Historic Toronto/Tkaronto was once built mainly of wood but, after several devastating fires, brick became the building material of choice. By 1912 there were 34 brickyards within the city’s proximity. With modern building developments in the 60s, 70s, and 80s much of the city’s clean demolition waste ended up forming the Leslie Street Spit. It was here that Panya Clark Espinal gathered a variety of bricks.

Material Redistribution – A Collective Endeavour is the second phase of a multi-phase project exploring the use of brick dust to make printing inks. The bricks collected at the Leslie Spit were ground to a fine powder and employed as the pigment in oil-based inks that were rolled onto custom-shaped aluminum plates. Each image required multiple passes through the printing press while retaining consistent levels of moisture in the paper to ensure accurate registration.

For Material Redistribution – A Collective Endeavour four emerging printmakers, Alize Zorlutuna, Amber Williams-King, Nami Ueno, and Leeay Aikawa, were invited to join artist Panya Clark Espinal and master printmaker Laine Groeneweg for four days of collective printmaking. Working together, the collective produced more complex compositions than had been created in the primary phase of the project, and on the final day, each of the participating printmakers was given the opportunity to push the imagery in a direction of their own choice.

As we reformulate our understanding of what sustains the vibrancy of our city, bricks that once signalled settlement and a weighty permanence float in suspension – particulate, transparent, light, and full of possibility.

More information on the event can be found here.