Toronto Trip

Diamond Kyle

7 days ago

6 min read

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SATURDAY EVENING POST

October 31st, 2026

By Diamond Kyle

Written with time, thought, and a human pulse.

Toronto has a way of making Canada feel rather small. Over the past few days, we have moved from people’s homes to studios and warehouses, from coffees to dinners and the fair, with almost every hour spoken for and familiar names turning up in unexpected conversations. A person mentioned over coffee reappears in someone else’s story, and what seemed like separate circles begin to overlap. The days have been long and full, and I am writing this with a rather tired head and a great deal to be grateful for. What I hope comes from all this activity is the chance to put our minds together, to discover where one person’s idea might meet another’s experience, and to help something worthwhile take shape. For a country that keeps us so far apart geographically, it is a pleasure to find ourselves this closely connected.

There was much to look forward to for this trip. We had changed our flights to arrive in time for Wanda Koop’s unveiling, and I was very glad we did. I have admired her paintings for years, although until this week we had never met, and there is a particular excitement in finally meeting someone whose work has already occupied so much of your attention. The occasion was the unveiling of ARC, her new permanent commission for Commerce Court West, the I. M. Pei building at 199 Bay Street, where QuadReal has led the lobby’s redesign. It is a magnificent setting for her work, and the chance to celebrate it with her made a very happy beginning to our visit.

Across its five panels, the work renders a passage through the changing light over a lake, from the pale brightness of day towards dusk and the deep blue of night. Wanda says it is inspired by Lake Ontario, and of how completely a familiar body of water can change as the light moves across it. An orange sun hangs above the horizon in the central painting, with a slender reflection below, while the surrounding panels seem to hold different hours in their colours. I am drawn to that relationship between stillness and passing time: the water appears quiet, yet the changing colour carries us through a day. There is something quietly moving about giving so much attention to an experience as familiar and as inexhaustible as watching the light over water and the light of the day.

Abstract wall art in a gray gallery hall: a blue seascape with an orange sun, flanked by colorful vertical panels under ceiling lights

Two women speak at a podium in a modern lobby with abstract wall art and tall windows, looking engaged and upbeat.

Three smiling adults pose in a modern lobby with abstract wall art and flowers.

Afterwards, Steve Smart took us to see some of the public artworks nearby. There is such pleasure in seeing a city with a friend who knows where to take you, particularly when the discoveries include the work of another dear friend. At CIBC Square, 141 Bay Street, Landon Mackenzie’s new commission fills the lobbies and sky lobby with luminous colour. Her imagery has been translated into illuminated glass, with large circles suspended among innumerable smaller marks, so that the painting seems to have become part of the light of the building.

I was delighted to see Landon’s work on this scale, taking its place so confidently in the city where she grew up. We know her as a wonderful painter and a dear friend, and also as someone whose influence extends through the many artists she has taught and encouraged over the years.

Tall abstract mural in a modern lobby, filled with colorful dots and six large red circles, flanked by smaller paintings.

Man with backpack walks through a sleek lobby past turnstiles, looking at his phone, with a bright pink dotted mural ahead.

Modern lobby with turnstiles and a tall colorful abstract mural of red, white, and green circles in a sleek hallway

As we continued looking, I found myself wishing we spoke more often about what good corporate collections contribute to the pleasure of a city. There is real patronage in giving artists the means to make something ambitious, and real generosity in placing it where a person can come upon it in the middle of an ordinary day. I like the thought of someone developing an attachment to a painting simply because it has become part of their daily route, long before they think to learn the artist’s name.

Modern lobby with four colorful abstract wall panels above black lounge chairs and a glass table, under soft ceiling lights.

Abstract geometric framed prints with colorful shapes on a dark gallery wall, including a small label below.

Abstract colorful painting of overlapping boats and buildings on a canvas laid on a stone gallery floor.

Abstract colorful geometric painting on a stone gallery wall, with TÉTRAULT text at bottom left.

Abstract multicolor wall painting in a lobby, with three potted purple orchids on a white ledge beneath it.

Abstract yellow-red mural with blue shapes and faint figures on a museum wall under rows of ceiling lights.

