It was in May 2020 when a group of artist friends were to be on Toronto Island for an artists' residency. Initially there were thoughts that we could go because we innocently thought that the pandemic was wrapping up. Oh how little we knew then. We even had thoughts that May 2021 could happen. NOPE, still not safe. But now that the vaccine has come and we have all been double dosed, September 27th was named the date to go. BUT with very careful restrictions. No train travel as once planned, we'll drive. We'll get on the island and we'll stay on the island. No museums, no galleries and no visits to friends off the island. Groceries will be delivered and we'll take advantage of the few eating establishments on the island.

While we patiently waited for the residency to become reality, we kept busy meeting on Zoom every couple of weeks. We even came up with a name for our group: 7 Works Collective. Check out our website to see how we kept busy and inspired when we could not meet face to face. 7workscollective.weebly.com

It's only 2 sleeps away and our excitement is growing. We have all our ducks in a row or island geese as it may be normal on Toronto Island. All we need is good weather to make this all worth waiting for. Come back in a couple weeks and I'll share with you what we each accomplished.

A few images from our 2019 Artists' Residency at Artscape Gibraltar.

Please visit the Modern Fuel Gallery in Kingston for the Annual Juried Exhibition called "Where from here?" featuring work by Elham Fatapour, Catherine Gutsche, Posy Legge, Elyse Longair, Tara Lynn MacDougall, María Moreno, Andrew Rabyniuk.

"This body of work depicts my 2020 journey through incomplete lock downs, restricted travel and encounters forbidden." ~ Catherine Gutsche

"Finding My Bubble" (2020), cold wax & oils, 24x18
Early on we were given permissions to choose those we'd include in our close-knit worlds.
 
"The Path We've Been On!" (2020), cold wax & oils, 12x12
The path throughout 2020 had its twists and turns with no one knowing which way to go.
 
"Safely Inside" (2020), cold wax & oils, 11x14 with "One More May Enter" (2020), cold wax & oils, 11x14
Then we finally chose to close the door on others, keeping to ourselves only opening the door only inches to allow others in one at a time.

Where we go from here is anyone's guess.