We’ve had an amazing first month at TYPOLOGY with our inaugural exhibition, ERRATIC ROOM | LYLA RYE, and last night’s holiday party was a wonderful way to celebrate everything we’ve achieved and experienced and learned in the process. Certainly I personally have many people to thank for their hard work, dedication, advice, enthusiasm, and support, and am remiss in not jumping upon the opportunity to express my gratitude at the height of festivities last evening.
First and foremost, I must thank Lyla Rye, artist extraordinaire, who went above and beyond in her development and production of work, writing, and events for the exhibition. Collaborating with Lyla was an absolute pleasure and I have learned as much from her as in any class I’ve ever taken in art history, curating, and exhibition-making. From the minute we started working together, she has put her full faith and effort into the project and has continued to impress me with her ingenuity, resourcefulness, professionalism, and dedication to the show and the space. As many of you know, she is an artist with many achievements to her name, but is nevertheless a wonderfully humble, humorous, gracious, and generous person to work with. Whoever gets to work with her next will be lucky indeed. Thanks also to her lovely family, John and Lena Dickson, who were so kind as to share her with us for the many events we held on weeknights and weekends over the course of the exhibition.
Second, I would like to thank everyone who has made it up the three flights of stairs (until this week, when the elevator was finally declared operational) to see the show and/or attend an event (or three)! With much of the third floor still under construction, I truly appreciate the determination it takes to come up and see the space, engage with the work, and show your support. Artists, curators, kids, the local community, Artscape inhabitants, family, and friends did just that, and every conversation and word of encouragement is what will continue to sustain us as we move forward into the new year with new exhibitions, new curators, and new artists, many of whom are still relatively unknown in Toronto. We hope our programming will continue to make your visits worthwhile! For those who couldn’t be here, your emails and virtual support has been much appreciated as well.
I would also like to thank the many people and organizations that contributed to the success of our inaugural exhibition and events, including Artscape for making affordable space available in this wonderful neighborhood and prioritizing community both within and around the building; our neighbors at Youngplace, especially Paperhouse Studio, the Koffler Gallery, Heather Nicol, and Eve Egoyan for being supportive and/or reaching out with opportunities to collaborate; MJ Architecture and Harris Builds for helping us design and build our beautiful space; NOW Magazine and Canadian Art for including us in their list of Must-See Shows; the Coen Brothers for ignoring our requests to license Buster Keaton’s shorts for screening; Vtape and People Power Press for projection and button-making equipment rentals; La Fromagerie for all the amazing cheese; and Small World Music for putting us in touch with Mark Marczyk and Wassil (fresh from Ukraine), whose beautiful music on drum and cimbalom was the centrepiece of our holiday event last evening.
Finally, I can’t begin to thank enough my partner Luke Parsons, without whom none of this would be possible. His hand is on every finish and furnishing in the space, his advice and support in every aspect of the exhibition and events. And when he isn’t there, he’s caring for our son (and perhaps most enthusiastic supporter) Jasper, whom I should thank for being so patient with mommy’s busy new schedule.
And that’s a wrap! Looking back on what I’ve written, perhaps it’s a good thing I didn’t make this speech last night after all, as we might still be there! But the way I see it, having so many people to thank is a good problem to have.
Happy holidays to you all, and we look forward to seeing you in 2014!
Shani K Parsons
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TYPOLOGY will be closed for the holidays starting December 20, 2013 and be open by appointment only through January 2014. Subscribe for updates or stay tuned for information on our next show, coming soon!