September 11 – 13, 2015
Trinity Bellwoods Park
Hours: Fri – Sun, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The weather outlook wasn’t good as I started out a quick tour of the Crawl Saturday morning around 10:30 a.m. Many of the 200 artists were still setting up and hoping that the rain would let up – which it did. The Crawl has gotten new sponsors and seems to be revived and a little fresher. Many of the artists I talked to had returned to the Crawl some like Phil Taylor after a little hiatus. He had moved back to the city from a little Ontario town called Athens. I witnessed my first sale as artist Wil Wong sold a small work.
Artist Phil Taylor
Artist Meghan Monaghan
Artist Wil Wong
The Queen West Crawl was originally started by Artscape over a dozen years ago and in its beginnings had events and activities stretching from Parkdale to Trinity Bellowoods Park. Todays Crawl is pretty much allocated to the Park and things do change.
Trinity Bellwoods Park is a great place teaming with a long history. I read that many years ago people came to area by canoe taking the Garrison Creek. It was also home to Trinity College before it became a park and the gates to the college are still there as entrance to the park. It was good to see it teeming with artists and they didn’t need a canoe…
Sculptor Irene Sirko
Artist Paul Brandejs
Artist Rick Worthington
Painter Kate Taylor
Some artists were apprehensive about the numbers of people out but I thought that in this weather they might encounter the more serious buyers or interested viewers. New this year is a beer garden with craft breweries and the return of lots of good food. The Viewpoints Exhibit includes 15 installations from QWAC artists at the ARTSCAPE Youngplace.
Photo artist Allison Morris
Artist Brian Belanger
Artist Shinya Kumazawa
Some new partnerships such as the one with OCADU to display works by 8 top graduates seem promising. Kids were entertained by Zoossccle. More visitors to the Crawl were just starting to come out as I left. This annual event still has a lot of draw even with the competition of next week’s City Hall Outdoor Art Exhibit and the Toronto International Film Festival. The weather will hopefully settle and artists in the Crawl will have a chance to sell some work or at least talk to some interested viewers.
The Toronto School of Art Booth
Artscape Tenants Art Work Booth Display
Zoossccle
Text and photo: Phil Anderson