Winter Emerging Artist Exhibition – January 5 – 22

Ardea Thurston-Shaine

• “Space“
• 40x60in
• oil on canvas

In my art, I try to capture the occasions when I feel the world open. Day to day, my mind encloses and flattens the space around me. The images I create strengthen my belief in the reality of space, possibility, and peace.

The depth around me often doesn’t seem real. There is a screen separating me from the open spaces. Believing in depth involves breaking this screen to forge a connection between myself and the other. I create worlds in which my self and the other are opposite sides of one fabric. By visualizing two-sided folds, my art identifies a closeness that has been lost.

Ardea Thurston-Shaine

• “Underworld“
• 30x30in
• oil on wood panel

I also visualize double surroundings. My mind extends to surround the other. My body surrounds everything I see, with its boundaries at the corners of my eyes. Images of what I see are stored and remixed inside me. My art shows bodies encircling outside spaces. But the world also surrounds me with its mix of space and more solid matter. I know that my body is small. My influences include Buddhist practice, western philosophy, and mental health work. I am interested in the relationship of Buddhist ideas of “one-ness”, Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “folds”, and solutions to anxiety and depression. I want to help other people expand their own mental spaces in order to be kinder to themselves and others.

Anita Pietras

• “Passing Through”
• 12”x9”
• Pastel on UArt Premium Sanded paper

Painting allows me to reflect on the beauty of forms and the way light plays and effects those forms.  An avid observer, beauty can be found everywhere … from the majestic landscapes of nature and the everyday mundane objects, to the spaces we build and the people we interact with.  I seek to depict form and light through value, colour and temperature relationships, to bring out the beauty of the subject matter and create captivating atmospheres. 

Anita Pietras

• “School Is Out Cassie”
• 12”x9”
• Pastel on UArt Premium Sanded paper

I strive to capture my own feelings of awe and moments of reflection that all too often pass too quickly.  My work is an ode to those fleeting moments and feelings of awe, and so I stop time in the only way I know how … painting.  I would like the viewer to connect with my art on a deeper level … Feeling the sun’s warmth, remembering sounds and smells, the joys or sorrows they might have once felt or feel now and reflect on the awe that is life.

Courtney Fairweather

• “I Want to Break Free”

 Stuck indoors and isolated, my world shrank to what I could see from my balcony. I waited impatiently to get outside and not be restrained anymore. I was dying to be released, keen as mustard to see an end to restrictions, champing at the bit, itching to be let loose, and raring to go. Restaurants, theatres, and galleries were all closed. I wanted to run free.

Looking out from my balcony, I realized that people were not the only ones held back. It was also evident in the dogs who trudged past, pulling their owners or refusing to move, tugging on their leashes and straining against their restricted lives. The dogs were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but had no place to go. They were like cats on a hot tin roof…. If you’ll pardon the expression.

I, meanwhile, was on pins and needles, on tenterhooks, hankering to get on with my life. There aren’t enough clichés in the world to describe my pandemic impatience.

Courtney Fairweather is a multi-disciplinary artist who has studied in both the Netherlands and Canada. She received her BFA from York University in 2017.

John Pingree

• “Winter At The Beach”
• Photography 16″x12″
• (23″x17 framed)
• Snow covered sand and grasses; Lake Superior shore.

My focus is on abstraction of the world around me, seeing in ordinary everyday things, places and events the underlying potential that others may not. The world is before us and it is wonderful. We have but to slow down and learn to see what is before our eyes.

John Pingree

• “Winter’s Whisp”
• Photography 16″x12″
• (23″x17 framed)
• Snow covered sand and grasses; Lake Superior shore.

My focus is on abstraction of the world around me, seeing in ordinary everyday things, places and events the underlying potential that others may not. The world is before us and it is wonderful. We have but to slow down and learn to see what is before our eyes.

Joe Atikian

• “Shards 1”
• 24 x 24
• Acrylic on canvas

I am a Toronto photographer, painter, and author. Being self-taught presents a tension in which I have more freedom to invent while also having less guiding influence from artistic precedents. My current artistic practice reflects this tension. It revolves entirely around a two stage process of experiments in new methods that intertwine the mediums.

• Web: joeatikian.com

Joe Atikian

• “Shards 3”
• 36 x 36
• Acrylic on canvas

My paintings are sometimes used as photographic backgrounds that are digitally enhanced or distorted to create an indeterminate mood. I also paint colour-rich fractal perspectives that combine art-historical techniques like gesture and cubist distortion to heighten the viewer’s sensory impact. Reactions might range from joyful to shifting sensations of surreal, but my ambition remains as a re-imagining that opens up the mind’s space to multiple interpretations within a single piece.

• Web: joeatikian.com

Marcia Bianchi

• “PERSONAL SPACE IV”
• (2021)
• OIL ON CANVAS
• 11 X 14”

My work explores the space between movement and stillness, often expressed through the lively curves of the female form juxtaposed against a still solid ground. Through the use of oil paints and a neutral palette, my paintings are a translated state of mind — I intend to capture the essence of whatever is behind a blank stare and draw attention to it. Motivated by my theory of there being more to these emotional spaces than meets the eye.

