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Toronto Design Offsite Festival, operating under the business name DesignTO.
DesignTO is a registered charity (Charitable Business #: 803833300RR0001).
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2022

Festival Schedule

January 21–30, 2022

The 2022 DesignTO Festival Continues, Distanced & Digital

The DesignTO Festival happens online and in-person at venues across the City of Toronto. Most events and exhibitions are free, but some require a RSVP or purchased tickets. All window installations are viewable from the outdoors. COVID precautions vary per event; click on each event to learn more.

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'(murmur)' is an interactive installation of bobbing floral fabric entities inspired by the form and movement of marine organisms and the fluttering of petals. It reacts to the presence of people, drawing energy and life from its curious viewers.
In-person
window installation
(murmur)
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Stories of resilience, cultural identity and mental health in the face of a global health crisis and a changing socio-political landscape from fourth-year students in the Art & Art History Program; Sheridan College and U of T Mississauga.
Online
exhibition
728* Days
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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‘A Chance Encounter’ brings together Voisine/Voisin’s collection of everyday objects with everyone's favourite house guests - Plants! Each object is hand made with care and full of personalities to bring warmth and joy into spaces.
In-person
window installation
A Chance Encounter
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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‘A Dream of Home’ is a window installation that brings to life a Caribbean escape reality brought on by home sickness. The installation conceptualizes a surreal experience of being transported to the Caribbean using digital and physical elements.
In-person
window installation
A Dream of Home
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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'Stone': A square revolved. A bowl & pill represented as stackable geometric vessels. 'Trio': A patterned, steel pipe repeated as little as possible. Three identical pieces are fitted together to create the distinctive triangle shape. Each pipe is carefully machined, bent, & welded
In-person
exhibition
Anony X Milky’s
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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<span style="font-weight: 400">‘Artifacts of Grief’ invites visitors to understand, question and process our individual and collective grief. To spark conversations and storytelling, this is an invitation to explore and create expressions of individual and collective grief and grieving. </span>
In-person
exhibition
Artifacts of Grief
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Our PERFORMANCE MEETS FASHION in-person show with DesignTO and Pride Toronto has been adapted to a virtual show! The show will start at 7pm EST for performances followed by a movie party.
Online
event: Party
Artistic Showcase through Performance and Fashion.
Jan 29 2022
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Artopex invites you to stop by its Adelaide Street East location to contemplate the new products and experience the latest updates in its showroom.
In-person
event: Reception
Artopex – Moving into 2022 in Style
Apr 08 2022
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'Assembly Line' is a window installation that invites co-creation between industrial robots and human participants. Audience members may submit gestures to a virtual assembly line, highlighting the short-lived nature of mechanical effort.
In-person
window installation
Assembly Line
Jan 21
–
Jan 29 2022
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So much pottery uses glazes and colour to add a decorative layer. Bare Bones presents an opportunity to explore the colour and texture of clay. It's a chance to allow the raw clay to speak, allowing the viewer to really concentrate on form and surface texture.
In-person
window installation
Bare Bones X Aquavato
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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BEAT MIX includes three to five featured guests who are stationed in specific zones throughout the showroom. Participants have the opportunity to interact with the featured guests and meet a succession of individuals in small groups throughout the evening.
Online
event: Talk
BEAT // MIX with Global Furniture
Feb 16 2022
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Exploring the importance of in-person social interaction and the innate urge to connect with nature in a digital age, 'Biophilia' is a display of traditional hand cut paper artwork by Nathalie Kraemer.
In-person
exhibition
Biophilia
Mar 02
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To correct the disproportionate representation of BIPOC within the Architecture and Design professions, students that identify from these groups are invited to a collaborative portfolio review session with leaders throughout the design community.
Online
event: Workshop
BIPOC Portfolio Collaboration 2022
Jan 28 2022
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Professional coach for artists and creatives <a href="https://www.chrismitchell-lifecoach.com/">Chris Mitchell </a>will guide you through a holistic approach to designing your unique 'Collaboration Criteria Canvas', a blueprint and tool to build your personal criteria and best practices for creating and navigating successful collaborations.
Online
event: Workshop
Blueprint for Collaborations – Online Workshop
Jan 24 2022
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How do you live comfortably in 450 square feet? Local designer and cabinetmaker STUDIO HAND presents a tour of their recent tiny condo project.
