ORANGEINAL
ART
Creative History
ORANGEinal Art Events
2017- Present
ORANGEinal Art has established a strong presence in Toronto’s creative community by curating vibrant, community-centred events that celebrate representation, culture, and accessibility. OA’s curatorial journey began with The First ORANGEinal Art Show at Blank Canvas Gallery in 2017; a multidisciplinary showcase that blended visual art, live performance and local business partnerships, establishing a grassroots model that prioritized community connection. In 2018, OA hosted a series of seasonal pop-ups at 187 Augusta in Kensington Market that created intimate spaces for art collectors, small businesses and emerging creatives to connect.
ORANGEinal Art's most defining curatorial moment came with Representation Matters in 2018, held at the Art Square Gallery in Toronto located across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario, and proudly sponsored by Toronto's largest independent craft brewery Steam Whistle. This exhibition centered Black representation in art and fan culture, featuring written interviews with ten Toronto creatives of colour and offering free vending opportunities to Black women-owned businesses. Beyond exhibitions, ORANGEinal Art has collaborated with Toronto tattoo artists, resulting in clients permanently carrying ORANGEinal Artwork as tattoos, extending the brand’s visual storytelling onto the body. OA has also been featured in media, a nationally broadcasted Toronto Raptors commercial in 2019 and highlighted across multiple creative platforms, including Vibe Arts, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Creatives of Toronto, YYZ Magazine, The Black Nerds, Reframing Creativity and other creative outlets. ORANGEinal Art has delivered live-painting and paint-along experiences for diverse communities including families, church groups, women’s nonprofit organizations, and Corus Entertainment’s BOLD Black History Month events.
Through these exhibitions, collaborations, media features and those to come, ORANGEinal Art continues to build meaningful creative spaces and champion representation within both local and international arts communities.
Community Art
Events
2015-2020
Since 2015, ORANGEinal Art has been featured in a wide range of exhibitions, art festivals and creative showcases across Toronto, New York, and London, UK with art sales worldwide. Early work appeared at various university and college art events throughout the City of Toronto, moving into larger group showcases like the Lucid Dream Collective’s multi-artist showcases at the Super Wonder Gallery and OCAD. ORANGEinal Art went on to exhibit in community and culturally significant shows including Toronto Photographer Vonny Lorde’s Praise Toronto event, the Toronto Centre for the Arts' Caribana Showcase in 2017 following Jae Fiasco and Art+Tax’s What a Bam Bam art showcase and Artusiasm Gallery’s various themed exhibitions—From There to Now for Black History Month, An Ode to Women for International Women’s Day, and Creature Feature.
ORANGEinal Art has participated in major arts festivals such as Vibes Art Fest at Ontario Place and juried competitions including the VAM Exhibition at Evergreen Brickworks. OA has been internationally exhibited in the UK at The Art of Carnival art showcase at the Notting Hill Arts Club, and in New York at two editions of The Unapologetic Art Expo held at Brooklyn's Bishop Art Gallery in 2019 and the Crossing Art Gallery in New York proper in 2020, a week before the pandemic started. In addition, ORANGEinal Art held a two-month art residency at the Black Canary Café inside Silver Snail Comics at Yonge-Dundas Square. ORANGEinal Art continues to feature work bimonthly in genre-focused events hosted by the Super Wonder Gallery to date, including The Amazing Sci-Fi Show, Hot Rods & Hogs, the Million Dollar Toy Show and many more.
Across these diverse and international spaces, ORANGEinal Art continues to center themes of representation, identity, and cultural storytelling, solidifying her presence within both local and global creative communities.
