The Openwork Project

Openwork: The gaps and spaces artists inhabit around traditional notions of craft.

Openwork is a funded opportunity from TLAF Collective that will include an inaugural curated exhibition that will take place at The Lost & Found Project Space, Toronto, in 2026. Selected artists and curators will be paid. There are no submission fees; it is free to apply.

For the first call, we are seeking portfolio submissions from artists working with innovative approaches that recontextualize traditional craft practices and ways of making. These portfolio submissions will form a database that curators can use in developing exhibition proposals for our second call.

Select images will be chosen for inclusion in our Handbook for Independent Curators (a public resource we’ll put together for emerging curators, read about it below). In this case, artists will be contacted for their permission and will be paid a CARFAC copyright fee ($50).

The following links will be live on April 21: SUBMISSION GUIDELINES,  SUBMISSION FORM

For the second call, we are seeking exhibition proposals from curators or collectives for group exhibitions of 4-6 artists. We will prioritize curatorial submissions that contribute to diversifying who is represented in contemporary craft and curation, and foreground underrepresented voices and stories.

Interested curators are asked to submit an Expression of Interest Form by Monday June 23, 2025.

We will provide interested curators with access to the Openwork Portfolio Database. In developing their proposals, we encourage curators to contact the artists they are interested in working with. Proposals must include a strong curatorial vision, a rough budget, and an outline for exhibition programming. Community engagement, innovation, and representation of diverse voices are encouraged. International or cross-Canada applicants are welcome. Since our funding is provided by the Ontario Arts Council, at least one Ontario-connected artist or curator must be included in each submission.

Selected exhibitions will be funded. Artists will be paid CARFAC fees. Curators will be paid a curator fee. A small exhibition budget will be provided. CARFAC Professional fees must be paid out of the exhibition budgets for exhibition programming.

The following links will be live on June 2:
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES,  EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM, SUBMISSION FORM

TLAF Collective will compile a Handbook for Independent Curators that provides both advice and practical support for new and independent curators. This resource will include advice from established curators & prominent members of the craft community. This resource will be made public on our website, tlaf.ca.

Topics will include:
Exhibition design, accessibility, promotion, strategies for didactics and labelling, interpreting the exhibition for the public, how to create effective auxiliary programming, how to tour an exhibition and become a guest curator at galleries and institutions.

With permission, 3-5 images selected from the Openwork Portfolio Database will be included as illustrations in the Handbook, with captions, photo credit, and links to the artists’ websites. Selected artists will be paid CARFAC copyright fees for publication of their image. This will be another way in which we’ll connect curators and artists while supporting both artists and emergent curatorial practice.

We’re looking for experimental, sculptural, & cross-disciplinary practices that engage with historically defined craft media and craft-based practices in innovative ways.

We define craft media as including but not limited to:
Clay/ceramics, textile/fibre, glass, woodworking, metalsmithing, papermaking, or any process/material associated historically with the decorative arts, utilitarian object making, and traditional cultural practices.

We are looking for artists and curators who recontextualize traditional ways of making, engage with the historical legacies of these materials and techniques, and explore their contemporary relevance. We are looking for practices that seek to push boundaries and expand the field of contemporary craft. We will prioritize curatorial submissions that contribute to diversifying who is represented in contemporary craft and curation, and foreground underrepresented voices and stories.

Innovation and recontextualization can include:
Reactivation of traditional or Indigenous craft practices, community engagement, performance, combining craft materials and other media, cross-disciplinary or inter-arts artistic practices (e.g. textiles and dance), sculptural installations, video works, sound works, interactive works, non-traditional use of materials (e.g. raw clay as finished work) or non-traditional materials (e.g. textile woven from plastic waste), documentation of transient or ephemeral occurrences.

Please reach out to thelostandfoundto [at] g m a i l [dot] com with any questions.

TLAF Collective is currently Nurielle Stern and Magdolene Dykstra, both practicing artists in experimental craft media.

Jury members will be announced shortly.

Openwork is generously funded by the Ontario Arts Council.

We are seeking sponsors who would like to contribute to expanding the scope of Openwork to include an additional exhibition and further opportunities for community engagement.