Buzzing with Art for All – Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2023

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF) returns to Nathan Phillips Square, July 7–9, 2023, for a weekend, Buzzing with Art for All. In its 62 years, Toronto Outdoor Art Fair has become one of the most loved art events of the summer and continues to expand its cultural offerings. This year, TOAF62 welcomes art collecting and artist discovery, installations, guided tours, soulful kids programs, live painting, first-time showcase of video art and a brand new site-specific dance.

Highlighted TOAF62 Programming

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2022, Credit Shane Fester

VISUAL ARTS

350+ Artist Booths
Browse and buy artwork from the 350+ juried artists from across the country. For 62 years TOAF has launched and sustained the careers of Canadian Artists, helping them get discovered and build networks. Explore independently to enjoy the wide range of media, techniques and subjects. Student zone features a special Grad-Ex Pop up by OCAD U.

Art Tours
Artists, curators, and collectors will take you on thematic guided Art Tours to share their insights and lead engaging conversations face-to-face with artists in the show. Offered in English, French and American Sign Language throughout the weekend.

Register for an Art Tour at TOAF.ca or join in the day of. All Art Tours will start from the Main Info Booth at spot 359 – West of the Reflection Pool at Nathan Phillips Square.

TOAF X StART
Meet StART participating artists, and enjoy Live Painting and a feature mural photography exhibition at Nathan Phillips Square.

Art Nest
This year’s Art Nest will feature works by 5 artists who are responding to the structure, architecture and meaning of Nathan Phillips Square with interactive and engaging public art works. Curated by Fatma Hendawy Yehia and features Kristi Chen, Michelle Cieloszczyk, Rana Nazzal Hamadeh, Studio Rat, and Stephanie Singh.

Leap (of faith), Credit Jenn Goodwin

DANCE

Leap (of faith) by Jenn Goodwin, co-choreographed by Sarah Doucet and created in collaboration with a stellar cast of performers.

Saturday, July 8 at 1:00 PM & 4:00 PM
Sunday, July 9 at 1:00 PM

Leap (of faith) is the final installment of a trilogy of dance works, including Closer and If I Should Stumble, portraying a feminist journey through an urban landscape.

The work explores the body as a site of power where precarity, resilience and vulnerability negotiate the dominant social structures of contemporary public space. It references a collectively devised movement vocabulary from diverse female-lead protest dances, and uses materials attributed to the location which exists as a place of gathering, decision making, celebration, and protest.

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2022, Credit Shane Fester

MUSIC

Kazdoura
Friday, July 7 at 5:00 PM
Saturday, July 8 at 3:00 PM
Sunday, July 9 at 3:00 PM

Kazdoura is a Toronto-based band serving Arabic fusion with a modern twist. Equal parts nostalgia and reinvention, their style is a cross-cultural blend of Eastern and Western music that blends old-world Arabic classics with funk, pop, and disco.

Las Empanadas Ilegales
Friday, July 7 at 12:00 PM
Saturday, July 8 at 12:00 PM
Sunday, July 9 at 12:00 PM

Empanadas Ilegales are Vancouver-based, and Creepy Mambo is their second full-length collection of psych-infused cumbia – or chicha, as it is also known – with some salsa and latin jazz mixed in for good measure.

Trash Panda Brass
Saturday, July 8 at 11:00 AM

Trash Panda Brass, a fresh voice in Toronto’s brass band scene since June 2022, has quickly gained a devoted following.

DJ Sawtay
Friday, July 7 at 6:00 PM

Revel and groove to DJ Sawtay’s skilled spinning of Hip Hop, Funk, and Soul.

KIDS ZONE

Power Kids presented by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery
Join this year’s Power Kids workshop in Zone A to create an abstract painting with yarn and watercolours! This beautifully tactile process is inspired by the paintings of Esther Doyeon Kim, last year’s Power Plant Emerging Artist Award recipient.

Budding Art Buyers
Calling all art lovers and budding collectors aged 14 and younger! Experience the wonder of discovering and collecting a precious work of art. Purchase original artworks by our participating artists for $10, $15, or $20 (cash only & no adults allowed!).

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2022, Credit Shane Fester

INTERACTIVE EXHIBITIONS

36 Questions That Lead to Loving TO presented by TOAF X Myseum
36 Questions that Lead to Loving TO: Toronto Outdoor Art Fair Edition is an interactive pop-up experience that invites you to explore the commitment you have to the city and to each other. 36 Questions that Lead to Loving TO presents 36 questions that ignite the spark to fall in love with Toronto – for the first time or all over again.

Fun in the Sun: Cyanotypes with Gallery 44
Make your own cyanotype print in just fifteen minutes! Join members from Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography as they guide you through arranging a composition, exposing a print in the sun and finishing your print in a water bath. Learn about this historical photographic process and get creative. This workshop is free and open to all ages.

For full TOAF62 programming visit the main cultural hub at www.TOAF.ca.

About Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF) is Canada’s leading outdoor and online art fair. Established in 1961 to connect Canadian artists directly to the public, TOAF showcases 400+ emerging and established visual artists, including painters, photographers, sculptors and artists working in ceramics, textiles, jewellery and more. The event brings together 150,000 art lovers and enthusiasts who spend over 2 million dollars on art during the Fair. This free public event takes place every July – rain or shine – at Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of downtown Toronto. The Fair offers something for everyone: talks, tours, digital studio visits, curated collections, kids workshops, live painting, dance, music, art installations and food and drink experiences. Since 2020, TOAF’s online Fair has become Canada’s fastest-growing e-commerce and discovery platform for artists across Canada.

Press Contact
DMPUBLIC
Deanne Moser
deanne@dmpublic.com
+1-647-888-9388