Seeds to Sow

The City of Barrie, with support from the Barrie Public Art Committee (BPAC), is embarking on a temporary exhibition of public art that will be hosted from September 27 to November 8, 2024.

Barrie’s exhibition, Seeds to Sow, will feature six installations of site-specific artwork that will change Barrie's landscape. These displays will complement the already rich public art scene featured throughout the downtown core and within other neighbourhoods.

The act of planting a seed is a powerful symbol of hope and potential. It connects us to ongoing cycles of seasonality, an inheritance from our past and an intention for the future. In the Fall of 2024, artists will create work that responds to sites around the city, drawing on local ecologies, history, and stories.

The goal of this exhibition is to provide new opportunities for artists to create unique works of art that will revitalize Barrie’s public spaces, spark meaningful conversations within the community and promote cultural awareness.

Project Timeline

Dates are subject to change at the sole discretion of the City.
Milestone	Date
Competition announcement and circulation	December 20, 2023
Deadline for Submission of Design	January 31, 2024
Review of submissions and selection of artists/artist teams	February, 2024
Selected artists notified	Mid-February, 2024
Artist Agreement submitted and implemented	March 1, 2024
Artwork installation	September 21–26, 2024
Artwork de-installation	November 9–13, 2024

Seeking Sponsor Support

The City is seeking sponsors to help bring the Seeds to Sow exhibition to life. Interested organizations are encouraged to contact Carol-Ann Ryan at Carol-Ann.Ryan@barrie.ca
or 705-739-4220 x5293 to discuss opportunities.

The Seeds to Sow exhibition will be a moment of inclusion, of kinships new and old, and of deep reflection for our city. It will be a bold and thoughtful exhibition that explores pressing issues and seeks to present new visions for our future from a diversity of voices. Contemporary public art at this scale will elevate Barrie’s role as an arts and culture destination, enhance the experience of Barrie’s outdoor spaces, and drive interest and positive engagement from citizens and visitors to Barrie. It will help put Barrie on the map, contributing to talent attraction and retention and economic buoyancy, and cultivate a strong community in support of the arts.

Let’s create a free invitation to experience art together.

Sites & Artists Selection

An expansive outdoor exhibition of temporary art requires many hands to bring it to life. Barrie’s Public Art Coordinator, Carol-Ann Ryan, will serve as Artistic Director and will collaborate with independent curator, Katie Lawson, to identify six sites for exhibition and six artists or artist teams.

Selected sites will include locations throughout Barrie with a focus on downtown Barrie. Two of the installations will feature work from regional artists. Submissions were due January 31, 2024. Regional artists will be selected based on strength of experience creating temporary outdoor art in the public realm, diversity both in terms of art media and representation and inclusion, as well as artistic themes that suit the project aims.

The remaining four installations will feature work from nationally recognized artists. These artists will be identified based on previously executed public artwork and its relevance to the theme and goals of Seeds to Sow.

The artwork will be displayed in the City of Barrie which is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg people, which include the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Pottawatomi Nations collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy. We also acknowledge the Wendat Nation (Huron) who occupied these lands prior to the middle of the 17th century.
Artists will be selected based on strength of experience creating temporary outdoor art in the public realm, diversity both in terms of art media and representation and inclusion, as well as artistic themes that suit the project aims.
Suggested sites for artwork proposals include the plaza at City Hall, Meridian Place, and Sam Cancilla Park, however applicants could choose to indicate an alternative site in Barrie’s downtown and/or along the waterfront. Artists were encouraged to develop work that is site specific and responds to the place in which it will be displayed.
Artwork must be suitable for public display over a duration of six weeks and engage both locals and visitors in our city. Applicants were encouraged to consider a range of possible media including but not limited to eco- and environmental art, sculpture, lens-based media, ephemeral and performance-based projects.
The selection process will be facilitated by the Public Art Coordinator and exhibition Curator, and the selection panel will include members of the Barrie Public Art Committee and Seeds to Sow Stakeholder group. Artists/Artist Teams will be recommended for the temporary artwork commission based on the following criteria:
- Artistic merit, including quality of work, originality, and artistic excellence in the field of contemporary art;
- Artist’s demonstrated ability to meet the artwork goals and technical requirements within the timeline and budget, along with the feasibility of the work itself;
- Appropriateness of proposed concept to the aims of the exhibition.

About Katie Lawson, Project Curator

Katie Lawson is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She was a curator for the Toronto Biennial of Art, working with Candice Hopkins and Tairone Bastien on the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions. She has also curated exhibitions at Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2024); Images Festival, Toronto (2023); MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie (2021); the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2018); the Art Gallery of Ontario (2018); Y+ Contemporary, Scarborough (2017), and RYMD, Reykjavik (2017).

Katie is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies Curatorial program at the University of Toronto, where she previously completed her Master of Arts in Art History. She is currently working towards a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University, with an interest in contemporary art and climate change. Lawson was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023.

Visit Katie's website, katieblawson.com, to learn more.

Community Partners

Funding Provided by: