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Canada’s leading contemporary outdoor and online art fair

TOAF will take place July 12 – 14, 2024.

Booth Camp

What is ‘Booth Camp’?

Booth Camp is a series of FREE professional development sessions where seasoned artists and TOAF staff share knowledge, tips, and tricks. We will cover everything you need to know to prepare for the Fair and make the experience as successful as possible. An outdoor (or online) art Fair in a new environment can seem very demanding and intimidating for even the most experienced artists, and we are here to ease the worries and share how to address the challenges and prepare for them. We want you to have the most successful experience, whether it’s your first or fifth time participating in the Fair.

Who should come?

It is mandatory for first-time participants to attend and/or review the video recordings of Booth Camps in order to prepare yourself for the Fair.


TOAF63 Nathan Phillips Square Survival Guide

Saturday May 11th, In-person at TOAF Office
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

This session is for artists who are participating in the in-person Fair at Nathan Phillips Square.

The TOAF team and seasoned artists will share knowledge, tips and tricks to get yourself prepared and ease your worries about the in-person Fair at Nathan Phillips Square. You’ll get to meet the TOAF team, connect with your fellow artists, ensure you understand the rules, an overview of Nathan Phillips Square map, why rent and what’s included in a tent rental package, how to prepare for the weather, how to curate a stellar fair booth and so much more!

Watch the recording from last year here.
Read the slideshow from last year here.

Meet the Speakers:

Meet TOAF Team
Andrew Zimbel, Higgins Event Rentals

Peer Christensen, Painter

Gordon Leverton, Painter

Nithikul Nimkulrat, Textile Artist, Associate Professor at OCAD U

Peer Christensen has been working as a professional artist for over 35 years in the medium of oil painting. The artist lives in Peterborough ON where he maintains an active studio practice and a busy exhibition schedule. Peer has participated in the TOAF since 1994 (apart from a few rejections).

Gordon Leverton, originally from Chatham, Ont, Canada, is a self-taught artist working at his practice since 2006. Perusing his passion for music, he worked in many facets of the music industry including performance, writing and promotion, which eventually led to fulfillment of his dream of owning his own record store business in Hamilton, Ontario.

Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, Nithikul Nimkulrat is a Toronto-based textile artist, designer, researcher, and educator having worked in Europe for 18 years before relocation to Toronto in December 2018. Prior to her current appointment as Associate Professor in Material Art and Design at OCAD University, Nithikul worked at Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia, 2013–2018), Loughborough University (UK, 2011–2013), and Aalto University (Finland, 2004–2010), where she earned a doctorate in 2009. 

Photography by Jennifer Chin.

Sandra Tarantino, 3D Works Artist

Sandra Tarantino, a graduate of OCAD, is a a resident of Toronto, Canada and has exhibited with TOAF over many years since 2000. Tarantino’s artwork practice include ceramic sculptural installation work,  shaped canvas paintings , and mixed media. Her artworks are in private and corporate collections across Canada, U.S.A and Europe. 

Sandra is currently a Co-Founder and Co- Director of ArtQuarters Gallery ( 2021-present) and has worked within the artistic community as Co-founding Directors of  C1 art space (2004-10),  AWOL Gallery and Studios Co-operative (1996-2012) in the past. She is also a freelance visual arts educator working in school across the GTA.

Zoey Zoric, Painter

After an accomplished career in computer animation & digital painting, Zoey moved towards a more traditional practice, oil painting.  She has been showcasing her artwork with TAOF since 2017 and is currently working on her latest series titled “Expanding the Virtual Gaze.”

Alongside her active practice at Studio 102 in North York, Zoey shares her artistic expertise with students at Centennial College’s Fine Art Studio.


Building an Online Presence for TOAF63

Wednesday May TBC, 7:00 PM (EST), Virtual on Zoom

This session is for all participating artists and will focus on Online Artwork Sales A – Z and Social Media Marketing. A recording will be available on this web page after the session. 

An introduction to the online art Fair, learn about the rules to keep in mind, key dates, resources for artists, and what to do when an artwork sells online. The TOAF Marketing Team will also give you a breakdown of TOAF62’s marketing and public relations plan, how to use the TOAF Sharekit and how to build engaging content, grow and maintain your social media following. You’ll also hear from our seasoned artists about how to create a stellar online artist profile, curating your selection of works for your online profile, photographing and presenting your artworks in context, top tips for independent artists, and Instagram content creation.

