Doors Closed Campaign

On August 9 The Conservation Council of Ontario, (CCO, Suite 132) held a press conference in front of 215 Spadina to spread the word to retail establishments about adopting a "doors closed" policy. The campaign is an effort to encourage businesses to conserve energy that is commonly wasted by leaving doors open and essentially air conditioning the street. The Council, along with volunteers, conservation groups, municipalities, and chambers of commerce spent a week speaking to local stores seeking participation in the campaign.

Studies show that a small business leaving even a single door open for one day loses enough energy to cool a house. Fellow tenant Dreams (Suite 105) was one of the first to participate by placing the Doors Closed sign in their window, which reads "Our doors may be closed, but we are open" and closing their doors. As CCO Executive Director Chris Winter explains: "we are aware that many businesses use open doors as a signal to customers. The poster allows them to show they are both open and energy conscious."

www.greenontario.org

Green Corner: Make Room for Sidewalks in Bloom

You may have noticed the new garden beds at street level in front of the Robertson Building? Early in July, it occurred to the urbanspace environmental team that it might be possible to reclaim the street level garden space that surrounds the two city trees in front of the building. We noticed that Paul Magder, a fur merchant across the street, had achieved this feat and that a colourful pocket of pansies surrounded the small city tree in front of his store.

Building on this community "greening" synergy, we were able to negotiate similar results with the City of Toronto. On July 11th, two City trucks and three City workers arrived to successfully lift and remove the concrete blocks that surrounded our two tree pits. The City provided some replacement soil, but we needed to bolster the nutrient load with our own organic mix and then add some flowering annuals and perennials to this new garden space at the base of the trees. In fact there's also a third garden planter beside the building - built atop the old hydro vault that is no longer in use. The plants in the planter box seated on the hydro vault were divided and taken from the greenroof on the Robertson building. It's been wonderful to see this area transform into a pleasant back-drop for visitors and tenants seeking some quiet space out-of-doors.

When Spacing, a magazine that acts as a hub for interesting news, events, and projects relevant to public space issues in Toronto and around the world discovered our planting efforts they wrote a story about it and dubbed us the "Tree Pit Gardening Angels." For more information try: http://spacing.ca/wire/?p=151

These three new garden spaces have softened the Robertson's concrete shoulder and added some rich colour, texture, and dimension to our immediate neighbourhood. We hope you find that they generate a welcoming feel to the exterior of the building.

Profile: Material Matters

Material Matters Contemporary Canadian Glass Art Gallery (Suite 101) is a jewel box of intriguing creations resting at the southwest corner of the Robertson Building. The gallery represents twenty-seven Canadian glass artists who rotate exhibitions each month, so there is always something new and exciting to experience. From amber diffused optical crystal (Charles Hargraves), to blown glass, feathers + rocks (Tanya Lyons), the gallery shows the best and most cutting edge works created by Canadian artists who are recognized internationally for their unique and daring perspective on the art.

This work would not have the same exposure it does today without the dedication of owner and curator Lisa Wouhela, who has been in the business for over twenty years. The gallery began its life at Queen and Parliament in the front space of Lisa's fabric arts studio. Lisa teamed up with Andrew Kuntz, a forerunner in the Canadian Glass Movement and they ran the space there for a few years before Lisa was lured to 80 Spadina Avenue to be part of a group of galleries who were all taking up residence in the old warehouse building. Lisa says this was a good move for the gallery because "the artists were excited about the beautiful space and high ceilings; for them it was a big step; it was taking their art seriously and showcasing their work with other artistic mediums. It was really the beginning of the Canadian Glass Movement."

The Canadian Glass Movement grew out of the American Studio Glass Movement started by Harvey Littleton in the late 50s. Littleton had traveled to Venice, Italy and seen the incredible glass factories that employed entire families of glass artists who passed their technique through generations. They worked in smaller studio-like spaces that were completely separated from the other artists, and after seeing this, Littleton decided that it would be entirely feasible to support this kind of work in a studio in America. "Littleton came back to the States and he made himself a glory hole [opening of the furnace used to keep glass hot and workable] and a pot furnace, where he picked up the glass and he made blobs of glass. And that was the beginning of the studio glass movement - individual people working in their studios - it had never been done before. It was the first time you had one individual completing their work from vision to production." This process of production has now become the standard for Canadian glass artists.

After five years, the economic climate forced Lisa to close the gallery at 80 Spadina. Nonetheless, she started writing, curating, and, along with Alfred Engeren, she organized a monumental project called The Glass Architecture Exhibition. The exhibition paired ten architects with ten glass artists and they worked together for two years to come up with a project involving space and glass in ways that perhaps hadn't been approached before - it was very successful. The show was first mounted in the Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo and then at the Design Exchange in Toronto. The gallery had one more renaissance at Queen and Tecumseth before joining the community at the Robertson Building in February 2003. Lisa says the new space is "absolutely fabulous."

Executive Director Dan Whetung joined Lisa when she moved to the Robertson Building and has been a wonderful addition to the gallery. Dan has been a quick study in the gallery business and provides a great connection for the artists - "it's been a good fit for the gallery." This year Dan and Lisa launched the first National Graduate Show, which showcases the work of graduates from schools that now offer glass art classes - a good indication of the growing popularity of the medium. There are also plans for an International Graduate Show, slated for two years from now. For many years Dan has also worked closely with an environmental organization called the Thunderbirds Necklaces Foundation and a space is provided in the gallery and works donated by gallery artists are on display with the proceeds from sales going directly to the foundation and it's efforts. As Lisa explains: "it's an exciting medium for me because I was there at the beginning. Just watching where it's grown has been exciting, it always keeps me pumped and it doesn't get boring."

www.materialmatters.ca

Roots Of Empathy

Roots of Empathy's (Suite 160) Founder /President Mary Gordon has been a very busy woman this fall. Not only has she been signing copies of her new book: Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child (released in September), but she was also named to the Order of Canada.

The book chronicles the creation of Mary's award-winning classroom program and her vision of a society of compassionate and caring chidren who will pass on thier legacy of empathy to their own children. The award recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Mary will be officially invested into the Order at a ceremony taking place in February 2006.
For more information or to order a copy of Mary's book visit: www.rootsofempathy.org

Sustainability Network: Ken Wiwa

Theatre Ontario Celebrates Artsweek

From September 26 - 30 Theatre Ontario (Suite 210) celebrated Artsweek, the largest multi-disciplinary arts festival in Canada, with a free public open house. Theatre Ontario, a central source of information on training, career opportunities, awards, publications, productions and resources focused on theatre in Ontario, encouraged people to stop by and learn about what they do.

There were special daily activities such as book sales and workshops, some of which were co-presented with neighbours Playwrights Canada Press (Suite 230) and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA, Suite 210). Theatre Ontario's doors are always open anytime for anyone seeking information regarding theatre.

www.theatreontario.org

Welcome: Tides Canada Co-location

We would like welcome a new group of tenants who joined the Robertson Building community in September. Taking over Suite 360 is a co-location of seven organizations: Vartana, Institute for for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS), Tides Canada Foundation, Care Canada, Mutual Abundance, Harvey Locke Consulting, and the Canadian Environmental Grantmaker's Network (CEGN).

The group is quite large, so we couldn't get them all together for the picture, but we managed to get representatives from four of the seven organizations. Tides Canada, the originators of this multi-tenancy project, included a wonderful spotlight on their new initiative at 215 Spadina in their fall 2005 newsletter.
Visit www.tidescanada.org to read the article.