This Spring we are excited to release our in-person and virtual program exploring drawing, painting, mixed media and photography. Courses this term will be made up of short to long courses from Monday April 24 - Sunday July 2, 2023.
Please note: No classes on Saturday July 1st for Canada day
Location for in-person classes: 720 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2R4
Sarvenaz is an Iranian visual artist now based in Toronto. She received her BA in Painting and Visual Communication from Art University in Tehran. She has exhibited her work internationally and has recently participated in group exhibitions at Urban Space, Evergreen Brick Works and Capital One in Toronto. Last summer, Sarvenaz led People & Trees, a SPARK project about the life of trees that culminated with an art installation in East York’s Dentonia Park.
Jessica Rysyk is a Toronto-based mixed media artist. Rysyk received a Bachelors of Fine Art in the Sculpture and Installation program at OCAD University, and a certificate in Art and Design from Georgian College. Recent venues Rysyk has been exhibited at include The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Outdoor Art Show, Giants of Africa, Interior Design Show, Queen West Art Crawl, and Koffler Gallery. Jessica has also worked in the scenic department for film and television. She has worked as an instructor for adult and youth programming since graduating.
Rysyk’s personal practice uses semiotics through object-making to express her concerns on modern world-systems. Contemplating and responding to environmental issues is important facet of her work. She explores concepts of decay and preservation within ecosystems and environments. Jessica communicates humankind’s relationships with the environment and mass-consumption through object-based metaphors. Please visit jessicarysyk.com.
Barbara Lilker graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 1996. She is founding partner of the multidisciplinary design firm Lilker Hecht Design Studio, which concentrates on small-scale residential and commercial architecture. Since 2001 Barbara has developed and taught architecture programs to children of all ages as a faculty member of the Avenue Road Arts School, an outreach instructor for Vibe Arts and for various public and private schools in Toronto. Barbara’s focus has been to use architecture as a vehicle to integrate the arts, science and social studies objectives of the Ontario curriculum. Most recently Barbara co-developed and is an educator for No. 9 Contemporary Art and the Environment’s program: Imagining My Sustainable City. This program, in partnership with the Toronto District School Board, teaches grade 7 and 8 students about sustainable urban design and architecture with a focus on enhancing eco-literacy. Barbara has taught the Imagining My Sustainable City program to over 2000 Toronto students as well as in Chicago through a partnership with The Chicago Architecture Foundation and with the Hamilton Wentworth school board. Barbara is a co-recipient of the 2018 Community Art Educator of the Year award from the Ontario Arts Education Association.
Pete Smith is an artist and writer who lives in Bowmanville, Ontario. His recent image based work explores the collective anxiety around environmental change. Smith has exhibited his work extensively since completing his BFA from York University in 1998 and his MFA from the University of Guelph in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions include: Winter Kept Us Warm at the Toronto Public Library (Leaside), NOANOA at St. Johnsbury Academy on Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea (2018), Habitat at the Oshawa Center (in Conjunction with the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in 2018), Open Letter at Bowmanville Town Hall (2017), Southern Pastoral at No Foundation, Toronto (2017), Postscript at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa (2015), New Frontier at Kelowna Art Gallery (2015), Initial Public Offering at Station Gallery in Whitby (2013), New Drawings at Colorida Exposicoes in Lisbon, Portugal (2012) and Proverbs for Paranoids at Elissa Cristall Gallery, Vancouver (2010). His work is included in numerous private and public collections in Canada and abroad including TD Bank, The Colart Collection, Imago Mundi (Italy), The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and The Art Gallery or Guelph. His writings on art have frequently appeared in Canadian Art and Border Crossings magazines. Smith has held teaching positions at Western University, the University of Guelph, and the University of Toronto. He is a lecturer in the Department of Drawing and Painting at OCAD University, and has taught at the Avenue Road Art School since 2012. Visit www.petesmith.ca.
Jessica Rysyk is a Toronto-based mixed media artist. Rysyk received a Bachelors of Fine Art in the Sculpture and Installation program at OCAD University, and a certificate in Art and Design from Georgian College. Recent venues Rysyk has been exhibited at include The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Outdoor Art Show, Giants of Africa, Interior Design Show, Queen West Art Crawl, and Koffler Gallery. Jessica has also worked in the scenic department for film and television. She has worked as an instructor for adult and youth programming since graduating.
Rysyk’s personal practice uses semiotics through object-making to express her concerns on modern world-systems. Contemplating and responding to environmental issues is important facet of her work. She explores concepts of decay and preservation within ecosystems and environments. Jessica communicates humankind’s relationships with the environment and mass-consumption through object-based metaphors. Please visit jessicarysyk.com.
