Wise Daughters Craft Market 1st Anniversary Event January 30: Come and Celebrate

Collage: Happy Anniversary, Wise Daughters!
Screenshot: Wise Daughters' Anniversary Celebration! Special Events Page
Photo: Morgan Jones Phillips and band at last year's grand opening
Photo: Neil Ross at Nation of Irony Mongers: Roots of the Canadian Sense of Humour

"Mary Breen is opening the Wise Daughters Craft Market in the Junction and the response has been overwhelming. She has been welcomed to the community by bloggers, artists and residents eager to support a new initiative that will feature the work of local artisans and artists. Her two story studio opening Saturday January 31 in the old Pilates Studio on Quebec just south of Dundas promises to be a gathering point for community members of all ages."
Welcome Wise Daughters!
by Neil Ross
Friday, January 30, 2009

It's hard to believe that Wise Daughters Craft Market is only a year young, given the influence it's had. It feels like it has been around for a long time. Now there's no excuse not to go local and handmade in the Junction!

Congratulations & much success, Wise Daughters!

What is going to be the Wise Daughters' 1st Anniversary Celebration on January 30, 2010?

11 am - 6 pm
Enjoy free baked treats, musical performances and prize draws for all kinds of wonderful Wise Daughters loot!

8 pm
Come back for Nation of Irony Mongers, a raucous romp through the history of Canadian humour, written and performed by Neil Ross. Find out why satire is fundamental to Canadian democracy, and how irony helps us avoid conflict during the long winters.
Tickets $12. Please reserve.

Wise Daughters Craft Market, One Year Later: Experience Gained, Lessons Learned and Inventiveness Thrived

Collage: Wise Daughters Craft Market, One Year Later
Credit: www.wisedaughters.com

Twelve months ago, when I opened Wise Daughters’ door for the first time, I had found work by 25 local artists to present to my customers. Now I have more than double that number of vendors, and nearly all of them have found me. The single most gratifying aspect of this adventure has been the opportunity to meet so many talented people, many of them my immediate neighbours. The germ of my business idea was to establish some sort of creative "hub", and I feel that vision is coming to fruition. Workshops are clearly filling a need for self-expression and a desire for handmade; no matter what the topic, the enjoyment of the participants is a delight to observe.

Opening a craft shop/gallery in the dead of winter, at the height of a recession, taught me many useful lessons about creative marketing and frugal management that I trust will stand me in good stead as the economy improves. It also forced me to focus on products that, in fact, deserve attention. For example, I have shown a lot of work by emerging artists, whose prices are low (for now, you lucky buyers!). I have also carried a great deal of merchandise made of repurposed / recycled materials, which is good for everybody and the planet too. Necessity really is the mother of invention. And this mother is grateful for all the inventiveness both artists and customers have brought to Wise Daughters.

Mary Breen, Owner
Wise Daughters Craft Market
Local handicrafts and do-it-yourself workshops
3079B Dundas St. W.
www.wisedaughters.com

February Events and Workshops at Wise Daughters' Craft Market

Screenshot: Wise Daughters Craft Market Newsletter, February 2010
Credit: wisedaughters.com

Hello Craft Fans!

Happy New Year to you all. My new year is off to a good start, with the shop named one of the best new design stores in the city: www.blogto.com/toronto

Here is your February newsletter, full of great workshop opportunities to help combat the winter blahs. Hope to see you all at Wise Daughters' first anniversary celebration on Sat, Jan 30. Details at www.wisedaughters.com under Special Events.

And I have a special request for you, designed to help make Wise Daughters even better in 2010. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out a customer survey by clicking this link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/FB378MR

Thanks!

Mary,
Wise Daughter Craft Market

One Year Later!

I’ve lived in the Junction for 20 years, but it’s not until I opened Wise Daughters that I really connected to my community, meeting all kinds of talented artists, of course, but also community leaders, parents and other business people. What a rich mix! I can’t thank my regular customers enough for choosing to shop local and handmade, and making Wise Daughters such a hub of creative activity.

New Products

• For any age: Charming squishy dolls with the message, “I think I rock” on the back of each unique creature, by Megan Goos.
• Stunning light sculptures, such as this design made of paper created from maple leaves, by Joanne Rich.
• Politician finger puppets by Gabe Thirlwall. Federal and municipal varieties. What you do with them is up to you!

Theatre for Kids...
Bonanza BoLeRo felt cabaret
Sat, Feb 27, 1:00 – 2:00
Ages 2 ½ to 7. Admission by donation.
For more info, call 416-887-5691
email: bonanzabolero@gmail.com
Boris "Bolero" Roginsky

February Workshops
Please pre-register

Remedial Knitting
Fri, Feb 5, 1:00 – 3:00
Can you only knit rectangles? Did you knit a sock once in the 80s? Melissa McColl will get you back in fine form with a refresher class in: casting on, different stitches, reading patterns.
$30 includes needles, practice yarn, illustrated instructions, list of suppliers.