In-person
event: Tour
Built-In: A Tiny Living Case Study & Tour
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Interpreting design objects as a powerful language through which social reality is affirmed, ‘But I Don’t Want Comfort’ abandons the focus on utility and function and uses form and sound to explore the spaces between efficiency, excess, history, and future.
In-person
exhibition
But I Don’t Want Comfort
Jan 21
–
Jan 31 2022
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Bending linear thinking into circular design, this exhibit begins to ask questions about the possibilities for small scale textiles and large scale economies to be sustainable and livable. The questions is: can objects fit ethically into a circular world economy?
Online
exhibition
Circular Over Linear
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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'Cli’mate Change' is an interactive light display that connects people and climate. It highlights our true nature and personal connection to the natural world and the communities where we live. A compelling reflection of what we should nurture and cherish.
In-person
window installation
Cli’mate Change
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Beauchamp Art Gallery presents 'Colour Pop: What’s New and Now in Canadian Pop Art'. The exhibition features works by prolific contemporary French-Canadian artists in many mediums, including collage, acrylic, papier machée, 3D op-art, interactive digital works, and more.
In-person
exhibition
Colour Pop
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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'Connective Tissue' is a group show that investigates technology as a tool of emotionality. These artist and designer's practices recall, rewrite, and remix intersections with technology in order to demonstrate its influence and reassert our role in its use.
In-person
exhibition
Connective Tissue
Apr 27
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May 08 2022
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Contemporary wood-turner Andreas Krätschmer presents an installation of 12 turned, carved and burned sculptural vessels. Influenced by the growing amount of wildfires in Canada and around the world, ‘Consumed’ explores themes of fragility, resilience, and the human relation with nature.
In-person
window installation
Consumed
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Take a journey into Canada’s geological past without leaving the city! 'Core Shadows' is a lighting installation inspired by Ontario’s natural landscape and the human interaction that has altered it throughout time.
In-person
window installation
Core Shadows
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Through a kinetic study Simone Ferkul and Elizabeth Lenny explore the movement of balance. Balance is not a passive resting place — it is characterized by movement, it is a give and take relationship.
In-person
window installation
counterpoise
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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'GTA21' artists Tom Chung, Igor Bragado and Miles Gertler (Common Accounts) will be joined by architect Bruno Weber (KPMB) for a virtual conversation on city building and democratic design.
Online
event: Dinner
Creative Conversations: City Building and Democratic Design With GTA21 Artists Tom Chung and Common Accounts, Moderated by Bruno Weber of KPMB Architects
Mar 03 2022
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The purpose of this shopper bag that resembles the classic plastic bag isn’t just to be used as a more sustainable option that carries a sense of nostalgia. It was re-imagined to remind us of our toxic relationship with plastic.
In-person
window installation
Crisis of Convenience [w.a.s.t.e]
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Goethe-Institut invited Tim Leduc, Wilfrid Laurier professor in land-based social work, and elder Gae Ho Hwako Norma Jacobs to open their biophilic Goethe Air Space in Toronto and explore the interrelatedness of the natural, cultural and digital realms we inhabit.
forest
In-person
event: Talk
Cultures, Climate, Care: Indigeneity & the Nature of Global Change
Mar 08
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Apr 05 2022
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Anishnaabe artist Que Rock has created a temporary mural on the University of Toronto Daniels Faculty north façade to honour the 215 children found at a residential school in Kamloops, BC, and continue to be found across Turtle Island.
In-person
window installation
Daniels Mural Project
Nov 08 2021
–
Jun 30 2022
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Join TORP and leading members of the Danish and Canadian architecture & design communities for a live virtual panel discussion on sustainable practices in architecture and furniture design & production. Danish Desire will also feature a furniture design exhibit at TORP’s Toronto showroom.
Online
event: Talk
Danish Desire: Sustainable Methods in Architecture & Design
Jan 22 2022
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<p class="p1">Attend a virtual presentation of Eventscape’s offices, R & D Fab Lab, and custom manufacturing facilities in Etobicoke for a look behind the scenes. Learn how Eventscape, an award-winning architectural fabrication company works with the latest technologies, machinery and materials to create custom features.</p>
Online
event: Tour
Design + Fabrication Virtual Shop Tour at Eventscape
Jan 25
–
Jan 26 2022
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Presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America - Toronto chapter, this moderated roundtable explores the similarities and differences between designing tangible/digital products from a broad range of contemporary industrial design practices that include consumer products, experience & interaction design, systems and services design as well as emerging technologies.
