Toronto: Queen Street West Neighbourhood
The Queen Street West Neighbourhood is a vibrant, eclectic, and creative arts hub surrounded by hip restaurants, boutiques, name-brand retailers, music venues, cafés and bars. This is a 2 or 3-day self-guided tour depending on your pace. Be sure to check venue hours and programming in advance — venues are sometimes closed to install exhibitions or may have screening times for media-based exhibitions. Use the toggle in the upper right-hand corner of the map for a ‘fullscreen view’, or tap here to open the map in a new window: Toronto—Queen Street West Neighbourhood.
Highlights include:
1. Birch Contemporary represents emerging and mid-career, Canadian and internationally based artists. The gallery stable is made up of artists who work in a range of different medias—from video and photography, painting and sculpture, to conceptual and multi-media work.
2. Susan Hobbs Gallery has made a definitive mark on the contemporary Canadian art scene since it opened in 1993. Occupying an austere two-storey building on Tecumseth Street in present-day Tkaronto (Toronto), the gallery’s signature exhibition space is enhanced by a proven reputation for ambitious and carefully curated programs. The gallery’s current roster of artists ranges from emerging to established, all of whom are critically engaged in both conceptual and material-based practices.
3. Diaz Contemporary first opened in the fall of 2005, with an inaugural exhibition of work by Canadian and Mexican contemporary artists. The exhibition set the tone and agenda for the gallery’s future programming, designed to showcase a range of artists from both countries. Located in downtown Toronto, in a newly renovated post-industrial building, Diaz Contemporary’s space is well suited for exhibiting a range of media including: sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and media based work.
4. Pari Nadimi Gallery, founded in Toronto, Canada in 1998, has established a national and international reputation for its commitment to showing significant artists whose work is ambitious, challenging, intellectually motivated. Pari Nadimi Gallery represents some of the most distinguished Canadian and international artists who work in diverse practices and mediums, such as sculpture, installation, new media, video, performance, photography and painting.
5. The Lyceum Gallery is a contemporary Canadian art gallery located in a light-filled highstreet space at 969 Queen St W, across from Trinity Bellwoods Park. A reinterpretation of the traditional gallery concept, The Lyceum Gallery is a creative hub for an array of artistic disciplines and a nexus point for community collaboration.
6. The John B, Aird Gallery was established by Canada’s legacy art societies – Ontario Society of Artists (OSA), Sculptors Society of Canada (SSC), the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC), the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), and the Ontario Crafts Council. The Aird is a generous, safe contemporary art exhibition space where visual culture can be shared and explored by an audience as diverse as its makers.
7. The Koffler Gallery is a forum for the presentation and development of contemporary visual art that reflects diverse cultural, material and aesthetic perspectives, generating critical discussions around ideas of our time. Featuring a year-round program of exhibitions, publications, public programs and educational initiatives, the Koffler Gallery fosters new production while equally aiming to expand the visibility of existing work by Canadian and international artists. The program positions the contemporary Jewish experience in a context of comparative discussions of identity, memory and place.
8. The Craft Ontario Shop carries the work of over 200 material artists and designers. Find Canadian-made work of enduring quality, including ceramic and glass housewares, textiles, woodworking, jewellery, sculptures, prints, gifts, leather, accessories, and much, much more.
9. Propeller Art Gallery is an artist-run co-operative and exhibition space in Toronto’s Queen West Art + Design District that supports innovative, sustainable programming. Propeller garners critical acclaim and engages public interest by supporting the creative, curatorial, and commercial endeavours of artists.
10. Gallery 1313 is equally an artist run centre exhibiting local, national and international contemporary art. The gallery’s four unique exhibition spaces house over 70 exhibitions and many cultural events each year. Gallery 1313 supports emerging artists with professional development and career building opportunities, offers members a welcoming space to connect with colleagues, develop their practice, and contribute to the operations of the gallery, and engages the public with contemporary art exhibitions and cultural events through community outreach.
Use the toggle in the upper right-hand corner of the map for a ‘fullscreen view’, or tap here to open the map in a new window: Toronto—Queen Street West Neighbourhood.