This summer's Outdoor Art 'exhibition', rebranded this year as The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair' (TOAF) has come and gone and, once again, the event brought together artists, art lovers and patrons. This year we had a presence on the square all weekend, where we exhibited a selection of our shortlisted artists (images below). There was not a cloud in the sky for three days, and we sweated it out along-side the other exhibitors, meeting visitors and talking about the importance of independent culture and social commentary in art.

The shortlist artists, selected from almost 400 Artists and Makers at this year's exhibition,
was as follows:

Melissa Espina

The Judges for this 'Eyes Of Society - Social Commentary Award', were, once again, scattered across the country. Votes were distributed thinly because this year there were 11 more shortlist artists (and only one more judge); most works only received only one vote (though judges were allowed two choices). Despite this, a clear winner emerged: Julia Hepburn secured 4 votes. It should be noted, however, that two students tied for second place: Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart and Francesca Chan (with two votes each). The Judges this year, as mentioned on the TOAF social commentary page, were artists participating in the 'Eyes Of Society' exhibition this summer at The Robert Bateman Centre in Victoria. It should also be mentioned that our selection of a 'winner' was done reluctantly and with great difficulty. All social commentary is valid, of course . The process was to draw attention to the importance of social commentary in general, as opposed to singling out one artist as 'best'

Above, judges W. David Ward and Anja Karisik, with the award winning work of Julia Hepburn, on the Friday of the show. Below, Judge, Gary Landon and last year's winner, Azadeh Pirazimian, chatting with a visitor.