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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Events Guide: Urban Canoe Trip, Buy Local Week, LEAFy Drinks, and more…

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What: Urban Canoe Trip Exhibition
When: December 3 – 14, see times below
Where: Arcadia Gallery (680 Queens Quay West)

Spacing readers should remember Michael Brown’s canoe trip through Toronto waterways, with friends and family, from our summer issue. He took a 10 day trip paddling and portaging his way across the rivers of our city, all the while taking the pictures that will be making up this gallery.

Arcadia Gallery is pleased to present Urban Canoe Trip: 10 Days Crossing Toronto by Canoe, from December 3 14, 2008. the exhibit includes photographs, audio, installations, and paintings pieces that collectively document the unique nature of Toronto’s watershed.

In spring 2008, 10 GTA residents paddled across Toronto from Finch and Hwy 427 to the Rouge. This exhibit captures the whole experience, from deserted rivers to highway portages, from white-tailed deer to submerged shopping carts.
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 4, 7 - 10 pm Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon - 5 pm, or by appointment

- - - - - - - - What: Buy Local Week When: December 1 - 7 Where: Your local retailers Buy Local Week kicks off just in time for the Holiday season. Buy Local Week has something for everyone! Less transportation means less pollution for all the environmentalists on your shopping list, and supporting our local businesses is sure to please the stuffy economist in your family. So support your local BIAs by shopping locally (no, that doesn't mean the big box store a block away from your house). - - - - - - - - - - What: LEAFy Drinks When: Thursday, December 4, 7 pm Where: Victory Cafe (581 Markham Street)
It's gettin' chilly outside - come warm up with LEAF! Are you passionate about Toronto's urban forest?*  Join LEAF staff and volunteers at the Victory Cafe for *LEAFy drinks* on Thursday December 4th to have a pint and meet other Toronto tree lovers. If you're looking for ways to get involved, volunteer, or you're just eager to meet and greet others who share your love of Toronto's trees, this is the place for you.  The event ends at 10 pm, so come early to get in the most chit-chat!
For more information go to www.leaftoronto.org. - - - - - - - - - - What: Grange Park Community Meeting When: Monday, December 8, 7:30 pm Where: CTV (299 Queen St. W. at John St.) There will be a Community Meeting to Establish the Grange Community Association and to report on the Revitalization of Grange Park with special guests Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20) and Prof. John Polanyi, Nobel Laureate and Grange resident Mandarin and Cantonese interpretation will be available. To confirm attendance, or to obtain additional information, please send an e-mail to the Grange Community Association at Grange.Park@yahoo.ca. For more information visit www.ocad.ca. - - - - - - - - - - What: Housepaint - Phase 2: Shelter When: Starting December 13th Where: Institute of Contemporary Culture, Roloff Beny Gallery, 4th Floor, ROM (110 Queen's Park) This will be the first installation of street art in a major Canadian museum! From Housepaint.ca:
The original Housepaint exhibition was installed on the vacant site of the former Tent City in Toronto — where up to two hundred people lived until forcibly evicted in 2002. Over three days in June 2008, through storms, flood, and rainbows, ten of Canada's top street and graffiti artists each painted a simplified canvas house to commemorate Tent City's previous residents and homeless people who died on Toronto streets.  The Housepaint project, curated by Devon Ostrom, was commissioned by Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, as part of StreetScape 2008.The sizes of the painted houses are based on the approximate income levels of people in Toronto, i.e. two low-, two high-, and six middle-class homes. At Tent City, the original site-specific installation was surrounded by construction fencing that excluded the audience and prevented them from passively viewing the artists at work. This temporary gated community of street artists included: Cant4, Case, Dixon/Royal, Dstrbo (HVW8), EGR, Elicser, Evoke, Starship (HVW8), Lease, and Other. The fencing surrounding the houses was covered in a wall of 560 small canvases that was painted as one piece by Daser (one of Canada's first and most renowned graffiti artists.) On the back of each canvas was the name of one person who died on the streets of Toronto due to lack of shelter. These small 12 x 12” canvases completed the transient memorial and were given out during the last hours of Luminato 2008.
The exhibition will be running for six months starting on December 13th, and every month-and-a-half a new artist will come in and add their response to the already existing work, creating an ever-changing play on the original tent city pieces. At the end of the gallery, the canvases will be auctioned off to benefit Habitat for Humanity. For more information go to www.housepaint.ca or join the Facebook group. - - - - - - - - - - The Events Guide is a regular feature on Spacing Toronto. To submit a listing, email eventsguide@spacing.ca. Please note that, due to demand, we cannot guarantee publication of your listing.

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