The About Face Collective

Last Chance to Submit to Bike Photo Exhibit

2012-01-24T19:35:00.001-05:00

The Toronto Cyclists Union is hosting a photography exhibit at the Centre For Social Innovation, Annex on Thursday, February 2nd. The open call for submissions closes tomorrow, so time to hustle! We know all you photog friends of ours have some lovely shots of so-and-so pedaling through the park last Summer (remember Summer??). So do a little digging and drop them off tomorrow at the front desk at CSI. Or dig a little less and pull out a Fall or Winter biking shot; the theme of the show is The Four Seasons of Cycling, which means you could also submit a cycling-focused shot taken in the Spring. And remind us all that it will eventually come around again...

365 Days of Cycling: An Evening of Art and Cycling.

Submission details here.

Facebook event here.

Jan 25: UPDATE!
Digital submissions will be accepted through Friday. ALSO, 100% of the selling price of any work sold goes directly to the artist. Wooh! Check the detes here.

Gary Taxali Makes Money! (Literally...)

2012-01-24T16:53:00.001-05:00

Gary Taxali for the Royal Canadian Mint, via National Post

Good on the Royal Canadian Mint for this one: Today marks the release of a set of six special occasion coins designed by Toronto-based artist and illustrator, Gary Taxali (of whom we're big fans). In this CBC video, Alexander Reeves explains "the retro pop art look is cool and it's hip and that's what the Royal Canadian Mint wants to identify with." Who knew?

Of course, we love what Taxali made of the project. We're also pretty stoked on his view that "the best way to represent a wedding in Canada is to show the love between two people, regardless of gender". The product is "two rings intertwined and in love". Cute.

I mean, we're usually somewhat excited to get money, but especially today.

"Oh Canada" coin via Art Daily

New Design! | Squab

2012-01-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

Remember these lovely and entertaining Wishlist posters from our Greenhouse Gallery show? They were printed locally on 100% Recycled paper using a waterless UV process and VOC-free inks and created by our friends at Squab.

Creative Director Tammy Yiu and crew have just moved into new digs in Liberty Village. In between setting up the new stude and feverishly designing away, they've found a bit of time to start posting some recent work on their lovely site. Check it out! (Challenge: hit refresh on their homepage a couple times and just tryyy not to get sucked in).

Packaging for soup and bread roll for Portaselo Fine Foods

Identity for new Canadian-made outerwear company

New Art! | Rose Broadbent

2012-01-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

'By the Fire' | Rose Broadbent

Check out some new work from our Toronto homegirl and AFC supporting artist, Rose Broadbent. More of her watercolour and acrylic work here.

Tomorrow: Give Clothes, Get Fun!

2012-01-13T10:26:00.000-05:00

Got some gently-used clothing to purge? Bring it by the Garrison tomorrow night and Vox Toronto will donate it to The Yonge Street Mission. Swap your excess sweaters for an eve of music and art. Check the Facebook event here. If you're not able to make the party tomorrow, you can drop your donation off on the main floor of the Centre For Social Innovation, Annex location today until 4pm.

Choose Your Own Info, T.O.

2012-01-12T15:22:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I slept a little on posting about these guys, but I did wake up and get out biking at an obscenely early hour this past Saturday morning when I spotted them. What a delightfully rewarding experience biking around this city at nine (or... ten) o'clock in the morning can be! (One of the perks of participating in a January cleanse). Who knew that it's just like Spring in January in Toronto at that hour?

So, the sun's a-shining and the birds are a-chirping and I hit the corner of College and Bathurst and notice one of those lovely, gargantuan "info" pillars that seem to have fallen out of the sky sometime this past Fall, crushing any bike rings and obstructing any sidewalks in their way. But wait, as I rode in its direction, I could actually see the word "info" clearly across the top of the billboard! I mean, pillar!

Of course, the chalk boards hanging over the in-your-face ad space weren't placed there apologetically by the city. We're not sure who made the move, but it seems a few people noticed. When I arrived, the boards were still relatively nude, but by the time these photos were taken for the Torontoist, it looks like several Torontonians had some things to say.

Last Day to Get Loco for Local!

2011-12-11T10:46:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of Muttonhead's L O C O for L O C A L pop-up shop! Check them out at the adorable Naco Gallery on Dundas West today for amazing locally made gifts and goodies; art prints, clothing, jewelry, chocolate, and cards like these, by Lauren Pirie with a portion going to support our Everything Roof project!

Check the Facebook event here and go check off a bunch of those nice folks on your list!
Open 10am - 7pm today
1665 Dundas St W

Local Artists Design Cups For Responsible Coffee Initiatives

2011-12-09T17:02:00.005-05:00

Tonight at The Mascot! Come view and bid on cup creations by local artists including Greenhouse Gallery contributing artists Kathryn MacNaughton, Justyna Werbel, Mahmood Popal and Lauren Pirie. Proceeds support Grounds For Health initiatives in coffee growing countries. "Their award winning work is not only saving the lives of hundreds of women every year from a prevalent yet easy to detect and treat form of cancer, but it is helping reshape the way gender equality is looked at in the communities they work in".

The event is the third annual run by First Drop Canada. It also highlights simple actions of environmental responsibility, like using your own reusable mug and hence, One Less Paper Cup!

Tonight 8pm - Midnight

The Mascot

1267 Queen St.

Facebook Event here

Natalie from The About Face Collective featured in Curve Magazine!

2011-12-07T10:24:00.000-05:00

Last month, I was featured in the Food and Drink issue of Curve Magazine for my article on what it means to be a “Queer Urban Farmer” (photo cred Charlie Randall with help from my dear friend Mark Sherman from LEAF). The article discusses my observations (and frustrations) about how much queer identity seems to be centered around being an “urbanite”, both in the media and indeed very often in reality. For me, this correlation between being queer and being urban is false, and is directly related to the diaspora many queer people experience coming from rural areas that typically seem to provide less opportunities to form thriving, safe LGBT2Q community.

But the question I ask in the article is “What about queers like me?” I desire “a big open field, a plot of land to put my hands in, a horizon, a steady pace”, in short, I want a more rural life. However, I also desire the comfort and excitement of belonging to a thriving, accepting, dance-party-filled queer community, like the one I have surrounded myself with here in Toronto. I balance these two needs by being a part of, and advocating for, the urban farming community. My hope is that not only will more queers take leave of the city and form thriving communities in rural places, but that we can also make the city more appealing for those who want to balance city life with their passion for working the land and being in touch with nature.

I end the article with this thought:

“Although so many of us certainly feel “free” in the city, until that freedom fully extends beyond the borders of the city centre, there is still much work to be done. Until then, you can catch me turning heads in my farm gear, content that, queer or not, being an “urbanite” these days can mean being a farmer like me.”

Sorry Folks, can't find it online, but you can ask me to send you the full article via email!

Give someone the gift of Creativity this Holiday Season with Fine Oak Art School!

2011-11-22T21:05:00.003-05:00

We know how (not) into going to the mall to look for Christmas presents you are, but we've got something both easy for you and meaningful for that special someone on your Christmas gift list or workplace Secret Santa.

Erica Beyea of Fine Oak Art School has generously donated a 5 week art course for beginner artists in the medium of their choice!

Never heard of Fine Oak Art School? It's new! Here's a little bio on the kind of experience you'll be gifting someone:

Fine Oak Art School was founded by Toronto artist and instructor Erica Beyea. She studied Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art & Design and the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. Since graduating, she has been teaching and showing her artwork across Canada. Erica has also worked as a curator, gallery assistant and a variety of other roles in the Toronto art scene.

Fine Oak has developed a program that suits each student’s individual goals. Each class begins with a one-on-one interview where Erica determines your strengths, weaknesses and artistic goals for the session. A curriculum is then developed to meet the needs of every student in the class. Small class sizes of five or seven students ensure that each student gets the attention they require from the instructor, as well as a familiarity with other students and their work. Studio practice and technical skills are reinforced with concept-development and small lessons in art history. Students are exposed further to the art world through gallery tours and visits from working artists and designers.

This package is valued at over $200, but you can donate just $100 to The About Face Collective and be feeding two birds with one seed! Not only will you be giving a great, unique gift, but you can feel good knowing that you're helping to further our fundraising efforts towards the creation of our rooftop garden!

Please contact us at aboutface@aboutfacecollective.com if you're interested in purchasing this wicked holiday gift!

Greenhouse Gallery Featured Artist Series | Round3: Illustration Nation

2011-11-04T14:41:00.004-04:00

Greenhouse Gallery kicks off tomorrow and runs through Sunday!

The three ladies in this round of the artist features each spread their creativity over several mediums; graphic design, photography, painting, writing, drawing, the occasional living room dance party... though, it's probably safe to say that they all primarily identify as illustrators. The first two, admittedly, are serious art-crushes of mine, and the last one, well... the last one's me. I'll leave the bio in third person for good measure.

Juliana Neufeld

Juliana Neufeld is an illustrator and mixed media artist living and working happily in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been inspired by the whimsy of children’s illustration, journal art and an obsession with textiles. Her work has been showcased in galleries in Japan, France, Los Angeles and across Canada. Some of her working folks include The Globe and Mail, Arts and Crafts Records, Element Skateboards andSpinmaster Toys.

www.juliananeufeld.com

www.juliananeufeld.tumblr.com

Juliana will have large framed giclee prints as well as limited edition 8x10 prints for sale and silent auction tomorrow and Sunday at Greenhouse Gallery.

Kathryn Macnaughton

Kathryn Macnaughton is an illustrator and graphic artist who lives and works in Toronto. She graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design. She combines her drawings with collage in a hue of light pastel shades, mixing soft pornographic material with random objects, patterns or typefaces. Her work has appeared in magazines, on books and album covers. She recently finished the book covers for six John Steinbeck classic novel for penguin.

www.kathrynmacnaughton.com.

Kathryn will have large paintings and limited edition 8x14 prints for sale and auction tomorrow and Sunday.

Lauren Pirie

After a year of wandering around the world, Lauren studied Communication Design at Ryerson University followed by Illustration at OCAD in Toronto, wandering a little more in between. She still thinks some of her most influential education was acquired during summers at camp in Northern Ontario.