Online
event: Talk
Design Stories: Taking a concept to production
Jan 25 2022
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This exhibition explores how design can contribute to bringing into being more healthy and dignified future. A group of emerging designers leverage human-centred design methods to re-envision everyday products in two key realms: aging and personal protective equipment.
In-person
window installation
Designing for Futures of Well-being
Jan 24
–
Jan 30 2022
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Kick off the annual DesignTO Festival with its official Launch Party in the King East Design District, structured as a roaming neighbourhood party anchored by five Party Hubs.
In-person
event: Party
DesignTO Launch Party 2022
Jan 21 2022
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<span style="font-weight: 400">‘No Such Thing as Normal’ is a symposium that brings together 11 designers, health professionals and community leaders to discuss how we can dismantle the long-accepted idea of “normal,” in order to design for diversity, specifically in the context of a global pandemic. </span>
Online
event: Talk
DesignTO Symposium: No Such Thing as Normal
Jan 25
–
Jan 26 2022
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Discover three installations in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood that explore ideas of interconnectedness, modularity, and relationality. On this walking tour with DesignTO, hear from multidisciplinary artist/designer Norwin Anne, artist Tracey-Mae Chambers, and design studio Unitfive.
In-person
event: Tour
DesignTO Tours: Building Blocks
Jan 29 2022
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Printing clay is a new, digital approach to a familiar material. Through the lens of architectural and industrial design, this exhibition displays, explores, and reimagines the unique aesthetic and functional capacities of ceramic materials that are made possible by these emerging, fabrication and 3D-printing technologies.
In-person
window installation
Digital Clay
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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The reworking of Lauren Schaffer's 2019 Halifax exhibition, 'Dirty Sweep', will take place in her Toronto studio.
In-person
exhibition
Dirty Sweep
Jan 21
–
Feb 13 2022
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Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, a window and showroom will be transformed into 'NODALAND' celebrating creativity through the use of colour and texture. The installation will feature oversized mushrooms and decorative flowers as part of a tea party themed display.
In-person
window installation
Down the Rabbit hole…down…down…down to NodaLand
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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Join design duo Kevin Chan and Samer Shaath of NIVEK REMAS as they reveal their latest design project, Dundas Square Barbers, a contemporary take on the classic barbershop located in a unique and coveted corner of the city.
In-person
event: Party
Dundas Square Barbers Launch Party
Jan 27 2022
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'Dying.dialogues' is a symposium on design and fragility, death, dying, loss, and grief, as part of Dying.series.
In-person
event: Talk
Dying.dialogues 2022
Jan 29 2022
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‘Dying.exhibits’ is an exhibition series on end of life, inviting participants to think about their relationship with life and death through art and design. Let’s get comfortable with the uncomfortable and start talking about what truly matters.
In-person
exhibition
Dying.exhibits 2022
Sep 07
–
Sep 25 2022
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Susan Campbell’s exhibition, 'Enclosure + Exclusion: A Visual Treatise', considers how urban environments are manipulated and shaped. Campbell’s process of apprehending inscriptions and boundary marks found on-site explores societal patterns of impermanence and exclusion.
In-person
exhibition
Enclosure + Exclusion: A Visual Treatise
Jul 13
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Jul 31 2022
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Ceramic works by Reza Hosseiny that call into question those who demand equality of men and women, but are complacent spectators in practice and who refuse to take action. As a hard material, Hosseiny uses ceramic to speak to the reluctance of humans to change.
Online
exhibition
Equality or Quantity?! A Question by Reza Hosseiny
Jan 21
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Jan 30 2022
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‘farbenfroh’ is a participatory installation of painting equipment that integrates watercolours into mobile objects as a transforming element for creative play and artistic work.
In-person
exhibition
farbenfroh
Jan 22
–
Jan 26 2022
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A photographic series by Amanda Large of fifty modernist churches located in Toronto, from Etobicoke to Scarborough. Built between 1950 and 1981, and captured in 2019/2020, this collection of images documents an often-neglected subset of modernist architecture.
In-person
exhibition
Fifty50: fifty modernist churches, a 50mm lens
Jun 04
–
Jun 20 2022
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This furniture project explores themes of mindfulness, meditation, and flow in relationship with the designer's process and the end user's experience of an object. The exhibition features a large mahogany dining table with abstract repeating shapes and organic lines.
In-person
window installation
Flow State: Sculptural Furniture as Meditation
Jan 21
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Jan 30 2022
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This installation by Mason Studio explores human connection through shared memory and sensory experience. Using commonly found materials, the installation transports you to another place to experience a sense of calm and reverence for forces larger than ourselves.
