TORONTO - The Toronto Erotic Arts Festival wrapped up its five-day stay at the Gladstone Hotel on Sunday.
The festival offered attendees risqué items such as pornographic hankies and sexy sock monkeys.
"This year, we [had] someone who makes porno hankies," said Sarah Forbes-Roberts, director of the event. "She hand-stitches hankies with pornographic images. We [also had] someone who makes glass penis sculptures."
Most of the featured artists are from Toronto, Montreal and northern Canadian cities. Nearly 40 people participated in the arts-and-crafts fair, and nearly 50 people participated in the art show.
"I think there's a movement within the arts community, or maybe a new artsy-craftsy movement going on, that's reviving that concept of handmade goods," Forbes-Roberts said. "People are reclaiming the work. It's feminist and girlie, or punk rock. People are knitting all these edgy kinds of things and using different contexts to say radical ideas, and sex definitely plays a part in that."
The festival also featured workshops intended to help people get started in erotic art, including a "make-your-own-clay-dildo workshop," Forbes-Roberts noted.
The event provided an opportunity to find "one-of-a-kind" Valentine's Day gifts, Forbes-Roberts said.
"There's lots of people making handmade lingerie and decorative jewelry that you're not going to find anywhere else," she noted.