Lauren currently spends her days and nights and small hours of the morning making drawings, writing stories and working on various illustration and design projects in music, fashion, and for NGOs like the About Face Collective, an art and environmental project which she co-founded. Lauren likes finding meaning (or simply amusement) in things that make little sense. She likes little things, (but loves run-on sentences).

www.laurenpirie.com

Lauren will have framed drawings, limited edition prints, greeting cards and books for sale and auction tomorrow and Sunday.

Tomorrow's the day! Join us at the Fresh City Greenhouse, 70 Canuck Ave from 11-6 this Saturday AND Sunday. See Facebook event for full details here.

Greenhouse Gallery Featured Artist Series | Round2: Broadbent Nation

2011-11-03T12:02:00.002-04:00

We are thrilled to have not one, not two, but all three Broadbent siblings exhibiting this weekend at Greenhouse Gallery. Team Broadbent has been supportive of the AFC since the beginning; contributing art work, working volunteer shifts, dj-ing events, introducing us to our now-project-partners at Sketch... If they weren't so kind and generous, this trio of blond, super-human talents would be pretty intimidating...

Rose Broadbent

Rose Broadbent spends her time making art and traveling the earth. Her work often reflects worldly struggles of power and injustice that she has witnessed. She does not commit to one but many mediums. Rose is a head designer of the collective The New BEAT, while also art director of the vintage fashion line, Bridge & Bardot. Her roots lie in the progressive world of New Media, from which she graduated at Ryerson University. Rose continues to seek to understand, and to create good things in the world.

Rose will have a selection of watercolour pieces for sale and auction this weekend.

www.rosebroadbent.com

Justin Broadbent

Justin Broadbent is an accomplished Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist. His work includes video performance, poems, funny ideas, illustration, design, music video direction, and installation. Justin is also a self-taught photographer.

Co-directing music videos under the moniker HotDogGarbage, Justin has done work for recording artists such as Shad and Metric. He has achieved a CBC Bucky Award and three Much Music Video Award nominations for his work.

Justin chooses layered projects that challenged his expectations. His work often centers on meaning-of-life topics, which he delivers with a glimmer of charm and wit. Hence, he’s often reminding people that the sun is a burning ball of fire floating in outer space!

Justin’s work is inspired by the impossibility of a seed becoming a tree, thrift stores, clever lyrics, and human perseverance.

Justin will be have a selection of drawings and collages for sale and auction this weekend, some from his recent residency in Miami.

www.justinbroadbent.com

www.hotdoggarbage.com

Joy Broadbent

Joy lives and works as a painter in Toronto. She completed her Honours BFA at the University of Western Ontario. Her paintings combine abstraction with representation by way of a diverse range of painterly techniques. The paint itself seems to mask and sometimes reveal bits of organic material and human‐made creations in flat planes of ambiguous origins. Her current works present a mystical vision of rose gardens at night, with themes of revelation, time, destruction and renewal.

Joy will have a selection of large and small paintings for sale and silent auction at Greenhouse Gallery.

www.joybroadbent.com

Greenhouse Gallery | Art Fundraiser for the Everything Roof, this Saturday and Sunday! Facebook event here

Greenhouse Gallery Featured Artist Series | Round1: Hession, Baruchel & Luk

2011-11-01T17:52:00.007-04:00

Danielle Hession

Danielle is a long-time friend and supporter of The About Face Collective. We love her not only for her incredible willingness to help out, her sweet-as-pie attitude, and her incredible talent; but also because we nerd out over some common loves.

Like us, Danielle “takes great satisfaction in recycling discarded items and giving them a new life”. She works with old photographs, papers and imagery and draws inspiration from found objects and ephemera from times past. Though she turns these things into her own new, enchanting images -collaging them and infusing them with handmade marks and colour- her work still imparts a great sense of mystery and nostalgia.

The following are two of Danielle’s pieces that will be up for silent auction at this weekend’s Greenhouse Gallery Art Fundraiser for The Everything Roof. See more on Saturday and Sunday!

daniellehession.com

Danielle Hession, Boom Town Wranglers, 13x40

Danielle Hession, On Your Side, 30 x 30

Virgil Baruchel

Virgil has been around since the beginning of time… at least, the AFC’s time. Virgil has bent over backwards (and jumped over things) to help us out since before we even had a name. We can only assume that his monsters have also been around since the beginning of time. And we’re not sure if their names came before or after their creation (so, before time?), but we really think the titles are the crown jewels on Virg’s work.

You may remember these guys from our last fundraiser show at Arta Gallery. Since then, they’ve been created in far away lands such as Paris and New York and with all sorts of new materials and colour and texture. And sometimes they’re not even monsters anymore. In fact, sometimes Virgil now works with materials he's pulled off the street, like recycled and found wood and metal, to make amazing furniture. Virgil will have a selection of drawings and paintings for sale and auction this weekend.

virgilbaruchel.blogspot.com

Virgil Baruchel, goingtothebanktocashyourcheck(inparis), 50 x 65cm

Virgil's Paris studio, all paintings and furniture by Baruchel

Eunice Luk

Eunice was born in Hong Kong. She now lives and works and makes incredible, fantastical things in Toronto. These precious wonders range from drawings to ceramics, which will be displayed for sale and auction in the Greenhouse Gallery this weekend. We are so excited to these amazing pieces linger and twinkle among the greenery.

Eunice strives to create work that maps the imagination in a synthetic world. In May 2010, she founded Fantasy Camp, an independent publisher of artist books and zines. Eunice studied at Ontario College of Art and Design where she also became one of the founding members of Childface Sausage; the collective will also have work in the show this weekend.

euniceluk.com

Eunice Luk, Skin, Earthenware

Eunice Luk, Coral II & Coral III, Earthenware

We will be featuring more of the artists involved in Greenhouse Gallery Art Fundraiser for The Everything Roof throughout the week. Watch this space and join us Saturday and Sunday for the show, sale and silent auction as well as music and workshops and food, beer and wine.

Greenhouse Gallery Featured Artists Announced

2011-10-27T17:46:00.004-04:00

We are just a little over a week away from Greenhouse Gallery, our fundraising art event with Fresh City Farms at their Downsview Park greenhouse. Yay! (Also, eek!) Also, howww is it November next week? Guh.

Between now and then you probably have a gourd to carve into the likeness of your favorite pop star or (least) favorite municipal politician and some combination of spandex and sparkles and rainbow wig to don. That sounds fun and all, but you're really just counting down the days until you get to enjoy (and buy) the work of 30 renowned local artists in an urban greenhouse while sipping some local wine, and swaying to tunes from talented T.O. musicians, aren't you?

Over the next week we will post features on some of these incredible artists on our blog (here!). Check back through the week to see some sneak previews of some of the work that will be sold and silent-auctioned off. Check the Facebook event for full details, and go ahead and invite your friends (and your favorite municipal politicians). And come! Of course, we welcome costumes.

Greenhouse Gallery Art Fundraiser for The Everything Roof
Featured Artists:

Adrian Forrow
Alex Kurina
Childface Sausage
Claire Hall
Danielle Hession
Darlene Huynh
E V Mary Stephens
Emily Stoddart
Erica Brisson
Eunice Luk
Josh Raskin
Juliana Neufeld
Justin Broadbent
Justyna Werbel
Kathryn Macnaughton
Laura Mensinga
Lauren Pirie
Lisa Visser
Mahmood Popal
Mark Harris Sherman
Owen Wong
Rodrigo Marti
Rose Broadbent
Sarah D'Angelo
Srdjan Segan
Talia Shipman
Tammy Yiu
Virgil Baruchel

Plus:

Jewelry byKate Schwan

Hand-knit accessories from Muttonhead

And art classes for auction by Erica Beyea of Fine Oak Art School

See facebook event for more information on music line-up, workshops and more!

The About Face Collective @ Eat In Onatrio and Nuit Blanche!

2011-10-06T16:04:00.001-04:00

Hey folks, Natalie here from The About Face Collective! I've been a busy girl lately, day-timing as a community garden coordinator and urban food educator, and night-timing as an (unserious) musician.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of being involved in 2nd annual Eat-In Ontario event, held by FoodShare @ Queens Park. As FoodShare describes it on their website, the event is a "fall harvest celebration"that features dozens of workshops and activities for students of all ages to help teach them about food systems, sustainability, and community.

My workshop with FoodShare focused on a short reading of the "Stone Soup" story, a classic chinese tale about how food can bring communities together. We then created our own story that had to include elements of food and how a type community comes together to solve a problem with each other. (Photo credit: Laura Berman)

Next up, I was lucky enough to participate in a Nuit Blanche installation, curated by artist Kevin Shmidt entitled "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". The piece featured dozens of buskers situated up and down Yonge Street, all playing the same 9 songs in their own styles, all of which had to do with the theme of "tomorrow". Songs by Journey, Elvis, The Velvet Underground, The Monkeys, Brian Adams, Johnny Cash, and The Shirells (obviously) were just some of classic musicians that were chosen. The musicians ranged from solo sax to belly bangle shakers to, well, my friend Charlie and I with a borrowed electric keyboard and a tambourine:

We had a great time interacting with the crowd, eating pizza and watching teens from the 905 lose their mind at the prospect of running around downtown Toronto all night without their parents. We were also asked to play the opening reception for Nuit Blanche, and would like to give a huge thanks to Kevin Shmidt for getting us on the roster at an open bar event. THANKS!

The beauty of this piece is that it snuck up on people; it was un-obvious, and could have gone unnoticed, or else seemingly serendipitous. Many times we would hear people saying with wonder "how is it that they're all playing the same music?" without figuring out that it was actually an art installation. Others would ask "You're all working together, aren't you!?" Either way, people had a great time dancing and laughing down the street, singing into the microphones along with the artists, or drumming along on their own legs to the beat as they went by. Great job Kevin, we hope to see more of this unobvious public art from you in the future!

Greenhouse Gallery | Field Trip to Fresh City Farms

2011-10-04T18:36:00.000-04:00

Our curating team, led (and transported) by Rodrigo Marti, ventured up to visit our friends from Fresh City Farms at their greenhouse at Downsview Park this morning. I was lucky to get to know the FCF crew while working with them on their branding and web design earlier this year. Their mission to empower young people in the GTA to farm organically everywhere from backyards to rooftops to this greenhouse had the AFC pretty excited. So when they suggested that we work together on an event this Fall, we were all over it. And when they told us we could hang art in their greenhouse, we got more than a little nerdy about it. I mean, what more perfect a setting to raise funds for an urban rooftop garden created by local artists than in an urban greenhouse with an art show? Hence our little art team field trip.

