WHAT A *NITE!

HEY ALL, JUST GOT THESE PICS IN, ENJOY!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=113504&id=152450112606&ref=mf

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO MADE IT OUT LAST NIGHT! WE HAD A GREAT TURNOUT, SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE ARTISTS WHO DONATED PIECES, STEPHAN LINTON AND DAVID MOUSSALLEM FOR THEIR PROMO ART, KARYN WONG FOR CURATING AND SETUP, KEVIN TREFFINGER AND THE SMASH BROVAS, GROOVE COLLECTIVE, ROB - FOR LIGHTING AND SOUND, AGI FELVIDECKI FOR SETUP AND SUPPORT, MICHAEL CERASANI FOR PHOTOGRAPHING THE EVENT, AMANDA MILAKOVIC FOR HER BEAUTIFUL CANDLE SET DONATION, TERI SEEGERS FOR HER DELICIOUS HAND-MADE CHOCOLATE DONATION, THE REMIX STAFF FOR THEIR PRESENCE AND SUPPORT, AND OF COURSE PREMIUM RHYTHM LOUNGE. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT EVENT, HOPE YOU GUYS WILL JOIN US AGAIN!

Many Thanks to David Moussallem (www.davidfredrik.com) for this wicked poster!

Come one Come All!

Many Thanks to Stephan Linton (BlaxmythStudios.deviantart.com) for this awesome flyer design!

U*NITE in 2 WEEKS!

This is the reverse side of the flyer for the event, click on it to enlarge

U*NITE ARTISTS

KEVIN TREFFINGER

Born and raised in Canada, he has played guitar for seventeen years specializing in improv. Kevin hopes to inspire up-and-coming artists by bringing a positive influence to the music culture in Canada.

MORE U*NITE ARTISTS

MIKEY SIN

Currently based out of Toronto, Mikey has been designing clothes and accessories for over 10 years, ( label name T.B.A. Fall 09 ) and a photographer for over 12 years. When designing, he incorporates many different elements from Glam, Urban, Punk, Retro and Futuristic styles, resulting in one of a kind, ltd. edition, hand-made printed shirts (for both men and women), dresses and accessories... By using a variety of skills including silk screening, hand beading and haute couture techniques, the garments he creates range from ready-to-wear to Couture Glam.
"When it come to Photography, my goal is to create a fantasy, an image that tells a story." www.mikeysin.com

STEPHAN LINTON

Born in the UK and raised in Toronto, Stephan's sharp graphic style was forged in the renowned "Sheridan College Classical Animation Program". His work emotes the nostaligia of classic Saturday morning cartoons fused with his affinity for Kung-fu flicks, katana blades and Hip Hop Culture. He is currently producing an original, animated series under his company, Blaxmyth Studios. http://www.blaxmythstudios.deviantart.com/

JASON FONCECA

Jason Fonceca is 29 years old, 5′9″ tall, currently residing in Toronto। He uses his gifts for teaching, spiritually-photographic memory, connected communication and story-telling, humour & wit, world-shaping creativity, desire for an improved world, and inspiration-attracting-ness along with his innate excellence in social interaction and dealing with people to constantly create and re-create in life। Recently his focus is on enriching his own and others’ lives with creative transformation coaching, promoting SpiritSentient Evolved Clothing, expanding into video production, and becoming a Toronto celebrity ;)

SMASH BROVAS

Toronto hip hop group

U*NITE ARTISTS

AMÈLLE BADRAN

Amèlle loves all forms of artistic expression and uses abstract illustration to explore and record her creative journey. Through her artwork she attempts to evoke an emotional response in her audience, and provide a sense of unity.

AZZA ABBARO
Sudanese by passport and a citizen-of-the-world by choice, Azza was born in Saudi Arabia in 1985 and subsequently raised in various parts of the Middle East. In 2003, she moved to Canada to pursue an Hon. BSc in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto, succumbing to a lingering need to express herself creatively wherever she goes. A self proclaimed "diaspora-kid" and scatterbrain, she questions the notion of the “artist statement”. While it works for some people, for others it tends to spawn a narrow-minded mentality, pigeonhole work, and hinder creative growth. Azza's collective artistic vision is to help translate the work of grassroots movements (be they political or not) into visual documents and images that help to raise awareness, generate dialogue, and inspire positive action. She remains a nomad at heart and hopes to continue this work wherever life takes her.
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Azza+Abbaro/75340.html

BRANDY MAHANEY

Brandy has been creating art all her life: drawing, sculpting, illustrating and painting. She is currently working on a series of vivid paintings that examine man-made textures found, forgotten, around the city.

