The Public

The Public We are an activist design studio specializing in changing the world. We are activists who seek to change things for the better.

Just like our clients, The Public cares about anti-oppression, sustainability, and social growth. We believe that an important message conveyed with inspiration can do just that. We produce work that is creatively, emotionally, and intellectually uplifting.

Swing by our gallery and catch the newest exhibition, Make Pieces from Pieces by Sasha Shevchenko.Making pieces from pie...
01/27/2023

Swing by our gallery and catch the newest exhibition, Make Pieces from Pieces by Sasha Shevchenko.

Making pieces from pieces is an installation project that uses objects as metaphors for fading memories, places of belonging, and the never-ending task of staying resilient in difficult times.
Assembling objects and materials is a useful strategy to help us envision and create crucial stories and traditions from very little.

As a person of Ukrainian diaspora, Shevchenko is motivated to invent spaces and projects where traditions can evolve and survive beyond the damaging, scattering and permanent events of migration. More-so, she looks to how it can be a source of play and imagination that goes beyond the rigidity of cultural stereotypes and boxes.

Making pieces from pieces is an urgent skill - a call to do with what we have - because what we have often holds meaning deeply rooted in centuries of human life.

This month we have The Justice for Queen and Close Exhibit. This installation is an effort to depict the contrast in dev...
11/25/2022

This month we have The Justice for Queen and Close Exhibit. This installation is an effort to depict the contrast in developer renderings of 1375 Queen Street West and the community ideation of what the site could be used for; a stark contrast of the dreams that Parkdalians hold and their material reality due to the financialization of housing.

This exhibit is a tribute to the site, commonly referred to as “the lot across from Loga’s” or “the site next to Full Worth” it has also been used as an informal market space for Parkdalians to sell their goods. We have been waiting 19 years for affordable housing at this site, and now we need it more than ever. This is especially the case with the Province’s current attempts at deregulating the development sector and the lack of affordable homes for the people of Toronto.

Don’t “Skale” back back on safe, healthy, and affordable housing. Take action and learn more by visiting www.justiceforqueenandclose.com and by signing the petition at https://bit.ly/QueenAndClose

"ང་ཚོས་འཚོ་བ་འདི་འདྲ་སེ་བསྐྱལ་བ་རེད་"“…this is how we made a livelihood”                                       This mont...
09/16/2022

"ང་ཚོས་འཚོ་བ་འདི་འདྲ་སེ་བསྐྱལ་བ་རེད་"
“…this is how we made a livelihood”

This month a curated community engaged installation will showcase the hand woven carpets made by local Tibetan youth who participated in Made in Exile’s weaving program in the winter of 2019. Every Sunday for 10 weeks 8 youth gathered together, 2 per loom with one elder sitting in between them as they learned the practice of carpeting weaving.

This installation is paying homage to the generations of elders who created a livelihood for themselves in exile in the textile industry in Nepal and India securing a future for new generations of Tibetans being born in exile.

Featured works by Tenzin Jamyang, Sangya Nangsal, Tenzing Dolkar, Lhanze Kishong, Sonam Chokey, Tenzin Choekyi, Lhawang Dolma and Tenzin Daesel.

We Got This!, is a multi-disciplinary community arts program in collaboration Harm Reduction Peer Workers and in partner...
05/27/2022

We Got This!, is a multi-disciplinary community arts program in collaboration Harm Reduction Peer Workers and in partnership with Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre. The exhibition explores the intersection between transformative justice principles and art, while touching on themes of grief, medicine and healing within transformative justice practices and experiences.

This program is the vision of Rittenhouse: A New Vision, in partnership with Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre. This collaborative art installation was created by participants in the Parkdale community.

This exhibition runs until end of June 2022 at our window gallery on the corner of Seaforth Ave. and Lansdowne Ave.

Welcome to the team Cindy! Anabel passed on the torch, and we’re super excited to have Cindy join us as our new bookkeep...
05/20/2022

Welcome to the team Cindy!