Our visit timed up with FCF seeding their greenhouse for the season. So by the time we convert this space into a gallery (for the weekend of November 5th & 6th) these beds will be green with organic veggie leaves. You can get these same veggies delivered to your door each week straight from Fresh City if you live in T.O. Check them out, check back here for more info on the event and mark the date down on your calendars!

About Face Collective: Half way towards the creation of our Recycle Art Rooftop Garden

2011-09-23T14:58:00.001-04:00

Well kids, it's crunch time over here at The About Face Collective! After receiving $75,000 from Live Green Toronto towards the creation of our proposed Recycle Art Rooftop Garden at the new Centre for Social Innovation Annex, we've been working hard to garner the remaining $75,000 to get this venture off the ground by December 31st of this year!

Where we're at right now: We've got our fingers crossed on a couple of ongoing grants, and we're one of the top contestants on the ClimateSpark.ca challenge, and we're gearing up to create an Indigogo.com campaign.

We're also partnering up with FreshCityFarms to host a fundraiser at their greenhouse at Downsview Park, and will be hosting a collaborative visioning session with the folks at Exhibit Change for CSI members and potential collaborators and funders.

Despite all this, we STILL need your help! Write about us! Blog about us! Tweet about us! Spread the word about this very special and multi-faceted project! Your support and encouragement will help us generate the social capital we need to make this project a reality!

Your support (and your tweets) means the world to us. It may even land you a can of Ontario peaches from Natalie, wink wink, nudge nudge...

Get in touch with us if you'd like to see our press release!

Let's keep Toronto on track towards sustainability!

Sustainable Clothing & Art Camping Out at Our Fave New T.O. Creative Space

2011-09-09T17:22:00.005-04:00

Our friends at Muttonhead are camping out at the top of Trinity Bellwoods Park with their Fall line this weekend. We've posted about Muttonhead in the past; all of their garb is locally-produced here in T.O using fabrics like hemp and recycled leather. The line is perfectly androgynous; comfy and steezy and equally appropriate for bonfire or bar, and as we've confessed before, one of our hands-down favorites.

Starting today, they're parked at one of our new favorite T.O. spaces, Miracle Thieves, alongside Ottawa's Raised By Wolves, Cuchara jewelry and recycled cards and prints from Lauren Pirie, as well as some other art, books and for the opening tonight, burgers and beers! Come by 249 Crawford (at Dundas) to check it all out - look for the window art by Justin Broadbent. And keep an eye on Miracle Thieves for tons of great local art and lovely things!

Facebook Event Here

Cards and Prints by Lauren Pirie and Our Liner Notes, by Justin Lee

Rack of Mutt

Window by Broadbent

dog!

Raised by Wolves moccasins and such

Pure Green Zine, Money!

2011-08-26T14:57:00.001-04:00

How the h it's taken this long for us to discover Pure Green Mag, we do not know. But now we know! Yeah yeah, you're like "Pff, Pure Green's only been like the coolest sustainable ish for the last year, don't you read the internet?"

Sapna's DIY fun!

So we read the internet today, and it told us that our good friend Sapna had contributed one of her many talents (not that one) to the DIY instructional of this mystery magazine. Intrigue! After some link-clicking and about an hour of the afternoon spent staring at its pretty pages via the computer screen, we'd discovered that PG is a refreshingly stylish Canadian green living and design mag. This issue has a cover featuring a babe with a bike (10 points), articles on Montreal vintage hunting, book binding, organic recipes (um, blue cheese beet cakes with hot pepper cream whuut! 100 points) fruit and veggies preserving and for that extra win with my heart strings, an interview and lovely photo spread of the Algonquin Park Lodge owned by my childhood camp owners (a lot of points).

We also really like their mandate to "have, a strong undercurrent of handmade culture; it supports small businesses and features green designers from around the world. We are very passionate in our views on green living, and don't for one second think that living green means sacrificing style." I don't know how many points that all adds up to, but probably at least a million. We're excited to kick back with a print version coming soon. For now, if you have some time to kill, do it here.

Why City Life Can Drive Us Crazy (F'real) And Why Projects Like Ours Can Help!

2011-08-15T18:19:00.002-04:00

From NOW's Land Use For The Brain by Wayne Roberts

As we've been feverishly writing away at grant applications and other such things in attempts to lock funding for our Rooftop Recycle Art Garden Project at the Centre For Social Innovation, we've been making some pretty good pitches (if we do say so ourselves) for why urban agriculture is important to foster in this city (and maybe going a bit crazy doing so). In similar fashion to most things we work on, this garden project could easily be described as "the urban equivalent of the Swiss Army knife". We really believe in integrated approaches and multifunctional, creative use of community space, as you may have noticed.

As this fantastic article from NOW points out, urban farming in itself, really is quite multifunctional. "This is where urban agriculture, with its food creation, storing of carbon, reuse of rainwater, etc, shines and pays down the high cost of land." The benefits of making efforts to green our city really are manifold. Not that we need more reasons, but reducing mental health disorders is a really good one. And one we could be thankful for. ("Shall we continue to refer to ourselves in the plural?" "Yes, us.") Okay then everyone, go ahead and read this:
Land Use For The Brain - How City Planning Can Reduce Mental Health Disorders, NOW Magazine

Show your Support for Enviromental groups in Toronto! Stop the Cuts!

2011-08-04T17:54:00.000-04:00

In the face of Rob Ford's funding cut rampage, the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) has been fighting vigorously to inform citizens as to why environmental groups such as theirs are so crucial to Toronto. Show your support by signing TEA's petition that will let city council know that Torontonians care about environmental groups and services!

P.F.1 More Reason We Love New York

2011-06-29T15:55:00.001-04:00

It's no secret that we love NYC. We've posted a lot about cool ish happening in the big apple in the past. Bike lights and green roofs and extensive public transit and (now) same-sex marriage (yay NY!) are all things found in this great city we get to run around this weekend. Yes, we're Brooklyn-bound! No one's getting married (that we know of) but we'll definitely have some things to post about upon return. For now, in honour of this weekend's trip and thanks to our art friend Rodrigo Marti digging this up from 2008, here's a little video of an amazing project at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center a few years back.

Check the video and the P.S.1 website for more info. And if you happen to be in NYC this weekend, check our music friend Kids & Explosions at the Glasslands Gallery on Friday night.

Baruchel, Broadbent and Beyond the Walls | Art and Parties, tonight!

2011-06-17T18:28:00.002-04:00

Hellllooooo! Bonjour! Hola! Guten Tag! We have returned from exploring smart cities of the Earth and emerged (temporarily) from the grant-writing dungeon we've been locked in just in time for two of our favoritest artists to show off their incredible new work. You will remember both of these (mostly) Torontonians from their outstanding contributions to the About Face Collective Art and Eco Fashion Show at Arta Gallery some time ago. They have both been incredibly supportive of all of our crazy ideas. So we can't confirm that either of them should be trusted, but we can confirm that they are both super talented painters that you should make a point to check out... tonight!

Virgil's Studio: All paintings and furniture by the artist

If you happen to be in Paris this weekend (well, lucky you. Also, please bring me a box of macarons from La Duree. Merci.) be absolutely sure to stop by and see Virgil Baruchel's last show before he leaves town. I had the pleasure of eating several croissants in the company of Virgil's new work recently and was so stoked to see so much exciting new use of colour, materials, technique and tons of texture. His monsters, thankfully, are still just as scary and his titles (ie; ZEUSwasangryonedayandthelightningwasyellow) still just as amazing. If that's not enough, it also turns out he's ridiculously talented at designing and hand-building amazing furniture out of reclaimed materials. Yes, we like this guy (and yes, he's bringing me macarons). When he eventually makes it back to T.O. we plan to scoop him up to help design reclaimed elements for our rooftop art garden (more on this soon!).

From Joy Broadbent's new collection; The Look (Of Flowers) Being Looked at

If you happen, instead, to find yourself in Toronto ce soir, well, yay, you get to see us! The more exciting thing about this circumstance, certainly, is that being where we are means being at the opening of Joy Broadbent's first solo show in Toronto. Joy hails from London, Ontario, but set up in Toronto years ago. We've watched her style transform since, and are very excited to see the new collection tonight at Studio 835.

You can can see her work online here, but you really have to see it hanging; it's incredible to see her layers and layers of paint opening up to other secret paintings below. You also just have to meet Joy; she's probably one of the top ten loveliest humans on the planet. As a side-note, she also first introduced us to the awesome youth arts organization and our now project-partners, Sketch. I guess that was pretty mean of her....

AND if you're looking to hang with some more amazing folks later this eve, our friends over at the Centre For Social Innovation are having a dance party to raise funds for the new CSI Annex (keep an eye on this rooftop!).

Beverages will be available at all three events. Which is nice. There's no wine in the dungeon...

Facebook events:

Virgil Baruchel; Bouboulina, One Last Show in Paris

Joy Broadbent; The Look (Of Flowers) Being Looked At

Centre For Social Innovation; Beyond the Walls! Party with a Purpose

Nothing to do this Sunday? Folk Fest Time!

2011-02-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

Hey, we at the About Face understand as well as anyone that often great events happen in Toronto that you totally miss out on, as you are too busy focussing on all the other great things happening at the very same time slot. BUT if you HAPPEN to have some free time of your own that you are looking to fill today, check out this Folk Fest that we had no idea about until the last minute. Nothing like Folk music to make you desperately wish for summer and start buying tank-tops waaaay in advance.

Last Minute Valentines! Love Is In The Air... And the Books, And the Cards

2011-02-11T14:37:00.001-05:00

Last minute lovers! I know there are plenty of you out there. You diiiiid remember that Vday is on MONDAY, right?? Eeek? Cough? Gag? Right. This day has become constitutionally linked to all things red and shiny and bubbly... heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, champagne, strawberries, diamonds, couples cell phone plans? Borrrring. Remember non-web-based Valentines? (Like, cards?) Remember mixtapes? Cute!

