Toronto artists are about to get another opportunity for exposure. The Toronto Art Blast, launching this July, is a month-long open-studio crawl that will connect artists directly with the public. Carolyn Quan, the event’s founder and producer, explains the
Toronto Art Blast as “Toronto’s very first city-wide, all inclusive artist-open studio and exhibition event."
Submissions to the event are
open now. “It’s a non-juried event open to all visual artists” including photographers, painters, kinetic artists, fiber artists, and more, Quan explains. After paying an entry fee, artists are automatically accepted into the event. They will be responsible for finding their own exhibition space. Many will show out of their studios, homes, or garages, while others will partner with local galleries, cafes, restaurants, and community centres to bring their work to the public.
Quan, who has been organizing open-studio tours in Hawaii and California for many years, was born and raised in Toronto. She sees this new event as an expression of her “huge, huge love” for the city, and a chance to unite artists under one umbrella of artistic opportunity. Quan hopes that the event can capture the 80% of Toronto artists not currently represented in popular neighbourhood art events such as the Riverdale Art Walk or the Queen West Art Crawl. “It’s mostly about tying it all in - instead of having all these communities here and there, this brings it together under one roof. When are artists are able to connect to with each other, it really elevates their motivates to do more, to show more, and to create their exposure,” Quan says.
She’s also hoping to partner with local arts organizations across the city, in an effort to boost the event and the artists’ profiles. “Really, it’s creating a broader, unified space for artists and artisans in the GTA. I’m really hoping the Scarborough and the North York arts organizations will all be on board as partners, and create that web of unified entities,” Quan says. “I’m about community more than anything else.”