Ten places to buy kids face masks in Toronto

2:20 pm

Face masks for kids in Toronto are an essential item for back-to-school shopping this fall. The Toronto District School Board has made it mandatory for all students to wear face masks once school resumes in a couple of weeks.

Here are 10 places that are selling masks for kids.

Anything Goes Accessories, located in St. Lawrence Market, sells reusable cotton reversible masks with a different pattern on the back and a pocket for a filter. Masks are handmade locally by LuckyDog.

Jolene Melissa Offinalis Apothecary and Hand-Dyed Goods, an independent boutique, sells masks for both children and adults handmade from natural unbleached cotton. Indigo-dyed masks are also available. There are two styles available: pleated and firm fitting for $15.

La Di Da Boutique on the Danforth sells three-layer cloth masks in a variety of children’s sizes. The shop carries masks for toddlers as well as kids aged 4 to 6 and 7 to 10 years old.

Lil Miss Dress Up sells custom face masks for toddlers, kids and adults. Masks are double layered with adjustable ear straps. Orders must be placed 10 days in advance.

Lemon & Lavender sells cloth masks for both children and adults that are 100 per cent cotton and washable. Masks come in a variety of prints including a unicorn shimmery mask or Disney character masks, each are $15.

MOJi Mask employs local seamstresses affected by the pandemic and donates a portion of the proceeds to supporting health-care workers. Their masks are handmade in Toronto and come in a variety of prints and colours for kids, teens, and adults.

Snug as a Bug carries a variety of kid-size cloth masks. All products are made in Canada and can be bought online or at their retail store on Dundas Street West. Choose from a variety of colours and prints.

The Unicorn Café (and The Poop Cafe) is offering more than just ice-cream treats, they are selling a variety of kids masks at their Bathurst and Bloor location, starting at $5.

Urbinz on Front Street carries a wide selection of children’s masks in a variety of styles. Choose from animal faces to colourful prints. Prices range from $5 for singles, $15 for a 2-pack and $18 for a 3-pack.

WallflowerWear, a Toronto-based specialty online textile company, sells masks starting at $9.99. Each mask uses 100 per cent cotton in designer fabric, three layers of coverage and adjustable straps.

Toronto’s Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins set to release ‘246’

Ron Johnson

4:34 pm

Ron Hawkins has done a lot in the music industry. The Lowest of the Low lead singer has played everything from arenas to the dingiest of bars to garages. He thought he’d seen it all. But we all know how this story ends. Along came COVID-19 and a global pandemic right when the music veteran was readying his latest album along with his other band the Do Good Assassins. Although the album, 246, has taken a new and very DIY shape, it is set for release on Aug. 28, and it is fantastic.

“We did sit on the idea of maybe we wait until we’re on the other side of whatever this might be,” says Hawkins, of this past winter contemplating supporting a new album with no live shows and no idea when physical albums would be made. “I think a lot of things came into play, but given that this is my 17th or 18th record, I thought, well, ‘Hey, let’s do an experiment. Let’s see what happens when you release a record in a pandemic.’ ”

Although a major record label was keen to release the album, Hawkins decided to keep with the indie vibe that the album took on early in the process and carry it through to his loyal fans.

It was recorded on a 1985 Tascam 246 4-track cassette recorder — which Hawkins used to use to record demos in his parents’ basement back in the ’80s — in drummer Jody Brumell’s living room with an ethos of “no digital tomfoolery.” If the songs weren’t good enough, there would be no hiding it.

“I had full confidence that this band would create that kind of vibe in a room together, you know, like an old school vibe,” Hawkins says. And why shouldn’t he? The Do Good Assassins is a serious mix of local musical talent including Jody Brumell (drums), formerly of the band Lorded and currently of Ace of Wands; Lee Rose (bass), also of Ace of Wands and formerly of Rival Boys; and Stuart Cameron (guitar) who also currently plays with Crash Test Dummies and the Matthew Good band.