Our Liner Notes Book Cover

Come out to Tabula Rasa tonight for the launch of Our Liner Notes a coffee table book exploring the constitutional (or at least undeniable) link between music and lovin' through writing and interviews by master music blog man Justin Lee, featuring photos by Christine Lim, illustrations by Lauren Pirie and designed by Tammy Yiu of Squab Studio. A lot of local talent in an adorable little package of romance. Who needs shiny rocks and roses anyway? Ooookay, I will accept the chocolate. And happily consume the champagne and strawberries. But in my little opinion, not much beats a really great book. Remember BOOKS?

Greeting cards featuring three illustrations from the book (see above and below) will also be available for $5 each or in assorted sets of three for $10; The perfect compliment to your mixtape Valentines gift. Or to drop off to your friends or to drop in the mail. (Remember mail? Cute!) And since they're blank inside (though I'm happy to inscribe them with freestyle romance poems upon request) they can actually be used for any occasion; anniversaries, birthdays, Hannukah... maybe not Mother's day.

If you can't make it to the launch tonight, the book is available for order through Etsy and cards can be ordered for shipping here. You really should come tonight though. I like you. And also;

- The first 25 people who purchase the book will get a special Our Liner Notes mix-cd (featuring great music by Foxes in Fiction, Ohbijou, Serge Gainsbourg, Sufjan Stevens and more)

- Music from DJ Daniel Brooks at 8, Foxes in Fiction and Spirit Oak at 9:15.

- Vintage clothing!

- Wine! Food!

Facebook event here.

A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to The Regent Park School of Music, a not-for-profit music school which provides affordable high quality music education for youth.


"The children are falling in love because of David Bowie" - Amina Moon


All cards are printed on 100% PCW FSC certified recycled paper (just like it says on the back)

Save The Date! "Food Justice:Our Food, Our Bodies" Conference U of W March 18th-20th

2011-02-02T08:14:00.000-05:00

A 3 day event hosted by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG) to look critically at our food system – present and future – with a focus on equity, justice, community and sustainability.

Amid a growing awareness of the importance of healthy food and sustainable food systems, join community leaders, students, activists and others for lively discussion and powerful visioning where we will explore the barriers and opportunities to making good food equal and accessible to all.

We will:

- explore the relationship between food, culture and identify

- identify structural inequalities in our food system that create barriers to growing, producing, accessing and eating healthy, safe and culturally appropriate food

- connect food justice and reproductive justice

- examine racism in the food system and build awareness and tools for creating change

- and more!

Animal, Vegetable, Radical: The Radicalism of Growing your own food

2011-02-01T00:20:00.002-05:00

“…the greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.” – Bill Mollison

(Sidenote: I've just come back from a very empowering all-female poetry slam, so I apologize in advance if this post does not have heavier doses of cheeky, witty dialogue peppered within it!)

This past weekend, I attended the Guelph Organic conference, where I heard from speakers about co-operative business structures, forest gardening, permaculture, and, not surprisingly, I was re-inspired about the radical potential of small scale gardening.

Like many, I struggle with Western guilt, with the understanding that what I have, what WE have, is too much, it comes from places and is made in ways that I couldn't bear to stand in front of and condone.

Like many, I struggle with the question "what do I have to offer", in the face of seemingly insurmountable political, social and environmental issues that make me feel at best a sheep and at worst a fly on the windshield.

And then, I buy some seeds. I borrow a shovel. I get a friend to drive me to the city's compost depository and grab some beautiful black earth. I put them all together in my backyard, and I am now an important link in the chain of life. I bypass the corporate food agenda that poisons my friends and loved ones, I bypass the need for food stamps at the grocery store where mothers buy their kids Dunkaroo's because they're on sale and it's all they can afford. I put a seed in the earth and the Earth provides for me and there is nothing else but the Earth and I, as it should be.

This is idealist. I know. I cannot plant a seed and produce a laptop, cell phone, university degree, car, plane, or a functioning public transit system. But I would not die without those things. Were all those things to pass away, my knowledge of how to grow food, how to nourish my body with it, would be my most cherished and necessary skill.

So I encourage you friends; Fight your good fights. But at the end of the day, I hope that you come home to sit amongst your lavender and your basil, your tomato and your raspberries, and know that these too are your well equipped allies.

Seed Catalogue Crazy! Some tips on where to find local, organic seeds!

2011-01-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

So, it starts. The seed catalogue season, where, in the same fashion that some girls might be obsessively checking the Urban Outfitters website for deals on the new spring collection, farmers and gardeners are drooling over what variety of zebra tomatoes and bulls blood beets they want to plant for the coming year.

Seed saving will increasingly become an important activist tool, as things like the EU Trade Agreement threaten to make seed saving illegal in favour of corporations owning the "rights to life" as it were. More than ever, we should be supporting small, local ethical seed companies and learning to save seed ourselves. See this NFU article for more info on this.

If you're wondering where you can order local, organic seeds from trustworthy companies, here's a list of where to shop first:

http://www.seeds.ca/en.php : As an introduction to seeds, seed saving practices, and to gain an appreciation for the abundant diversity of foods available to us, check out the Seeds of Diversity website.

www.urbanharvest.ca: The folks at Urban Harvest started out as one of the first rooftop gardens in Toronto back in 1998 (can you believe that! I was still dressing up like a Spice Girl and probably eating Captain Crunch willy nilly, and that was BEFORE they pumped those cereals full of every vitamin and protein imaginable. Back then it was just pure unadulterated sugar on sugar baby.) Now they run a successful seed company that is about as local as you can get around these parts. I recommend their Chioggia Beets!

http://www.uppercanadaseeds.ca : Based right out of Toronto, this company specializes in Tomatoes, grown here and in P.E.I and is a feel-good mom and pop operation.

www.johnnyseeds.com/ : Jonny's Seeds offers one of the most extensive and helpful websites around (unless you're looking for cat videos...then maybe not so helpful...) Specifically, they have created a helpful online calculator to let you know when you should start your seedlings indoors, and when to transplant them outside. This is an amaaaazing tool, but don't forget to find and enter your spring "frost-free date" first! (50% frost free after April 24th says the Farmers Almanac)

http://www.damseeds.ca/ : Damn Seeds! I mean, uh, Dam Seeds! Yeah! This seed company is based out of Hamilton! They're a one stop shop for anyone looking to do a mix of veggies and flowers and some ornamental grasses too, if that's what you fancy!

www.highmowingseeds.com : High Mowing Seeds is based out of Vermont, and if you've ever been there, well, you're probably still there now or thinking of moving there soon, right? Tom Stearns started this modest seed company out of his backyard in 1996, and did so well with his high-quality seeds that he just kept growing and growing. The website has an "easy to grow" section for those just starting out in the gardening world!

http://cottagegardener.com : The Cottage Gardener is based out of Newtonville Ontario (yep, never heard of it either), and are a great organic company for flower lovers.

http://www.mycosource.com/ : Finally, if you're looking for Fun with Mushrooms, check out Fun Guy Farm's mushroom cultivation kits! You may have already rubbed elbows with these "Fun Guys" at the Dufferin Grove's Market in the summertime, and I can assure you, they know their stuff. Try an innoculated log in a shady cool spot in your backyard this summer! You can even get kits that can hangout on your coffee table!

Happy Planning Garden Lovers!

Guelph Organic Conference: This Weekend!

2011-01-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

Join fellow About Face Collective member Natalie at the Guelph Organic Conference this weekend! One of the best ways to meet and greet with some of the most innovative thinkers in the organic farming movement, as well as learn about what the state of Organic Farming in Ontario is today. If you're looking to do a CRAFT Ontario internship, or just get some tips for your backyard garden in Toronto, this is the place to do it! See you there!

Vintage Clothing + Sparkles + Wine | Bridge + Bardot Sale Tonight!

2010-12-16T14:31:00.001-05:00

You know how we at the AFC love our vintage. Well, we love it that much more when it's hand-picked by our (multi-talented) girl Rose Broadbent and the Bridge + Bardot crew. Stop by their vintage clothing sale tonight 6:30 - 9:30 at The New Beat studio at 835 Bloor St. W and pick up something steezy (and green!) to dress up in for the holidays. There will be dresses and purses and sparkly things and some non-sparkly things (like flannels) for the boys. And there will be wine! You also know how we love our wine...

Vintage Clothing + Sparkles + Wine | Bridge + Bardot Sale Tonight!

2010-12-16T14:11:00.001-05:00

You know how we at the AFC love our vintage. Well, we love it that much more when it's hand-picked by our (multi-talented) girl Rose Broadbent and the Bridge + Bardot crew. Stop by their vintage clothing sale tonight 6:30 - 9:30 at The New Beat studio at 835 Bloor St. W and pick up something steezy (and green!) to dress up in for the holidays. There will be dresses and purses and sparkly things and some non-sparkly things (like flannels) for the boys. And there will be wine! You also know how we love our wine...

Rob Ford Won But It's Okay | Positive Points in Song Form

2010-10-26T22:09:00.005-04:00

We at The About Face Collective would like to extend our thanks (and a stiff drink) to all of you who helped spread the word and who got out to the polls yesterday. We would also like to thank everyone who came out to our After (Vote!) Party last night and the amazing crew at Insomnia for so graciously hosting it.

One member of this crew, our lovely bartender, was kind enough to remind me this morning of a text message I sent in advance of arriving when the results appeared to be pretty well decided: I'll be there in 20. Can you please have a stiff gin martini ready for me? And can you please throw it in my face? A pretty good representation of my sentiments at the time, and of course these were largely echoed by the artists and cyclists and... well, pretty much everyone in the bar last night as we watched the numbers come through.

If you were there, you got your stiff drink, but more importantly, we hope you got a little inspired. The general tone, though admittedly disappointed, was motivated and positive. I heard a lot of "We've got a lot of work to do!" and "Let's keep this momentum up!" And seriously, not referring to the pace of ingesting beer.

There really is a lot to be proud of and excited about; one thing is certainly that voter turnout increased from 39% in last election to 53.2% this year (also that this number includes a first ballot from my little sis, who beat me to the polls), cheers to that! And there really is a lot of work to do, and a lot you can do to help keep Toronto moving in a positive direction. Start by checking out (and supporting) Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto (RaBIT) and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for other ways to support things like art funding and bike lanes and food security in this city.

If, like us, you were maybe sipping a martini with a sigh rather than a victory cheers last night, we have a little cheersing up for you here. Our very own magical and incredibly talented Natalie Boustead (you may have read about her before here) tells us why Rob For Won, But It's Okay... in a song. This ought to make you happy.

