Necessary Arts Collective

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Guelph, ON
Necessary Arts Collective

Necessary Arts Collective is a space dedicated to supporting artists. It is a shared work space for designers, artists, writers and the like.

Rates
Co-Working Membership: $125/per month

Full Studio Membership: $250/$325/$400/$500/per month

08/31/2026

Cynthia Waldow is a Guelph-based, self-taught artist whose practice explores feminism, politics, memory and transformation through the lens of the everyday. Working primarily in acrylic and, more recently, photography, she reclaims overlooked objects and fragments of daily life, reframing them to invite observers to pause, look more closely and find meaning in the ordinary.

Drawing on a background in nursing, psychology, community arts and design, Waldow is interested in the emotional lives of familiar spaces and objects. Her work often explores themes of connection, loss, resilience and the hidden stories embedded in our shared environments.

Whether through painting or photography, her practice seeks to create moments of quiet reflection, encouraging viewers to reconsider what they have stopped noticing and to rediscover the extraordinary within the seemingly ordinary.
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Works are available for purchase. 100% of sales are given to the artist ⭐️⚡️✨

View the show in person until Sept 8!

08/25/2026

✨ NEW SHOW ✨

Waiting… | Cynthia Waldow

Fork in the Road 📞

“I photographed these payphones with an eye toward the forgotten but still necessary. Over the years, I have watched some of the most interesting booths and hoods disappear—some overgrown by trees yet still working, others hidden behind a store’s outdoor display, or simply gone. They are among the last of their kind.

Payphones are the neighbour you wave to occasionally but rarely stop to talk to, and sometimes forget altogether. Yet when you’re locked out of your house in the middle of a snowstorm, they can still provide refuge. They are still valuable to someone.

As I photograph them, I find myself anthropomorphizing them. They feel neglected, overlooked, and quietly waiting as the world moves around them. They are hidden in plain sight, lingering at the edge of our consciousness. Yet for some people, they remain an essential means of connection.

Who gets to decide what is still useful or relevant?”

View the show online now and in person until Sept 8, 2026 🏃🏃🏃

08/19/2026

Annie Metaxas Morrison (she/they) is a q***r, Guelph-based artist, activist, and independent parent currently reconvening her formal artistic practice after many years focused on raising her kids. Using print making, textile-based sculpture, and ephemeral photo and video projects, Annie's ongoing body of work examines how prescribed notions of gender, trauma, recovery, labour, resistance, language and media all function as quiet infrastructures that support what she calls “Domesticated Violence”.

View "Wife Pleaser" in person until August 25th 🏃🏃🏃

08/12/2026

✨ NEW SHOW ✨

Wife Pleaser

Annie Metaxas Morrison |

"What if we flaunted and made fashionable the care and safety of women-identified folks instead of mindlessly holding space for their mistreatment?

What would happen if we rebranded this mundane garment so that it was a symbol of honour, rather than oppression.

These are the questions at the heart of Wife Pleaser.

With this new work, I sought to directly confront the casual violence assigned to the innocuous white undershirts we know colloquially as “wife beaters”. These garments have historically served as costumes for both raw “masculinity”, domestic ineptness and aggression, causing them to become a site of tension between intimacy and control.

Wife Pleaser also speaks to the myriad ways q***r and gender non-conforming people have reclaimed the garment, subverting its violent history by thrusting pleasure and service into the forefront."

Works are available for purchase by chance or appointment on a sliding scale, starting at $10. 🏃⚡️

Exhibiting Aug 11 - 25, 2026

07/09/2026

Aoe Girard is an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer whose work radiates joy, imagination, and connection. Guided by the belief that art is most meaningful when it touches hearts and brings people together, she creates vibrant visual worlds that bridge creativity and community. For Aoe, art is not only something to be seen—it is something to be felt, shared, and experienced.

Working across a wide range of mediums—including pencil, colored pencil, marker, watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastel, ink, and digital media—Aoe brings versatility and depth to her practice. Her illustrations often celebrate the beauty of nature and humanity, featuring children, women, flowers, trees, and animals as symbols of growth, tenderness, and harmony. Her work has been featured in children’s picture books, magazines, and product designs, extending her storytelling beyond the gallery space.

Alongside her illustration practice, Aoe creates expressive paintings in watercolor, acrylic, and oil. Her artworks have been exhibited in galleries, restaurants, cafés, and outdoor venues, where they invite viewers into colorful, uplifting environments that spark wonder and connection.

View "The Spirit of Performance" until July 14th! 🌸💛⭐️⚡️

07/01/2026

✨ NEW SHOW ✨

The Spirit of Performance

Aoe Girard |

"The Spirit of Performance is a series of three artworks celebrating the beauty, strength, and cultural heritage of Asia. Inspired by the elegance and expressive movement of traditional Chinese opera, the works portray women in traditional Chinese costume as symbols of identity, grace, and resilience.

Chinese opera is a rich performing art that combines singing, acting, dance, acrobatics, martial arts, and symbolic storytelling. Its elaborate costumes, expressive gestures, and distinctive makeup communicate emotion and character beyond words. Drawing inspiration from this centuries-old tradition, the exhibition reinterprets its visual language through a contemporary artistic perspective, inviting viewers to appreciate the richness of Asian heritage and the timeless spirit of cultural performance."

View the show until July 14th! ⚡️🌸💫

06/30/2026

✨ LAST DAY OF HOOP-LA ✨

Thank you to both artists & collectors who support this show each year 💘 there is still time to shop the collection until the end of the day through the link in our bio 💻

Each work is $110, with local pick up or Canada-wide shipping available ✉️📦

Support your local artists ⭐️🎉🤍

06/24/2026

We are entering the final week of ⭐️ HOOP-LA ⭐️

Over the next few days, we will be featuring some of the incredible works that are still available for purchase ⚡️ Linked in our bio!

AMANDA RAQUEL WORR | .raquel.art
ANDI SYME |
ANNA GOLDING |
ANNIE MORRISON |
AVAH OFFER |
BECK STANBRA | .arts
COLLEEN TELFORD |
CYNTHIA WALDOW |
JENNA VANVEEN | .l.vanveen
JILL STRONG |

Exhibiting until June 30th! 🏃👀💻

Works sell for $110/each. Free Downtown Guelph pick-up and Canada-wide shipping available 💛

06/09/2026

📣 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 📣

HOOP-LA features 50 original works by 50 artists from Guelph and the surrounding area 💫

All pieces are sold for $110/each… linked in our bio 💻

Take a walk & check out the show in person in downtown Guelph 🙂‍↔️🌸🌞☁️

🏃🏃🏃🏃

05/30/2026

👀 SNEAK PEEKS 👀

HOOP-LA 2026 ❤️‍🔥 will launch online on Monday June 1st at 12pm, but in the meantime…the exhibition is installed and ready for in-person previews showcasing all the incredible work included in this years show ⭐️

Until then, enjoy a small selection of detail shots 📸 😉

Address

84 Wyndham Street N
Guelph, ON
N1H4E8

Website

http://www.necessaryartscollective.ca/, https://shophoopla.square.site/

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