Take Care
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
7 p.m.
Free
Onsite Gallery
199 Richmond St. West
Workshop on plant-care and self-care, followed by a sound bath
Featuring Darryl Cheng of House Plant Journal, curator/writer Geneviève Wallen and Kristin Weckworth of Kiko Sounds
Limited availability; registration required
Tickets available on the Facebook event as of Wednesday, January 9 at noon
The notion of care is central to Onsite Gallery's Winter exhibition, How to Breathe Forever. Taking place at Onsite Gallery, we invite you to join us for a special workshop on care, led by insightful creative thinkers who will share what care means to them:
- Darryl Cheng of House Plant Journal will lead a presentation with tips and tricks on caring for houseplants
- Curator and writer Geneviève Wallen will speak about healing spaces within art and share her experience developing an annual month of self-care
- Kristin Weckworth of Kiko Sounds will speak about meditation and acts of daily compassion, and then will lead the audience in a 30 minute soundbath
As a participant you will:
- Be asked to wear soft, comfortable clothes and bring a mat (there will also be blankets provided)
- Receive a small houseplant to bring home
- Leave feeling refreshed and armed with new knowledge of taking care
How to Breathe Forever underlines the importance and interconnectedness of air, animals, coral, humans, insects, land, plants and water. The belief that everything in the universe has a place and deserves equal respect is the core of this exhibition and positions our relations with others — including the natural world — as active and reciprocal. The artwork invites you to consider a personhood that attentively collaborates and exchanges with all living things.
Darryl Cheng is the creator of the incredibly popular blog and Instagram account, House Plant Journal. Darryl’s commitment to excellence and his passion for plants and thirst for knowledge have turned him into the king of the internet houseplant world. What was initially a hobby Tumblr page has turned into an Instagram account with over 250,000 followers, a go-to blog for anything plant related, the beginnings of his very own houseplant care book and plant time-lapse videos that have gone viral around the world.
Geneviève Wallen is a Toronto-based curator and writer interested in the manifestation of healing spaces within the arts. Wallen's interest in diasporic narratives, intersectional feminism, intergenerational healing and BIPOC alternative timelines, inform her practice. She has curated exhibitions in Montreal and Toronto, and is currently Programming Coordinator at Xpace Cultural Centre, a board member-curator at YTB (Younger Than Beyoncé) Gallery, and a member of the collective We Critique, We Curate.
Kristin Weckworth of Kiko Sounds is a teacher and artist specializing in sound therapy, meditation, yoga and relational aesthetics. As the co-founder of Toronto's contemporary design shop Magic Pony, and art gallery Narwhal, she spent over a decade collaborating with artists from around the globe, curating exhibitions, publications and interactive environments. Now she combines her experiences in contemporary culture with holistic modalities to offer ephemeral, immersive experiences intended to guide you back to a state of wholeness. Kiko creates settings for deep listening that induce profound states of relaxation and meditation, inviting in opportunities for intuitive awareness, self-healing and expansive creativity.
Onsite Gallery is the flagship professional gallery of OCAD U and an experimental curatorial platform for art, design and new media. Visit our website for upcoming public events. The gallery is located at 199 Richmond St. W, Toronto, ON, M5V 0H4. Telephone: 416-977-6000, ext. 265. Opening hours are: Wednesdays from noon to 8 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Free admission.
Image (left to right): Darryl Cheng of House Plant Journal; Geneviève Wallen (photo by Roya DelSol); Kristin Weckworth of Kiko Sounds.