If you're still sighing (you probably hate unicorns, but) Insomnia's open. And Damara makes a mean dirty with extra olives.

xx
-L

Today You Save Toronto | To the Polls!

2010-10-25T14:08:00.000-04:00

This is it TO. Today is the day. We are about to round up our crew of neighbours and head down to the Cecil St Community Centre to cast our ballots, and we hope that you will do the same - not just vote, but get three, four, or five friends out too. Easy enough for us to say, when we live in the Toronto incarnation of Melrose Place, right? But seriously, just a few quick phone calls from each of us can make a massive impact. We like this quote from Manifesto & Beautiful City's Advisory sent out this morning:

"Please call 5 friends, pass on this message and urge them to vote. Email is good but it's not as effective as phoning your peoples. If we all inspire five friends to call five friends and so on, we can run an Obama-style campaign that will empower Toronto's young people and safeguard the future of this incredible city. Please take ten minutes to make some calls and - your efforts will actually help save this city!"

See their Master Mayoral report card above and read the advisory here.

Steal our Vote posters below, make them your Facebook profile, change your status and get out to vote. Our City needs you to.

And sign up for the Ranked Ballot Initiative newsletter to help make our future elections more fair, diverse and friendly and help eliminate strategic voting.

To the Polls!

And then to the bar. Join us at our After (Vote!) Party at Insomnia tonight. You vote, we buy you a drink!

YOU! VOTE! How and Why It's Easy + A Bit of Magic and Sweat.

2010-10-19T22:19:00.004-04:00

It was a month ago when I saw these witty little puppets made by Ottawa artist Gabe Thirlwall (Fish on Fridays) at the Queen West Art Crawl. Way back then, the weather was fairer, the leaves hadn’t yet changed colour, Rossi and, heck, even Sarah Thomson were still contenders in this crazy race, and the Toronto Mayoral Debate did seem a lot like the “Political Circus” Gabe had created in her show tent.

Now, with less than a week ‘til election day, it seems a little closer to a stampede. Or a spook house. Or something else that would warrant me waking up in cold sweats every morning this week.

True story.

I realize that admitting this solidifies my complete nerd status (beyond my gluten allergy and unicorn obsession combined) but I have actually woken up panic-stricken over this election on more than one recent occasion.

I’ve obviously taken this municipal election to heart (hovering over newspapers, stalking candidates websites… cursing in front of my Grandmother in one particular rant). So I’m surprised when I hear that friends of mine — many of them educated, socially-aware, environmentally-concerned, creative and generally “progressive” young folk— don’t plan to vote.

But only surprised for a minute. Because then I think about the whirlwind of information out there, a lot of which is difficult to digest. Or believe. And trying to can leave us feeling frustrated. Or… nauseous. And therefore uninformed.

And the number one reason these decided non-voters give for non-voting is “I just don’t know enough about it.”

Well, this is when it comes in handy to have a nerd friend like me around (this and in the circumstance that you need a unicorn fact verified – yes, they are magical).

I am going to give you two (magical) links that will provide you with simple, straightforward information on:

Issues that matter to you:

OneToronto has put together a short list of links to Mayoral Report Cards from groups like Artsvote, the Toronto Environmental Alliance and the Public Transit Coalition, grading top candidates on their plans for (you guessed it) arts, the environment, and transit.

Check out the grades and simple summary of their views here.

How and where to vote:

Find out what ward you live (and vote) in here.

If you have yet to register, fear not, you can still vote. Show up (to the place the last link told you to) on Monday with a piece of ID with your name, signature and Toronto address on it. If you don’t have one of those, you can make it happen with two pieces: bring one piece of ID with your name and signature on it, as well as something that shows you live in Toronto – a utility bill or bank statement with your name on it will do just fine. For a complete list of valid ID check here.

Monday October 25^th. Do it.

We are at risk of abandoning plans for funding for art and lanes for bikes and food security for our neighbours and accessible, affordable transit.

It isn’t okay for us to sit back while the crew that will vote based on things like cuts to their property taxes… votes. And determines the direction of this city for the next four years for us.

And it definitely isn’t okay for a twenty-something female to be waking up sweaty because of anything to do with Rob Ford.

So I am begging you, Vote.

And once you do, come celebrate at our election party at Insomnia. I will personally buy you a drink. Actually.

A few more photos from the Queen West Art Crawl

Marvelous artist/ illustrator Jay Dart with a piece we really enjoyed called

"The 12 Days of Climate Change Christmas"

Our pal and art crush, Danielle Hession

Loving this new, darker work from Danielle

More of Gabe in the Fish on Fridays Political Circus

Her fuzzy wolves. Love!

Wish I'd bought one. I have a strong feeling they ward off election-mares

dogs.

Our City Needs You to Vote | OneToronto Emergency Community Meeting, Tomorrow!

2010-09-26T22:55:00.003-04:00

Obviously, we at the About Face Collective have taken a keen interest in the upcoming Toronto Mayoral and Municipal elections, and we hope you have (or will) too. Like you, perhaps, we've felt that the issues closest to our hearts are not being discussed widely or with clarity in the media as of yet. There has been a lot of time in the spotlight for Tax Slashing and Jerry Springer episodes at City Hall, let's give some stage time to the real issues; things like diversity, the environment, the arts, and community services, all the things that make a city like Toronto great!

While this great city hasn't been immune to the effects of tough economic times and lower taxes might seem like a priority to us right now, we can't forget about what those taxes go toward. And though the results of the polls might make it seem like our fate is sealed, things are changing every day. If we all get out and vote, if YOU get out and vote, there is a darn good chance we can prove the true numbers to be quite different.

Tomorrow, OneToronto is holding an Emergency Community Meeting to share their vision for the City, "a city that builds on its successes, cares for its neighbours, and does its part to protect the environment and values community". OneToronto is a coalition of arts, environmental, labour and social justice groups trying to re-frame the current debate around the municipal elections, engage voters and help them realize what's at stake.

Please come out!

Moday, September 27th, 7:30pm

Church of the Holy Trinity -- (located behind the Eaton Centre)

10 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON

For Facebook event click here

Please spread widely! Grab the images below, link to OneToronto.ca and post to blogs, facebook, send to your mom, whatever.

And most importantly, on October 25th, VOTE! (And tell your mom to, too.)

You Support the Arts, Does Your Next Mayor?

2010-09-22T21:44:00.002-04:00

In the wake of national funding cuts, good things have happened this year for the arts in Toronto; organizations like Beautifulcity.ca and Manifesto have demonstrated the value of arts and culture to City Council and passed a recommendation to increase arts investment. Heading into this municipal election, knowing that "directed investment in arts and culture dramatically improves economic competitiveness, impacting innovation, creativity and producing a more vibrant city" [beautifulcity.ca] we need to keep this conversation going.

Enter Artsvote Toronto, a network of volunteers who are working to make the arts an important part of the debate around next month's municipal elections. In addition to providing simple info on how to accomplish the daunting task of registering to vote, they have issued a "Councillor Report Card" rating Council candidates on their art-friendliness (high five to Joe Mihevc for earning top in class). So how about the grades of those in the run for the top spot? Come out to hear them duke it out at next week's Artsvote-hosted Mayoral Arts Debate at the AGO and judge for yourself.

And in the meantime, soak in some of the TO culture we're pushing for at any of the numerous Manifesto events happening this week. The fest is on!

- L

The Little House in Bloordale | Local Fashion and Food in the Hot 'Hood

2010-09-18T00:02:00.015-04:00

With a name like HAUS, I half expected to walk into some uberkool minimalist boutique at 1256 Bloor W. Maybe it had been transplanted from Berlin, missed its Yorkville destination and landed, confused but perfectly coiffed, on the wrong end of Bloor, smack in between Value Village and the Salvation Army? Visions of cigarettes dangling from hands at the end of crossed arms left bare by drapey black tank tops worn by waify blond boys... No?

Well, no. HAUS could easily have been called plain old, English “House” – not because it’s plain (it’s not) or old (well, partly vintage) or… um, English, but because it sort of feels like home. It has a comfortable air, a warm, cozy vibe; vintage suitcases piled around as displays for vintage shoes, local art in antique frames and writing on the walls (yeah, so, this sounds exactly like my house). And there’s a lovely smiling lady behind the counter waiting to greet you (I need to get one of these). It’s the kind of place that makes you feel like you could just pull up a chair and stay a while. And, well, you can. And, so, I did.

The smiling lady is Rachel Beauparlant and I’m still pretty convinced she didn’t mind my lingering - what a gem. Rachel is one of the team of three that runs HAUS. They’ve been stationed quite perfectly in the quirky little neighbourhood of Bloordale since March, though Rachel says people constantly ask them why they’re not on Queen West. They had the opportunity to move into the QWW/ Parkdale hood, but she, William and Maurizio (the other two owners) felt their hearts were in Bloordale.

She started to describe the draw to the eclectic area; the feeling, the texture, the mix of neighbours. I got it, “the grittiness?” I offered. We know the feeling of that draw to those character-infused pockets of Toronto, the potential locations for the About Face space. HAUS wants to support local and up-and-coming designers, artists and makers of all kinds and felt like moving in to their chosen spot was, in a way, also helping to support an up-and-coming neighbourhood.

And up-and-coming it sure is. Rachel says they’ve seen a lot of new love for the ‘hood even in the short time they’ve been there. It helps that Bloordale is a designated BIA (Business Improvement Area). Rachel gave me a copy of Bloor Magazine, an amazing little publication offering insight into the culture, politics, businesses and other intriguing stories (in a well-designed format, I might add) of the Bloor Street BIAs. Pick this up (download pdf free from their site) then head up, over or down to Bloor, or grab one from HAUS or other local businesses.

If you work up an appetite shopping, I HIGHLY recommend heading toward the Junction and treating yourself to brunch or dinner (now serving!) just West on Bloor at Zocalo. The adorable little café –clad with reclaimed furniture and hand-picked flowers– is tended to by its equally adorable owners Paul Hardy and Heather Braaten. The dishes on the menu are every bit as creative as the clothing down the street and they’ve also chosen to source from our local offerings. Local and organic ingredients go into their daily vegan (but still so creamy) soups, served with corn bread (made with organic whole wheat and fresh corn) and current preserve. YUM. And the egg mash, (oh, the egg mash) which I “sampled” (slash, licked off the plate) from my fellow diner, complimented with fennel, mustard seeds, Quebec Brie and homemade tomato relish… I’ll just say that the content of the last set of brackets was not exclusively for effect.

