THOUGHTS ON MY ARTISTIC EDUCATION By Jennifer McMackon I attended primary school in Burlington, a small city between Hamilton and Toronto on the Northwest shore of Lake Ontario in the early seventies. My alma mater was called Strathcona Public School.…
KATIE BETHUNE-LEAMEN @ TORONTO’S SCULPTURE GARDEN By Jennifer McMackon In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON The current exhibition at Toronto’s Gallery TPW was curated by the gallery’s Programming Director, Kim Simon. It features two video works by Polish artist, Artur Zmijewski. The first of these, Singing Lesson 2, (2003) plays on a…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON JM: Lee Goreas, how did you become an artist? LG: I became an artist by chance. A good friend enrolled me in an art program at a local college. After one year in the program I realized…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON Sandra Meigs’ exhibition at Susan Hobbs Gallery is called Scenes for My Affection. In the main gallery the artist presents two clusters of small colourful paintings. The first is an untitled set of three, each of which…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON Toronto artist Lisa Neighbour speaks with Jennifer McMackon about life and death, sculpture and the resistance language of electrical wiring: JM: Lisa Neighbour, I seem to recall a big shift in your work about ten or maybe…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON I have a vivid memory of the credenza that housed the record player in my parent’s living room. It was long and low – all dark wood with vaguely Spanish wrought iron details. Its surface was sectioned…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON Much is said in our time about the intersection of art with public space and the idea of the art gallery that exceeds the limitations of it’s walls. But for Patrick Macaulay, Visual Arts Curator at Harbourfront’s…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON A late afternoon light sifts through a grid of east facing windows revealing the warehouse studio of Carlo Cesta to be a room full of metals. All the utilitarian, shades of silver and grey, iron and aluminum…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON David Kramer is a New York artist who has exhibited in Toronto for the last fourteen years. I interviewed David via email at the close of his recent exhibition at Birch Libralato. Jennifer McMackon: David Kramer, one…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON TAAFI is in full swing. Holding its third annual event in Toronto and the crowds are out and the hype is on. I’m in room 203 of the tony Drake Hotel speaking with John McLachlin about his…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON To know what our neighbor knows takes some doing. Reading the same newspapers and fitting our bodies to the same machines gives some comfort, but the isolation persists…. people try to explain to one another what happens…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON I’m in the studio of Toronto artist Andrew Reyes. With upcoming solo exhibitions both here at Diaz Contemporary and stateside at Buffalo’s Hallwalls, he’s an artist to watch. I’m looking for evidence of sculpture. I’d especially love…