Farida Zaman has a passion for art and design and in her 20 years as a freelance illustrator she has worked in Europe, North America, and the Middle East with clients across the world, bringing style, colour, and joy to many. Trained in fine art and illustration and now a seasoned freelance professional, Farida displays a wide versatility of applications of her style: her art has been used in posters, book covers, children's book illustrations, clothing, packaging, and giftware. The look is unmistakable - lively, colourful, whimsical, and executed with flair and drama - designs that always enhance and enliven. Her style includes watercolours, gouache, and digital mediums.
Farida enjoys travel and loves food, music, and culture from around the world. She travels extensively – across oceans and across continents. Her travel influences come through strongly in her work: she is cosmopolitan, appreciates global cultures and multiculturalism, and has a world view. All of this translates into a passion which makes her art enriching and inspiring. Farida went to boarding school in England and went on to a foundation course at the Chelsea School of Art in London. Graduating at the top of her class with honors from the Wimbledon School of Art, Farida built an international career as a freelance illustrator in Geneva, London, New York, and Toronto. Her work has been exhibited at private shows and public galleries in New York City, New Jersey, and Toronto. She is a member of the Society of Illustrators in New York, SCBWI (Society for Children's Book writers and Illustrators), and CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers). She has taught art at colleges, high school, and elementary school levels and also run adult art workshops. Farida is married and lives in Toronto where she has her friends, family, and art studio
Jessica Rysyk is a Toronto-based mixed media artist. Rysyk received a Bachelors of Fine Art in the Sculpture and Installation program at OCAD University, and a certificate in Art and Design from Georgian College. Recent venues Rysyk has been exhibited at include The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Outdoor Art Show, Giants of Africa, Interior Design Show, Queen West Art Crawl, and Koffler Gallery. Jessica has also worked in the scenic department for film and television. She has worked as an instructor for adult and youth programming since graduating.
Rysyk’s personal practice uses semiotics through object-making to express her concerns on modern world-systems. Contemplating and responding to environmental issues is important facet of her work. She explores concepts of decay and preservation within ecosystems and environments. Jessica communicates humankind’s relationships with the environment and mass-consumption through object-based metaphors. Please visit jessicarysyk.com.
Melanie Billark is a multidisciplinary Toronto based Artist, achieving an advanced diploma in 2011 at Sheridan College’s Craft and Design Program for glass in Oakville, ON. Following her degree she completed a year artist residency at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, ON, in 2012. Melanie graduated from OCADU's Sculpture and Installation program, obtaining her BFA in 2016. She has participated in a number of shows including venues such as Toronto Pearson Airport, Lonsdale Gallery, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Gladstone Hotel, Xpace Cultural Centre, and has shown internationally participating in Treefort Music Fest. Melanie has also won a number of bursaries and awards including The Masonic Foundation of Canada Bursary in 2011 and was recently the recipient for The OALA Ground Award in 2016, for her sculptural work Rewilding. Melanie’s current body of work is focusing on the cross over of art and ecology and interested in where they intersect when thinking about urban planning.
Over the years Melanie has been creating and developing unique arts based curriculum that focuses on a variety of mediums and techniques such as creating community art projects, eco-arts, sculpture and installation, and painting and drawing. Melanie has years of experience facilitating courses, leading workshops, art directing, program coordinating, and presenting lectures across the GTA for people of all ages and skill level. Melanie is passionate about art education, community development, and creating art opportunities that bring people together, in order to create positive change.
Visit www.melaniebillark.com.
Jessica Rysyk is a Toronto-based mixed media artist. Rysyk received a Bachelors of Fine Art in the Sculpture and Installation program at OCAD University, and a certificate in Art and Design from Georgian College. Recent venues Rysyk has been exhibited at include The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Outdoor Art Show, Giants of Africa, Interior Design Show, Queen West Art Crawl, and Koffler Gallery. Jessica has also worked in the scenic department for film and television. She has worked as an instructor for adult and youth programming since graduating.
Rysyk’s personal practice uses semiotics through object-making to express her concerns on modern world-systems. Contemplating and responding to environmental issues is important facet of her work. She explores concepts of decay and preservation within ecosystems and environments. Jessica communicates humankind’s relationships with the environment and mass-consumption through object-based metaphors. Please visit jessicarysyk.com.
Sarvenaz is an Iranian visual artist now based in Toronto. She received her BA in Painting and Visual Communication from Art University in Tehran. She has exhibited her work internationally and has recently participated in group exhibitions at Urban Space, Evergreen Brick Works and Capital One in Toronto. Last summer, Sarvenaz led People & Trees, a SPARK project about the life of trees that culminated with an art installation in East York’s Dentonia Park.
Sarvenaz is an Iranian visual artist now based in Toronto. She received her BA in Painting and Visual Communication from Art University in Tehran. She has exhibited her work internationally and has recently participated in group exhibitions at Urban Space, Evergreen Brick Works and Capital One in Toronto. Last summer, Sarvenaz led People & Trees, a SPARK project about the life of trees that culminated with an art installation in East York’s Dentonia Park.