It’s a band that sets itself apart from Hawkins’s other well-known project. It’s the soulful and dynamic yin to the beer-soaked, working-class yang of the Lowest of the Low.

Lowest of the Low was a stalwart of the indie rock scene back in the ’90s. The band’s debut album, Shakespeare My Butt, which is found on a fair share of best album lists, landed the Low in the Canadian Indies Hall of Fame.

The Do Good Assassins actually came about when Hawkins was under the impression that the Lowest of the Low had broken up. A familiar scenario that played out more than once. But the formation stuck.

Now, he has two fantastic Toronto bands, in addition to his solo work. And Hawkins is using his rather catchy platform to push for positive political change. The new album has a few tunes that are, if not an outright call to action, at least a message to reconnect with that rebel you were back in high school.

“My belief is that the art itself is meant to be kind of like vitamins, you know, or fresh air,” he says. “It’s to make you feel more fully human, so that when you wake up in the morning, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I want to go and do my activism in the street where it’s going to have an effect.’ ”

HEARTBREAK IN HOPPER STREET from Ron on Vimeo.

In addition to a new album, Hawkins has also been entertaining his fans with a weekly live stream he has dubbed Tommy Douglas Tuesdays, after the pioneer of single-payer, universal health care in Canada. He doesn’t ask for money during the shows, although those in attendance would be more than happy to oblige. But what he does do is highlight a cause each week that does need funding. He’s a good egg that way, and it’s part of the reason those that have followed his career have stuck with him.

“What I love about those shows is that, well, first of all, I love the solidarity. When the pandemic first hit, suddenly there were no live gigs. But once I started doing this every Tuesday, I was, like, ‘Oh wow, we can still kind of do this. The community is all here,’ ” Hawkins says. “And they’re chatting with each other and chatting with me. And it was very, very inspiring to me. Especially early on, I got a lot of great notes from people like front line workers and stuff like that. They were saying, ‘My life is hell right now all week, and I really look forward to Tuesday night because I can kind of just get into the music and talk to people.’ So it felt like a political act as well as an act of solidarity with a fan base.”

Hawkins has dipped a toe into live shows once again. Recently, he and Do Good Assassins bandmate Brumell played a rooftop gig in the west end of Toronto within a geodesic dome. So who knows what the future will look like. But as long as Ron Hawkins and company keep making music, whether, on cassette recorders or high-tech studios, I think we’ll be all right.

For more information, go to ronhawkins.com.

A Toronto favourite replaces Little Italy’s Woodlot

Marlene Mendonca

12:52 pm

When chef Grant van Gameren’s much-loved burger joint Harry’s Charbroiled closed down in Parkdale, the chef hinted that the concept would return in some capacity. Now, we have a pretty good idea of what that looks like. In short, you can expect to see a lot of van Gameren’s classic-style burgers around town.

“With the pandemic, our world turned somewhat upside down, but we used the time to get creative and started making a limited [Harry’s Charbroiled] menu out of our Bar Raval location for pickup and delivery,” van Gameren says. “We eventually moved that to the old Woodlot location, which still happens to be our current base. Now, as the restrictions are starting to ease out, we are taking it on the road in our new bright yellow Harry’s Charbroiled truck,” he adds.

Though limited, their menu still includes the all-time darlings like the plain Jane, classic Jane, big Jane, double Jane with occasional favourites such as the vegan Jane and red burger, thrown in, among others. The Woodlot location is also offering pickup between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. everyday and is available on Uber Eats, for anyone located out of their vicinity.

Speaking about the days ahead, van Gameren says, “The immediate future is still uncertain, but our plan is to eventually move into permanent locations in neighbourhoods throughout the city. These won’t be recreations of the original diner, but simple takeout locations where more people can enjoy easy access to Harry’s burgers and fries.”

In the near future, Harry’s wants to take it a step further and extend its reach to include a wider clientele. “When we originally acquired it, we made some updates, but essentially ran it in the same spirit as it had existed for the past 50 years. Our intent was never to replicate it and multiply it. However, we had such overwhelming response to the simple goodness of our food — the plain Jane, the thick-cut fries — we thought it would an interesting idea to deliver it to a wider audience,” says chef van Gameren, who took over the Parkdale diner in 2016.

