In 2014 Yael Brotman, Matthew Brower, Libby Hague, and Penelope Stewart created the Gifts and Occupations Collective, a reference to the educational activities created by Friedrich Froebel, who is considered the father of Kindergarten. We were fascinated by the connections being made between the development of Modernism in art and architecture in the early to mid twentieth century, and the invention of Kindergarten in the 1850s. We wanted to create a group to actualize our interest and foment discussion about architecture, curiosity and modularity all elements found in Froebels teachings. We received a Toronto Arts Council Grant, Animating Historic Sites and Museums which supported an exhibition at the Zion School House, one of the oldest one room schoolhouses in Toronto. Our research included visits to the Toronto Archives, the Canadian Centre for Ahitecture in Montreal and monthly meetings for dialogue. We also made a visit to the studio of Panya Clark Espinal, who had been methodically pursuing Froebel’s occupations since 2007. We invited her to be a guest artist at our Zion exhibition, build…build better.

Collective members
artists – Yael Brotman, Libby Hague, Penelope Stewart, and guest artist Panya Clark Espinal; writer – Matthew Brower