Losing Parkdale celebrates area woodworkers.
Curated by Joel Robson, pictured here in his woodworking studio near Queen and Dufferin streets, the exhibition 'Losing Parkdale', features the woodwork art of Joe Yanuziello, Scott Eckert, Dennis Lin and John Jackson. The exhibit runs from Jan. 19 to Feb. 26 at the Ontario Crafts Council, 990 Queen St. W.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
There is vibrancy and buzz that comes with a concentration of arts.
"It provides a heartbeat for the city when you have a concentration of artistic talent and creative talent," said woodworker and longtime west end resident Joel Robson.
Parkdale has it, Robson said. It has a passion and a spirit that draws people in, but that vigor is on the verge of being altered - at least as far as his woodworking community goes, he said.
Robson has been creating his art in his south Parkdale studio for the past 14 years. It is a large warehouse/storage space and Robson rents a portion of it. But it's getting increasingly rare to find a space large enough to accommodate woodworkers and other craftspeople and artists who need square footage to create.
"These spaces are an ideal footprint for real estate development," Robson said. "It is just a matter of time."
Parkdale was one of the last inner city havens for artists working with wood, who more often than not, require somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 square feet to accommodate their supplies and machines.
There were industrial spaces to be had, but with every new condo building that creeps it's way west, that becomes less and less the case, Robson said.
Artists haven, 48 Abell Street, was recently demolished to make way for new development. A large buildings that stretch between 440 and 444 Dufferin Street and house many artists and a woodworking co-op has given tenants notice that they will come down in the next two years or so.
Even Robson's building, just south of Queen and Dufferin streets, is set to be sold.
But, before the huge concentration of woodworkers move on to larger and more affordable pastures, Robson wanted to give people a pause to reflect on who these people are, what they create and why they care.
Robson has curated an exhibit of area woodworkers Joe Yanuziello, Scott Eckert, Dennis Lin and John Jackson called Losing Parkdale.
The exhibition is in reference to the diminishing pool of space because of the rush to build condos.
"This exhibition isn't about bemoaning the loss, it is actually a law of human nature, it is a business law," Robson said. "The gentrification is just part of the deal."
The intent of the exhibition is to focus a spotlight on Parkdale's woodworking community, both past and present - joining material and mind with the poignancy of upheaval and resettlement.
"It's just a tip of the hat to these people that have made (Parkdale) such a vibrant place, that set up the desirability," Robson said.
It's interesting, Joe Yanuziello said, that the artists and independent shops that draw people into Parkdale, in the first place, are the same people forced out by the influx of people wanting to live in the community.
"I am old enough to remember Yorkville in the late 60s. I used to go there to the coffee houses," Yanuziello said. "I remember how quickly that neighbourhood changed from being a really great place to go and meet your friends and hear some of the greatest music anywhere... to being all about the money."
Yanuziello said with the loss of these large industrial buildings there also is a loss of community because they often house many artists within their walls.
"People sort of indiscriminately take them down one at a time, but it's almost like cutting flowers from a flower bed - you don't notice until they are all gone."
Even the building at 442 Dufferin, there may not be anything architecturally extraordinary about it, with the exception that is has been there since the late 1800s.
"It has seen a lot of Toronto history come and go and it is still standing," Yanuziello said. "Now it won't be and I think that is really sad."
Yanuziello has worked out of Liberty Village and Parkdale since the 1980s.
"I remember all the Massey Ferguson buildings coming down," Yanuziello said. "There has been so much waste."
Yanuziello said he needs at least 1,000 square feet of work space for his machines. After living and working in Parkdale and Liberty Village since the 1980s, Yanuziello recently moved to the Niagara Peninsula, just north of Lake Erie to a fantastic old building that offers him almost 5,000 square feet of live/work space.
"The downside is that I am not in Toronto anymore," Yanuziello said.