For 52 years, Harry’s Charbroiled has survived many transitions, from the urban renewal of the neighbourhood to the legendary takeover by big league chefs Grant van Gameren, Nate Young and Robin Goodfellow; from the declaration of termination in October 2019 to the eventual bounce back in its current pop-up food truck form in April 2020, the legendary name has seen it all.

New South American restaurant Marked is coming to downtown Toronto

Jessica Huras

4:18 pm

Forthspace Hospitality, the team behind Instagrammable King West restaurant Coffee Oysters Champagne (and its not-so-secret speakeasy à toi) is bringing Toronto Marked, a new downtown restaurant focused on South American cuisine.

Marked, which is set to open on September 1, will focus on sustainably-sourced meat, seafood, and produce prepared over a wood charcoal grill.

The full menu has yet to be released, but a press release also promises a drinks line-up that includes cocktails featuring housemade ingredients, as well as boozy slushies and bottled cocktails.

The restaurant’s 10,000 square-foot space at Richmond and John was decorated by Navigate Design, the same firm behind Marked’s sister restaurant Coffee Oysters Champagne, as well as other stylish Toronto spots such as Mira.

The design sees Marked divided into four distinctive spaces: a bar and lounge with a patio, a cocktail bar, the main dining area, as well as a private dining room.

Each of the four areas features a different theme, but throwback, 1950s touches and nods to the restaurant’s South American menu are common elements throughout.

Marked’s sister restaurant Coffee Oyster Champagne recently reopened in early August with a new patio.

Marked is set to open on Sept. 1, with reservations available through the restaurant’s site starting opening day.

New dessert pop-up comes to Toronto coffee shop from former Richmond Station pastry chefs

Nikki Gill

11:21 am

A new dessert pop-up at Hailed Coffee in Riverdale will feature a signature monthly dessert created by the duo behind the new pastry company Hawker, Farzam Fallah and Louis Lim. Their August creation is a caramel corn mille-feuille, available for pre-order and ready for pick-up on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

Fallah has years of experience as a pastry chef under his belt, most notably at Black Sheep Restaurants in Hong Kong and Richmond Station in Toronto, where he worked with Lim. But when he returned from Hong Kong in 2018, he decided he wanted to learn more about how restaurants work as a whole and has since been working as a bartender.

However, when COVID-19 hit, Fallah had more free time on his hands, and four months into quarantine, he and Lim decided they’d try something new to give themselves something to do.

“We thought, why don’t we think of something and just do it, whether it doesn’t turn out right or we don’t sell anything, let’s just do it for fun and see what comes of it,” Fallah says. “So we just called up a bunch of friends to find a professional kitchen space because we didn’t want to do it out of our homes.”

That’s where Hailed Coffee stepped in. Their pastry chef, Royce Li, told Fallah and Lim they could use their kitchen space to sell out of.

“From my previous experience, all chefs have been very open and welcoming. I remember the first week I worked for a pastry shop, the chef told me, ‘Here’s the keys, just lock up when you’re done,’ ” says Li. “So I think we have to have the same approach. So if anybody doesn’t have the space, they can use this space instead. We are going through a pandemic, so any little bit of money helps.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Farzam Fallah (@farzamfallah) on Aug 13, 2020 at 4:53am PDT

Fallah says their idea is to centre each monthly dessert around a different ingredient, and the ingredient this month is corn because August is heavy corn season.

“The dessert itself is a classic mille-feuille with layers of puff pastry and pastry cream, and we wanted to incorporate corn as much as we could. So we infused the pastry cream with corn kernels that have been roasted. We’ve made a salted caramel that we hit with bourbon, which is also made from corn, and then sea salt and popcorn to finish it off,” he says.