Now the fresh breaths, Zocalo and HAUS are set to be mainstays as this strip of Bloor inevitably flourishes. For the moment, HAUS is happy to hang between the thrift shops -I should also take a second to shout out Bloordale pioneers Freedom Clothing and the 69 Vintage Collective- offering a selected option for the vintage hunter alongside local labels like Jool by Julie Phelps, our friends the Muttonhead Collective and affordable staples like Cheap Monday. And they just seem quite excited to finally have a space to do with whatever they like; art shows, photo shoots, parties. Rachel, for one, is just thrilled to finally be allowed to write on the walls.

-L

Chronology of City Repair: Everything you thought was not possible in the city

2010-09-03T17:51:00.002-04:00

Imagine what your community could look like if people truly knew and cared for their neighbours.

Imagine what your community could look like if art, beauty and celebration were intrinsic values fostered by local home owners, business owners and local government officials alike.

Imagine what your community could look like if people ACTUALLY knew about and used their democratic rights and systems and went above and beyond them.

You might envision something very similar to what is happening and has been happening for years in Portland, Oregon. The neighbourhoods and citizens of Portland have been working year after year for about 15 years to create healthier, sustainable living spaces for themselves, and the results have been astronomical.

They've artistically taken over busy, car-filled intersections and converted them into public meeting spaces, spaces that are severely lacking (*on purpose*) in most North American cities.

They've begun to build cob structures everywhere, from houses to local Newspaper stands (full of community stories and HAPPY news) to community saunas where they host "Get Naked With Your Neighbour" events on a regular basis.

What started out as essentially "illegal" acts of street vandalism and public gathering has turned into public policy. Putting up more bike parking and less car parking was scoffed at by City Hall, until these communities implemented in themselves and were so successful that now their local government is mandating such acts across the city.

Democracy can look this beautiful. Cities CAN be transformed. People have to want it bad enough. Bad enough to go door to door to engage with those around them. Bad enough to call their city councillor when they hear about something exciting that can be done, or something awful that absolutely should not be done.

Beauty and Love are as contageous as greed and power. People want to be a part of something meaningful and beautiful. Please watch this video by Mark Lakeman about the Chronology of City Repair and be inspired. If you feel so inclined, please contact us to see how you can be a part of our visioning processes here at the About Face Collective and/or transformative community groups that we are associated with in the Dupont and Spadina area.

Chronology of City Repair with Mark Lakeman

The CoolEST Girl | Songs by Natalie Amber

2010-04-27T14:59:00.008-04:00

For bragging purposes and the good of the world:

We at About Face are proud to count among our leading ladies, one very (multi) talented wonder by the name of Natalie. Aside from being a totally captivating writer, passionate environmental and social activist, events (and everything) coordinator and skillful feathery head-decorator and friendship-bracelet-maker (correct me if I'm wrong about the last one, Nat, but I feel this is ought to be accurate), she has also succeeded at weaving dreams in the form of light... I mean sparkles... I mean... songs (you may actually be convinced that all of these suggestions are true upon first listen). I don't think it's going too far to say that these songs may help to save the world in just as great a capacity as her other efforts. Actually, as an artist, I'll go ahead and confirm that it's probably a scientific fact.

Because people seem to like comparisons: think about what would happen if Regina Spektor, Feist, Kimya Dawson and Joni Mitchell rode their bikes out to the beach and left only a poem and a trail of cupcakes for someone to find them with. Well, I'd put all my bets on Nat. And I'd go double-or-nothing that she'd find a unicorn to ride out on. Or that she is actually just made of cupcakes. None of this makes sense? Perfect. It doesn't matter. Just listen. Then go kiss someone. Or at least smile at a few.

And if you're wondering if "Cool Girl" is about me, well, it is. Okaaaaay, it isn't. But please don't tell, I plan on making this my claim to fame when everyone falls in love with Natalie's music. It's only a matter of time.

-L

Brainwashed in San Francisco

2010-03-25T14:23:00.006-04:00

So, it's been a long time coming, but I've finally found the time to write about my experience in San Francisco this past January. Although I could talk about the million reasons why I love this gloriously colourful city, specific to this blog would obviously be my visit to the Brain Wash Cafe, a thriving laundromat/cafe/indie music venue space located in the historic Mission District of San Fran.

Walking in mid-day on a Tuesday, the cafe was packed with late brunchers like myself, filling themselves on the cafe's excellent and filling breakfast menu, while others lounge

d in the adjacent laundromat, complete with pinball machines and other such fun leisurely instalments.

Obviously I was already excited to be in a space so similar to my own imaginings, but even without my romantic view of it, I was able to clearly discern some truly great business ideas going on in this space.

The most eye catching idea was their giant sign advertising their "happy hour" for laundry do-ers. As you can see, the concept tied in the laundromat to the cafe by offering a dollar off any purchase in th

e cafe from 4-7 if you did your laundry during that time. That "happy hour" also means cheap beers in the cafe, so you can get home from work, grab your laundry, and then grab a cold one, all in one place! Brilliant!

When talking to one of the many amazing and quirky staff members about our project back here in Toronto, she said to me "the most important thing to have when running a cafe like this one is to hire someone with oversized novelty glasses" (which she just happened to be wearing herself, and which I must admit did help make her seem more interesting :P)

Although they aren't integrating the solar power angle that we'd like to include, the Brain Wash Cafe still demonstrates the success of combining cafe, community, and laundry into one convenient space, and are certainly one of our inspirations moving forward!

You can now find their second location in Montreal! Woo hoo!

Obama Drama | US Health Care Bill Passes. I cry.

2010-03-25T12:41:00.006-04:00

I was at the (sadly, non-solar-powered) laundromat last night when Barack Obama's Facebook post popped up in my news feed (Yeah, we're friends. No big deal.). When I realized that this meant the US health care bill had officially been passed, well... tears. Sniffling, choking and at least three actual tears.

Here's the scene: exhausted, confused, over-worked, me standing knee-deep in a pile of every one of my launder-able possessions. (Might I mention that at this point, I have been standing in a similar position for over half an hour, just bending and twisting to move my clothes and other sewings from one side of the pile to another in an effort to mathematically compile colour-appropriate loads? I feel this somehow justifies my ridiculous emotional explosion. I'm not sure how to justify the forty-five minute sorting spree.) I decide to take a well-deserved break and scan through the latest FB updates on the internet. On my PHONE. (Technology! I know you more advanced humans have enjoyed this for some time, but am new to the world of phones that think they're computers.)

Anyhow, as previously stated, tears ensue. The poor, lovely, sane woman patiently awaiting her drying in the corner is obviously praying that I were not standing between her and the door, her only escape route...

This is what I read:

To the untold millions who knocked on doors and made phone calls, who organized and mobilized out of a firm conviction that change in this country comes not from the top down, but from the bottom up: this moment is possible because of you.

So yes, my reaction may have been slightly dramatic and I may be posting this three days late, but this really is a monumental event and incredible progress for the land of the free. And I think I may speak for a lot of us when I say that it’s amazing to see some real change happening under the man we fell in love with in hopes of just that. The above image is a piece by our friend Justin Broadbent from the recent Creative Type II show at 52 McCaul (post coming soon). On why he chose “Barack Obama” as the text for his piece: “He was the nicest person I could think of.”

Indeed. I'm sure there are a few Americans who would agree.

Become friends with BO on FB here (run by Organizing for America). Just tell him I sent you. Read some initial coverage here (keeping it Canadian with CBC) and some recent updates here.

-L

Buttermilk Sky Forecast - Accurate

2010-03-15T18:53:00.009-04:00

Danielle Hession (pictured below) and I ventured over to the opening of White Cloud, Buttermillk Sky at Hotshot Gallery on Thursday night, and of course it was every bit as adorable as we expected. The collection of OCAD illustration students involved in the group show made for a whimsical little Thursday night adventure. Andrea Manica, (above with her work) whose work you may recognize from our September event at Arta Gallery did an amazing job pulling the show together, designing the poster and her work (close-up below) was a highlight. You can still see the show for the rest of the week at 181 Augusta Ave in Kensington Market. Eat a cupcake and kiss a baby. Then, do it. *Free wish with entry.

Cute! Things by Melissa Luk.

The Ted Gudlat & Eunice Luk corner.

My fashionably late and super talented date Danielle Hession.

Art! Wine! Cuteness!

2010-03-08T18:35:00.006-05:00

Some of our very talented friends including the adorable Eunice Luk and charming and quirky Ted Gudlat (Ted, get a website!) are showing some of their very amazing work at Hot Shot Gallery starting today! I'm sure you're already convinced to by the enchantingly named White Cloud, Buttermilk Sky, but if some beverages and a gathering will further entice; view the wonders with wine in hand at the reception this Thursday, March 11th from 6pm til midnight or (and again) during business hours until March 21. Facebook event here. See you there!
-L

About Face on Torontoist! Check it out!

2010-02-09T13:18:00.007-05:00

I met with Alixandra Gould last week to interview for this article on The About Face Collective for the Torontoist. We've always been a fan of the TO-centric blog, its witty writing, band of great Toronto illustrators, on-point coverage, and all-round awesomeness. After drinking matchas with Alix (hopefully she agrees that we're tight to the point of short-forms now) and seeing Olivind Hovlind's illustration for the piece today, we're pretty much convinced that everyone at the blog is rad as jazz.

Read the article here.

About Face Collective + Muttonhead Collective = Love

2010-01-27T22:33:00.012-05:00

It’s true. We’ve fallen. It all started years ago in a magical living room far, far on the other side of Bathurst… okay we’re not really sure, but there was wine involved. Anyhow, there were definitely sparks from the moment we met each of the Muttonhead Collective members. Like, major girl crush sparks. And although we could easily sit around with this crew all day, every day and braid each other’s hair and have pillow fights, we’re happy we have developed one of those healthy relationships where we actually let each other run around and do our own thing, since Muttonhead’s thing happens to be our new favoritest Canadian apparel line.

