On Sunday October 27, during Art Toronto, Feheley Fine Arts hosted a champagne brunch as part of the Art Toronto VIP programme. This event was held to celebrate the Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group’s Visiting Artists programme, inaugurated in 2012/2013.   This innovative initiative allows artists from Cape Dorset, Nunavut to travel  to southern Canada for residencies, while southern artists travel to Cape Dorset for a residency in the Kinngait Studios. Toronto artist Ed Pien traveled to Cape Dorset for three weeks in the fall of 2012 and Dorset artist Tim Pitsiulak traveled to Vancouver in spring 2013 to for a residency at the New Leaf printing studios.

The event, attended by over 50 people, was a great success. Senior Curator of the TD Bank Financial Group art collection, Pamela Meredith, provided both background and insight into her experiences in Dorset during the launch of the programme. Ed Pien spoke about his experiences working with the artists in the Kinngait studios. As part of the Cape Dorset residency, Ed was joined by his partner, performance artist Johannes Zits. Together they worked with the local high school art students to create an amazing video involving performance, art and legend entitled Giant Snowy Owl. 

As part of this celebration, Feheley Fine Arts was delighted to announce the release of an innovative collaborative print which resulted from this exciting programme. During his residency, artist Ed Pien created a brush drawing which master printer Qavavau Manumie made into an intricate stonecut print. This stunning print will be sold with the proceeds going to the creation of the new Kinngait Studios which will be part of the soon to be built Dorset Cultural Centre.