With our Wayne Ngan exhibition approaching, it was a particularly good moment to visit the Gardiner Museum. Its ground floor reopened last November after a substantial transformation, bringing renewed collection galleries, a dedicated gallery of Indigenous ceramics and more space for making and learning. A museum devoted to clay can encompass an astonishing amount of human life, and the Gardiner makes that breadth a pleasure to discover. The visit left me with the familiar feeling that the more time one spends with ceramics, the more there is to become curious about.

Visitor photographs pottery displays in a bright modern museum gallery with glass cases, benches, and wall text.

Modern museum gallery with glass display cases of pottery and plates under a striped ceiling, empty and quiet.

Upstairs, After the Island: Caribbean Canadian Ceramics brings together PJ Anderson, Eddy Firmin, Manuel Mathieu and Sharon Norwood, whose works consider the histories and experiences carried between the Caribbean and Canada. The exhibition, curated by Joséphine Denis and Sequoia Miller, gave me much to think about in relation to something we so often celebrate in ceramics: the presence of the maker’s hand. Norwood’s installation includes historic bricks made by enslaved people, some still bearing impressions of hands and fingers. In that context, a trace of touch carries the weight of labour and of lives that were denied the freedom we associate with artistic expression. Alongside the bodily forms and immersive installations elsewhere in the exhibition, these objects complicate our understanding of what clay can preserve, and whose histories become visible through it.

Museum gallery with abstract sculptures: a torn beige fabric installation beside black pedestal pieces under bright track lights.

Gallery wall installation of hanging teardrop lights and black wires on a white wall over a wooden floor, minimalist and quiet

Translucent face-shaped pendant hangs from a white platform with wires and electronics; blurred matching forms in the background.

Museum display of a bundled-up mannequin in a wooden boat, straw hair and yellow boots, before a vintage world map.

I had a more personal moment of delight in the permanent collection, where I found Susan Collett’s work displayed directly above a work by Magdalene Odundo. We are so proud to work with Susan, and I was very happy to discover her in such excellent company. Around that encounter were all the other pleasures of the collection: the remarkable range of histories and cultures, the humour that finds its way into an object, the different ambitions people have brought to this wonderfully accommodating material. What I loved was the feeling that everything had been attended to, that the works were cared for and their relationships considered. There is affection as well as knowledge in a museum like this, and I think a visitor can feel it.

Abstract ceramic sculptures in a glass museum display, including white, red, and blue forms; labels read Geographies: Japan.

Three textured ceramic vessels in beige and black sit on clear pedestals against a white gallery wall.

Museum display of porcelain art pieces, with sign reading Porcelain in Canada Today and teapots, bowls, and sculptural ceramics.

Museum display of quirky ceramic animal and human sculptures on white pedestals, with Bodies sign in a glass case.

Painted architectural model on a glass shelf in a museum, with blue and beige blocks and a label reading Gardiner Museum

Museum display of ornate porcelain and fruit on a long table beneath a white chandelier; a man stands watching in the dim gallery.

Museum display of four abstract ceramic sculptures—black, mottled, and red—behind glass on white shelves, with artist labels below.

Art Toronto has become an annual meeting place for so many of us, whether we arrive with a booth or come to see what everyone else has brought. It is an opportunity to do business, of course, and also to discover what might become possible when people who usually work at a distance have time together. We sat in the lounge with people we had long wanted to meet, and I was reminded how much can begin with an introduction and a willingness to exchange ideas. A conversation might eventually lead to an exhibition, a collaboration or a connection that helps an artist’s work reach someone new. I hope we make the most of those possibilities, and of the chance to help one another along. In between, there was a great deal of art to enjoy.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Marc Mayer, whose distinguished career as a curator and museum director has included leading the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. He is also a fellow writer, and his Substack, EKPHRASIS, is devoted to essays on art and ideas. As someone who sits down each week to write about art, I appreciate the time and thought he commits to it, because a piece of writing arriving neatly in an inbox rarely reveals how much of the week has gone into it. It is a pleasure to send readers towards another person who is committed to keeping this conversation going.

