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About FishNet

FishNet: The Great Lakes Craft and Release Project is a two-part project comprised of a craft phase and a release phase, transforms textile fish into real fish.

The heart of the crafting phase centres on 25 Toronto based schools each building a regionally specific school of textile fish and researching and sharing information about their species on the FishNet project web site. The release phase occured when Harbourfront Centre, acting (metaphorically) as a fish hatchery, sponsors the 'release' of the crafted textile fish, an activity which will ultimately underwrite fish habitat restoration and restocking programs in the Great Lakes.

FishNet was presented to the public in a variety of forms including a project web site, classroom activities, a public exhibition, and as an invitation to other schools within the Great Lakes bio-region to undertake similar projects. The project combined and coalesced the creative talents of approximately 2,000 students, educators, artists and designers for the purposes of exploring and engaging in the multiple themes of sustainability, collaboration and activism.

FishNet identifies absence or neglect as the creative basis for a subtle form of protest art—one that provokes an engaging solution while strengthening the ties that bind us as a community living within the Great Lakes bioregion and beyond.

FishNet has received grants from Harbourfront Centre's Fresh Ground new works and the Ontario Arts Council, Arts Education program. Additional financial support has been provided by the Toronto District School Board and Inner City Angels. The project was exhibited at the York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario from May 2 to June 22, 2008.

FishNet was exhibited in a revised format at the Idea! Gallery in the Ontario Science Centre from January to April 2009. Please see the News section for further information.