Marcia Bianchi

• “PERSONAL SPACE V”
• (2021)
• OIL ON CANVAS
• 11 X 14”

In this series, Personal Space, the ambiguity of the figure and of the background are meant to suggest the experience of getting to know someone. Despite entering another’s personal space, much of what makes up that human will remain unknown.

Mirren Hinchley

• “Eruption”
• 31.5″ x 47″ x 1.5″
• $1,500
• Abstract, acrylic with gel with silver and gold leaf on canvas with gloss finish

I am a Toronto, abstract, non-objective, acrylic painter who has been painting for the last 4 years. My works have not only been displayed in Toronto gallery shows but also online galleries in Milan and the UK with enquiries from Spain and Crete.

• Website –  https://mirrenhinchleyart.com
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com//artbymirren

Mirren Hinchley

• “Winter Blues 1”
• 30″ x 60″ x 1.5″
• $1,800
• Abstract, acrylic on canvas with varnish finish

My paintings reflect my love for bright, bold colors. I use a variety of painting techniques to make my works dynamic. My style and technique vary with each painting. The bolder they are the better! I want my paintings to be unique, to make a statement, to draw and hold the viewers’ attention and provoke discussion.  

• Website –  https://mirrenhinchleyart.com
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com//artbymirren

Rick Palidwor

• “Dessert Dog”
• acrylic on canvas
• 16 x 20 inches

I was drawn to painting by a deep revulsion to hyper-realism, especially in wildlife (e.g. Bateman). I feel that wildlife should be more wild, chaotic, irreverent and mysterious.

Rick Palidwor

• “Green Dog”
• acrylic on canvas
• 17.5 x 17.5 inches

While my subject matter may be expanding my overall outlook remains the same. 

Nadine Wyczlkowski

• “Figment”  
• 16”x20”  
• Photography  

 “Informed by undergraduate studies in social theory and geography, my artwork explores the connections between places and people across time and various restriction-imposing structures. Often using macro shots to obfuscate the literal, I encourage viewers to question. I strive to capture images that encourage critical engagement with the viewer, in hopes that they may encounter the work from a critical lens and consider their positionality in relation to the work and decipher the work’s message. While I have intended ideas, I do not wish to impose a singular view on how the work may be interpreted. My work is an entry point for further investigation.

Nadine Wyczlkowski

• “Topography”  
• 16”x20”  
• Photography  

It is my objective that the viewer read different things into and from the artwork. Though seemingly disparate, a dialogue is created exploring homogenous geometric textural qualities. The scale and context vary greatly yet their comparable attributes draw them together. The strong emphasis on geometry, exploring the aesthetic of line and texture, toys with the idea of what minutia, often overlooked, binds everything. The grayscale emphasizes light and shadows. The images, mostly void of colour, rely on the tonal spectrum between black and white, and fosters the viewer to attribute whatever emotive quality they desire. My goal is to capture literal imagery and transform it into an otherworldly experience.”

Chris Siems

• “Fall Sun”
• 2021
• 24 x 24
• Acrylic on Canvas 

I am a Toronto based artist working with acrylic on canvas. I am moved by colour and it has a tremendous impact on my sense of wellbeing. I have had the opportunity to paint under the guidance of Catherine Shea for the last three years. While I have been painting since 2018, I have a long history with art and design having previously taken foundational studies through OCAD, as well as focused woodworking through Passion for Wood.

• Website: www.chrissiems.com
• Instagram: @chris.siems

Chris Siems

• “Transparency”
• 2021
• 24 x 24
• Acrylic on Canvas 

I have worked with multiple media including wire, resin, wood, plaster and most recently acrylic on canvas. Principally, I paint in abstract where colour is primary feature. Although I do occasionally paint figuratively, many viewers identify figures, and in particular faces, in my abstract work which have emerged purely at a subconscious level. Regardless of figurative or abstract, my paintings are expressions of my emotions.

• Website: www.chrissiems.com
• Instagram: @chris.siems

Rosalin Krieger

• “Sunday Painting”
• 30 X 40 Inches
• Heavy Body Acrylic, on canvas 

I’m a mature, late-blooming artist who returned to painting in 2015 because a friend, poet Lillian Allen, suggested the practice The Artist Way. 

Rosalin Krieger

• “Three Choices”
• 24 x 36 Inches
• Heavy Body Acrylic, on canvas

Since then, I’ve been creating in many mediums and styles, including a writing-watercolor hybrid.

Julia Lindsay

• “Gap”
• 2021
• 11 x 14
• Acrylic on Canvas

Julia Lindsay (she/her) is an artist currently working and residing in Toronto, Ontario. She iscurrently working towards graduating with a Bachelors of Art History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Julia Lindsay

• “The Three Fates“
• 2021
• 20 x 16
• Acrylic on Canvas

Julia’s work focuses on themes of the sublime, synchronicities, inner archetypes, and the mystical. She uses painting as a means of expressing her connection with the natural world and often explores ideas of providence or coincidences as they occur in nature. Her paintings illustrate elements of her spirituality and emotions through the lens of myths or archetypes from antiquity. Her website can be found at https://juliaroselindsay.wixsite.com/mysite

Jake Bowen

• “Headshot“
• 36” x 36”
• spray paint + oil on canvas

I am a multidisciplinary artist whose past work has spanned photography and digital media. Currently I work with paint (and other mixed media) on canvas.