DANIEL ST.AMANT

His newest body of work is inspired by the mounting problem posed by global warming that is a direct result of man's manipulation of the natural world. Laying his canvas on the open road, he captures physical traces of climate-affecting technologies, that create a backdrop for his portraits. He hopes to display the ideology that we are overwhelming the natural world, which has resulted in near unbearable levels of existence in the sea, the air and on land. The works emphasis developed as a result of his urban existence and social responsibility to global climate change.
http://danieljamesstamant.blogspot.com

DAVID BARON

Combining his love for quirky street art and his own subconcious thought David Baron channels his creativity through the guise of Forge_Fury. Using Ink, charcoal and even burning wood he brings those thoughts to life. Starting from lined paper and now working on any canvas or surface he can get his hands on his work continues to evolve.

DAVID FREDRIK MOUSSALLEM

David Fredrik Moussallem is a Toronto-based graphic designer. After obtaining his Advertising and Graphic Design diploma from Humber College, he started working at various design studios. He has worked with brands such as Moriyama & Teshima Architects, Microsoft, Lenovo, The Guvernment (Toronto), The Mirage Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas) and Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation. He is the co-founder of Darken Studios, a music production and design studio on Toronto's Harbourfront. His latest design projects include a digital art exhibition inspired by "sound waves".

www.davidfredrik.com

HOLLY WEBER
Holly Weber is a photographic artist born in Ontario Canada, where she was as a student of the Art and Art History program at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College. Holly travels throughout North America to explore places where most people would never dream of going. Her work focuses on the examination of unseen and off-limits parts of urban areas and industrial facilities. The intent of her work is to document the history of these forgotten spaces before they are demolished and to examine the aesthetics of decay.
www.wix.com/hollyweber/urbex

JAYESH TOPIWALA
Jayesh Topiwala is a Calgary born hobbyist photographer, who moved to Hamilton in 2006 after completing his BSc. in Software Engineering. He believes that a picture should capture the moment it was taken in and be able to re-tell the story it represents. As a growing passion, his photographs cover a wide variety of subjects involving people, landscapes, architecture, and nature.

KARYN WONG
Karyn Wong was born on October 8, 1983 in Toronto, Canada. While pursuing a lifelong interest in the arts and culture, she has obtained a double major degree in French Studies and Visual Arts at York University in 2007. Today, she works from her home studio and is the assistant director at XEXE Gallery, a contemporary fine art gallery in Toronto.
www.karynwong.com

LOUISE HARDING/MUSA
Musa was born in Canada and raised in the UK. Her love for Toronto's landscape and cultural diversity inspired her to pick up a pencil and start doodling. Her illustrations pay homage to graffiti and street artists everywhere. http://only1musa.deviantart.com

SHWETA MEHTA-TOPIWALA
Art has always been a passion for Shweta Topiwala, an emerging artist who recently moved to Hamilton, Ontario from USA. She has no formal training in art, having studied Biotechnology in university, but believes that desire and creativity are the key elements in creating your own masterpiece. Painting provides an outlet to express her vision of the beautiful world we live in and she is mainly inspired by nature and the wonderful colors of life. Her style of painting is primarily abstract, and she uses a combination of bright acrylic paints along with elements from our surroundings to create vibrant works that invoke your imagination. http://shwetart.wordpress.com

VICTORIA MONGRAIN
Beautiful, vibrant and insightful are just a few words to describe the artwork of Tori Mongrain. Connectivity, love and energy, flow through her onto the canvas giving the collection a personal and electric feel. From personal and evocative figurative abstract work to expressive painting of photographed objects, she has a style that is truly all her own. Tori Mongrain's artwork can be found in public and private locations across North America. She is currently painting full time, growing and developing her style and body of work so that her art can be brought to a more global scale.http://www.torimongrain.com/

MEET AND GREET

We will be holding a Meet and Greet at PREMIUM RHYTHM LOUNGE (173 Eglington Ave E) on Thursday, August 27th, 2009, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. This will allow the artists to meet all the people involved, and get familiar with the space we'll be using. Please prepare a short bio and bring a headshot we can use for media purposes.

ARTISTS MUST RSVP by August 23rd 2009.

LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU ALL!

Brandy Mahaney, Amèlle Badran
Event Coordinators

Venue and Date

Great news! We have confirmed the Venue and Date for U*NITE :
Premium Rhythm Lounge, 173 Eglington Ave. E., Toronto, ON, October 15, 2009.

