Art Basel Miami Beach #ABMB15 was in full-force this past year! My sister and I took in 4 full days of art and action, and running around the city meeting old and new faces. For those of you who have never been, I strongly recommend
the experience
Headed into the new year, I was lucky to be chosen as 1 of 9 Toronto “Influencers” in the Saks Fifth Avenue #uTOpia campaign, highlighting leaders in their field, and what they love about our city. This campaign was in conjunction with the launch of the store's first Canadian locations.
February brought on the annual show The Artist Project, which gave me a great opportunity to feature some pieces from my upcoming RHYTHM + TREBLE show this fall. The Fair had a record turnout, and Director, Claire Taylor, continues to out- do herself!
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In March, we were contacted by Daymond John and his Shark Branding team about doing some work in his Manhattan office, and at the same time the wonderful Samuelsohn team reached out to us about the re-vamping of their menswear line.
We were flown out to New York City to meet them both and all went well. The Shark Branding office, as well as Samuelsohn’s brand new showroom (currently under
construction) are incredible. We look forward to building more relationships in the Big Apple!
In April, I was delighted to participate in Herman & Audrey's new space "Rally" for the Group Exhibition "In the Beauty I Hide", which featured 11 talented artists and had an incredible turn out! I was happy to showcase some older works, and it was an honour to show in the old Angell Gallery.
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This May, we partnered with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) during Operanation to create a colouring book inspired by their production of The Magic Flute! The COC's “Queen of the Night” inspired event was a huge success; my wife Emily and I had an amazing time dressing the part. |
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Toronto Life listed our first-ever Limited Edition Colouring Book as one of their top-5 Toronto-picks, and we were humbled and so grateful when the first 100 units sold out within 12-hours of mentioning it on Facebook. AWESOME. You can find what is left of the release online or in person at Indigo’s Bay-Bloor location. We’ll report back once it’s licensed across all North American stores. We'd like to thank the lovely and talented, Jody Kamen for helping us format the whole project. |
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In the spirit of sharing, we started a little pet-project called Ivan Neale (Ivan, my brother’s middle name and Neale, my sister’s). Ivan Neale is simply starting out as a social media experiment and will eventually turn into a show we take on the road.
More to come. All for fun.
As always we have our hand in multiple local and international charities. This year we’ve been involved with some incredible organizations such as the SickKids Hospital, ICRF, StopGap and the Make-A-Wish Foundation via Funding Innovation.
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Notably, this year we’re thrilled to participate in Baycrest’s The Brain Project, generating awareness and raising money towards the vital research into the future of aging. You can check out and VOTE for my brain sculpture here, as well as learn more about this incredible project and the other participating artists.
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Currently, we are curating an online auction with Paddle8 out of New York City to benefit The Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, which goes live online on July 4th -- be sure to mark your calendar to see what is available to bid on! |
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Going forward into the summer, we have an exciting new relationship with the Toronto Blue Jays! We will be creating a brand new body of work under our “Special Projects” umbrella to help support the Jays Care Foundation, which helps children and youth get involved in baseball and builds safe spaces to play. There will be a series launch at the Rogers Centre overlooking the stadium on August 4th, and we’d love for you to come out. Full details will be sent via Eventbrite in the coming weeks!
This Fall, keep your eyes peeled for my next solo exhibition “RHYTHM + TREBLE!”, a rock n’ roll inspired series, to shake things up! I will also preview a couple of my beloved suit-inspired works from my anticipated spring solo show entitled “Friends”, a play off of my previous solo shows “Getting to Know You” and “The Introduction”.
Since you last heard from me, I was a party of 1, just easing my way into a twosome. I am now happy and proud to share that Sam Shuter Studio has become a team of 3.5, welcoming OCAD Grads Keight MacLean (Studio Assistance), Meaghan Barry (Studio Manager/Administrative) and Emily Joyce, our wonderful Volunteer from Queen’s University where she is in her second year studying Fine Arts.
It goes without saying that I greatly appreciate everyone’s love, support and patronage. I also really appreciate you keeping up and allowing me to share my activities with you. I encourage you to attend my exhibits, share my work, and participate in any one of my community initiatives. It’s always a pleasure to have you come by the studio, and better late than never… we wish you a continued happy, healthy and prosperous 2016!
Sam and the team
Want to collaborate? Have any questions? Let's work together.
Email us at: studio@samshuter.com
