FishNet: The Great Lakes Craft and Release
Project is a two-part project comprised of a craft phase and a release
phase, transforms textile fish into real fish.
The heart of the crafting phase centres on 25 Toronto based schools
each building a regionally specific school of textile fish and researching
and sharing information about their species on the FishNet project
web site. The release phase occurs when Harbourfront Centre, acting
(metaphorically) as a fish hatchery, sponsors the 'release' of the
crafted textile fish, an activity which will ultimately underwrite
fish habitat restoration and restocking programs in the Great Lakes.
FishNet is to be presented to the public in a variety of forms including
a project web site, classroom activities, a public exhibition, and
as an invitation to other schools within the Great Lakes bio-region
to undertake similar projects. When complete, the project will have
combined and coalesced the creative talents of approximately 2,000
students, educators, artists and designers for the purposes of exploring
and engaging in the multiple themes of sustainability, collaboration
and activism.
FishNet identifies absence or neglect as the creative basis for
a subtle form of protest art—one that provokes an engaging
solution while strengthening the ties that bind us as a community
living within the Great Lakes bioregion and beyond.
FishNet has received grants from Harbourfront Centre's Fresh Ground
new works and the Ontario Arts Council, Arts Education program.
Additional financial support has been provided by the Toronto District
School Board and Inner City Angels. The project will be exhibited
in the York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre from May 2 to June
22, 2008.
Collaborators: Claire Ironside, Angela
Iarocci, Andrew Hladkyj and others (see FishNet web site for full
list)
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