Three people browse a white-walled art booth at a gallery fair, with colorful paintings, sculptures, and bright overhead lights.

Framed abstract moon artwork in blue, orange and white on a gallery wall; label reads Patterson Ewen, Moon.

Art gallery corner with two abstract paintings, one dark and one textured with faces, beside a table with papers and orange flowers.

Three visitors view Edward Burtynsky: The Vault Collection photos in a gallery, under bright lights, with large landscape prints.

Art gallery corner with three framed photos of quarry and industrial scenes under spotlights on white walls

Visitors chat in a bright modern art gallery with abstract colorful paintings on white walls and a high glass ceiling.

Art gallery wall with abstract paintings: orange lava-like stream, blue speckled canvas, and two small pink works.

Framed abstract forest painting with red tree trunks on a white gallery wall; label reads Sky Glabush, The Pine Forest.

Two textured abstract paintings on a white gallery wall: one chaotic in yellow, black and red; one with colorful concentric circles.

Gallery wall with a large black-and-white painting of a tree-lined road, plus small framed photos on the right.

Man studies large abstract paintings in a white gallery, with red and bird-filled canvases and a small machine on the floor.

Visitors stand in a modern art gallery beside a dark painting with a red moon-like circle and pastel abstract canvases.

Red geometric wall sculpture and yellow coiled hanging sculpture in a white gallery corner, casting sharp shadows.

Art fair visitors chat in a bright gallery with abstract paintings, track lights, and an exposed ceiling.

People mingle at an art fair with white booths, hanging lights, and yellow sofas on a patterned rug under a high industrial ceiling.

Three framed artworks hang on a white gallery wall: two colorful abstracts and a central sketch of a utility pole with wires.

Visitors browse modern art and sculptures in a bright gallery with a high glass ceiling and white walls.

Three people talk in a bright art gallery beside large abstract framed paintings under track lights.

Art gallery corner with four wall-mounted abstract paintings, including a large patchwork face, under bright skylight.

People browse abstract paintings in a bright gallery, including a large orange-red canvas and a vivid multicolor landscape.

Three smiling adults pose in a gallery before four blue abstract panels; a badge reads Art Toronto.

Two abstract paintings hang on a white gallery wall: a red-orange geometric canvas beside a blue one, with chairs below.

Large abstract multicolored mural in a gallery, with rippling layered arcs and a mostly white upper field beneath ceiling lights.

Art gallery with a large abstract multicolored painting on a white wall under track lights, flanked by smaller works.

Art gallery with large abstract pixelated painting, pink floral piece, and a man peeking from behind a white wall.

Two men stand in a gallery viewing abstract framed paintings, including bold red-blue panels and a portrait-like collage on white walls.

Three abstract mixed-media panels of colorful totem-like figures in a gallery, with a man in a hat at left.

Some of the happiest parts of the week have been the visits that allowed us a little more time together: a studio visit with Edward Burtynsky that allowed for an opportunity to reunite with his entire team, time with Harry and Ann Malcolmson, and dinner with Roald Nasgaard and Lori Walters, who have become very much our honorary family. It is difficult to write about these occasions without simply saying how much we love seeing everyone. There are people whose company leaves you with more to think about and whose friendship makes you feel very fortunate, and we have had the pleasure of spending time with several of them this week.

We owe a particularly warm thank-you to Steve and his husband, Juan Pablo, who have welcomed us into their home with extraordinary generosity. Waking up surrounded by their art has been such a special pleasure, and there is something about being welcomed to breakfast that makes you feel immediately at home. Steve has shared so much of the city and its art with us, while the kindness of both our hosts has made the whole visit feel wonderfully easy. It has been an honour to be their guests, and a joy to find a home away from home in Toronto. I really could not ask for more.

We have been blessed with lovely autumn weather, too, which has added considerably to the pleasure of being here. I think what has made these days so happy is how naturally the art and the friendships belong together: the excitement of meeting an artist I have long admired, the delight of finding a friend’s work in a new setting, the chance to spend an evening with people we see far too seldom. Art has given us many reasons to travel, and over time it has also given us people to travel towards. This week, we have felt very lucky in both.