GALLERY EXHIBITIONS @ RIVERDALE hub
The Riverdale Hub houses three gallery spaces, located on the first, second, and third floors of the community center building. The Riverdale Hub Gallery is dedicated to employing the transformative power of art to engage Toronto’s east-end community, connect with other communities across the city, and provide a platform for local, national, and global conversations.
Woman Life Freedom
Exhibition:
May 25th – June 24th, 2023
Riverdale Gallery, 1st Floor
Artist Talk, with Anna Kavehmehr
Saturday June 3rd, 2023
2:00pm to 4:00pm
More details >
Anna Kavehmehr is an Iranian-Canadian Artist and Illustrator based in Toronto. She moved to Canada 10 years ago in hopes of pursuing a career in art. Growing up in Iran as a teenage girl and later on as a woman, she never experienced freedom of speech, freedom to create art or to present herself how she wanted. Art became the outlet for Anna to do this and express the inner voices in her that weren’t allowed to be seen.
After the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and the start of the Woman, Life, Movement in September of 2022 in Iran, Anna started creating protest art in support of the movement and to raise awareness on the situation in Iran. The protests soon turned into an anti-government movement which was lead by girls and women in Iran, taking off or burning their mandatory veils and going to the streets, riding bikes, dancing in public and speaking truth to power, along with other civil disobedience acts.
The movement has been described as the first ever female-led movement in the world, and soon after got the support of the women in Afghanistan and all over the world.
This series of works highlights major events during the movements, the lives that were lost and portraits of political prisoners that are still fighting for freedom.
Pictured: Anna Kavhmehr, Zan, digital painting, 2023.
Love’s Surreal Garden
Exhibition:
May 27th – June 29th
3rd Floor Gallery at the Riverdale Hub
Meet the artist and watch her complete her latest painting:
June 17th at 2 – 4 pm
More details >
Step into Natalie Plociennik’s enchanting world, where love, nature, and imagination intertwine. Inspired by the beauty of the natural world, Natalie’s artwork reveals the connections that exist between all living things.
Explore vibrant and dream-like landscapes that transport you to a place of peace and wonder. In these paintings, you’ll discover hidden messages about personal identity, the importance of love, and the need to protect our planet.
Natalie’s art invites us to think beyond ourselves and embrace the power of genuine connections. Her captivating images remind us to look beyond screens and find unity in our shared experiences.
“Love’s Surreal Garden” celebrates the strength of nature, the magic of love, and the importance of human connections. Join us at the Riverdale Hub and embark on a journey through Natalie Plociennik’s extraordinary art. Discover how love and nature can inspire us and find your own place in this interconnected world.
Pictured: Natalie Plociennik, Utopia, acrylic on canvas, 2022.
Past Exhibitions @ RIVERDALE hub
Since opening, the Riverdale Hub Gallery has hosted a variety of artistic and cultural projects, ranging from community art exhibitions featuring local artists, to participating in major arts initiatives such as Contact Photography Festival, Doors Open, and Culture Days. View an archive of some of these past exhibitions here.
Collective Momentum, March – May, 2023
(Multiple artists, multi-media exhibition)
Hayley Chiu, Summer heat, 2021
Artist Website >
stitching you into shape, Jan – Feb, 2023
(Multiple artists, Textile exibition)
Zainab Hussain, Is It Not Enough?…, 2022
Artist Website >
Bridge Obscura: Healing Bonds, Nov-Dec 2022
Shahrzad Amin, Healing Bonds, 2022
Artist Website >
Footwear, Nov 2022
Amanda Lederle, You Drive Me Crazy
Artist Website >
Creole, Oct 2022
Tessa Alexander, Creole #16
Artist Website >
Gillian Toliver Exhibition, Aug 2022
Gillian Toliver, Tell My Skin I’m Here
Artist Website >
Odds and Ends, Aug 2022
Stephanie Ionita, Odds and Ends Untitled No. 1
Artist Website >
A Facade of Beauty and Integrated Fear, July 2022
Tazeen Qayyum, Test on a Small Area Before Use
Artist Website >
Perpetually Me June 2022
Nicole Helena, Laurentides Au Petit Matin
Artist Website >
Breakout, June 2022
Alkarim Jadavji, Kyla
Artist Website >
(DVSSS) Beyond the Screens: Art & Art
History Grad Show, May 2022
Dania Sabri, Safaq
Live with Love, May 2022
Amanda Pistillo, Cicely Tyson
Artist Website >
Mind Waves, April 2022
Fong Ki Wan, We Can Make It
Artist Website >
Intricacies of the Gaze, April 2022 | Khadijah
Morley & eva birhanu, Just Like Your Mother
Artist Website >
Reverie, March 2022 | Lida Shanehchiyan,
Farewell My Bird of Paradise
Artist Website >
Vibrant Calm, Dec 2
Parth Upadhye, Vibrant Calm X
Artist Website >
Unfamiliar Resemblance, Dec 2021
Devon Pryce, Remedy
Member’s Website >
Karishma Pranjivan: Solo Show, Oct 2021
Karishma Pranjivan, School Girls
Artist Website >
realms where they breathe deeply, Aug 2021
kaja joan, reside deeply with me dear
Artist Website >
this house, made and mended by unbelonging
hands, June 2021 | Curatorial Project
Cleopatria Peterson, Binder Zines
Stitching You Into the Seams, June 2021
Gillian Toliver, To Gather, Hold and Collect Self
Artist Website >
Mystery Painting (Mayachitram), 2017
Paul Hogan, Omayma, the question
Artist Website >
Living Mosaic, A Cartography of Origins
and Settlement, 2017
Curated Group Exhibition
Tophilia, 2016
Various Community Artists
Curated Group Exhibition
Ontario Plein Air Society, 2016
Various Community Artists
Member’s Website >
