The Scarborough Guild of the Arts: An Alternative History

This paper addresses the history and possible future(s) of the Scarborough Guild of the Arts (The Guild).* In considering Guild's history and its place within Canadian modernist and contemporary art traditions, I will offer several readings of what the site might mean within Canadian art and architectural history. Given its colonial nature one of the most suited definitions of the site is as an example of alternative modernities. I will also outline the basic structure of the recent and future artistic interventions on the site that have and will engage its history and the socio-political and cultural transformation that Toronto and Scarborough went through in the recent decades. The intent of my paper therefore is to historicize the Guild, frame it within Canadian socio-political and cultural context, especially as it relates to Indigenous art, diasporic art, and more recent attempts at reading Canadian culture in reactionary, nationalistic terms. My project seeks to understand the site as opposite of that nationalist intent (one that has put forward Canadian history as defined by the Franklin Expedition and the sculpture of "Mother Canada"), instead looking at it in terms of the ways that its history is one of 'other modernity', and modernism, in other words a history of colonization and the cultures it has produced. Consequently, I offer alternatives for how contemporary Canadian art, architecture and heritage can be read and interpreted.

NOTE: The Guild was an art colony established in Scarborough by Spencer and Rosa Clark who purchased 40 acres of the Guildwood grounds in 1932.¹ On the property adjoining their house, they established “The Guild of All Arts” with a vision to provide studio space, accommodation for artists who might otherwise have had no other source of income, and educational workshops for artists to develop their skills.² The Clarks hoped that artists would remain inspired by the beautiful setting that was created at the Guild to continue to use their creative talents and, in the process, to earn a living. The site developed from the 1930’s into the late 80’s as both an artistic colony and an art institution.³  Artists experimented with wood, leather, ceramic, weaving, batik, raffia, wrought iron, copper and pewter under the guidance of experienced teachers.⁴ The setting and the artists’ talents made the Clarks dream come true - visitors came in increasing numbers.⁵ There were numerous indoor and outdoor exhibitions held at the Guild over the years, with the last one organized in 1982 for the fiftieth anniversary of the Guild’s founding. It included a number of contemporary national and international artists, and was organized as an outdoor sculpture exhibition.⁶ Today the Guild is no longer an active art colony, its workshops are closed, and its outdoor spaces are used for cultural events (such as local culture fairs). The site has lost its initial appeal and has fallen off the contemporary art map of the GTA. Currently, there are plans by the city of Toronto to re-develop the site, but its destiny is uncertain. ⁷ As a result of a lack of knowledge, contextualization, and promotion only a small number of people actually know about the Guild and its cultural potential remains untapped.

¹ Walker,Hugh. The Spencer Clark Collection of Historic Architecture. Scarborough, ON: The Guild,1982.
² Crawford, Gail. A Fine Line: Studio Crafts in Ontario From 1930 to the Present. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1998. 
³ Ibid. 
⁴ Ibid. 
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Sorel, Etrong. at. all. Contemporary outdoor sculpture at the Guild: an exhibition to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Guild, 1932-1982. Scarborough, ON: The Guild of all Arts, 1982.
⁷ Urban, Lorri. “Save the Guild for Scarborough.” The Bluffs Advocate, Vol. 1, no. 2, 2013; Heritage Canada The National Trust. “Guild Inn.” http://www.heritagecanada.org/en/issues-campaigns/top-ten-endangered/explore-past- listings/ontario/guild-inn last accessed January 20, 2014.