Anabel passed on the torch, and we’re super excited to have Cindy join us as our new bookkeeper.

We’re looking forward to more number crunching, impressive excel sheets, and chatting about our baking adventures with you Cindy!

We're looking forward to this years 2022 Mayworks Festival! The Festival program is now live at https://mayworks.ca/2022...
05/06/2022

We're looking forward to this years 2022 Mayworks Festival! The Festival program is now live at https://mayworks.ca/2022-festival-calendar, check it out!

The 2022 Mayworks Festival celebrates networks of care; looking to the communities that we create across generations to imagine and create more just worlds. This year, there will be exhibitions, installations, film screenings, music, artist talks, community discussions, a book launch and other activities taking place across Toronto.

www.mayworks.ca

It is with much (and very dramatic) sadness that our bookkeeper/studio manager/plant wizard/motivational foodie Anabel K...
04/22/2022

It is with much (and very dramatic) sadness that our bookkeeper/studio manager/plant wizard/motivational foodie Anabel Khoo, is leaving The Public Studio. Anabel is off to pursue her dreams of being the coolest, and most amazing therapist in the city! Check out her practice at KAI YIN Spells & Skills - Anabel Khoo, we love you and wish you the best Anabel!!

We’ve got big shoes to fill, but are very excited for a new individual to join our small team. The Public is looking for an individual with bookkeeping experience. If this is you, we invite you to apply for this part-time position at our studio by April 28th, 2022.

Find the full job description at the link below, including application timeline and submission guidelines.

Please submit a cover letter and resume addressed to [email protected] by Thursday April 28th, 5pm EST.

https://thepublicstudio.ca/news/were-hiring-part-time-bookkeeper

Par Nair's exhibit "dear amma" uses personal and diasporic objects such as stamps that are nomadic in nature are made an...
03/28/2022

Par Nair's exhibit "dear amma" uses personal and diasporic objects such as stamps that are nomadic in nature are made and cut by hand to further the notions of migration, global exchange and portability. 💌 This is the last week to check out this intricate and beautiful exhibit in our window gallery at the corner of Seaforth Ave. and Lansdowne Ave.!

"The presence of the hand in the labour-intensive process of hand embroidery implies how we may touch or not touch our m...
03/26/2022

"The presence of the hand in the labour-intensive process of hand embroidery implies how we may touch or not touch our mothers and grandmothers. I wanted to touch my mother’s sarees that once draped her body, repeatedly with a needle, and thread my stories with her’s. This yearning for the mother, the motherland, the mother tongue and eventual longing, loss and melancholia felt by diaspora are the overarching themes of this installation." --Par Nair on her exhibit "dear amma" on display now in our window gallery. This is the last week you can catch it, at the corner of Seaforth Ave. and Lansdowne Ave.! 🧵

Par Nair's exhibit "dear amma" recognizes and problematizes the effects of assimilation and loss of culture within a mig...
03/23/2022

Par Nair's exhibit "dear amma" recognizes and problematizes the effects of assimilation and loss of culture within a migrant experience, centering the body as a fragmented and hybrid archive of dualities. Check it out in our window gallery from the corner of Seaforth Ave. and Lansdowne Ave. 🍃

Through an intimate display of personal objects and poetry, Par Nair's exhibit speaks to the effects of assimilation and...
03/01/2022

Through an intimate display of personal objects and poetry, Par Nair's exhibit speaks to the effects of assimilation and loss of culture within a migrant experience, centering the body as a fragmented and hybrid archive of dualities.

"dear amma" is currently on display at The Public's window gallery viewable at the corner of Seaforth Ave. and Lansdowne Ave.!

Address

58 Lansdowne Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6K2V9

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+16474777474

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Our Story

Just like our clients, The Public cares about anti-oppression, sustainability, and social growth. We are activists who seek to change things for the better. We believe that an important message conveyed with inspiration can do just that. We produce work that is creatively, emotionally, and intellectually uplifting.