and thirsty. Thankfully there was a lot of food offering to choose from.
At the Time Flies Café, we sampled Anet Gesualdi‘s macarons and Left Field wines.
The Food Studio Catering booth offered their Coxinha (Brazilian street food), which is chicken salad and caponata stuffed vegetarian croquettes with a spiced avocado dip. Sud Forno had their porchetta sandwiches. Tabule gave out samples of their tasty falafel balls. Gusto 101 had their decadent Italian pastries with cannolis, biscottis, brownies, cookies, pannacotta, and tiramisu. Social Lite had their new flavour pineapple mango vodka (low cal and naturally unsweetened). Crystal Head Vodka provided their famous vodka and a series of Crystal Heads redesigned by Artist Project artists. Meiomi Coastal California Wines had their Pinot Noir. Charles Smith Wines had their Velvet Devil Merlot and Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon. Gladstone Hotel provided their Gin Bramble. Kannuk (a Canadian Vodka) offered their Kannuk Kiss (vodka and watermelon). Big Rock Brewery gave tastings of their beers.

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