They’re aiming for a “salty caramel corn” kind of flavour profile. Fallah and Lim decided to create 50 pastries available for pre-order, and he says they’ve sold most of the portions by now, with a few still available.

“With both Louis and I, we have a pretty good following within our community of people that are just interested and excited to see what we’re doing next,” Fallah says. “For me, since I came back to Toronto and stepped away from the kitchen, I felt like there were definitely a few friends and guests that were looking to see when the next time is for me to do something dessert related.”

Fallah says it’s been exciting for him to see that people want to support him and Lim in this new project.

Dessert pick-up will be available between 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday Aug. 26, and pre-orders can be made on their website. Stay tuned to the website to find out what next month’s creation will be.

Chef Craig Wong opens new wine bar on Dundas West

Jessica Huras

5:00 pm

Dundas West has a new destination for natural wines and rooftop views with the opening of Bar Mignonette, the new sister wine bar to Patois. The new spot from chef Craig Wong is located on the second floor of Patois and features a rooftop patio overlooking the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood.

Bar Mignonette’s brief menu emphasizes light, boldly-flavoured bites such as melon and prosciutto, and a bread and butter pairing with Brodflour sourdough. Dishes, including the heirloom tomato with dashi vinegar jelly and Korean mint, play with the Asian and Caribbean influences for which Wong’s cooking is known. Seafood is also a major focus, with the restaurant featuring a raw bar as well as seafood-centred dishes like clams and pasta with black garlic and sake.

View this post on Instagram

Mussels + Patio #patioseason #barmignonette

A post shared by Mignonette (@barmignonette) on Jul 10, 2020 at 11:51am PDT

Curated by sommelier Toni Weber (former beverage director at Giulietta), the wine menu is equally short but thoughtful, offering globe-spanning natural wines by the glass and bottle. The current line-up includes the aromatic 2019 Neon-Eon Tropicalia, an orange wine from Okanagan Valley, B.C., and a peppery Pineau D’Aunis from Loire, France.

In the works for over a year, Bar Mignonette’s opening plans were put on hold for months as a result of the pandemic. The restaurant has been sharing sneak peeks of its interior since early January, however, as it prepared to open, revealing an airy, tropically-themed space that’s a fitting match for its pared-down menu.

Lower-level sister restaurant Patois continues to offer its Caribbean-Asian fare for dine-in inside as well as on their street-facing patio. For those not ready to venture out to restaurants quite yet, Patois is also doing heat-at-home meal kits through Tock, which are filled with some of its most popular dishes like Jamaican curry black tiger shrimp and kimchi Brussels sprouts.

Bar Mignonette is open and taking reservations for its physically-distanced dining room and rooftop patio. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Egyptian street food restaurant Eat Nabati opens in Kensington Market

Ron Johnson

4:46 pm

Street food strikes again with the latest addition to Kensington Market, Eat Nabati. The plant-based take on popular Middle Eastern fare such as shawarma and kofta comes from Egyptian-Canadian founder Israa Ali — the owner of big sister restaurant Dar Nabati in Oakville.

A former nutritionist influenced by an Alexandrian heritage, Ali pays homage to her mother’s family recipes by creating versions of traditional street foods that are at once recognizable and experimental. Whether it’s stuffing a vegan Halloumi-style “cheese” into fava bean falafel or serving beef-style shawarma made from mushrooms and seitan, the flavours are unique yet comforting.

Mains, available in mild or harissa-spiked, are served in a pita, on top of hand-cut fries, or in a bowl along with mujaddara, a savoury mix of lentils, rice and caramelized onions.

In addition to “beef-style” or “chicken-style” shawarma (named, lovingly, Mama and Baba), there’s also fillings of vegan kofta meatballs, za’atar-spiced cauliflower, garlicky-roasted eggplant and pan-fried mushrooms with green peppers. Falafels come in servings of three, six or 12 pieces; tahini-based sauces, elevated with beet, lemon or herb, are perfect for dipping.

