TH&B: April 12 - May 4, 2008 / 3rd Floor 270 Sherman Avenue North, Hamilton, ON

jane ADENEY / tom BENDTSEN / lesley loksi CHAN / simon FRANK / dave HIND / ivan JURAKIC / gareth LICHTY / steve MAZZA / liss PLATT / c. WELLS / sara ANGELUCCI / suzanne CARTE-BLANCHE/ susan DETWILER / insoon HA / the HUNTERS / fiona KINSELLA / tor LUKASIK-FOSS / aaron MURPHY / reinhard REITZENSTEIN / gayle YOUNG

VISITING HOURS: Saturday April 19 + Saturday April 26; 12:00-5:00 pm
Doors Open Hamilton: Saturday May 3 + Sunday May 4; 11:00 am-5:00 pm

PERFORMANCE NIGHT!!!: Saturday May 3 @ 8pm featuring Lesley Loksi Chan, Tiny Bill Cody, Dave Hind, Gayle Young and Reinhard Reitzenstein, Irene Loughlin, and more......Free Art Bus from Toronto will leave the Gladstone Hotel at 7pm, return from Hamilton 11pm.

270 Sherman is North of Barton Street at Lansdowne Avenue---Look for the TH&B banner!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EXHIBITION INFORMATION

TH&B was the common name of the former Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo railway that operated out of Hamilton from 1895-1987. Crossing the Niagara Peninsula from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the TH&B rail line was a vital link connecting the three cities.

Hamilton artists Simon Frank, Ivan Jurakic, Dave Hind and Tor Lukasik-Foss, have appropriated the TH&B moniker as both a collective name for their self-generated projects and a distinct regional marker for a large invitational warehouse exhibition planned for fall 2007.

Collectively, and in partnership with a range of associates, the artists have participated in and taken ownership of a number of exhibition projects including: Exile on James Street (Former Bank of Montreal, Hamilton, 1997, 1998, 1999), Foreword (Grimsby Public Art Gallery, 2004), Group of Seven Revisited (Cambridge Galleries, 2005), Two Degrees of Separation (University of Waterloo Art Gallery, 2005) and most recently The Release (Royal Botanical Gardens, 2005). As part of this extended friendly alliance, each artist develops site-responsive artworks and installations that relate to the context or history of a place using non-traditional materials.

Historically, Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo were rivals in both industry and culture throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. The decline of the TH&B railway in the 1980s is linked to a similar downturn of fortunes in Hamilton, which like Buffalo, was hit hard by the recession of the 90s and the global shift of manufacturing to outside of North America. Eclipsed by Toronto's emergence into the international spotlight, all three cities nonetheless remain connected by their history, proximity, and increasingly a flow of artists, educators and cultural workers from one centre to another. With the continuing expansion of the GTA, artists are increasingly looking beyond Toronto for employment, available studio spaces and affordable real estate. This positions Hamilton as an increasingly viable place for artists to live and work.