Free art classes for low-income residents
Immigrant arts centre gets a fresh start
An immigrant arts organization previously housed at Workers Arts and Heritage Centre is opening its own place on Barton Street and will welcome all.
It will be named iArt — which Marufa Shinwari says can be interpreted in different ways. “It can be iArt for ‘immigrant art’ or iArt for ‘my art.’ We want to be very inclusive.”
Shinwari, the executive-director of the Immigrant Culture and Art Association (ICAA) that will run iArt, has already fielded enquiries after she put an ICAA sign in the window.
People knock on the door to find out what all the gutting, dry-walling and painting is all about in this building, which is across from St. Ann Catholic school and church.
“The community is showing interest and they are thirsty,” Shinwari says. “It will have a big impact in this neighbourhood.”
The centre will offer free art classes to low-income residents.
The ICAA, founded in 2002 by Shinwari’s husband and artist, Yar Taraky, has already impacted lives — like illustrator and animator Miranda Sivilay and Design Mentality Productions founder and director Aref Mahabadi in Toronto.
And Abe (Abdullah) Taraky, who is Shinwari’s son.
He was eight and an Afghan refugee when he came to Canada with his family. He took art classes every Saturday at ICAA and now at 26, is a senior concept artist with Luma Pictures, a visual effects studio in California.
Abe’s success gave him the means to purchase the Barton Street East building for the ICAA to ensure it didn’t fold after space and rent costs became issues at the former location.
“ICAA played such a big role in my upbringing. It allowed me to hone my skills,” he said in a recent phone interview from Santa Monica. “For me, ICAA carved my future.”
That’s why it was important for him to preserve the organization by securing a home for it.
“The good thing is, it brings stability to the organization.”
Now the non-profit that ran programs out of the workers heritage centre for the past 12 years has a renewed energy.
Shinwari, Yar and dozens of other volunteers have spent 600 volunteer hours labouring to transform the old building from a shabby and rundown structure into a sparkling art gallery and studio.
“I washed this floor six or seven times. It needed lots of cleaning,” says Shinwari, who among other tasks, also helped take down ceiling tiles and paint them vibrant colours before putting them up again. “I was up and down that ladder over 800 times.”
But it’s clear this is a labour of love for Shinwari, a former Hamilton refugee settlement worker and one-time law professor in Afghanistan.
Yar, an engineer and architect as well as an artist, along with two other artists, did all the heavy reno work— all the while working on his PhD in engineering and international development at the University of Guelph and continuing his consulting work on building infrastructure in Afghanistan.
“Yar is very dedicated (to the arts association)… He said this was our dream and we want to bring sustainability to the organization. We welcome anyone who can bring new ideas or are looking for space for cultural activities.”
iArt’s official opening at 689 Barton St. is on Feb. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m., with an exhibit of nine artists, including Yar. The artists, from Toronto to Dundas, have varied backgrounds — Iraqi, Russian, Iranian, Polish and Afghani. Some pottery and other artwork will also be featured.
Classes in drawing and painting for all ages should start by the end of March.
“There are so many things still needed but at least we’re starting with something,” says Shinwari of the exhibit in the 1,400-squarefoot gallery/studio.
Iraqi artist and refugee Waafa Alrawi, here just over a year, is so thrilled with the gallery, she has donated her stained-glass art to grace its entrance door.
“I feel very, very happy because (the art centre) is a good idea for me. I’m new and everything is different.”
She said Shinwari has helped her tremendously because when she arrived in Canada without knowing much English, she didn’t know what to do. “She gave me a chance to start again here in Canada, to do art again, and she pushed me to do it.”
The hope is iArt will be a beacon to not just immigrant artists, but to low-income artists and wouldbe artists of all ages and art forms.
Plans include a pottery studio someday in the now empty and unheated rooms behind the gallery, children’s ballet lessons by a former Russian ballerina, classical guitar lessons from a recent Iraqi refugee now studying at Mohawk College.
“Everybody is so excited. Art is something that brings so many positive changes in people’s lives… I’m dreaming big for the centre,” Shinwari says.
“When you dream big, you reach at least half of it in your lifetime.”