Not only is their collection of unisex outerwear and innerwear the bees knees, it’s made using natural, sustainable, locally-sourced and recycled fabrics and produced right here in our own snowy backyard (that’s metaphor talk for Canada), swoon!

AND it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Take, for instance, their pleated pullover, made with hand-dyed hemp cotton, a simple piece with the magic in the details; inset pockets, pleats from the yoke up, contrast buttons, rounded seam edge and a great fit. Price? A hundred bucks! Ladies and mans, put down those two disposable, child-labour-wielding hoodies that you’ll throw the same dollars at and watch disintegrate next week (but never biodegrade), exit h&m and come a runnin! Except, don’t come quite yet; Muttonhead’s premiere line hits stores for Fall/ Winter 2010/11. Get excited! We can’t wait to get our hemp cardigans, recycled Mexican blanket sweaters, leggings with recycled leather patches…

For now you can view the collection online and watch the space for their upcoming Readymades collection. Here you’ll be able to pick up one-of-a-kind Muttonhead pieces; tweaked vintage finds and recycled fabric garments. Heart!

Oh, and their Goretex outdoor jackets and suspender pants with recycled features are totally slope-worthy. So you can guess where we’ll be taking the Muttonheads on our next date, organic Canadian whisky and hot-cocoa equipped.

-L

**Bonus: One lucky winner will score a Muttonhead collective sweater by counting the number of body-part references in this post.

***Editor’s note: Sorry, but Lauren already stole your prize. xo

Mondragon Cafe, my first love

2010-01-14T18:43:00.005-05:00

Hello from Winnipeg! To my delight and Jealousy, my friend Jenna, former room mate and fellow dreamer has just landed a job at The Mondragon Cafe in Winnipeg. 2 years ago Jenna and I were visiting a friend here in the Peg and fell in love with this vegan cafe/worker
co-operative/bookstore/marketplace and began envisioning
our own dreams for how we could make this happen in Toronto. Yes folks, this is where it all began. Solar Powered Laundromat they ain't, but what they IS is pretty special.

As I sit here beneath the antique chandelier,

listening to one of the servers shout across the cafe to his friend about the dumpster full of berries and waffles that they are going to go raid later tonight, and take a walk around the space to peruse their books on south american politics, sex and gender issues, politics, economics, ecology, and admire their activist calendar whiteboard by the coffee machines, I'm again overwhelmed by this space and by the possibility to one day make this type of establishment my own.

What seems like too many things rolled into one has been made possible by the dedicated activists, entrepreneurs and community members willing to make this vision a fully functioning reality. I can only hope the same for us overwhelmed, overstimulated, too-busy Torontonians!

-- Natalie

Jenna, my hero, living my someday-dream job!

A view of most of the space, with a bookstore on the left side, featured above.

Interspersed game tables with a whole stack of boardgames on a shelf nearby.

just thought you should check.

At this rate...

2010-01-12T13:24:00.007-05:00

It's official: our little Natalie has set off out into the world all on her own, escaping the grays of the Toronto winter for three months of nomadic wandering. First stop: Winnipeg. Thats right folks. Why the dang anyone in their right mind would choose, of all places, to hit up Manitoba mid January eludes me. Well, it did... until I saw this latest entry on Natalie's travel blog At This Rate featuring one of the most magical thrift shops I've ever seen in my life. We here at About Face love to save treasures from the trash, (I swear it's not just me. Why buy new things when we can get a little creative with some antique gem that would love to be salvaged?!) and by the looks of it, this collective of Winnipegeans (yes, that's the technical term) know what's up.

Nat's going to be reporting on cool shazz like this as she ventures. And don't worry, it's not restricted to the Canadian Prairies (though there is a stretch of highway between Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat that's totally blog-worthy). The list includes San Fransisco, Portland (oh my love), Central America and more... with reports on rad art and enviro initiatives... But I'll let her tell you the rest . I mean, I'm already impressed with the 'Peg! At this rate... I'll be hopping on my bike to catch up to her any day now, antique-packing trailer in tow.

-L

For the record: I actually love the Prairies. I once Jack-knifed a trailer on said stretch of highway and, as a result, met the recipients of the nicest people in the world award. There's also something magical about being able to watch the deer you were distracted by run away for three hours...

And... We're Back! Happy New Year From The About Face Collective!

2010-01-07T17:02:00.010-05:00

Okay, so we’ve been on a serious internet hiatus since early December, but after our rampant campaigning for our entry in the Aviva Community Fund competition, who can blame us? In fact, you’re probably leaning more toward the thankful end of the feelings-about-this spectrum since our constant facebook, twitter, blog and email reminders to vote for us ceased. Well, we’re thankful too (that it’s over!! Even our pee was turning yellow...) and also that we have such an amazing group of friends and supporters who, for whatever reason, believe in us (and a few who are bound by motherhood, grandmotherhood, boyfriendhood and deep-fried mars bars to do so, but shone through in a seriously shiny way).

Anyhow, we didn’t quite get the squajillion votes it took to make it into the final judging round and stay in the running for up to $250k funding for our Solar-powered laundromat/ gallery/ café/ garden/ community space. But we would like to congratulate the folks who did (we’re pretty sure you’re superheroes), especially our friend Rob Dyer (who we know for a fact is a superhero) and Skate4Cancer - keep tabs on these incredible kids courtesy of our friends over at The New Beat (see, we do have awesome friends!) by following their Australia/ New Zealand Awareness Skate and associated shenanigans on their blog.

And (if you still love us) keep keeping tabs on us through our blog (you’re reading it!) twitter , facebook and website , ‘cuz while we didn’t get the squajillion votes, we did get about a bajillion. And judging from that and the adorable little love notes we’ve received (we love you, too) it appears as though we have reached a lot of folks who seemingly want to see this project come to fruition as much as we do… and we’re sure it’s not entiiiirely due to our bribes -I mean… promises- to wash your delicates for you if we won.

2009 was a year of monumental experiences for us (umm; forming, creating our logo and (still quite ghetto) website, holding our (amazing!) first fund-raising event, accepting the David Suzuki Foundation Scholarship to attend the OSEA Community Power Conference, dining with David Suzuki (!), and high fiving George Smitherman for the Ontario Green Energy Act … to name a few). 2010 is sure to be another big one for The About Face Collective. Although we have slightly less than the $250, 000 we may have had heading into this year, we now know that we have the resources and support it will take us to get there. And we’ll continue to work toward raising funds to make this happen the old fashioned way: pawning my little sister’s hand in marriage to millionaires… kidding! We’ll be doing a lot of grant writing, funding application and research this year. So like I said, exciting year ahead! Wooh!

Happy New Year From The About Face Collective!

(For millionaires only: please contact if you are interested in 5’8” brunettes or supporting art and the environment)

-L

Join our Semi-final Showdown team! VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

2009-12-04T00:53:00.002-05:00

We love you! Really we do! So much so that we want to make a beautiful, sustainable community space that includes a solar-powered laundromat, art gallery, rooftop organic garden and organic cafe to invite you to all the time! The lovely folks over at Aviva are offering up a chance for us to win up to $250k funding to make this happen if we can stay in the top 25 of the 62 semi-finalists. So let's make it happen!

Click here , vote, vote, vote and spread the word! If you have a blog, email list, twitter, facebook... face... tell your friends to do it too! Tell the world! Then tell us so we can tell you how much we love you, give you the biggest high-fives we've got and do your solar-powered laundry for a week! Did we say we love you??

Sky Dragon Centre: Making Possibilities a Reality in Hamilton

2009-11-13T13:32:00.011-05:00

Recently, we had the opportunity to visit (and be inspired by) the Sky Dragon Centre in downtown Hamilton. Sky Dragon is a non-profit worker's co-operative that has been up and running since 2004.

Self-described as a "multi-use community centre in downtown Hamilton where people can explore their individual and collective power for change", they "providing environmentally and socially-conscious consumer and life-style alternatives, by strengthening the local economy, by raising awareness of social and ecological issues, and by facilitating direct democratic participation and community activism."

We were able to sit down with one of their members to discuss some of the challenges and successes they faced with creating this dynamic space.

From Kevin we learned about the differences between traditional non-profit organizations and non-profit workers co-operatives, something that we have been discussing in the past few months. It opened our eyes to the possibilities of how enriching and communal (although challenging!) a non-profit co-op model can be.

It was great to see another group of entrepreneurs achieve a similar dream to the one we are trying to create here in Toronto. Through their centre they are able to provide a cafe space, run workshops, host movie and music nights and be a fully engaged and integral part of their community. And although they aren't "off the grid" as we intend to be, they're doing what they can by using Bullfrog Power!

We heart you Sky Dragon! Thanks for your inspiration and paving the way for other great socially and environmentally innovative groups and businesses!

For more information on Sky Dragon and their services, visit www.skydragon.org !

David Suzuki says Vote for About Face!

2009-11-12T15:04:00.004-05:00

Okay, he hasn't aaaactually said that yet. But we're sure he will after we get a chance to hang at the Community Power Conference this weekend! Thanks to the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association for believing in and supporting the About Face Collective. Community Power! (Oh don't you love the double meaning?!)

Check out the website for more info. We'll be sure to report back apres conferencing. Hopefully you'll be able to decipher our crazy talk after a weekend of filling our brains with as much sustainable energy info as possible and internet pushing our Aviva entry. It closes Sunday, so vote now here! xo

Vote For Us!

2009-11-06T12:51:00.003-05:00

We are running in the Aviva Community Fund for a chance to win funding for our Solar-powered Laundromat and Art Gallery Community space project. Please check out the details and vote for us! Thank you, thank you!

"The New Eco Chic"

2009-10-30T11:20:00.006-04:00

Yup, that's us! Or the title of an article on The About Face Collective and Regenesis by Maria Calleja in Alternavox Magazine. Check it out here .

The Dire Consequences of Not Buying Ontario Garlic

2009-10-28T12:34:00.003-04:00

Another artist/activist group I am a part of here in the city is The Dupont and Spadina Corner Collective (www.duspa.org). We had been noticing that there is very rarely any local garlic available in grocery stores or even in produce stands in Kensington Market, and we couldn't understand why, since we knew that Ontario farmers definitely grew garlic.

