Canzine Craftermath.

I woke up this morning to some lovely images from yesterday's Canzine zine fair in my email box from attendee, Jo Prescott. For those who don't know, I am currently in Europe for five weeks on a mostly-non-craft tour. I was very sad to miss one of my favourite fairs.

But Jo's pictures of Tara and Jen manning the fort make me feel like I was there. Thanks to everyone who helped with the table, came and said hello and/or squished a button.

Possibly the ladies will post a more hands-on recap of their own here (hint, hint).

Love from Berlin,

Becky

Vendor Hype: Andrew Zangerle at Art Star Philly.

We at City of Craft would like to extend a warm congratulations to 2010 vendor, Andrew Zangerle (aka The Maple Ridge), for the opening of his new show The Big Sea at Art Star Gallery in Philadelphia. If you are in the Philly area, go check it out! If not, you can peruse and purchase everything that did not sell yet via Art Star's very wonderful website here. Who knows? Maybe some of these wall plaques will even make it up to Toronto in December. But with Andrew turning out figurines, illustrations, paintings and more it is hard to say what will be on his table at City of Craft. At the very least, you can now get excited that he will be up here for the first time.

For more information on all of our vendors, check the growing 2010 Vendor Page.

I can zine.

The leaves are turning orange (or brown) and falling off the trees again so it must be that time of year. Time for Canzine! Cazine is one of City of Craft's top twenty local indie events (okay, okay, we are bad at picking favourites). But we can tell you this for sure: Canzine is surely Toronto's largest zine fair and it is presented by Broken Pencil our absolute favourite zine and indie culture magazine. Our partnership with Broken Pencil as co-sponsors began when our event did so it is fair to say that our relationship is pretty important to us. And one of the best parts of this is getting to have a funtimes table at Canzine!

What's more? They have moved from the labyrinth hallways of the Galdstone to the big open space of The Great Hall which, by the way, is directly above where City of Craft happens in a couple months.

So come on down! Chat with City of Craft Canzine crew (Jen, Tara, Mike & Amy)! Buy City of Craft merch at bargain basement prices! Make your own 1" buttons! Take a flyer! Sign up for a mailing list!

And then peruse the biggest collection of zine makers you are going to find in Toronto until next year.

Sunday, October 24, 2010
1pm - 7pm
The Great Hall
1087 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON

It's a done deal.

Photo by supayana

The jury has met, votes have been crunched, floor plans have been consulted and City of Craft's 2010 vendors have been notified of their acceptance.

As always, all the jury members were deeply humbled by the amount of talent in Toronto (and beyond). And as always, there is way too much talent around these parts for our little show (well, little in vendor numbers) to accommodate.

Our selections consist mostly of lovely locals with a few stellar neighbours thrown in for good measure (note the image above from Montreal fashion label, supayana). To stay on top of all the exciting people and things at the show, be sure to check out our growing vendor page and image gallery. As we get deeper into the fall, they will steadily populate themselves with vendor links and products images to ease your holiday shopping woes.

For those who did not end up with a spot in this year's show (and even for those of you who did), may we recommend the new craft fairs forum on the Toronto Craft Alert. The forums are just getting rolling, but we hope for them to become a big hub of activity as the holiday craft fair season pushed into full swing.

A massive thank-you to everyone who applied. This city is full to bursting with craft and talent.

Mending and Midway (calls for submission close tomorrow night)

Photo by sweetie pie press

Just a quick note to let you all know that our last two calls for submission close tomorrow (September 15, 2010) at midnight.

1. The Midway
In search of ways to make City of Craft even more interactive, Becky Johnson (that's me) is curating a little collection of midway-inspired interactive booths. Got an amazing idea? A crazy booth or interactive project? Send it in!
Read more (and find the submission form) here.

2. For Keeps: a mending show
With a respectful appreciation of things mended, Jen Anisef is curating this group show. It's easy! All you have to do is part with a mended item for two weeks and you get a photograph of it in return.
Read more and apply here.

Well, that's the update for today. It's blustery, it's fall and it feels a lot like Toronto out there. Let's start thinking of ways to warm up the winter with art, craft and gatherings.

Yours truly,

Becky

Hang in there.

Just a quick note to all hopeful City of Craft vendors,

Notifications will be going out on Wednesday, September 15, 2010.

Back to the drafting board,

Becky

2010 Jury Announced.

The applications have all rolled in and are already being collated into nice, neat jury-ready formats. As the 2010 jury will be convening in the next week, this seems as good a time as any to demystify the jury process used by City of Craft.

Every year, the three City of Craft founders (Becky Johnson, Leah Buckareff & Jen Anisef) are joined by two invited guests from the greater Toronto craft community. These guests are selected for both their kinships to City of Craft and its mandates and for their aesthetic and/or professional differences from us. They are usually picked from slightly distant corners of the local art/craft world. Past jurors have included people involved in craft-based installation, retail, curation and creation.

This year, we are very excited to introduce you to our 2010 guests, Janna Hiemstra and Arounna Khounnoraj. Read on to find out more about them and your trusty City of Craft founders.

(Arounna & Janna, in that order)

Arounna Khounnoraj received her art education from The Ontario College of Art, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MFA from University of Waterloo. She has received numerous awards from The Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and The Ontario Craft Council. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows across North America and Europe. Her work is in public and private collections. She currently resides in Toronto and runs her design business bookhou with her husband John and their children Lliam and Piper.

Janna Hiemstra is working on her third year with the Ontario Crafts Council, and is currently serving as Programs Manager where, among other things, she works on keeping the Gallery, CraftTalks lectures, and grant writing on track. With a background in philosophy and a passion for actually doing things with her hands, Janna enjoys making stuff...and then thinking about it.

And some background on the oldies but goodies:

Becky Johnson is currently at the helm of the City of Craft ship. She also runs her own multi-faceted craft business, the sweetie pie press, out of her Parkdale studio/office/home - which focuses on illustration, crochet and 1" pinback buttons. Her work has appeared in hundreds of independent boutiques worldwide as well as swelling into large-scale button and crochet art and installations. For the 2010 show, she is doing piles of administration, drinking tea and curating the interactive midway.

Leah Buckareff was a lonesome Bookbinder in Toronto until she saw how one handcraft could easily turn into crafted life. Seeing the growing need for community - while also craving it herself, she decided to found a Toronto chapter of the Church of Craft in 2003. It was in this community that she met two awesome ladies and together with them founded City of Craft. Recently transplanted to Berlin, Germany for the music she creates and performs with her partner, she is now a Citizen-at-Large with big plans for trans-Atlantic craft collaborations. In September, Leah will be opening a rotating exhibition in Berlin called The Wunderkabinet.

Jen Anisef co-founded the Montreal Chapter of Church of Craft and wrote a Master's thesis exploring themes of community-building and political activism in contemporary craft culture. Upon moving back to Toronto, she founded Toronto Craft Alert, an online resource and community hub championing Toronto area craft activity, and later co-founded City of Craft. Through TCA she has collaborated with multiple organizations to present craft related programming such as "DIwhy?" at the Ontario Crafts Council in 2009. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Outdoor Arts Show and is curating an exhibition on mending for City of Craft 2010.