Open Studio

CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING STUDIO

Founded in 1970, Open Studio is a Toronto-based artist-run centre and non-profit organization dedicated to contemporary printmaking. Located at 401 Richmond Street West, Open Studio provides access to specialized printmaking facilities and creates opportunities for the public to discover and engage with printmaking through exhibitions, education, and public programming.

Our studio supports a wide range of printmaking processes, including screenprinting, relief printmaking, intaglio, lithography, and letterpress. We also welcome artists working in print-adjacent, paper-based, and related creative practices. The studio brings together a community of artists who work independently alongside one another, sharing space, resources, and ideas. The Open Studio Shop provides artists with an opportunity to sell their work while contributing to the sustainability of the studio.

Through free exhibitions, affordable education programs, and access to a shared creative studio, Open Studio invites people to experience print, learn about the medium, and engage with the printmaking community.

Printmaking opens the door to accessible, innovative, and inspiring art.

Alix (Barbara) Hall in front of Open Studio on Queen Street. Photo: Vincent Sharp.

Our History

Open Studio was founded in 1970 as an “open” space governed and supported by artists who wanted to continue their printmaking practices in an inclusive, communal setting.

Printmaking requires specialized equipment, space, and expertise to manage complex chemical processes that demand specific health and safety measures. Open Studio was established as an Artist-Run Centre (ARC) to meet these needs, providing a studio space where artists can work across a range of printmaking processes, including intaglio, lithography, relief, screenprinting, and more, with expert assistance as required.

Founded by Richard Sewell and Barbara Hall at 310 Queen Street West, Open Studio quickly became a vital centre for contemporary printmaking. In 1971, Chicago artist Don Holman joined to develop the lithography facilities. That same year, an honorary Board of Directors incorporated Open Studio as a non-profit charity, achieving official status in 1972. The organization continues to be governed by a volunteer Board of Directors made up of artists and community professionals.

Open Studio operated at 520 King Street West from 1971 to 1996 before moving to a larger space at 468 King Street West, expanding its production, gallery, and administrative capacity. Since 2004, it has been located at 401 Richmond Street West, where it continues to support artists and promote contemporary printmaking.

Vision & Mandate

Vision: Who We Are

Printmaking opens the door to accessible, innovative, and inspiring art.

Mandate: What We Do

Open Studio is a creative space that inspires, supports and celebrates printmaking. We are an open-access printmaking studio, an art gallery, and an inclusive place to engage with new ideas.

Studio members examining a photo-lithograph.

Our Goals & Objectives

Advance innovation in printmaking and excellence in contemporary visual arts.
Provide an inclusive, accessible shared space that supports artists and communities.
Equip printmakers with access to professional facilities, technical resources, and expertise.
Amplify artists’ work through exhibitions, public installations, and print sales.
Foster artistic growth through education, professional development, and residency opportunities.
Create opportunities for learning, collaboration, and engagement through courses and workshops.
Advocate for artists by ensuring fair compensation and protecting artists’ rights.
Strengthen connections among artists, arts organizations, and educational institutions.
Review Open Studio’s 2025-28 Strategic Plan.

EDI & Accessibility Framework

Our commitment to equitable access and inclusive practices.

Open Studio is committed to advancing anti-racism, equity, accessibility, diversity, and socially responsible practices across our organization, resources, and programming. Following a review of our institutional structures at the Membership, Staff, and Board levels, Open Studio continues to evolve through the feedback, critique, and guidance of artists who contributed to this process.

We are grateful to our External Advisory Panel, EDI Committee, Artist Membership, and community partners for their insight and support. We continue to build relationships with organizations serving equity-deserving communities and to create more inclusive access to our programs and resources.

Open Studio’s equity, diversity, and inclusion work has evolved. Earlier initiatives focused specifically on increasing representation by BIPOC artists. Our current framework employs the broader term “equity-deserving communities” to acknowledge and address the barriers faced by artists and communities affected by systemic inequities.

These commitments inform how Open Studio works across the organization, with an ongoing focus on equitable access, inclusive practices, and supporting artists and communities affected by systemic inequities.

