About the Brain Project
TO CHANGE THE FUTURE OF BRAIN HEALTH
The Brain Project is a Toronto-wide art exhibit created by the Baycrest Foundation to raise awareness and inspire conversations about brain health with Canadians. Proceeds support Baycrest’s world-leading work in brain health and aging care, research and education.
The Brain Project engages artists from across the globe, both established and emerging, to design and create one-of-a-kind sculptures that are displayed throughout the city, and are available for purchase.
This year, The Brain Project will focus on one key driver in maintaining brain health and support in delaying the impacts of dementia: physical fitness.
Research affirms that physical fitness helps reduce brain aging, increases blood flow to the brain and decreases the risk of dementia as you get older.
By exercising regularly, an individual can take up to 5 years off their aging brain health. Studies show that adults should aim to get 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise.
The Brain Project will reinforce this message with fitness-themed one-of-a-kind pieces of art displayed across the city, consisting of hockey helmets and bike helmets in addition to the well-known brain-shaped sculptures.
Learn more about Baycrest and the impact of funds raised through The Brain Project.
Alex Garant
Curator
Internationally renown for her optical figurative style, Alex Garant studied visual arts at Notre-Dame–De-Foy College just outside Quebec City. As a pioneer of Contemporary Figurative Op Art, her oil paintings offer a graphic quality combined with traditional portrait techniques. Garant establishes herself as one of the leaders of analogue Glitch Art. Represented by galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Australia, her works have also been shown in several museums including the Museum of Art and History (MOAH) in California, the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona, the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii and the Fullerton Museum Center in California. She has been featured in Hi-fructose, Juxtapoz, Beautiful Bizarre, the American Art Collector magazine and on multiple online platforms including VICE, Huffington Post, Buzznet and many more. She currently works & live in Toronto.
Yvonne Monestier
Curator
Yvonne Monestier is a Toronto-based art advisor and public art curator at the City of Mississauga, where she seeks to enhance the city’s profile as a growing cultural destination in the celebration of the arts. As a passionate arts practitioner, Yvonne’s expertise is in curatorial studies, project management, urban design and cultural planning. Yvonne holds a Masters in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute, New York and is a long-standing member of the Creative City Network of Canada (CCNC) Public Art Network.
Jim Hake
Curator
Jim Hake received his BFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and his MA from California State University in 1994. He also holds a MFA in sculpture from the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, Indiana University.
After graduation, Hake moved to Turin, Italy. Although his work is dominated by clay and porcelain, Hale works with a variety of materials including wood, metal, plaster, glass, recycled and found materials. Before moving to Toronto in 2008, Hake’s work was shown extensively throughout Europe, including Milan, Bologna, Venice, Lugano, Stockholm, and London.
Since then, Hake has mounted 6 solo exhibitions throughout Ontario and his work has been exhibited with the Gardiner Museum, The Canadian Clay and Glass Museum and the Bata Shoe Museum. He has representation by Y:art Gallery in Baltimore, Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto, Sivarulrasa Gallery in Almonte, and Areacreativa 42 in Rivarolo Canavese (Torino, Italy). Jim Hake is currently an Art Instructor at the Art Gallery Of Ontario.
Fay Ringle
Curator
Yifat (Fay) Ringel is an art consultant, curator and architect and the co-founder of Zebra Public Art Mgmt., an art consulting firm specializing in planning, commissioning and curating public art.
Born in Holon, Israel, she received her degree in architecture from Tel Aviv University, and worked in an architectural firm specializing in public buildings and urban design. In 2009 she moved to Toronto, where she first worked as a design manager at one of Canada’s leading real estate management and Development Company. Following this. Yifat started annual public art programs in well-recognized universities across the country such as OCADU, Emily Carr and Concordia. These unique programs offer emerging artists the opportunity to realize a public artwork; in the last ten years Yifat has been spearheading the process, working with artists from conception to implementation.
In 2014 she co-founded Zebra Public Art Mgmt., where she continues her mission of exposing art to the public and exploring the vital role that public art plays in city building. With an extensive experience, she realized over 30 public art installations across Canada and planned, curated and launched art festivals, exhibitions and other special projects.