NAMARA projects

📣Join Us!

Paper-making with Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby
Curated by GAS Collective as part of Material Conversations

📅 Thursday, June 25, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
📍Open Studio (104-401 Richmond Street West, Toronto)
✉️RSVP via 🔗 in bio

Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby will share their knowledge of using invasive plants to make paper. They will discuss the inner workings of their paper-making processes, and explore the possibility of incorporating handmade paper into curatorial strategies. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own paper to take home.

Please note: Due to limited venue capacity, please RSVP via 🔗in bio to express interest in attending. Confirmed attendees will be notified 1 week before the event. If you receive an invitation, please confirm your attendance within 48 hours to secure your spot. 

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

Learn more via 🔗link bio. 






📸 Courtesy of Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Risograph Printing with Howsem Huang! 💫

offered insights into the risograph printing process, followed by a collaborative zine-making session that participants took home as a keepsake. 

spoke about the possibilities of risograph in curatorial practice, from the making of exhibition brochures and other materials, to exploring new ways of printing with artists. 

Next Up! 

🌱Paper-making by using invasive plants with Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby
🗓️ Thursday, June 25, Time TBC
📍 Open Studio (401 Richmond Street W, Suite 104)
✉️ RSVP via 🔗 in bio

More details soon!

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

Learn more via 🔗 in bio.

Next up!

Risograph Printing with
Curated by as part of Material Conversations

🗓️ Thursday, May 21, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
📍San Cafe (165 Augusta Ave.)
💥The event is at capacity. 🔗 in bio to join the waitlist!

Over the past five months, GAS Collective has visited Howsem Huang in his Toronto studio, learning about his process and the art of risograph. Here’s a glimpse: 

“Tucked away in Kensington Market, Howsem’s studio is a vibrant haven for exploring all things risograph! 

We have met with Howsem a couple of times (both in person and online!) since January to dive into his risograph printing practice. From walking us through the colour and printer mechanics to sharing his personal zine collections and book-designing journey, Howsem gave us an amazing look into the potential, challenges, and longevity of the soy-based medium. 

We have had the best time brainstorming our upcoming workshop: participants are invited to bring in unique materials and create a collaborative Love Letter to a material that inspires their curatorial practice through risograph.”

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects.

Learn more via 🔗 in bio. 

📸: Courtesy of Howsem Huang. 

📣Join Us!

Risograph Printing with Howsem Huang
Curated by GAS Collective as part of Material Conversations

📅 Thursday, May 21, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
📍San Cafe (165 Augusta Avenue, Toronto)
✉️RSVP via 🔗 in bio

Howsem Huang will facilitate a Risograph printing workshop centred on zine-making and collaging. Participants will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the Risograph and how this knowledge can be applied to curatorial practice, from the making of exhibition brochures and other marketing materials to exploring new ways of printing.

Please note: Due to limited venue capacity, please RSVP via 🔗in bio to express interest in attending. Confirmed attendees will be notified 1 week before the event. If you receive an invitation, please confirm your attendance within 48 hours to secure your spot. 

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

Learn more via 🔗link bio. 




📸 Courtesy of Howsem Huang.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Natural Paint-Making with Michelle Peraza! 💫

offered insight into the gouache-making process using natural materials, including ashes.

spoke about translating natural paint into sustainable curatorial strategies, including sustainable vinyl and other exhibition-making components.

Next Up! 

Risograph Printing with Howsem Huang
🗓️ Thursday, May 21, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
📍 San Cafe (165 Augusta Avenue)
✉️ RSVP via 🔗 in bio

More details soon!

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

Learn more via 🔗 in bio.

📣Join Us!

Natural paint-making with Michelle Peraza
Curated by GAS Collective as part of Material Conversations

📅 Saturday, April 25, 1 - 3:30 PM
📍Open Studio (401 Richmond Street W, Suite 104)

In this curatorial workshop, Michelle Peraza will demonstrate her gouache-making practice using ashes. We will explore how to translate natural paint into sustainable vinyl or other exhibition-making strategies. Paint samples will be given to each participant to try the colour on paper.

Please note: Due to limited venue capacity, please RSVP via 🔗in bio to express interest in attending. Confirmed attendees will be notified 10 days before the event. If you receive an invitation, please confirm your attendance within 48 hours to secure your spot. 

This program is part of Material Conversations, an ongoing research project by GAS Collective, Curators-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

Learn more via 🔗link bio. 

thegascollective
Michelle Peraza, Visual Artist
Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre

📸The making of gouache from ashes collected from the artist’s spiritual burnings and smudges; Artist portrait by Shawn Grey. Courtesy of Michelle Peraza.

We are thrilled to welcome our next Curators-in-Residence, ! 💫

From April to September, GAS Collective ( and ) will explore materials as a shared ground for knowledge exchange and build upon their ongoing interests in sustainable curatorial cycles and material recirculation.

Material Conversations
GAS Collective
April - September, 2026

Taking the material research and process-based practices of four artists — , and , and — as an entry point, GAS will develop a publication that inquires into how material knowledge can be put into tangible conversations and transformed into exhibition-making strategies for curators as well as creative solutions for other arts practitioners and a wider community use.

Here, artists’ material knowledges serves as the nexus to explore curators’ role in materials and materiality. Why should curators care? How can they learn from artists and mobilize their artistic and technical material strategies to exhibition design? What (new) material kinships might emerge between curators and artists?

👉 Three artist-led curatorial workshops will take place throughout the residency. Registration opens April 1, 2026. Stay tuned!

Read more about the project via 🔗 in bio.

📸: Steffi Sin Tung Ng and Gizem Candan, courtesy of GAS Collective.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka invited to present at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by Koyo Kouoh, “In Minor Keys.”

A heartfelt congratulations to on this incredible honour! We’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with her on so many exciting projects over the years, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see her participating in the upcoming . This is an achievement so richly deserved!

Alexa’s work is featured in client collections around the world. 📸 (L-R): Artist headshot, ‘Koinobori’ in Edinburgh, ‘Nuna/Land (Arena, ORE)’ in Paris, ‘Paper Snow Mantra’ in Frankfurt, ‘Crusher’ in Hangzhou.

✨ We are excited to share highlights from ’s research, developed during her curatorial residency at NAMARA | projects. Read the full piece via link in bio.

📣 Our Curatorial Residency - Call for Proposals is open year-round! Find submission details via 🔗 in bio.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

Join Us Next Week!

✨Curatorial Talk with Curator-in-Residence Tatum Dooley

📅 December 10, 7 PM
📍 Studio 303, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto
🔗 RSVP is required. Register via link in bio.

From July through November, Curator-in-Residence explored art outside of the walls of galleries and museums, presented walking-based and artist-led programming, and examined how we move through urban spaces. 

Join us for a discussion with where she will share research findings from her residency.

This event marks the final public program in Ground Truths, a research project by , Curator-in-Residence at NAMARA | projects. 

See you there!