Then, NOW magazine published an article about how China was sneakily getting around the law systems that would allow Ontario garlic growers to have a fair chance in the stores by shipping their garlic to India and elsewhere and then shipping it here. Local growers cannot compete with the low prices that cloves from China are priced at, and so Ontario growers are bumped out of the market and can only sell in local farmers markets most of the time.

To get the word out about local garlic, we produced this quick informational video,(courtesy of Neil Cavalier)!

Garlic: Ontario's Oppressed Herb from Neil Cavalier on Vimeo.

Halloween themed, as NOW IS THE TIME TO PLANT YOUR OWN GARLIC FOR NEXT SEASON!

Enjoy and be informed!

--Natalie

Heart Beat 960 Gallery

2009-10-25T08:46:00.002-04:00

I've just spent a lovely evening of music, poetry, food and friends in the basement-turned-fort of Heart Beat 960, one of the latest inspiring entrepreneurial ventures here in Toronto. Thanks to my friend Natalie Logan who works there, I've been introduced to the space and have fallen in love with it, not only aesthetically, but as a business model concept as a whole. Heartbeat is a cooperatively run gallery and event space featuring all locally made products including clothing, music, jewelery and various other local crafty items.

If you are a local artist looking for places to sell your stuff, or if you're looking for a cozy event space to host music or arts nights, I would highly recommend this little gem situated on Queen street west between shaw and ossington.

Contact info:

www.heartbeat960@gmail.com
www.mypsace.com/heartbeat960

I heart you Heartbeat!

Like Art and the Earth?

2009-10-16T15:45:00.006-04:00

Of course you do! Otherwise, you probably wouldn't be reading our blog. Perhaps you even sometimes like knowing what day it is (often a challenge for us creative types). Well, here's the opportunity of a lifetime - or at least of the year. Get yourself organized AND have some great art to look at. Make yourself a New Year's resolution and get started with The Yardfolk Calendar from our green designing friends at Squab Studio. Okay, let's be honest you may just end up having some great art to look at, but what the heck; you're supporting Earthroots in the preservation of wilderness, watersheds and wildlife in Ontario. Each calendar features trim-able, frame-able animal portraits by a great lineup of Toronto artists including Tammy Yiu, Danielle Hession, Mahmood Popal and our own Lauren Pirie, all of whom you may have seen exhibiting at our recent Art & Eco Fashion show in the distillery. Look for it at local retailers (list coming soon) in November or get more info from Squab here .

Business Advice for the Un-businessy

2009-10-16T09:06:00.005-04:00

My friend Mike and I once had a very enlightening conversation. Mike is 25 and runs his own very successful Non-Profit called "Sustainable Waterloo", an environmental consulting group that helps tech companies in the Waterloo region voluntarily reduce emissions. Mike comes from a business background, and I from a liberal arts background. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other and what we bring to the table when it comes to being social and environmental innovators. There's just one catch: a person with business skills and an innovative, creative idea has a wayyy better chance of "making it" then does a liberal arts grad with innovative, creative ideas. Sad but true.

However, in that enlightening chat Mike and I had a while back, we talked about how necessary it is for the arts world to meet the business world, because the arts world often contains all of the liberal, new exciting ideas, and the business world has the tools and skills to make those ideas reality. Wouldn't it be great if Universities would pair liberal arts kids and business kids together a little more often to collaborate on projects in and out of the classroom?

In this same realm of merging the arts and business world together, York's YSEC (York's Sustainable Enterprise Consultants) are hosting a workshop for people with non-business backgrounds to talk about their ideas and explore business models that might work for them. (click here for the event brite website)

Facilitated by John Baker (Partner and Chief Executive of Aperio and member of the Faculty of the Schulich School of Business, York University), this introductory workshop will:

* explore different social enterprise models and how the 'numbers' change depending on the model

* examine ways to evaluate which model makes the most financial sense for your organization

* offer hands-on practice working with raw financial data

* demonstrate how to format finances in a way that is easier for other members of your organization or business to understand

* help you to understand finances as a process that creates sustainable social enterprises

* provide you with the foundation for future workshops in the "Finance is Sexy Workshop Series", including those on creating budgets, dealing with taxes, and accounting.

The About Face Collective will be there, and we'd recommend this workshop to any other artistically-backgrounded entrepreneurs with a creative vision who need the practical skills to get them to the next level!

See you there!

--Natalie and The About Face Collective

Water | Bottles in my basket | Belated Nuit Blanche Bike Ride Reports

2009-10-13T01:01:00.011-04:00

Oh water, water. In a country where we are so fortunate to have you flowing freely from our taps, isn’t it funny that we opt to pay more than we would for say… a cupcake to drink you out of a bottle? (Or if you prefer the square, flower-laden variety, opt to pay close to the equivalent of a modest sandwich) A plastic bottle, no less, which may be leaching potential carcinogens into you (and, well, therefore into you, yes you out there). A bottle made of non-renewable resources that once empty, will go on to litter our land and waterways, or be lovingly placed into my bicycle basket (there must be something about my “vintage” [read: broken] brown bike that says “this girl’s a willing hippie who will redeem your laziness and ensure that your recyclables make their way to the nearest receptacle”). Or in the best-case scenario, be shoved into the frequently overflowing Toronto recycle bins (perhaps this explains the apparent need to resort to the bicycle basket) and maybe go on to be recycled through a pollution creating, energy consumptive process. Silly, right?

Right. But, allow me to digress momentarily from the bottle banter while I acknowledge some contaminants that we Torontonians do face chances of encountering in our tap water. The ever-controversial fluoride is being thoroughly tackled by our friends over at Regenesis www.voteoutfluoride.com while the not-even-controversial-just-bad lead continues to infiltrate, especially in Toronto’s older neighbourhoods and buildings - the ones we at About Face are looking to inhabit (Visit Toronto's page on Lead in drinking water. We recommend following steps 4 & 5 whether or not you are pregnant or breastfeeding). It wasn’t sooo long ago that lead could be found in, well, pretty much everything; toys, household items, pipes… hmmm, kinda like plastic. You wouldn’t pay sandwich-equivalent prices to drink out of a lead cup, right? Just sayin.

But, we’ve all done it. Culprits of our love-affair with convenience. At least we’ve seen one good thing come of water bottles lately. Okay, I’m a little late reporting on this, but I’ve been busy (all that pouring of filtered water into reusable bottles takes time, you know). Chances are you either saw this first-hand last weekend at Nuit Blanche or in one of the many articles on Alexandra (Alita) González before and since anyhow. Her Trinity Bells installation made me happy with nostalgia for my 80s child affinity toward the glowing nubs (of plastic) that made for endless hours of entertainment with lite-brite creations.

And of course I offer a big high-five to Alexandra for the attempt to address the pollution and BPA issues with plastic bottles. How, though, does letting big kids move oversized rainbow coloured bottle-pegs around to create giant collaborative lite (sticking with the alternative spelling) images evoke health and environmental concerns? If you didn’t get it by playing, hopefully the visual and interactive success of González’s work inspired you to research further. And, well, I suppose you’re reading about it here.

More belated Nuit Blanche commentary tomorrow. Pour maintenant, bon nuit.

-Lauren

San Francisco: A Model of Change

2009-10-06T20:41:00.002-04:00

This coming year, I (Natalie) will be traveling across the United States and South America, working on Organic Farms and visiting cooperatives and exciting environmental initiatives which I will be sharing with all of you on this blog. One of the main places I would like to visit is San Francisco, as they have proven themselves to be a leader for environmentally-conscious urban living. As I looked for community groups in San Francisco to meet up with, I obviously came across their local ministry of the environment website, and was BLOWN AWAY with the accessibility of it, and how vast their resources and listings of the initiatives they are taking. Have a look for yourself. Below I've listed a web page that has a really cool link to a technology I've never heard of called SEE-IT which is AWESOME.

http://www.sfenvironment.org/our_policies/overview.html?ssi=15

If you know of any artist/activist/eco-conscious initiatives or groups happening in the San Francisco area, please give me a shout!

Cheers!

--Natalie

Art & Eco Fashion Show | Arta Gallery, Sept. 24

2009-10-01T19:32:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, (based on the turnout, odds are good that you were there) we had our first major fund-raising event with Regenesis last week. If you were amongst the crowd, you know how incredibly talented and gracious our friends and contributors are. The Regenesis Art & Eco Fashion Show for The About Face Collective was one all-around fantastic and, well... well-rounded party - a testament to what's in the works for our Ecovillage/ Art Space. Thanks to all of you for your overwhelming support for this project. Good things are happening in Toronto and you could sure feel it at Arta Gallery last Thursday. (And it wasn’t just those Davids Tea tea-tinis)

Here are some highlight photos from the incredibly talented and gracious photographer James Kachan . You can see a whole load more here

About Face Collective Founders Natalie & Lauren

Councillor Adam Giambrone addresses the crowd

Natalie and Lauren telling our story

Claudia giving a few words from Regenesis
pre-fashion show

Multi-talented artist/ designer/ director/ dj
Justin Broadbent on the decks

The beautiful and talented contributing artist
Ms. Justyna Werbel www.justynawerbel.com

Toronto band Group of Seven kicks off the eve

The art auction wing with a prime view of
screen print by Tammy Yiu of Squab
www.squabnest.com

A piece from About Face Collective creative director

Lauren Pirie www.laurenpirie.com

TV host, producer, activist and our emcee,

Kimberly Carroll

Teenflare.com & CityTV's Laura Lanktree with

handsome & talented musician/ director Josh Raskin

Contributing artists Justyna & Joy

A piece from the lovely Joy Broadbent

www.joybroadbent.com

Great time in front of an amazing piece from

Mahmood Popal

Behind this handsome peaceful chap (we hear he's funny too);

a glimpse of some art by our friend Danielle Hession

Enoch Khuu, champion of everything

(namely functional event space design for the eve)

We love you Enoch.

Troy Jackson. What a gem.

Some food we liked.

Some boys we like.

One in particular.

The incredible Dr. Draw. Mind-blowing.

And now for the Fashion Show...

Hosted by the fantastic Laura Lanktree

Featuring:

69 Vintage

69vintage.com

Hempress

www.hempress.ca

The Deadly Nightshades

www.deadlynightshades.ca

Preloved

www.preloved.ca

Refinery Vintage

www.re-finery.org

Harlow Black

spacevintageclothing.blogspot.com

The man behind the camera: James Kachan