Our EDI Journey - Click to expand

July 2026 – June 2027

Open Studio continues its commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility through its programming, studio access, partnerships, and community engagement. For this programming period, Open Studio has established a minimum representation goal of 50% for artists from equity-deserving communities across exhibitions and programming.

July 2025 – June 2026

Committed to long-term investment in equity, diversity, and inclusion, Open Studio continued to engage through partnerships, programming, studio access, equipment sharing, and community facilitation. During this period, Open Studio worked toward a minimum of two-thirds representation by artists from equity-deserving communities across exhibitions and programming.

Letterpress Club is a grassroots collaboration created to build and support an inclusive community while reducing barriers to accessing the Vandercook press. Participants create text-based prints around a different theme each month. Past and upcoming themes include Collaborative Poster, Season’s Greetings, Print as Protest, Black History Month, NUMB3ERS: Collaborative Poem for National Poetry Month, and Pride Month.

July 2024 – June 2025

Programming was impacted by the temporary closure from June 2024 to January 2025. Following reopening, Open Studio continued its objective of 100% representation by artists from equity-deserving communities in the Main Gallery and Project Space. Rochelle Rubinstein and Leila Fatemi were the first artists to exhibit after programming resumed.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion remained central values in the development of Open Studio’s new strategic plan.

July 2023 – June 2024

Open Studio achieved its objective of 100% representation by BIPOC artists in exhibitions for the fiscal year. The exhibition program featured twelve exhibitions by BIPOC artists working with print media in expansive ways before the temporary pause in programming in June.

The work of fifteen artists identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour was exhibited, including artists based across Canada and two artists from the United States. In addition to the third iteration of the BIPOC Artist Residency, recipients of Open Studio’s Emerging Artist Residency, Mid-Career Artist Residency, and Visiting Artist Residency were selected through calls directed to BIPOC artists.

July 2021 – June 2022

Open Studio offered BIPOC residency applicants one full year of free membership. Open Studio continued initiatives to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion among artists accessing the studio space and participating in programming.

New Directors joined the Board, reflecting the organization’s EDI framework.

July 2020 – June 2021

Open Studio paused outreach and communications to make space for conversations surrounding injustices experienced by Black and Indigenous communities in Canada. During this period, Open Studio reflected on systemic barriers affecting access to studio and exhibition spaces for Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of colour.

Open Studio established an Equity & Inclusion Committee, supported by an Advisory Panel of external arts practitioners from equity-deserving communities. Through these conversations, Open Studio gained insight into ways to create sustainable change and address barriers affecting artists, programming initiatives, staff, and the Board of Directors.

Open Studio is at a critical point in its history. We are working to become a more equitable, diverse and inclusive organization, which is accountable for the racist structures and practices that have shaped us. This change has not happened quickly enough. Open Studio cannot build a positive future without facing the barriers that restrict access to our space, historically and now.

Open Studio was founded on ideals of community and openness, but often our policies have created obstacles to participation. Our membership requirements, exhibition choices, outreach efforts, and approach to education have had the effect of excluding artists from marginalized groups. Meanwhile, members of our community have experienced discrimination and racism. We celebrated our 50-year history without acknowledging or addressing these failures. We apologize that our actions and inactions have reinforced systemic inequities within the arts.

We know an apology alone is insufficient. We will listen, continuously reflect, and act on structural changes to become a more equitable space. We will prioritize anti-racism, equity, accessibility, and diversity moving forward.

Open Studio is implementing new programming initiatives and increasing access to our organization and its resources. We are working to re-orient our programming towards diverse voices and socially conscious practices through residencies, subsidized education opportunities, and more. We are undergoing a thorough examination of our institutional structure at Membership, Staff and Board levels, including mandates for diversity in hiring and Board recruitment. Open Studio is undertaking these shifts thanks to the artists who have come forward to critique and advise us. We are grateful to our External Advisory Panel and to our artist members for their guidance.

Diversity is crucial for our organization to thrive. We have begun the necessary work of creating and implementing a viable, action-based framework as outlined below, but we have only started. These goals will require sustained work and resources over time. Open Studio is committed to this work. We will continue to update the framework on this page as we move forward.

Main Gallery: Jill Ho-You, 'Obstruction', 2024.