Absolute Beginner Knitting
Wed, Feb 17, 7:00 – 9:30
Melissa will teach you to cast on, knit and purl.
$55 includes full kit to complete a cozy scarf.

Raucous Resin (Returns)!
Part One: Sat, Feb 6, 1:00 – 3:00
Part Two: Wed, Feb 10, 6:00 – 7:30
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Billi Jo Cox of bJo Designs will show you how to embed almost anything in resin to create jewellery that really makes a statement.
$65 includes materials.

Bookbinding: Japanese Stab Binding
Thurs, Feb 18, 7:00 – 9:30
Amy Borkwood is back to share Japanese stab-binding, an ancient method that allows for sheets of paper to be bound together into a soft- or hard-cover book with a decorative spine.
$35 includes all materials.

Felt a Landscape or Still Life
Sat, Feb 20, 1:00 – 5:00
Workshop leader: Wendo van Essen. Learn the 5000 year old wet felting technique to create a background, then add 3 dimensional elements with a felting needle to create a still life or a fuzzy landscape. You will take home a finished piece of tactile textural art.
$60 includes all materials.

Art Cards to Make and Trade
Wed, Feb 24, 7:00 – 9:30
and the last Wed of each month...
Workshop leader: Lisa Pijuan-Nomura. Express yourself on a 2.5 x 3.5 inch card.
Pay-what-you-can. Materials provided.
But one card must stay at Wise Daughters to display!

Winter Hours
Sun, Mon: Closed
Tues: 11 – 7
Wed, Thurs, Fri: 11 – 7
Sat: 11 - 6

Join us for Sit ‘n’ Stitch, Tues 7 – 9

Please call 416-761-1555 for more info or to register for workshops

If you know someone who would like to receive this information, please forward this post.

Wise Daughters Craft Market
Local handicrafts and do-it-yourself workshops
3079B Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON, M5P 1Z9
(facing Quebec Ave, just south of Dundas, behind Crema Coffee)
There is ample street parking on Dundas and Quebec.
Via TTC: Junction bus from Dundas West Stn,
Lambton bus (or 15 min. walk) from High Park Stn.
www.wisedaughters.com
wisedaughters@sympatico.ca
416-761-1555

BlogTO: The Best New Design Stores in Toronto, 2009

Screenhot: The Best New Design Stores in Toronto, 2009
+ embedded callout
Credit: blogto, posted using ShareThis

Three of the eight best design stores that opened in Toronto during 2009 are located in the Junction 'hood.

• Mjolk - the best Scandinavian decor
• World Headquarters - the best vintage decor
• Wise Daughters - the best Canadian craft

Aren't we lucky?!
Yes, we are.

To see the rest of blogTO's list, read Best of Toronto: The Best New Design Stores in Toronto, 2009 article posted by Briony, January 15, 2010

Follow the junction+design tweets
Follow the #junctionTO tweets.

The 2010 Junction Arts Festival Call to Artists

Screenshot: Junction Arts Festival: 2010 Call to Artists
Credit: junctionartsfest.com

The more time an artist has to create, make, develop and plan even mull over a work of art the greater the depth and the value to the viewer can be. The festival board wants to begin working with artists earlier, provide acceptance of work into the festival, so artists can plan and execute works on a longer term.

2010 Call To Artists

The Junction Arts Festival is now accepting creative proposals for the 2010 Junction Arts Festival. The Festival runs from September 8 to 12, 2010 with a two-day street closure of Dundas Street West, September 11 and 12.

The Festival is currently accepting proposals only from performance-based artists and art installation works of any combination, including but not limited to, Indoor and Outdoor Installation Artists, Street Dance and Theatre groups as well as any multi-arts ideas that we may be able to support. Our emphasis in 2010 will be for large scale outdoor work but we are accepting all proposals. Fees will be determined on a per-artist-basis.

Additional calls for Visual Artists, Poets and Musicians will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Approximately 200,000 people attend the festival each year, experiencing interactive works that both engage and enthrall.

Proposals should include the following:

• Artist or group contact info
• Bio and history
• Example of past work
• Video and/or photo examples of proposed work. If proposing a new work, please include a description, plus technical requirements

If proposing a new work please be as specific as your present process allows at this time. Also inform us if you are applying for any creative funding from other sources. If applications for government funding precede any agreement between artist and festival, then a letter of intent may be issued on our part.

The Junction Arts Festival has been running its present programming since 2007, but the festival’s history dates back to 1991, with the street closure since 2000. ‘Where the Arts meet the Street’ is the basis for this ever-growing multi-arts Festival that includes visual art, galleries, installation art, main stage music, dance, theatre, performance art, travelling minstrels and anything in between and beyond.

Toronto, National and International applications accepted.

All inquiries should be directed to Festival Director, Michael Menegon via email at junctionartsfest@bellnet.ca

Application packages should be sent to:

Junction Arts Festival
3047 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M6P 1Z3 Canada

Visit:
festival blog
facebook page
twitter tweets

Happy Old New Year!

