The Creative School Catalyst Summer Institute 2026

Facilitated by Paola Poletto and Deanna Armenti

DEN/dwelling: Foraging, Found Objects, Assemblage

Tuesday, August 11 – Thursday, August 13, 2026, 10am – 4pm
The Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University
Apply Here! A few spots available. No fees for application or successful applicants. Thank you to everyone who submits an expression of interest.

Closing Public Reception: Thursday, August 13, 3 – 6pm
Visit the installation with participating artists and curators in attendance.

The Creative School Catalyst Summer Institute 2026, facilitated by Deanna Armenti and Paola Poletto, is titled DEN/dwelling, and proposes Foraging, Found Objects, and Assemblage as a set of foundational elements for collaborative research-creation. The artists have the bare bones of a structure deepened by the collaborative approach of the workshop: your participation shapes what’s next, what’s possible. Please visit the link above to learn more about joining them in this workshop and installation project.

Armenti and Poletto met last summer in a residency at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Artspace (401 Richmond) and have been meeting weekly since then to make and talk about some of their mutual interests in a research-creation framework and doctoral program (Paola is a fifth year part-time student; Deanna is 3rd year full time). In those meetings they learned new things together and imagined what today feels like the skeletal infrastructure for a group based project and methodology for curation/learning/art. This project is now presented as part of TMU’s free Summer Institute. It is the second year of the program which was launched and facilitated last year by Francisco Fernando Granados, who has brilliantly guided Armenti and Poletto for this year’s iteration:

“We imagine that over 3 days we will talk about and do some foraging, picture looking, text reading, making, sharing, listening, contextualizing and some more imagining. For us, the project took legs when, at the Design and Technology Lab, we were able to translate two panoramic images into printed works on wood to evoke an underwater space and feel inspired by our observations and respect for beavers and their habitats. Each photo is printed across 3 large-scale hinged panels to form a kind of stage set or dwelling in the round for what comes next: collectively performing an improvisational yet earnest making within an academic setting… raising, we hope, a whole lot of valid questions… But also, a can-do attitude, where we can come together in a fresh, inspiring and productive way. The dream is that an installation can become a representation of our work together, and the impetus for greater things if we offer our individual practices to a focal point.”

Workshop Schedule and Themes

Participants will gather as a collective at TMU’s Catalyst to make and discuss ideas inspired by a selection of readings, completing an art installation, and field trips.

Day 1: Foraging
“The Honorable Harvest” by Robin Wall Kimmerer will introduce us to ethical foraging practices and will be followed by a field outing to Tommy Thompson Park | Leslie Street Spit.

Day 2: Found Objects
Spending time with our foraged matter, personal archives and our making from Day 1 as we consider the role of self-representation within the collective through looking together as method.

Day 3: Assemblage
How do we transition DEN/dwelling to moving forward together? Questions about presentation and representation are transformed into action through our collective making and community building.

A reading list to guide our learning together is provided in advance of the workshop.

About the Artists

Deanna Armenti (Fae/Faer, She/Her) is a Queer Faegender poet, zine creator, and interdisciplinary textile artist and researcher. Deanna is a PhD candidate at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) in the Media and Design Innovation program. She weaves, crochets, knits, sews, does leather work, and lost-wax casting. Her textile work is focused on natural fibres and incorporates foraged material as co-collaborators. Deanna’s Research-creation focused arts practice sits at the intersection of Ecology, Folklore, and Gender Studies. Her work queries the decentering of Anthropocentric gender through the lens of her Gender Expansive experience as Faegender. Inspired by kin centric ecologies, Deanna’s work foregrounds ontological multiplicity in exploration of how gender can align with the ontology of other-than-human beings (e.g. plants, animals, vital matters) as well as how time, place, aesthetic, and even story structure—such as fable or ‘Fae-ble’—are also gender ontologies. @faemoss.realm

Paola Poletto is an arts professional and artist-curator of design, craft, new media and visual art. She has produced exhibitions and public programs in performance and contemporary mixed media; designed educational and professional development workshops within the museums, civic engagement / community development, and international diplomacy fields; and steered curatorial and educational teams to achieve their organization’s strategic plans. Paola has presented best practices at international conferences and fairs, published on art and museum education in peer-reviewed journals, and edited several books ranging from graphic poetry and public art to urban design and architecture. Paola’s doctoral research looks at what it means and feels like to be an artist/arts worker in a museum today. It includes first-person interviews with artists who work in museums as well as mixed-media research presented over a series of talks, exhibitions and residencies. Most recently, her photographic project has travelled to Arquetopia Foundation, Mexico (2025), the Ontario College of Art and Design and Gladstone House, Toronto (2026). Paola is a member of the Photography Network and the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM). @p_poletto

The Creative School Catalyst
Toronto Metropolitan University
80 Gould Street
Toronto, ON M5B 2M7
www.torontomu.ca/the-catalyst
416-979-5000 ext. 544327
thecatalyst@torontomu.ca