“We’re neither completely raw vegan, nor ‘junk food’ vegan,” says Ali. What Eat Nabati (Arabic for ‘plant-based’) offers is something in the middle — modern and healthy quick bites that will still deliver the endorphin-high only street food can provide. Drinks include mint lemonade and iced hibiscus tea.

Takeout is always an option at Eat Nabati’s kitschy, colourful Baldwin Street location, and there is also a tiny patio and indoor seating (with restrictions) for those who wish to dine in.

Can’t make it to Kensington but the idea of vegan Egyptian street food has piqued your interest? Ali’s frozen ready-to-cook “chicken and beef-style” shawarma and kofta packages are available at Apiecalypse Now in Toronto, as well as Coven Market and Sweet Beets in Hamilton.

Toronto restaurant by Michelin starred chef is back with new Casa Loma pop-up experience

Ron Johnson

12:25 pm

When word got out that Toronto restaurant Don Alfonso 1890 would not reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic, the city wore a collective foodie frown for days as dreams of the groundbreaking Michelin-starred cuisine began to evaporate. But there is news. Although the restaurant will remain closed, the outpouring of appreciation has resulted in a limited 60-seat Don Alfonso pop-up to be located within Toronto’s famous Casa Loma.

“When we were forced to shutter Don Alfonso, we never expected such an overwhelming outcry of support from Toronto’s sophisticated dining community, the media, the hospitality industry and the city as a whole,” explained Nick Di Donato, president and CEO of Liberty Group. “We hoped one day to find another location suitable for the establishment and its internationally lauded design. The response is such that we’re excited to make this work in another beautiful surrounding in order to meet patrons’ demand for an experience not to be missed… until we find a permanent home.”

The new Don Alfonso experience will be held in the gorgeous conservatory of Casa Loma under the famed McCausland dome.

Reservations may be made at www.donalfonsotoronto.com and via OpenTable beginning this week. The pop-up is scheduled to open Sept. 16 for 5 p.m. dinner service daily, featuring the Michelin cuisine of Alfonso and Ernesto Iaccarino with its classic and contemporary vegetarian tasting menus, under the helm of executive chef Saverio Macri and chef de cuisine Daniele Corona.

Since opening in 2018, Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto has been recognized with multiple national and international awards and honours including 2nd Best Italian Restaurant in the World by 50 Top Italy, and Best Restaurants in Canada 2019.

“We look forward to welcoming loyal fans and guests to our special Don Alfonso installation at Casa Loma and believe it will be just as memorable and spectacular as our original experience,” Di Donato says. “We feel strongly Canada’s culinary scene warrants something as unique as Don Alfonso 1890 and are proud to be able to re-introduce it at this time.”

Chef Mark McEwan picks the best veggie burgers in Toronto

Samantha Peksa

10:37 am

The future of the buffet industry in Toronto post COVID-19

Marlene Mendonca

3:07 pm

For decades, self-serve salad bars and buffets have been an integral part of the Canadian dining experience. But, even as restaurants begin to reopen doors in Toronto and the GTA, outlets that offered buffet services as part of their operations have been required to remove the facility and forced to adapt to changing times. So, to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread effects on the food industry, would be but a blatant understatement.

Last month, the province allowed restaurants to open at 50 per cent capacity but buffets and other self-serve food services continued to remain prohibited under current health guidelines. They have been, however, authorized to provide take-out, delivery and regular dine-in services but moving away from a model that their businesses were strictly based on, might only spell tougher times ahead for the owners.

For instance, the Mandarin – a Chinese restaurant with a history of over 40 years – has always been immensely popular in Canada, hosting nearly 20,000 customers per day. Now, their only dine-in service is at the Brampton location, offering what they call the ‘Mandarin Small Eats’ as a new alternative to the buffet.

“We will bring back the buffet once guidelines are set by the Ontario government and local public health authorities, and when we feel it is safe for our customers and employees. At this time, we are excited to introduce the Mandarin Small Eats at our dine-in Brampton location,” said a representative of the authentic Chinese chain.