Watch the recording from last year here.
Read the slideshow from last year here.

Meet the Speakers:

Heather Kerrison, Founder of Wild Media Co.

Heather is a Toronto-based social media agency owner, running Wild Media Co with over 6 years of experience creating, growing, and managing online communities. 

She has worked with many arts and culture focused brands in the city such as Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Koffler Centre of the Arts, Now Playing Toronto, Cultural Goods Gallery, and Public Sweat by Art Spin Toronto. Having live covered numerous events across the city – including last year’s Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the Juno Awards, Nuit Blanche, Art Toronto, ROM After Dark, and many more – she has extensive experience garnering audience attention and excitement. 

Her work is inspired by her deep love for storytelling and exploring how connection, empathy, and community can lead us to discovery, change, and purpose.

Patrick Lajoie, Photographer

Fine art photographer Patrick Lajoie is known for his evocative travel documentary images that impart a sense of nostalgia and remembrance. 

His creative practice encompasses his passions for photography, composition, color and experimentation. Commonly recurring themes such as beaches and bathing scenes, vintage cars and surfing, are chosen as much for their reflection of the artist’s personal interests as for their ability to channel collective memories and a spirit of adventure. Rather than being planned or staged his images are primarily discovery driven and rely on frequent travels in search of the elusive chance combination of the right subject matter, location, lighting and compositional potential.

Patrick Lajoie’s work is regularly exhibited at major international art fairs and is held in private and corporate collections worldwide, including Google, Delta Airlines, and a permanent six-panel installation at Los Angeles International Airport.

Raoul Olou, Painter

Raoul Olou is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. He creates work that references personal experiences, race, ontology, intuition, and anthropologie inspired by quantum physics and speculative fiction.


Emerging Artists Mentorship Session

Thursday May TBC, 3:00 PM (EST), In-person at Level 3 of OCAD University Experiential Learning Centre

This small group session is for emerging artists and will focus on answering more in-depth questions about TOAF in-person Fair. A recording will be available on this web page after the session. 

In addition to our Booth Camps, TOAF invite you to join our small-group mentorship session with the TOAF team, and guest speakers Kaitlin Mason and Olivia Mae Sinclair to answer more in-depth questions about processing payments for artwork sales, curating a beautiful booth, pricing artwork and their top tips for the Fair. Q&A to follow – submit your questions/topics you are most interested in covering prior to the session by email by May 18.

Please Note: Mask is mandatory for this in-person session.

Watch the recording from last year here.
Read the slideshow from last year here.

Meet the Speakers:

Kaitlin Mason, Drawing Artist

Kaitlin Mason Originally, Kaitlin started college in an interior design program and later switched to the Fine Arts program at Georgian College in Barrie Ontario. After graduating, she transferred to NSCAD University in Halifax Nova Scotia, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Currently, she works out of my home studio in a small town north of Toronto. Her drawings capture the essence of fabric in its current form, creating a visual record of a moment in time.

Since 2016, She has used coloured pencils to create each of her drawings, gradually building the vibrance and saturation of the colours by adding several layers. The wood panel substrate adds additional organic detail, creating a subtle background to the fabrics, and visually pushes the intricate patterns forward.

Kaitlin exhibits her drawings regularly throughout the year and has been teaching coloured pencil techniques for a few years now. She’s grateful to have received several accolades for her drawings and has sent many of her drawings to live in collector’s homes around the world.

Photography by Nicole Drennan.

Olivia Mae Sinclair, Textile-Book Artist

Olivia Mae Sinclair is a textile-book artist. Her intuitive and trauma-based practice is guided by sloppy craft and imperfection. She is addicted to infatuation and Redbull. She is a maker of books, love and other grotesque things.

She has recently graduated from OCAD U’s Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design program. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Craft and Design at Sheridan College. Olivia is a current Artist in Residence at Harbourfront Centre.

Typically books made from fabric are intended for children and infants. Olivia Mae Sinclair’s books, however, are made for lovers, survivors, artists, her, him, them and me.

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