artist Archives - Womens Post

What's Hot July 26, 2017

Woman of the Week: Margaret Zeidler

Margaret Zeidler is one of the biggest Jane Jacobs fans you will meet. In fact, she attributes much of her success and innovation to the urbanist’s theories.

While Zeidler has studied much of Jacobs’ work, it was two sentences in the chapter “The Need for Aged Buildings” of The Death and Life of Great American Cities that inspired the creation of a company called Urbanspace and 401 Richmond, an urban community for artists and entrepreneurs.

“Old ideas can use new buildings, but new ideas need old buildings,” she said. “It was a waking up for me – you can’t solve everything with architecture and maybe you shouldn’t try to do that. These things that seem like they need to be fixed or torn down actually have a purpose in the economy to the city. That’s what 401 Richmond is all about”

Zeidler found and bought the industrial building complex in 1994 at a time when property prices were at an all time low. In 18 months, Zeidler led a team that transformed the warehouse into a vibrant workplace that housed a number of tenants with art and culture backgrounds, most hoping to kick start their careers in Toronto. The buildings have since been designated a heritage site.

401 Richmond now houses 140 tenants, all artists, entrepreneurs, or heads of social enterprises that are using spaces to launch their non-profits or startups. There are 12 galleries showcasing art of all kinds, a dance school, a roof garden, and Studio 123, an early learning centre. Each aspect of 401 Richmond works together to create a sustainable community and inspire ideas.

401 Richmond also has what’s called a career launcher studio, which is given to a graduating art student for a year to start their practice. All of these things together create a diverse community where artists and dreamers could thrive.

“I love it. It’s gorgeous,” Zeidler said of 401 Richmond. “It has almost 1000 windows in it – wood and metal, beautiful old fashioned windows. We are constantly doing renovations or adding new tenants that we think will be interesting. It’s a wonderful place to be and work. You run into all kinds of fabulous people.”

Zeidler expanded the idea through UrbanSpace by purchasing a new warehouse further down Spadina to be used as a co-working space for non-profits and startups. This led to a co-founded space called the Centre for Social Innovation, a shared workspace for over 170 nonprofits, social enterprises, activists, and artists.

“We talked to a bunch of young people working out of their basement,” Zeidler said. “They wanted to be in a community and talk to people and work physically in a space with people doing similar work.”

These urban communities, specifically 401 Richmond, is currently facing it’s own set of troubles. The space was hit with a property assessment that doubled the buildings’ tax bill. These same taxes are set to jump by another 21 per cent, making it difficult for Urban Space to continue and provide below-average rent costs for tenants — a staple of the entire 401 Richmond concept.

The issue is still being worked out, with the City of Toronto actively pushing for an exemption using a provision classified as “community benefit.”

“There are reasons why it’s useful to have inexpensive and mixed space within a core, especially when it’s rapidly gentrifying,” Zeidler said. “It’s about invention and new ideas.”

Zeidler will not be deterred. She spends as much of her free time at 401 Richmond as she can and remains active in the management of the community. “People are said to feel welcome. Diverse and happy place. We spend a ton of our lives working and it would be so nice to work on something you love but also in an environment you love.”

Zeidler is currently reading Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter L. Laurence.

Do you enjoy these profiles? Subscribe to our e-newsletter to have them delivered right to your inbox!

What's Hot February 15, 2017

Woman of the Week: Maggie Habieda

Maggie Habieda has only one goal — to make her clients feel beautiful, like the “queens and kings of old.”

Habieda built Fotografia Boutique Inc., a photography studio that specializes in portraits, about six years ago during a time when photography studios were shutting down. It was one of her biggest challenges, but that didn’t deter her. Habieda isn’t the type of person to simply give up on a dream. With a certain amount of grace and charm, she fights, learns, and persists. She graduated with a Masters in Communication and Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design, but that didn’t include a lot of practical business experience, so she went to the library and took out every book she could find on finance and entrepreneurship. Six months later, she hosted her grand opening.

Habieda came to Canada from Poland at the age of 16. She knew she had the soul of an artist, but couldn’t get into any art schools in her home country. She decided to move to a foreign country — Canada — despite the fact she didn’t know the national language, and proceeded to be accepted into art schools with a number of scholarships.

In college, Habieda painted and drew women – most of them as princesses. Eventually, she discovered a passion for photography and started her professional journey as a wedding photographer, capturing women on the happiest days of their lives. This type of photography changed how she viewed the term “princess.” She started to believe that every woman is a princess, and that’s something she wanted reflected in her work.

“I shifted away from weddings, I wanted my own environment where I could greet people and the whole place to be for them, to feel better for them. Where they could get their hair and makeup done and change clothes where no one is watching. Create their own world where they feel and look beautiful and walk away with something timeless.”

What makes Habieda’s portraits so unique is her classic style, something she says she developed over the years to combat the “overdone” selfie craze. Her photographs are textured so that they don’t quite look like the traditional pictures you may keep on your phone. Instead, they look like classic paintings or drawings, something you may find in an old castle rather than a 21^st century living room.

“In today’s world, everyone has a camera – there is sea of photographers taking photos and as soon as they are taken they are forgotten. I bring back the classics,” she says. “When I edit, I like it to be creative. I add textures, adding little elements, something that makes it more illustrative than just a photo itself.”

