Designers bring together local art for some “Local Fusion” to benefit Southlake

April 16, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

Since they relocated to Aurora, many clients of the interior design company Niche Décor have been clamoring for local art.

Later this month, they will be able to scratch that itch while supporting Southlake Regional Health Centre at the same time in Local Fusion: A Fusion of Canadian Art & Design.

Between April 23 and April 26, the showroom of Niche Décor at 242 Earl Stewart Drive, will be transformed into an art gallery showcasing the work of photographers Chris Albert and Jim Roditis, abstract and contemporary artists Andre Kan, Deborah Jolly, and Liina Peacock, as well as Linda Lang, a painter who has devoted so much of her artistic talents to documenting the effects of climate change in Canada’s far north.

“A lot of our clients have been asking about original artwork and they are just really interested in getting involved more locally with local artists,” says designer Jordana Eisen. “After a few different conversations with some local artists, we decided to put this together and thought it would be really fantastic if we could donate some of the money we hopefully make to Southlake.”

Starting with local galleries, Ms. Eisen curated a collection of artists from across the Greater Toronto Area, including photographers documenting urban, rural and desert landscapes, abstracts, and nature.

“They all have really bright, fun colours for the spring and really look fresh,” she says. “It is a lot of stuff that will be conversation pieces. We like to promote local things, shopping local and just helping keep it in the family.”

Niche Décor pitched their idea to Southlake earlier this year and it was an easy sell. They had put their heads together on other initiatives and with the idea to “bring together as many people in the community as we can” was all the pitch they needed.

And, it is an initiative with momentum that could continue throughout the year.

“We have a lot of artists who have approached us now [for a second art show], but we can only have about six or seven artists in the showroom at a time to give them enough space to set up,” says Ms. Eisen. “We have done a charity fashion show before and we’re talking about doing that again in the fall [this time] for Southlake.”

Local Fusion launches at Niche Décor on Thursday, April 23 with a wine and cheese reception from 6 – 9 p.m., with the public invited to attend. In addition to the wine and cheese, raffles for prizes that are, at the moment, still under wraps, as well as valet parking will be available to launch the exhibition in style while “jazzy, loungy kind of music” will add to the atmosphere.

“We turn the lights out and we just have the chandeliers going and it is a really nice, cool vibe,” says Ms. Eisen. “The artists will be here and they will be able to get to know them and learn what some of their inspiration is and I especially think [Ms. Lang] will have a lot of interesting things to say that people will be surprised by. I am looking forward to that.”

For more information, email Jordana at jordana@nichedecor.ca, or call 905-727-2727.