Midway Update: Hand Modelling from Handmodel.ca

We, at City of Craft HQ, just got this very mysterious communique from the folks at HAND MODEL. Very mysterious, indeed.

FREE HAND MODELING SERVICES AT CITY OF CRAFT!

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY! MAKES FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE GIFT!

Attention all artists: On December 18th & 19th HAND MODEL will be providing complimentary “professional” modeling of the art/craft item of your choice. Participants can bring items from home or use items purchased at City of Craft (they can be made by the participant or by someone else). A professional photograph will be taken on site as items are hand modeled. Modeled items will appear on the website handmodel.ca. Participants will be emailed a large digital copy of their photographed item.

Print & frame your hand-modeled artwork and give it as a gift to someone special this Christmas! Use it on your promotional website! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Don’t let it pass you by!

HAND MODEL encourages local artists to bring their own work. Please make sure that it is a manageable size.

Who is HAND MODEL?

I guess you will just have to come to the Midway and experience this for yourself. And in spite of the freeness of this service, I have also encouraged the hand models to put out a donation jar. I can't imagine all this hand modelling doesn't take some kind of toll.

It's a Wrap with the Theatre Centre's Gift Wrap Station.

When I stopped by a couple of days ago, the office at The Theatre Centre was scattered with test runs at gift wrapping. Why? This year, for the first time ever, The Theatre Centre is going to have an actual presence at the show. Don't be fooled. The Theatre Centre is always present at City of Craft. Although the bulk of work we do with them is behind the scenes, the importance of our relationship with The Theatre Centre should not be underplayed.

So why are they offering to wrap your gifts this year? The Theatre Centre is currently raising $5 million to retrofit and move into a new, permanent space a few doors down. Of course, gift wrapping is not the focus of their capital campaign (there is municipal, federal, foundation and private funding involved), but the point is that every donation helps. Plus, the word needs to get out! So help them help you and help City of Craft move on up with them!

Read more from the Theatre Centre folks themselves:

Wrapping our way to a new home!

Have your gift wrapped by The Theatre Centre team and make a donation towards our new home!

As one of the city’s oldest performing arts collectives, it has been a long-standing ambition of The Theatre Centre to find a permanent home.

Our new home will be at 1115 Queen Street West (just a hop and a skip from the Great Hall) in a retrofitted Carnegie Library in the heart of the West Queen West neighbourhood. The adaptive reuse of this magnificent building will give us a beautiful, flexible, and accessible theatre. We will be able to support more artists and present more work. The building will house an installation space and a café, which the community will be encouraged to use as a meeting place.

The Theatre Centre has had to move ten times in its 31-year history as a result of gentrification and rising rents. In April 2010, City Council announced its decision to offer a long-term lease for the former Carnegie Library at 1115 Queen Street West to The Theatre Centre as sole tenant. The move will reinstate the former glory of the library that closed in 1964 and enable the residents of Toronto to enjoy the building once more. The Theatre Centre is extremely proud to steward the reanimation of this public space and to play a role in Toronto’s heritage conservation.

The City of Toronto has contributed $1 million towards the renovations and we have also received significant donations from the George C. Metcalf Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canadian Heritage and from a private donor.

However, there are still funds to be raised and we will need the generous support of individual and corporate donors to meet our final goal of $5 million.

By making a donation – however large or small – you will help us find a new home.

For more information visit the website.

Danijela Pruginic's Silhouette Cameos return to the Midway!

A massive hit at our 2008 show, the silhouette cameo photo booth will be back on the upper mezzanine/balcony again for the 2010 show! We are very excited to welcome Danijela Pruginic back to fill the South West corner of the upper level with vintage-inspired joy. Dani is, after all, a very in-demand photographer about town. I keep seeing her work pop up everywhere from weddings to new-style product photography to editorial work to interpretative fine art photography (see For Keeps: a mending show for some great examples of the latter).

The cameos are available as flat magnets and, from personal experience, I can tell you that these items make great gifts for loved ones and/or proud parents who really just want a memento of you for the holidays. I also saw some super sweet couples cameos last time around which I sort of regret not getting. Don't you regret anything! Get on the silhouettes!

Read more here.

Unflattering Portraits on the Midway.

Unflattering Portrait of Nathan. Photo by Becky Johnson

This just in: we have it on very good authority that the ladies and gentlemen of the Misanthrope Specialty Company have released the online sign-ups for Reverend Aitor's Unflattering Portraits. Since the Misanthropes will also be vending at the show, the number of portrait sessions is somewhat limited. The Reverend's service have been quite popular is past years so if you are considering sitting for a portrait, we strongly recommend booking your slot in advance.

The Reverend will also do portraits via online ordering but all in-person sittings are by donation. The online-submitted work is also very reasonably priced.

Read more here. Book a slot here. Peruse the Gallery of Unflattering here. And if you can't make it to the show, order online here.