“It is a selection of about 70 freshly prepared, pay-per-eat Mandarin classics plated small – good for sampling as well as sharing. The prices range between $1.99 – $4.99,” he added, hopeful that the chain would be able to reopen more locations with the new Mandarin Small Eats dine-in facility over the next few weeks.

Another popular buffet restaurant, Dragon Pearl, too has had to make its own share of adjustments. “We do not know when we would be able to reopen our buffet service. It all depends on the government,” said Alan, manager of the North York favourite. “We are happy to be open for dine-in services now. We have launched the all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner menus as a substitute, which can be served table-side or packed for takeaway. We hope people would enjoy this new set of choices as much as they loved our buffet,” he shared.

Ever since Covid-19 hit the world, anxiety surrounding dining out has proved to be a significant challenge – one that all food businesses are struggling to overcome – more so for buffet restaurants since they tend to allow larger amounts of people within premises. Not to mention the crowding around self-serve areas – that alone is enough to make even the most loyal of customers wary.

When (and if) restaurants with buffets get the government’s nod to reopen to the public, we can only hope that they will work diligently to reclaim customer confidence.

TDSB’s back-to-school plan calls for smaller class sizes in at-risk areas and mandatory masks

Samantha Peksa

2:32 pm

After much planning, debate, and a few trips back to the drawing board, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Ministry of Education have put forward a back-to-school plan for Toronto public school staff, students, and parents.

The original start date for public schools in Toronto was Sept. 8, but the new protocols — the details of which TDSB has up on their official website in a section entitled “Return to School” — have confirmed that the new start date for elementary and secondary schools will be Sept. 15.

Elementary students

For elementary schools, the plan is to group students into cohorts who share the same schedule of activities for everything from homeroom to lunch and recess. The schedules of various cohorts will be staggered in order to keep different groups from coming into close contact. Kindergarten classes will be allowed a maximum of 27 students, Grades 1 to 3 will be allowed to have 20 students per class, and Grades 4 to 8 will have a maximum of 27. For any schools in areas that Public Health has deemed high-risk, kindergarten classes will operate at a maximum of 15 students, with Grades 1 to 8 at a maximum of 20 students per class.

The City of Toronto has also identified 24 facilities for public and Catholic schools to use to help with social distancing when school starts in September.

Secondary students

For secondary students who have opted for 100 per cent remote learning, TDSB is currently working on creating a central virtual school using Google Classroom or Brightspace platforms. For those who are physically returning to school, the year will be broken down into “quadmesters” that cover two subjects per segment, with the respective exams occurring at the close of each “quad.”

This “adapted in-school day model” will have students physically at school every other day, with virtual interactions with their teachers during home days. Both types of school days will see students dismissed at noon, with live virtual class starting up again from 2 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. to close out the day. While there is no maximum number of students identified at this time, TDSB’s website says for in-school learning, “class sizes will be approximately 15 students.”

Of course, while there are many Toronto area families who have opted not to (physically) send their students back to school, those numbers are fluctuating as September draws closer and provincial and board protocols are finalized. While TDSB will be redeploying hundreds of staff, hiring over 300 new teachers, and pulling millions from the board’s reserves in order to carry out the new protocols, it’s possible that even with caps on classes and plans to stagger cohorts who have opted for in-person learning, the recommended two metre distance between students will be difficult to maintain.

Mandatory masks

In order to attend to this practical reality, the TDSB has mandated that masks are an absolute necessity when it comes to staff and students maintaining health and safety standards in indoor spaces.

“We have made it clear that, except for those with exemptions for medical reasons, all students and staff are required to wear a mask or face covering,” confirmed TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird. However, the question of how teachers and administrative staff are planning to ensure students (especially in the elementary cohorts) wear masks consistently may present a new set of issues come Sept. 15, when theory meets practice.

The question of what going back to school is actually going to look like for students, staff, and parents is partially answered by the policies so far, but the picture is only clearing up to a point. As a spokesperson from TDSB explained, should there be an outbreak in a particular school, “quad,” or area, the contingency protocols enacted will need to be unique to each case, leaving much uncertainty about the many months ahead.

