The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Garden Gate: Episode 138 – Soap stone carving kits for children (April 27th, 2018)

How it all started!  Co-founder Oliver Harwood was asked to teach an elementary school class how to carve soapstone.  The first class was a hit and grew to 33 classes in the first year. In the last two years they have grown to teach more than 10,000 students in more than 300 schools.  They have … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 119 – A mini “studio tour” in the shop

CHEX TV airdate: July 7, 2017 Click link to watch this episode online Often customers ask how we find some of our artists. It can be a lot of work researching online or we can happen to find them during a studio tour or while we’re on holidays. On this episode I tell you a … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 116 – Mary Philpott, Ceramic artist (May 25th, 2017)

CHEX TV airdate: May 25th, 2017 Click link to watch this episode online Mary Philpott is a graduate Sheridan College, University of Guelph and MacMaster University. Her pottery, sculpture and tile work has been exhibited, collected and published internationally. She lives and works in Uxbridge, Ontario. Mary’s work is inspired by the work of William … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 113 – Jamie Brown designs

CHEX TV airdate: April 14th, 2017 Episodes usually air during the morning show at 7:50am, CHEX Daily at 5:15pm and the following Monday during the Noon show Click link to watch this episode online My husband and I first spotted Jamie’s beautiful work at the Toronto Gift fair in January. He was part of the … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 111 – A Slice of the North (Wendy Stanwick)

CHEX TV airdate: Friday March 17th, 2017 Episodes usually air during the morning show at 7:50am, CHEX Daily at 5:15pm and the following Monday during the Noon show Click link to watch this episode on our YouTube channel Wendy Stanwick – A Slice of the North Jewelry A Slice of the North was conceived and … Read more

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