FishNet News

The FishNet exhibition at the York Quay gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario opened on the evening of May 2nd, 2008. It was a wonderful event, well attended by lots of kids who were delighted to “swim” among the fishes.

Claire and Angela would like to thank all of the Harbourfront staff of Visual Arts, School Visits and Planning who committed to the project from the beginning and helped to facilitate the realization of the vision that is in the exhibit now. Also we want to acknowledge the support of Inner City Angels administration and artists, the Toronto District School Board Ecoschools, Visual Arts and ArtsJunktion and the Ontario Arts Council.

Countless volunteers worked with us over the past year and in the last month to make the project a reality. It really has become everyone’s artwork. Visit the Collaborators section to see a full list of participants.

The exhibit is open until June 22, 2008. You can also see all the fish featured in the exhibit at www.projectfishnet.org/gallery/gallery.php. Many thanks to Matt and Andrew for getting the galleries ready in time for the exhibit opening. There will be continued updates to the site, so check in regularly.

We hope you will be able to see the exhibit and please send any feedback!

All images courtesy Bernice Iarocci

Below are some images from one of the nine days of FishNet School Visits workshops held at Harbourfront Centre from January 15th to 25th. We had 13 schools, 30 classes, 727 students and many parents and volunteers participate. Many thanks to the wonderful School Visits teachers and Inner City Angel artists and volunteers who led the children through the process of painting, stenciling, stuffing and sewing their fish. The results have been amazing .

Four days of workshops will be held at Harbourfront from February 26th - 29th and for a few days in March with another 13 schools participating.

Stay tuned for more!

Students looking at the colours and markings of the smallmouth bass.

Using paints and pastels to add colour and texture.

A smallmouth bass in progress.

For most of January Angela and Claire were busy gathering materials and supplies for the Harbourfront Centre School Visits fish crafting sessions which ran from January 15th - 25th. This is the second trip we made to the TDSB ArtsJunktion to pick up stuffing. The roof rack really came in handy. Many thanks to Eileen Orr for finding a supplier and storing it for us. Now it is in the bellies of all the fish created over the last two weeks!

The Stitch-A-Fish workshops on Saturday, November 15th and Sunday, November 16th at Harbourfront Centre were a great way to jump start the fish crafting process. We had 25 friends, volunteers, Inner City Angel artists, and textile artists through the 2 days who helped to cut, iron and sew the fish bodies that will be embellished by approximately two thousand TDSB Grade 4 students during workshops in January and February. Many, many thanks to everyone who contributed and who continue to support the project – in no particular order: Kim, Andrew and Leah, Steffanie, Jocelyn, Tai, So Young, Leah, Louise, Ashley, Eleni, Emily, Marie, Marina, Amelia, Bernice, Isabel, Angela, Dianne, Amy, Charmaine, Karen, Judy, Allycia, Lisa, Alex and baby Kiran and Sarah. Thanks to Ilene and Patrick at Harbourfront Centre for their support as well.

The fish-making continues until mid-January so if you would like to participate in any way, please contact us at info@projectfishnet.org.

Here are a few images from the festivities. You can see more on Flickr.

Lots of busy hands

A Pink Salmon under construction (Image: Amy Barnes)

Precision Bowfin cutting

A flurry of activity - sewing and ironing

Eleni, our resident FishNet promoter extraordinaire has created some fish collages for fun and amusement. Click on the images below to see them at a larger size.

The next big FishNet event will be the Stitch-A-Fish workshop at Harbourfront Centre on Saturday, November 17th and Sunday, November 18th, from 10 - 5 pm. During the workshop we will be cutting, sewing and ironing all the different fish bodies and fins for the Grade 4 students to transform into imaginative and unique interpretations of their species in January and February during their crafting workshops at Harbourfront. There will be snacks, fun, laughter and an exchange of stories about all things fishy and crafty. If you would like to volunteer some time, please contact us at info@projectfishnet.org. 

The teacher orientation session for FishNet took place on the evening of October 30th at Bedford Park PS. Thanks to Vice-principal Jeffrey Crane and the staff at Bedford Park for providing the venue and help with the set up. Claire and Angela did a presentation and the teachers were given their resource kits and Michigan Sea Grant posters. The presentation was followed by a Q & A will lots of valuable input from the teachers. Also present were artists and administration from the Inner City Angels. Many thanks to them for their participation and input as well. Special thanks to Kim for her help and continued support.For the teachers that were unable to attend, the remaining kits and posters will be delivered to your school in the coming week. 

Preparation for the teacher orientation session took place the weekend of October 27th. Each teacher was given a FishKit with teaching resources and extra goodies for the students. We would like to thank Elizabeth Laporte of the Michigan Sea Grant and Jill Finster of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for their generous donations to the kit materials.  
Special thanks to Eleni Alpous and her parents Gina and Jim Alpous for making all the fabulous FishNet buttons and to Andrew and Kim for helping with the kit assembly.  

 
Welcome to the News section of the FishNet web site. We will be posting images and updates on a regular basis as we go through the various stages of the project. Please check in often to see what we are up to.