Photo: Happy Old New Year!
2010 @ artjunction.blogspot.com

Happy Old New Year!

by Boris “Bolero” Roginsky

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as the famous song goes. And it very well may be. At least for those having ties or wishing to have ties to the Russian culture.

Yes, of course every season has something pleasant to offer to everyone. And yet, as far as I know, neither spring nor summer nor autumn offers FOUR widely celebrated holidays within the span of about three weeks to anyone else!

Since 1918 the international Russian-speaking community has been celebrating two Christmases and two New Years. While December and January are indeed the magical months primarily for those who choose to believe so, the explanation of this phenomenon should satisfy everyone — the believers and non-believers alike.

About 92 years ago the Russian government adopted the civil Gregorian Calendar, associated with the Roman Catholic Church and yet used for secular administrative purposes all over the world. However, the Russian Orthodox Church never stopped using the Julian Calendar either. Hence, since then, people have been enjoying this abundance of holidays. Hasn’t it been great? Just think of all the presents and sweets!

Now, holidays are for having fun. And each year the City of Toronto offers us plenty of ways to entertain ourselves as the passing year gets ready to let the new one take over. Since, as they claim, our city is the most multicultural one in the world, it is fabulous to be able to enjoy the diverse elements of the world culture intertwining right here. And what great opportunities those are!

The National Ballet of Canada’s production of The Nutcracker continues to be a hit. Based on the beloved story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann and set to the sublime score by the Russian composer P.I. Tchaikovsky, the performance has been enchanting audiences for over 15 years. The Canadian choreographer and librettist, James Kudelka, chose to tell the German story in the 19th-century Russian setting. And the American set and costume designer, Santo Loquasto, created such a splendid pallet of colours and texture that their richness fills a spectator with the positive energy for the whole year. Just enough to last till the next year’s performance!

And how about the Cineplex’s initiative to broadcast performances, featuring the best voices in the world from New York’s Metropolitan Opera for the third year in a row? Of course it could not be simply a coincidence that programme planners slated Les Contes d’Hoffmann with the music by Jacques Offenbach and libretto by Jules Barbier (of the German-Jewish and the French ancestry respectively) on December 19, just a few days before Christmas. The magic would not be complete without Anna Netrebko’s marvelous performance. The Russian star sang the part of Antonia and as usual charmed the audience.

So now, when it’s almost the time to take down the lights, Happy New Year to all of you! Whatever and whenever you celebrate, let 2010 bring you great health and peace within!

2010 © Boris "Bolero" Roginsky

The Passionate Eye Show: How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin & How the Russians Rocked the Beatles

Screenshot: cbc.ca/documentaries: How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin
a documentary about the band's role in the fall of the U.S.S.R.
Watch the film online. 43:14 min
Note: this film is only available for 30 days after last broadcast.
Credit: cbc.ca

"It may sound like hippy hype, but as serious people insist that the Fab 4 played an important part in the collapse of Communism."
Leslie Woodhead - Documentary Filmmaker

How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin
Produced by Leslie Woodhead for the BBC

Untold story of how the Fab Four helped topple the Soviet Union by turning its youth against the state.

The Passionate Eye Show: Monday January 4, 2010 & Saturday January 9, 2010 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network

youtube.com: "How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin"
explores how The Beatles helped bring down the Iron Curtain and change history forever.
ThirteenWNET
October 30, 2009

links:
beatles.ncf.ca: Ottawa Beatles Site
Click here to read a review of the new CD by Ottawa Beatles Site researcher John Whelan. For ordering information, please visit the InnerLights Explosion. "How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin" - did we like it?

beatles.ncf.ca: The Beatles, communism and the BBC: their Ottawa connection
"When British documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead started work on his latest BBC film, he didn't expect to come to Ottawa. After all, his film is about the unexpected way the Beatles helped bring down communism in Soviet Russia. But then he found out about Yury Pelyushonok on the Ottawa Beatles Site. The 50-year-old Russian-born Beatles superfan has written a book on the subject, Strings for a Beatle Bass: The Beatles Generation in the USSR, and has recorded an album of Beatles-inspired tracks about how pervasive (and subversive) the Fab Four's influence was on Russian youth."
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
by Alana Toulin
August 2, 2007

beatles.ru: New film "How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin" the true story behind the Beatles influence in the USSR

thirteen.org: Watch Video “How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin”
How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin tells the extraordinary and untold story of how the Beatles punctured the Iron Curtain. In a personal journey through Russia by award-winning director Leslie Woodhead, he tells in first-person accounts the story of a secret revolution which contributed to the fall of communism.
November 10th, 2009

thirteen.org: Video Outtakes: How the Russians Rocked the Beatles
At a celebration of John Lennon’s birthday, Russian rock bands pay tribute by performing some of the Beatles’ classic hits.
October 6th, 2009

thirteen.org: The World's Most Influential Artist:
Over 1,800 nominations were submitted for artists that changed the world.
Below are the top five nominated artists. Which has had the greatest impact on history?
The Beatles -- 58%
Pete Seeger -- 16%
Bob Dylan -- 9%
Michael Jackson -- 8%
U2/Bono -- 7%