In-person
exhibition
Full Moon Reflected On The Ocean At 01:34
Jan 27
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Jan 30 2022
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Following up on the 6 years of success participating in the DesignTO Festival, Sylvia Lee of Jeff Goodman Studio is launching 'GEO', a cluster of hand blown glass wall lights inspired by river rocks that are worn smooth by water and time.
In-person
window installation
GEO
Jan 21
–
Feb 07 2022
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'Geographies and Geometries' looks to our surrounding environment, the physical geography and its built form for inspiration. The architectural shapes are grounded and simplified to contrast against an uneven, imperfect, human hand sewn stitch.
In-person
exhibition
Geometries and Geographies
Jan 21
–
Jan 30 2022
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A talk by Prof. Fulvio Irace - Polytechnic University of Milan. Gio Ponti (1891-1979) was the emblem of Italy rising from the ashes of war, consistently exercising his incredible creative abilities in all the fields that opened up to his inexhaustible imagination, from decorative arts to design to innovative architecture.
Online
event: Talk
Gio Ponti: The Hyper-Italian
Jan 21 2022
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An installation by Applied Studio that focuses on the nature of human interaction during the pandemic. The perfect view is only possible from one location and the installation should be explored to discover the kaleidoscopic array of colours, shadows and reflections.
In-person
window installation
[POSTPONED]
Glass Free
Jan 21
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Jan 30 2022
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To debut his new floor pillow collection Mark Krebs invites you to do nothing. Take your shoes off and relax in a pile of wool rugs and floor pillows under a canopy of mirrors. Lie down, look up!
In-person
exhibition
Here & Now
Jan 18
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Jan 30 2022
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‘Holding Up History’ is a two-part program exploring the influence of facadism as an architectural and conceptual strategy for bringing elements from the past into the future. In this panel talk, four experts from architecture, heritage conservation, design education and
Online
event: Talk
Holding Up History: Panel Talk
Jan 27 2022
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<span style="font-weight: 400">‘Holding Up History’ is a two-part program exploring the influence of façadism as an architectural and conceptual strategy for bringing elements from the past into the future. This self-guided tour highlights 10 different sites across the city featuring diverse applications of façadism in Toronto and heritage conservation alternatives. </span>
Online
event: Tour
Holding Up History: Self-Guided Tour
Jan 21
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Feb 28 2022
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'HOME Beautification signed by Yaw Tony' is the third installation and latest addition of everyday home decor pieces stamped art and design on everyday objects. Yet they are still practical objects that fall right into place in our daily lives.
In-person
exhibition
HOME Beautification signed by Yaw Tony
Jan 21
–
Feb 06 2022
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Design offers a set of tools to help increase the resiliency of local communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from environmental disasters. This interactive workshop explores how to design for complex environmental issues.
Online
event: Workshop
How design can help to create climate-resilient communities
Jan 27 2022
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In ‘I Send You This Cadmium Red,’ the monochromes, grids, and chance operations that are emblematic of twentieth-century avant-garde art are reconstituted as a correspondence among colour swatches in the algorithmically organized Zoom interface that has become emblematic of this era of physically distanced sociability.
In-person
window installation
I Send You This Cadmium Red
Jan 21 2022
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Jan 13 2023
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Organized by DesignTO in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects, ‘Ideas Forum: Confronting the Housing Crisis’ features five fast-paced presentations (20 slides shown for 20 seconds each) exploring housing equity, modular housing initiatives, rent-then-own models, and community support and
Online
event: Talk
Ideas Forum: Confronting the Housing Crisis
Jan 25 2022
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For the 2022 DesignTO Festival, the Interdisciplinary Design Strategy students at the Institute without Boundaries, George Brown College, will showcase their research, insights and scenarios on their current research theme: Designing Climate Ready Communities.
Online
exhibition
Imagining Climate Ready Communities
Jan 25
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Jan 30 2022
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'In the Family' is a collection of new work created by a dynamic group of artists. A painter, architect, photographer, and ceramicist come together to explore the creative process through the shared lens of family, home, and heritage.
In-person
window installation
In the Family
Jan 20
–
Feb 01 2022
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'In The Midst of Darkness, Nature Persists' is an explosively colourful installation by experimental fiber artist Leisa Rich of deer, butterflies, animals and nature and is a welcome respite from the dirty slush and oppression that winter can sometimes bring.
In-person
window installation
In The Midst of Darkness, Nature Persists
Jan 21
–
Mar 20 2022
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