“At all TDSB schools, should [a] case of COVID be confirmed, we would work closely with Toronto Public Health, which would determine next steps based on each individual case,” Bird said.

Indeed, if the COVID era has made one thing clear, it’s that situations and information are changing rapidly, and our responses must be just as swift. While it seems TDSB and the Ministry of Education have agreed on how to get things started, there is no question that roundtrips to and from the drawing board could be defining characteristics of the 2020-2021 school year.

Alex Colville’s family to release 10 never-before-seen paintings in celebration of the centenary of his birth

Nikki Gill

11:08 am

You know Alex Colville. Perhaps not by name, but you already know the painting. A pair of binoculars dominates the canvas, belonging to a flaxen haired woman who is combing the horizon in search of something. Her perch on the upper deck of a ferry obscures her man behind her, with both figures framed by the startling blues of the sea and the sky. Colville’s painting, To Prince Edward Island, is oh-so-Canadian in its subject matter, and possessive of just the right amount of frisson to make it unforgettable.

For the uninitiated, Colville is important: he represented Canada at the 1966 Venice Biennale, has exhibited across the globe, and received a Governor General’s Award in 2003. No small feats. The centenary of Colville’s birth is later this month, on Aug. 24, and in celebration, the Canadian Mint has re-imagined the artist’s 1967 circulation coin designs in pure gold. But what arguably comes as more of a delight is that the Colville family is releasing 10 of his paintings.

These are special works; of the lot, many were unframed until now, and the majority has never been exhibited. The late Toronto-born Colville, who spent most of his life in Nova Scotia, got his start as an artist during World War II. These unseen paintings hail from around that time, 1939 to 1946.

When folks think of artists, perhaps an image of someone working frenetically against the clock comes to mind. Colville was the opposite; his meticulous, obsessive approach yielded but a couple paintings per year, each one addressed with the eye of an architect. Paint was applied in a painstaking manner — one dot followed by the next — with the artwork cautiously fleshed out until deemed finished. Capturing anxiety on canvas long before the word was synonymous with modern day life, Colville’s paintings have a disquieting quality, as if hanging onto the moment before the disaster struck.

“There’s no doubt he was an important artist and the work draws many people in,” says Gisella Giacalone, owner-director of the Mira Godard Gallery in Yorkville, which has represented Colville’s work for more than four decades. “Even if you don’t know a lot about Canadian art, they’re quite lasting.”

Giacalone notes that Colville would spend his time quietly painting in Nova Scotia, without ever dropping any hints to the gallery as to the subject matter.

“We would just know there would be a painting every year or so,” she says. One morning they’d arrive at the gallery and a fax from Colville would announce the imminent arrival of a new painting. No matter the work, Giacalone says they were “always very thought provoking, very challenging, very lasting.”

The uncovered paintings act as omens for Colville’s future works.

“They show the confidence of a young artist,” says Giacalone. She rattles off the subjects the pieces address; a number are landscapes, some are nocturnal scenes, yet another features a standing figure. All are painted in oil and demonstrate Colville’s yearning to be taken seriously as an artist.

Winter Scene (1940) examines a singular tree positioned in front of a blood red building, with the snow-filled ground dramatizing the contrast between the rhythms of the natural and the strictness of the man-made.

Meanwhile Seascape (1939) brings life to a summery Nova Scotian seascape, gently reminding the viewer of the power of nature. Giacalone says that these paintings will be unfamiliar to most people — even to collectors of Colville’s work.

“Here was an artist who was not very prolific, but his work was appreciated, collected and exhibited outside of Canada,” Giacalone says. “There’s always a quiet elegance in the work; that’s been there from the beginning.”

Mira Godard Gallery will be holding an Alex Colville exhibit in Spring 2021. Prices are available at the gallery.

1...461462463...1,014 Page 462 of 1,014