Community Open House (now closed)
The Eglinton Way BIA is looking for your feedback on the 10 shortlisted artists for Phase 2 of our Artwalk!
Review the artists concepts below for each of our 5 new site locations along Eglinton Avenue West. Only 5 artists will be selected for the official commission of their sculptures, with installations happening later this year.
The Google Form on each profile below is now closed.
Site 1: Mark Puigmarti
Mark Puigmarti has worked as a blacksmith-sculptor for over 20 years, creating many private and some public art works. Finding a balance between an ancient craft and a contemporary aesthetic has been the driving force in his work focus from the outset. Using honest joinery and inherent surface textures brings a tactile and intriguing quality that engages the viewer.
Some of his past works include “Wood Haven” (Carruthers Marsh Pavilion in Ajax, ON), “Nest” (Pickering, ON), “Carin Toppers” (Lake Wilcox Park in Richmond Hill, ON), and “Memorial Bench” (Scugog Shores Museum in Scugog, ON).
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Site 1: Quentin VerCetty
Quentin VerCetty is renowned for being one of the world's leading Afrofuturist a-r-tographers, winning the 2010 Governor's General Bronze Medal. He explores historical references and symbolism with sci-fi elements in an approach coined "Sankofanology." During his MA at Concordia University, he worked on a hybrid of 3D digital approaches with rapid prototyping. In 2021 he created the Joshua Glover statue - Toronto's first and only monument of a person of African descent. Titled "Stepping Forward into History," winning the 2021-22 Fine Art Award from the Investment Casting Institute. VerCetty is also the first artist commissioned by Carnegie Hall to create Afrofuturism art for their 2022- 2023 season.
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Site 2: Jiping Wang
Jiping Wang is the Director of the Department of Public Art Design at Shanxi University of Fine Arts and the Director of the Research Centre for Public Arts and Ceramics.
He has led numerous large-scale projects involving public landscape sculptures, murals, and the design of public spaces. His projects have been recognised with the National Luban Award (Collective) and multiple national awards from the Ministry of Construction for urban sculpture and other professional accolades. Wang participates in art exhibitions and artist residencies across the world, his works have been collected by variousart institutions and private collectors.
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Site 2: Simon Frank
Simon Frank has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, as well as exhibiting in special projects internationally in Italy and South Korea.
His innovative landscape-based work employs a diverse range of approaches and materials to explore the beauty and complexity of the vital relationship between the natural world and human culture.
Frank has received numerous grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
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Site 3: Mary-Ann Liu
Mary-Ann Liu has installed over a dozen public artworks in the last fifteen years, which are located across Canada. The works have ranged from national monuments of grand sacrifices to whimsical local neighbourhood installations that delight the public and bring neighbourhoods together. She has a lifelong pursuit of learning three-dimensional art, including cast bronze, steel welding, carved stone, fibreglass, cast concrete and mosaics.
Outside of the discipline of sculpture, she is an award winning Production Designer and Graphic Designer in film.
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Site 3: Kyle Thornley
Kyle Thornley began his career in structural steel and fabrication until his creative drive led him to the scrap bin and the joy of repurposing materials. All through the generous mentoring of master blacksmiths, endless experimentation, tool-making, restoration of old forges and power hammers, Kyle has been compelled by the practice of blacksmithing - the technical and physical demands, the artistic and utilitarian impact, the link to deep, historical roots, and the integrity of the media itself. Kyle is deeply committed to and concerned about the health of our natural world and hopes to make a difference by combining his love of the environment with his art.
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Site 4: Mykola Zhuravel
Mykola Zhuravel is a professional multimedia artist and sculptor from Kyiv, Ukraine. He studied at the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture and the Crimean Art School named after M. S. Samokysh. He has more than 40 years of experience, throughout his career he has participated in over 100 shows. His work often explores sensitive topics of society's interaction with the environment through art.
In 2022 he relocated to Toronto from the war in Ukraine. Since then, he has exhibited in two shows at the Canadian National Exhibition, and the Toronto Art Fair 2022.
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Site 4: Vahid Misaghi
Vahid Misaghi has been working as an artist for the past 20 years. In his work he looks for the truth that lies between two or more objects. The uncountable connection between the elements of the universe, whether visible or invisible are interwoven together and each outcome of it makes sense in the presence of the audience in the art.
His past works have included one of the biggest urban sculptures in Mashhad, Iran as well as works in Qatar, North Cypress and across the world.
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Site 5: Paul Slipper
Paul Slipper is an international stone sculptor with gallery exhibitions in North America and Asia. In the past ten years, he has completed fifteen public art projects, primarily in carved stone with steel, aluminium, and bronze components. These public art projects are located throughout Canada from Rocky Harbour, NL to Vancouver, BC.
In his work he is constantly exploring the relationship between sculptural form and the forces of nature. Discovering new places that alter the stone’s natural appearance is the foundation of his creative visionary.
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Site 5: Kwest
Kwest was born and raised in Toronto and started his art career as a graffiti artist in the early 1990s. He has been an artist for over 20 years and is known for painting some of the most complex and largest graffiti art in Canada.
Kwest is a key pioneer in the fusion of graffiti and sculpture, approaching public art opportunities holistically as a self-taught carpenter and designer. His style has been inspired by his lifelong appreciation for nature, graffiti art, and his constant determination for innovation. He frequently explores human text and animal form, navigating the intersection of land and water, for art within the environment.
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