Kristen Fahrig, artist, teacher, active keeper of the community, died of cancer on November 10, 2017. Please help raise $5,000 to complete her unfinished community project, The Archway.

For 15 years, Kristen poured her vivacious energy into her neighbourhood Toronto park, MacGregor Playground, transforming it from a lackluster patch of overlooked land to a vibrant hub of community, creative expression, and collective gardening.

In the years before her death, Kristen had something else up her sleeve – a magnificent archway to entice passersby through the entrance to the park, forged by local artist blacksmiths, entwined by flowering vines. Unfortunately, The Archway was only partially forged. It was a final hope of Kristen’s that it would one day be completed.

Now the community is working to finish The Archway, to honour the spirit of Kristen and express our gratitude for her work and friendship. To complete The Archway the Centre for Local Research into Public Space (CELOS), local community registered non-profit, is fundraising for materials, blacksmiths, and installation costs.

Help meet this devastating community loss with renewed creative energy and a commitment to Kristen’s legacy!

More about The Archway

The Archway will be a defining feature spanning the walkway at the entrance of MacGregor Playground in the Toronto west end, letting visitors know this little park just might be enchanted.

The arbour was started with funding from the Ontario Arts Council and has been partially forged by a team of blacksmiths led by Master Blacksmith Sandra Dunn of Two Smiths (http://www.twosmiths.ca).

More about Kristen

Kristen Fahrig was a passionate, lifelong and celebrated artist focused on the condition of humankind and the state of the earth. Kristen enjoyed a successful career in theatre costume production & design, while her later work included forged and cast metal sculptures. Kristen also taught what she loved, developing programs for schools in Toronto and surrounding communities.

Kristen's commitment to community was most clearly expressed through her work at MacGregor Playground (a park located at Lansdowne Avenue and College Street in Toronto) and Botanicus Art Ensemble, the non-profit she founded. The MacGregor Park Art Club was formed in 2003 following Kristen's yearlong Artist in Residence, funded by the Toronto Arts Council and supported by Toronto Parks and Recreation in what was, at that time, a deserted and dangerous space. Gradually, the park was rejuvenated as a safe space for all by animating it through art, community gardening, food, festivals, collaboration, and countless other programs and events, with Kristen as the driving force.

The Botanicus Art Ensemble grew out of MacGregor Park Art Club and was incorporated as a not-for-profit community arts organization based out of MacGregor Playground in March of 2015. Botanicus remains focused on supporting diversity and strengthening community through the arts from botanical arts and gardening to music, storytelling, theatre, promenade, puppetry, costume, sculpture and visual art.

 Learn More

Learn more about Kristen and her work at http://www.kristenfahrig.com/.

Read Kristen’s obituary at https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=kristen-fahrig&pid=187340594.

Read “The Heart of MacGregor Park: Kristen Fahrig” by Park People at https://parkpeople.ca/archives/8504

Read statements about Kristen from Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) at https://www.carfacontario.ca/Remembering-Kristen-Fahrig.  

To learn more about Botanicus Art Ensemble visit: http://www.botanicusart.com/

To see photos of Archway forgery in progress, see http://www.ontarioblacksmiths.ca/gallery/macgregor-park-forging-demonstration/.