50 years of Toronto illustration being celebrated by exhibit at John B. Aird gallery

Readers of this blog know I have a soft spot for  illustration, particularly for magazines. So it's a pleasure to see that an exhibition The Museum of the Street: 50 Years of Toronto Illustration is being mounted at the John B. Aird Gallery January 12 - February 5. The opening reception is Thursday, January 14, 6-8 p.m.

The show features many well-known artists whose illustration work appeared and appears in Toronto-based and national magazines. I was fortunate to be editor of The City magazine (Toronto Sunday Star), a weekly that was art directed by Louis Fishauf (and, before him, Rob Melbourne) and which for a time commissioned a lot of spot and feature illustrations. Among them: Mike Constable, Sandra Dionisi, Blair Drawson, James Hill, Roger Hill, Jerzy Kolacz, Anita Kunz. (The year I was president of the National Magazine Awards, the poster was done by Blair Drawson.) 

Curators of the show are Bill Grigsby (whose firm Reactor Art + Design is agent for many great illustrators, including many in the show) and artist and illustrator Gail Geltner.