Almost Live episode #213
Experience a virtual tour through a museum unlike any other!
The Museum of Bad Gifts in Toronto turns awkward gift-giving moments into an art celebration. This playful, tongue-in-cheek exhibition showcases the wonderfully weird, hilariously awkward, and beautifully bizarre objects people have received as gifts. Each puzzling present, from quirky to downright questionable, is displayed like museum art, complete with stories explaining why it’s so gloriously “bad.”
Host Amy Amantea will be joined by special guests Stephanie Avery and Shari Kasman, both artists and co-founders of Museum of Bad Gifts.
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Resources
The Museum of Bad Gifts is the brainchild of artists Stephanie Avery, Shari Kasman, Martin Reis, and Sean Martindale—an exhibition where awkward presents have a presence. The project was presented from December 2024 to January 2025 and again from December 2025 to January 2026 at Northern Contemporary Gallery, located at 420 Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto, Canada. The 2025–2026 exhibition was curated by Stephanie Avery and Shari Kasman. www.museumofbadgifts.com
Guest Bios
Stephanie Avery is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist with a degree in visual art from York University. With an emphasis on interactivity and empowerment, Stephanie’s practice intervenes with familiar spaces, objects and imagery to imbue her subjects with new meanings and narratives. Being especially interested in our collective relationships to the spaces we inhabit, Stephanie explores the world with an equal balance of joy, curiosity and skepticism: a balance she strives to represent in her practice. Her work is both playful and critical, and nothing she does is without a hint of mischief. Stephanie’s goal is to inspire new perspectives and initiate dialogue about elements of contemporary culture that are often taken for granted. She has exhibited widely within Toronto, notably at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Nuit Blanche and the Toronto Media Arts Centre; and internationally, at Atrium (Forli, Italy), Flux Factory (New York, USA), Shadow Traffic (New York, USA) and Playa del Fuego (online/Tamaqua, USA).
Shari Kasman is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in Toronto. Her work spans public art, print media, illustration, and satirical interventions in urban space. She’s best known for her Galleria Mall photobook, spoof TTC route diversion signs, and for turning stalled construction sites into humorous public landmarks.
