Canvas tents filled Nathan Phillips Square as crowds strolled past rows of paintings, sculptures and handmade goods. At this year’s Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2025, artists brought personal stories and creative resilience to what has become more than just an art market — it’s a Toronto art event and city tradition.
The annual fair features more than 400 Canadian and international, connecting creators from photography, ceramics, mixed media, and fine art with hundreds of visitors, admirers and potential buyers.
Among them was Toronto-based artist Yaw Tony, who has a formal education in architecture, graphic design and fine art. His vibrant scarves are more than wearable fashion — they’re vehicles for storytelling.
“So I like to use animals to represent the characters of human beings,” Tony said.
His process begins with hand sketches that are digitized and printed on fabric. One scarf features two birds connected by a rubber band, balancing on a platform suspended above a single wheel — an image Tony says represents the complexity of human relationships.
“There are two different birds that are trying to be in a relationship. Sometimes they work, sometimes they clash”. For a relationship to work, there has to be some level of understanding,” he said.
However, creating meaningful art doesn’t always translate into financial stability, making a career in the arts both uncertain and challenging.
Tony notes that art becomes much harder to appreciate without an understanding it as a two-way conversation between the artist and society. “Only a few people can understand that concept,” he said.
For Peter Colbert, another artist at the fair, the challenge isn’t just being understood — it’s getting started.
“When you’re starting, you get intimidated by the canvas and a bunch of paint. You have to start small. Just take baby steps and build up from there,” he said.
Colbert attended Humber College for advertising before receiving a scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, eventually working as an illustrator.
“When I worked commercially, it wasn’t that inspiring. It was only when I got back into fine art where I had full freedom to explore this world of paint and drawing, and to express myself as succinctly as I could,” he said.
Colbert uses acrylic paints with palette knives, rollers and brushes to create layered works.
“I like to create paintings that give emotional healing and appeal to me on a personal level. I like to capture that one brief instant that captures the most from a scene,” he said.
For others, art commemorates family and the past. References to Gerald Odwari’s childhood appear throughout his artwork.
In one of the paintings featured in his booth, Musana exercise notebooks are sprawled out behind a smiling child. “It’s a type of book we used back home in Uganda. It’s the first book the government produced. It reminds me of back home,” he said.
Odwari, a Ugandan artist now living in Toronto, creates sculptures and paintings from recycled paper. He recounted collecting paper at the local market with his grandmother as a child, using it as writing material — an experience that now inspires his practice.
Despite his deep fondness for his country of origin, he has found a welcoming community in Toronto. Odwari says Torontonians are often curious about how he reuses materials to create something new. “The people in Toronto love art. They love what I do,” he said. The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2025 continues to be a launchpad for new voices and a celebration of creative expression in the city’s downtown core.
