TORONTO, September 22, 2009 -- More than 20 noted Canadian artists are joining forces to transform a suburban Toronto street with The Leona Drive Project, a landmark collaboration uniting artists, students, developers and place-makers to create a site-specific exhibition running October 22 to 31.
Set in one of Toronto’s oldest inner suburbs, the community of Willowdale in North York, The Leona Drive Project is a unique contemporary art show of featuring original installations that address the shifting space of the suburbs. Co-curated by York University Fine Arts Professor Janine Marchessault and OCAD Professor Michael Prokopow, the project aims to challenge and expand our understanding of suburban spaces.
The York University-based The Public Access Collective, in collaboration with L.O.T.: Experiments in Urban Research (Collective), commissioned 18 artist projects for a series of five vacant Leona Drive bungalows slated for demolition by Hyatt Homes, a local developer. The artists are working in a variety of media, including audio, architectural installation, projection, photography, sculpture and performance to create new works for the 10-day exhibition.
Open daily from 1 to 4pm and 6 to 9 pm with artist talks each day at 1 and 6 pm, the site is easily accessible by subway − only three blocks from the Sheppard-Yonge station.
The Leona Drive Project artists are The Arbour Lake Sghool, Thomas Blanchard, Daniel Borins + Jennifer Marman, Robin Collyer, Patricio Davila, Christine Davis, Anna Friz, Richard Fung, Michael Graham, John Greyson, David Han, Oliver Husain, Claire Ironside + Angela Iarocci, An Te Liu, Ryan Livingstone, Shana MacDonald + Angela Joosse, Michael Taglieri, and Kim Tomczak + Lisa Steele.
Students from the Claude Watson Arts Program at Earl Haig Secondary School situated only a few blocks away will also be involved. Paired with professional artist-mentors, the students will create site-specific installations in the backyards of the houses.
Marchessault and Prokopow are working collaboratively with the artists and students to develop the exhibition, which is specifically designed to engage with the architecture and spatial design of the houses.
The exhibition has a strong archival nature, incorporating recorded audio interviews with new and long-time residents of Leona Drive, photographs of Willowdale past and present, and a documentary film about the project and the process behind it by York Film Professor, Philip Hoffman. After the exhibit, the photos, documents and history collected for the project will be archived online and at York University.
Janine Marchessault, who conceived the Leona Drive Project, is a film professor and Canada Research Chair in Art, Digital Media and Globalization at York. A founding member of both Public Access and L.O.T, she is also the director of the Visible City Project + Archive, which examines artists’ cultures in the context of globalization. Michael Prokopow, who holds a PhD in history from Harvard, served as curator at Toronto’s Design Exchange 2003-2007. An associate professor in Liberal Studies at OCAD, he is a member of the L.O.T. collective.
Additional public programming initiatives round out the exhibition.
· The Leona Drive Project opening reception takes place on Friday, October 23 from 7 to 10 pm. A free shuttle bus will bring visitors from the Toronto International Art Fair (pickup 7:45pm) and the Gladstone Hotel (8pm), with a cocktail reception aboard en route. A special outdoor film screening curated by Pleasure Dome takes place on site at 9pm.
· The Leona Drive Project will also offer special events and programs in partnership with the Toronto International Art Fair at the Metro Convention Centre, including free Leona Drive dossiers with artist statements, concept sketches and photographs, and installations by artist Christine Davis Oliver Husain and An Te Liu in the fair’s NEXT lounge area.
· Willowdale Councillor John Filion will host a roundtable discussion on urban planning in the suburbs on Wed. October 28, 6:30-8:30 pm at the North York Central Public Library (Meeting Room 1, 2nd floor), 5120 Yonge St.
· A future issue of the journal Public: Art/Culture/Ideas edited by Marchessault and Prokopow will be dedicated to the Leona Drive Project, exploring further the issues raised by the exhibition.
What: The Leona Drive Project
When: October 22-31, open daily from 1-4pm and 6-9pm with artist talks each day at 1 and 6 pm
Opening: Friday, October 23. Free shuttle bus leaves Toronto International Art Fair at 7:45 pm, picks up at the Gladstone Hotel at 8 pm and returns downtown at 10 pm
Where: 17 Leona Drive, 2 blocks east of Yonge Street, just south of Sheppard Avenue East
Admission: Free
Information: www.leonadrive.ca
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Media Contact:
Amy Stewart, Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416.650.8469 | amy.stewart@yorku.ca
