Guild Park and Gardens is a unique 88-acre site on the Scarborough Bluffs that includes forests, shoreline and a collection of architectural fragments, sculptures and buildings.
Free
Monday to Sunday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed on statutory holidays.
Limited free parking is available.
From Kennedy Station, take the 116 bus to Guildwood Pkwy at Guild Inn East Side.
For specific TTC route and schedule information call 416-393-4636 or visit the TTC website.
Clark Centre for the Arts offers a variety of visual arts workshops for children and adults. Browse the visual arts courses and workshops online or via the Winter brochure.
Registration is required.
Learn how to activate and access your account or call 416-396-7378, option 1, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please email cca@toronto.ca, if you have any special needs requirements.
Clark Centre for the Arts is excluded from Parks, Forestry & Recreation policies and procedures, including the Welcome Policy.
January 2 to December 15
Lobby entrance
Explore Ekow Nimako Studios’ Wawa Aba and Dame Dame. One of the artworks was created as part of Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2000 Ships, an expansive reimagining of the mysterious sea voyage of Mansa Abu Bakr II, the visionary ninth ruler of the medieval empire of Mali, using over 500,000 black LEGO® elements. Watch the artist speak about their work.
Blessyl Buan is an interdisciplinary artist whose art reflects rhythm, movement and land-based spirituality. Her recent creative work draws inspiration from Philippine Indigenous traditions and the concept of “Kapwa,” which signifies the interconnectedness of Self with community, Land, and the Cosmos. Her research delves into themes of cultural preservation, identity, and ceremony through the interplay of natural materials and movement. She is also the designer and founder of Buankissed, a contemporary jewelry line that elevates diasporic Filipino culture and supports Philippine Indigenous weavers.
Photo-based artist; Guinevere Pura has been honing her portraiture skills in digital photography since 2008. Formally trained in analog, she began her career in the darkroom. An interior and architectural photographer, she honed her portraiture skills photographing headshots for actors and performers. As an artist, she is experimental artist, explores different mediums while combining analog and digital photography. Themes in her work is her observations of the socio-economic landscape and societal changes that is at our midst. She is born and raised in Toronto.
The Clark’s Artist Residency program provides Toronto artists with opportunities to think, experiment, work and create in an artistic lakeside yet urban environment. The residency will conclude with a one-month exhibition in Gallery 191.
The Clark Centre for the Arts site has a long tradition of creativity and fine arts. In the 18th century, the land surrounding the Clark Centre for the Arts site had been divided into tracts that were granted to loyalists who had served in the American Revolutionary War. After changing hands a number of times, General Harold Child Bickford purchased the property in 1914, named it the Ranelagh Park Country Estate and built the well-known Bickford House. Today, the Bickford House is a Designated Heritage Property, and considered an excellent example of early 20th Century Period Revival style with Arts and Crafts detailing.
In 1932, Rosa and Spencer Clark founded the Guild of All Arts after Rosa purchased 450 acres of land. The Guild of All Arts contained shops, a tea room, and studios in fine art and craft, including painting, sculpture, hand-loom weaving, tooled leather, ceramics, metal work, wood carving and batik. After the Second World War, the Clarks expanded the hotel and restaurant operation and created formal gardens. The area became known as the Guild Inn or the Guild. During Toronto’s building boom that began in the 1960s, many historic 19th and 20th century downtown buildings were demolished. As an advocate for architectural preservation, Spencer Clark recovered many of these buildings’ facades and architectural features to display on the grounds of the Guild.
Architectural services were provided by Taylor Hazell Architects and the construction was undertaken by Atlas Construction Ltd.
The Sculptor’s Cabin is a small historic building located near the front entrance of Guild Park and Gardens. It was renovated in spring 2019 and serves the community as a meeting place and information centre.
Under a community partnership agreement with the Guild Park Stakeholder Group, comprising Friends of Guild Park, Guild Festival Theatre, Guildwood Community Village Association and Guild Renaissance Group, the Sculptor’s Cabin acts as a vibrant community resource to promote civic and cultural engagement.
Located south of the centre, the Log Cabin operates as a program resource to support the Clark Centre’s Artist in Residency and pre-registered programs.