Habieda’s creativity and ability to focus on true beauty, rather than just point-and-shoot with a camera, is what separates her from others in the industry. She has been able to connect with high-profile celebrities, politicians, and community leaders, which has led to a very successful and thriving business. She has won a number of prestigious awards for her work, including the Tiboor Horvath Award of Excellence, Wedding Portrait Best in Class, and Certified Glamour Photographer from the Professional Photographers of Canada.

And yet, she still hasn’t lost touch with her true vision — to capture, and inspire, beauty in others.

“Every day, I transform people’s lives. I spend time hearing people, their life stories. This is beyond capturing a portrait — its capturing people’s souls from the inside, how the world should see them.”

When she isn’t working in the studio, Habieda runs an annual concert called Colours of Love, which brings together six international artists to celebrate love, diversity, and the performing arts. This will be the third year Habieda organizes the concert, held at the Mississauga Life Centre, and hopes this year will be just as successful.

“Music is the universal language. I want to give and spread love with this world.”

To see more of Habieda’s portfolio, visit her website at fotografiaboutique.ca.

What's Hot January 11, 2015

Wowie Cowie

By Kevin Somers

We were visiting a cottage on a Muskoka island earlier this summer and between the ideal setting and toys that float, it was picture perfect. Inside, large windows provided spectacular views from every glance, but amidst nature’s best, an oil painting by Ellen Cowie stood out. It is a commissioned piece of canoes on the dock, with the lake and a neighbouring island in the background. The sun is twinkling off rippling water and tranquility emanates from the canvas. There’s a photographical precision to the piece, yet a surreal richness that couldn’t have come from a camera. All the guests stopped to admire the work and agreed it was something special.

I had tea with Ellen recently and she’s as lively as her paintings. “Family is everything to me,” she said. Indeed, the second youngest of 10 children, Ellen and husband, Brian, married for 25 years have 6 kids of their own, between 23 and 14. “They’re all wonderful people,” she said of the extended clan.

Ellen has paint in her veins: her mother’s mother worked in oil and her father’s brother was a gifted sketch artist. Grandmother, Rose McGuire, raised 10 kids during the depression and didn’t begin painting until she was in her 60s. Although she began late, Grandmother was talented and prolific. “Her paintings were always around,” Ellen said. “Her style was more towards realism.” Ellen’s uncle, was not a professional artist, but, “He drew and sketched everyday. One of my strongest memories from childhood is him coming on Sunday and sketching with a pencil or a piece of charcoal. In a few seconds, and with 15 lines, he could capture a portrait. He was a truly an amazing artist.”

Cowie has taken something from both, combining the realism of her Grandmother with the startlingly swiftness of her Uncle. “I go straight to work,” she said, “no sketching or measuring, I just start painting with oil.” Although deceased, Ellen’s ancestors speak to her still, “Sometimes when I step back and look at my painting, I hear my uncle say, That’s enough, Ellen, and then my grandmother says, Maybe a little more over here, Dear.”

Because of higher obligations, Ellen has only been painting full time since 2001. “I always knew I would be an artist surrounded by family,” she said, but how she’s arrived at this point is the stuff of legends. “I got married when I was 18. I loved Brian Cowie and wanted to have a family with him.” Brian’s career meant the family has moved 15 times. “There were times when I’d go months without painting,” she said. Laughingly, she explained how her family would force her to go and paint because her withdrawal from creating made her irritable. “I always came back feeling better.”

After misdiagnoses, it was discovered in 2000 that Ellen had severe thyroidosis and her nodal gland was removed. The three years previous, while raising her family with a wonky thyroid, Ellen had also been parking cars at Casino Rama. “I was exhausted all the time. In the hospital, a light came on. I thought, what am I doing?” and she gave up parking for painting.

Brian is Native, so Ellen has full status and received assistance from Kagita Mikam, an organization dedicated to helping First Nations people. “Their financial and moral support really helped me get started and I’m so grateful to them.” Another break came from Ellen’s brother, Jim Donnelly, owner of Foot’s Bay Marina on Lake Joseph in Muskoka. In 2002, he provided Cowie space to take part in the area’s annual studio tour, The Big Art Thing. The show was a success and later that summer Jim asked Ellen to return to the marina because he had a surprise. Jim had converted part of his business into a seasonal gallery. “Go home and paint over the winter and fill the gallery with nice work,” he said.

It was a daunting prospect, but when opportunity knocked, Cowie answered with enthusiasm. Along with her talent and work ethic, the gallery provides Ellen with an ideal location. During the summer, she paints outside the gallery and the public can watch her work. “Wayne Gretzky’s family watched me paint every day for 5 days while they were on vacation,” she said. When a young man commented to Janet Gretzky that Ellen’s painting was like a photograph, Janet, who knows Greatness, replied, “No, it’s better than a photograph.”

Person, place, or thing, Cowie is confident; “If I see it, I can paint it. I’m not afraid of the canvas.” She prefers commissioned work, “It’s challenging. If someone wants me to paint something they are passionate about it, so I have to find inspiration in it too.” You can see that inspiration at www.artincanada.com/ellencowie/. This may be the ancestors talking, but I think Ellen Cowie is going to be BIG.