OCAD U ARTISTS TAKE OVER HAZELTON LANES IN TORONTO’S YORKVILLE

Artist Jessamyn Kahn and Dori J. Segal, President and CEO of First Capital Realty Inc. Photo by Martin Iskander.
Robin Clason's Constellations 1.
Jessica Chen's Sega 1.
Singithi Kandage's Veliuspictura.

OCAD University students, recent graduates and faculty are transforming the Oval Square at Hazelton Lanes into a pop-up gallery for the first ever Hazelton Lanes Arts Festival. Unfolding the Oval Square runs from May 10 to May 19 and features an extraordinary juried collection of works by students and recent graduates, along with performances and artists talks.

An exclusive, invitation-only preview reception on Thursday, May 9 kicked off a lively series of events planned for the duration of the festival, including electro acoustic music by ABA (May 10),  a special Jazz 4 Kids concert sponsored by JAZZ FM  (May 12), an animated video performance by Philippe Blanchard (May 15) and artists talks by David Rokeby (May 10), Anda Kubis (May 17) and Natalka Husar (May 17).

An innovative partnership

The festival is the result of a close collaboration between OCAD U and First Capital Realty Inc., which owns Hazelton Lanes. The festival features a diverse range of photographs, paintings, prints and site-specific installations, and pieces on view are available for purchase.

“The festival provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase talent of OCAD U graduates and faculty and make contemporary art more accessible to the public,” says Vladimir Spicanovic, Dean of the Faculty of Art, who will be giving a public lecture at the festival on the meaning of contemporary art and its role in our culture (May 15). “We’re delighted to extend our partnership with First Capital Realty and happy to work with an organization that is committed to contemporary art and expanding the cultural capital of our city.” 

An unfolding relationship

The festival builds on the previous successes of OCAD U’s partnership with First Capital Realty, including the First Capital Public Sculpture Competition and Imagination Zone projects featuring works by Nicholas Crombach, Vanessa Maltese, Sarah McCaw, Meryl McMaster, Annyen Lam, Rajni Perera and Mike Goldby.

“We’re proud to support the youth and the arts while contributing to the continued flourishing culture of our city,” says Dori J. Segal, President and CEO of First Capital Realty Inc. “Celebrating arts, culture and community is important to us.”

Emerging artists

Unfolding the Oval Square features works by:
• Jessica Chen
• Robin Clason
• Nicholas Crombach
• Nathan Cyprus
• Justin De Lima
• Brianne Freedman
• Natasha Gouveia
• Layne Hinton
• Jessamyn Kahn
• Singithi Kandage
• Sang-jin Lee
• Joel Libin
• Romena Mohammadi
• Keita Morimoto
• Chi Moscou-Jackson
• Claire Scherzinger
• Maria Tsylke
• Setareh Zakeri

Site specific installations are by:
• Layne Hinton
• Kate Hogg and Amelia Levick
• Aleska Velicki
• Marian Wihak

See it:

May 10-19
Hazelton Lanes 
87 Avenue Road, Toronto
Schedule of events

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