The vision of three university friends creating Wyrmwell Studios as a supportive environment for community creativity is ending.
Their last exhibit, Earth’s Cultivators, had its final day at the Etobicoke Civic Centre (ECC) on Nov. 27, and it marked the last time the Wyrmwell name will be used.
The studio’s founders, Kima Lenaghan, Shevon Lewis and Kim Ha reflected on the bittersweet feelings the last exhibition brought.
“When we first moved into that studio, Kima (Lenaghan) brought in this candelabra holder and all three of us lit candles to open up our space, and we did the same thing for when we closed our space,” Lewis said.
After everything was cleared out, “Kim, Kima, and I lit candles and reflected in our space and thought about our experience,” she said.
Though the gallery is a chapter closed in the lives of these artists, they remain hopeful that this closure will breed new beginnings.
“It’s natural as artists, as you move through time, your practice changes and your influences change, your spaces change, and that’s just part of what it is to evolve,” Lenaghan said.
Wyrmwell’s art studio was first opened in September 2021. Fellow artists Amy Thomson and Misbah Ahmed later joined the studio’s collective.
Originally started as a space for the artists to share ideas and hang out as friends, the space eventually turned into a community hub for artists around Toronto to showcase their art and join life drawing sessions where a model would stand in the centre of the room while the artists drew.
Patrons of Wyrmwell would contribute through a ‘pay what you can’ system.
“They came in with a big bag of rice one time,” Thomson said.
Community members of all ages participated in the weekly sessions, although a huge following came from OCAD art professors Lewis, Ahmed and Lenaghan’s students.
Lewis said when naming Wyrmwell, he was adamant to have ‘well’ in the name to signify the small community they would build among friends.
“Making sure that the well is not cluttered or dirty or poisoned, and the buckets to pull from the well are available,” Lewis said. “Cause everyone comes to the well to pull water.”
Wyrm, on the other hand, conveys a mythical creature that Kima and Kim considered their small group to be, Lewis said.
“I work in hospitality. It’s a very transnational situation. What I got to do with Wyrmwell was so much more,” Ha said.
Wyrmwell art studio officially closed in September 2024, but the exhibition was scheduled before the dissolution, and after more than a year, the Earth’s Cultivators exhibit came to fruition.
Thomson said she initially set up the exhibition to help with Wyrmwell Studios' funding.
Ahmed also signed up for grants through the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) to no avail, she said. TAC had an average application success rate of 38.2 per cent during Wyrmwell’s lifespan.
Thomson said she had high hopes for the ECC gallery after their TAC efforts fell through to deliver prosperity to the studio wherever it could.
“I thought the ECC might not be a grant, but it might help with exposure, it might help with showcasing our bigger drawing and life drawing sessions,” Thomson said.
The studio gave a portion of its profits from the last exhibit to Peace by Piece, a community-building program for elementary school students in Toronto and York Region, she said.
ECC Arts Program Officer Tricia Gnadt said the ECC paid each artist $500 in addition to the sales Wyrmwell made separately through the last exhibit's exposure.
On the first day of the exhibition, an attendee submitted a formal complaint regarding the weaponry in one of the paintings, and a trigger warning was placed.
Thomson said she commends the gallery for not taking down the painting but instead working with the community to solve the issue.
She said she was concerned that some of the paintings wouldn’t be accepted for the exhibition due to their subject matter, but Gnadt worked with them and displayed them.
Gnadt said she also had a complaint about the 9/11 terrorist attacks being subliminally woven into one of the other paintings.
Lewis, who painted the work, said he had no intention for the painting to be a commentary on the 2001 terrorist attack.
Wyrmwell also prepared a slideshow of the creation behind the art and their life drawing sessions within the community, but the ECC had to remove it due to partial nudity.
“I really wish that I could put it up. It has nudity in it, and we’ve just had enough flak,” Gnadt said.
Ha said the studio’s closure is due to her lifestyle changes. She had just moved out on her own, and her living expenses had increased. She was promoted to general manager of Le Swan Diner and would have less time to spend at the studio.
The decision to close Wyrmwell became clearer when the three-year lease ended, and the rent would increase by $200 a month.
All five members are continuing their artistic journey post-Wyrmwell.
Ahmed uses her love and intrigue of her Pakistani heritage, paired with her fascination with mythical and dreamlike art under the Sehn Studios banner.
Lenaghan, Lewis and Thomson still share a studio space.
“But it would be nice to have that kind of work again, cause it created a very lively space, and it was a really nice community to work within,” Lewis said about his time in Wyrmwell.
Thomson also works for a fine art printing company, Total Image Works, and her art is still inspired by walking the streets of Toronto.
Ha displays her art in the restaurant, creating soundscapes with her band Sacred Wound and works in collaboration with fellow art studio, HEAD.
