Spence Gallery is a trendy art space located in Mirvish Village. Here, Toronto art lovers can get a taste of contemporary expression from artists of Caribbean, Latin-American, and African backgrounds.
The gallery’s founder, Joan Spence, sought to fill a void within the city’s vibrant art gallery landscape. “I have this sort of mission,” she told AfroToronto.com. While not an artist herself, she is a consummate art lover who wants to encourage “people to make art more central in their lives.” Being of Afro-Caribbean origin herself, she particularly hopes to encourage people from Toronto’s black community to embrace art more. People need to realize that they can actually own art and take it home.
In a city as multicultural as Toronto, Spence wanted to create a space for displaying good art from different cultures. Her gallery, which opened in July 2005, has been a vibrant hub for showcasing and promoting multicultural artists.
Joan Spence promotes the work of close to 30 artists. With such a large roster and running her gallery on a part-time basis, she isn’t currently looking for new artists. She says it’s akin to having 30 employees. Spence has established a wide array of contacts through the many shows she takes part in annually in Canada and the United States.
While some of her artists garner considerable interest in the United States, given the generally heightened welcoming of the arts south of the border, she has no plans to abandon Toronto.
A stroll through Spence Gallery will offer visitors a varied array of figurative art, portraiture, urban landscapes, and eye-catching mixed media pieces.
Currently showing at Spence Gallery, until April 5th, is “Island Views”. It’s a show featuring three artists from three different Caribbean islands. Rosslyn Berot-Burns (Trinidad), Julio Ferrer (Cuba), and Tamara Natalie Madden (Jamaica) take us along on their artistic journeys back to their former homeland. The exhibition helps us to appreciate and understand both the uniqueness and similarities of these Caribbean islands.
SPENCE GALLERY is located at 600 Markham (Bathurst & Bloor). For further information, please contact: Joan Spence, Director – 416 795 2787