We are currently planning a meet and greet, on August 27, 2009, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm at Premium Rhythm, more information will follow soon...

the Organizers

BRANDY has been passionate about the arts for as long as she can remember, drawing, painting, sculpting, reading or writing stories and poetry. She has exhibited her paintings at City Hall, Mississauga, and works as a freelance artist since attending Sheridan College for Animation. Brandy creates art as a means of self-discovery, and as a way to recognize humour and scope in the daily commute through life, ultimately seeking to connect genuine, like-minded artists.

AMÈLLE emigrated from Lebanon to Toronto, Canada, when she was 7 years old. She is a singer/songwriter/graphic artist who has endured many struggles, and managed to remain hopeful throughout. Amèlle is a working actress, currently recording an R&B/Hip-Hop styled album. Her primary mission with her art is to engage an emotional response in people, to express the idea that if you can learn from the challenges presented to you in life, and channel that into something positive, you have succeeded. This exotic socialite believes that music and drawing, acting and dance are all forms of self-expression, and only truly feels herself when she is sharing these experiences with others.

SHOW and SUBMISSION DETAILS

We are currently deciding between two possible venues for the show, both nightclub/lounges in the Yonge/Eglington area, and should have it along with date set within the week. We're planning the show for the first or second week of October.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS: Paintings, photography, graphic design, grafitti, sculpture, animation cels, illustration, silkscreening, are all acceptable, if you are unsure about what can be sent, e-mail us. The work should express some emotion or sentiment based on living in or near the city.

Think of these words:
Toronto, raw, gritty, streets, heavy traffic, human noise, music, struggle, lonely, community, family, culture, wealth/poverty, extremes, knowledge, waste, inspiring, uplifting.

We will be holding an information session probably the last week of August, where the organisers and artists can meet, and share ideas about the show.

GOOD THINGS ARE AHEAD! If you have any questions, please contact us. Final pieces must be submitted by September 15th, 2009.

What is U*NITE?

I recently visited Oakville with my family, and we happened upon an interesting looking art gallery. We tiptoed in and gaped reverently at the huge canvasses seemingly suspended in mid-air, nearly missing the overly made-up Madame Gallery-Owner sitting at a glass desk in one corner of the large room. Taken by surprise, my dad said, Oh! Didn't see you there. How are you? Silencio. No response. I raised my eyebrows at him. My mother and sister emerged from a lower level and noticing this lady, my mother, in her innocence bubbled, Hello! Silencio. No response. We exchanged glances, my sister stifled a giggle. As we shuffled out, I looked Stuffy right in the eye and said, Thanks! Have a great day! Silencio, no response. Once outside, I looked at my parents and said that's why we need to have this art show.

U*NITE is an opportunity for local artists to get media attention which is reserved for a select few. Those who know someone. Well, I for one am tired of waiting to be given a chance to turn creating my art into a career. I have many friends who have been disillusioned, great talents turned away from galleries based on what's selling this year. Something has to change. We as artists can awaken a greater appreciation of the arts within a city environment, art borne through struggle: a product of the human machine in the twenty-first century. A more accurate representation of what urban youth, the next generation, are currently experiencing. The city should take its cue from Montreal: supporting local artists causes culture and beauty to flourish probably increasing tourism tenfold. The Distillery District in TO seemed to be going in that direction, but it somehow morphed into the very BOUGIE blue-chip thing that happens to all art in Toronto. This problem will never cease to exist unless we stretch the parameters of what the masses deem beautiful, and explain why art is so important to the development of a modern, inspired community. We hope this show will do just that.

The Remix Project

As you may or may not know, the proceeds of all art sales from the U*NITE event, will be donated to The Remix Project, which is a youth program that acts as an arts and cultural incubator in Toronto, Canada, North America’s cultural capital. Young people aspiring to start careers in the urban arts sector drive the program by developing personal six month plans for success. They help these entrepreneurs through:

• A knowledgeable and supportive staff team, ready to guide youth through their career choices and six-month plans.
• A 4,800 sq. ft. facility, with a full recording studio, business development centre, visual art lab, video editing suite & more.
• A range of mentors, who are relevant industry professionals work one on one with young people to provide guidance and feedback in greater detail.
• Regular workshops that bring in industry professionals to talk about their experiences, and give practical steps to maintaining a successful career.

Upon completion of the 6 month cycle, the youth can choose to get follow-up support in three areas:
Young people have the ability to earn high school credits through their coop programs or possibly obtain a scholarship to a post secondary institution.
Internships are made possible for participants because their staff team is extremely connected in urban industries.
Remix works with young people to identify grants, bursaries, and loans to help them get their businesses and ventures started. Remix has started-up a brand new micro-credit program which will be able to extend loans of $300 to $1000. For more info check out TheRemixProject.ca