RED HEAD GALLERY 25th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
THE RED HEAD GALLERY AT 25

DECEMBER 2, 2015 - JANUARY 16, 2016

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, 11 December, 6 - 9pm. 
CLOSING RECEPTION & POETRY READING: Saturday, 16 January, 2 - 4pm.

Poets Catherine Graham, Maureen Hynes, Jim Johnstone, Shane Neilson, Ruth Roach Pierson and Daniel Scott Tysdal come together to celebrate and pay respect to the poets that inspire them.

COLLECTIVE RESPONSES

MATHEW BORRETT - CARL SKELTON
JACK BUTLER - JOHANNES ZITS
GABRIELLE DE MONTMOLLIN - LORNA MILLS
TONIA DI RISIO - LISA NEIGHBOUR
TERI DONOVAN - SHARON SWITZER
SOHEILA ESFAHANI - JEANNIE THIB
LEAH GARNETT - GREG MCHARG
IDO GOVRIN - MICHELLE BELLEMARE
GILLIAN ILES - MILLIE CHEN
MARGIE KELK - DAVID SYLVESTRE
LYNN CHRISTINE KELLY - JANICE CARBERT
IAN MACKAY - SANDRA RECHICO
NANCY ANNE MCPHEE - LYN CARTER
PEGGY TAYOR REID - LOIS ANDISON
CHRISTINA SEALEY - MARIA DE SOUSA
SALLY THURLOW - SANDRA GREGSON
ELAINE WHITTAKER - ED PIEN

Confronting a dearth of exhibition opportunities, despite a rapidly growing visual arts culture in Toronto in the 1980s, an intrepid group of artists converged to establish an alternative to the existing exclusionary commercial art system. Their bold solution resulted in the formation of the Red Head Gallery artists’ collective. The gallery differed from artist-run centres – themselves also relatively new – by creating an uninhibited exhibition space for the collectives’ own artwork.

Formed in 1990, the Red Head Gallery collective has maintained a vibrant membership now for 25 years – the longest standing artists' collective in Toronto. The imagination and foresight of the founders in realizing the Red Head Gallery remains inspiring, and more than 150 artists have participated in the gallery over this period, many becoming some of the most recognized visual artists in Canada.

The importance of artistic collaboration was a founding and ongoing principle of the Red Head collective. To mark the 25th anniversary, the seventeen current members of the collective have produced new works based upon two sets of original prints created by the founding and early members. The first set was released in 1990 as a fundraiser for the new collective; ten years later in 2000, a second set of prints was created to celebrate the collective’s 10th anniversary. For The Red Head Gallery at 25, each current artist in the collective has been paired with a past member creating a new artwork in response to one of the original prints. To push the practice of artistic collaboration even further a number of past members responded by creating a new third work. The works are thus exhibited in pairs and triplets, in fusion and tension between past and present.

The Red Head Gallery at 25, affirms the value of its unique history. The pairing of current and former members presents the extraordinary ongoing legacy of innovation, experimentation, and artistic diversity. Cooperation has characterized the Red Head Gallery since its inception, and is celebrated today. The first twenty five years have paved the way for a creative and evocative future.