The art that I create is inspired by my desire for self-discovery with influences from the relationship with my tumultuous mental health. I love utilizing every colour possible in my work. The process usually begins with an expressionistic movement across the canvas. Next, the shape grows and shifts either quickly or slowly, sometimes with many layers or few, until a final product reveals itself. The inconsistent and ever-changing nature of my artistic process exemplifies how my perception of the world changes on a daily basis. The physical nature of my works tend to include a wide spectrum of shapes ranging from obscure and undefined to more defined people, faces and objects.

My short term goal is to showcase my art to an audience who can relate and find substance in my work. Long term, I want to look back on my history of work and feel as though myself and others can see where and how I have grown throughout my lifetime as an artist and a person.

• jakebowenart.com
• Instagram.com/jakebowen

Anna Cyan

• “Ash“
• 2021
• Oil on Canvas

I paint humans – frequently, naked humans. I describe their bodies faithfully and poetically, but this act is not about creating pleasing visual consumables. I treat the body as a gateway to the person who inhabits it. This submission is part of a series that centers on moments of embodied emotional intensity – a kind of acute existential awareness. The subject is vulnerability, about how bare we are before the enormity of the world, and how we are so often at the mercy of it. Yet the vision of the person is heroic. She responds affirmatively to the question of the encounter.

Anna Cyan

• “No Closer Sky“
• 2021
• Oil on Canvas

The painting techniques I use are centuries old, but the image of the lone heroine refutes discursive traditions of woman as object. In these works, I seek to capture women’s humanity in its full, miraculous force. I don’t show a woman as presented for the universalized gaze; I show her coming face to face with the universe. 

• seecyan.com
• @anna.cyan.studio

Beth LeBlonc

• “Greasy“
• 2021
• 20″ x 16″
• Acrylic on Canvas

I am an emerging artist working out of my home studio in Peterborough On. In my current practice I create paintings and drawings about the presentation of space in relation to the use of that space. More specifically, how private property can display a public message, or a public property can become a private message. These paintings explore themes such as; poverty, housing, and acts of kindness or otherwise. This is often communicated through hand written signs, and items/belongings left behind. Travelling throughout my city by foot or bike daily is the most important part of my process, it’s how I find inspiration and observe changes. I combine a number of different mediums and techniques, including acrylic paint, ink, and sometimes sculpted elements. My objective with this process is to create a depth in my work to engage the viewer’s attention and encourage closer observation of not only the piece they are viewing, but where it fits into their life and those around them.

Matt Ferguson

• “Prosthetic Hand 2”
• Watercolour on watercolour paper
• 2021
• 12 x 9 inches (14 x 11 inches framed)

I think that the human body is the most essential signifier of a person’s identity; the ways in which we understand ourselves and develop agency are fundamentally influenced by our physical traits. The core of my artistic practice is breaking down parts of the human body to their basic functions and reimagining their form; because life cannot exist without some presence of a vessel, my use and exploration of the body is an attempt to convey subject matter with an almost universal quality. While constructing my subjects, I have a predilection for examining materiality and how it relates to our understanding of a given object both in concept and physical presence. I create pieces that reimagine otherwise recognizable bodily structures and parallels their various organic aspects with inanimate, human-made materials as a means of questioning what is natural and what is synthetic; through this process, I seek to re-examine our typical perceptions of physical things as they relate to our sense of self, such as the rigid, structural nature of our bones and the electrically-induced, work-performing networks of our muscles and organs.

Matt Ferguson

• “Bicep Study”
• Watercolour on watercolour paper
• 2021
• 12 x 9 inches (14 x 11 inches framed)

Stylistically, I am drawn to realism and attempt to render my subjects with a high degree of detail. This formalistic choice has a two-fold intention: the first is to address the illusion of perfection, which is a continuing personal issue within my work; the second is an assertion that “truth” is rarely found within the superficial and is more often than not a subjective belief.

Thematically, my work is an investigation of my own fears and feelings of inadequacy, which is further reference to the fallacy of perfection. Sometimes these are depicted as overt symbols, such as the rust on metal or severed wires, while others are more subverted. I attempt to emphasize these formalistically through the use of colour, light, and shadow; I think that these elements combine to showcase a dichotomy of conflict and harmony, which is an innate quality that I believe exists within everyone.

I often reference anatomical diagrams, schematic drawings, and mechanical blueprints, which help generate a lot of the visual elements within my compositions, but also alludes to a deeper perception of the human body as a vehicle for learning and teaching. I believe that the things we create – as individuals, as communities, and as a species – are extensions and reflections of our own bodies and through my work I attempt to explore and convey the concept that what we create for ourselves is essential to how we learn about ourselves.

Samuel Hayes

• “Shadow Figures”
• 12×26 inches
• Oil on Canvas

For my artist statement I would like to talk about my art. I am an emerging artist. I guess that that means I am not entirely established yet. Seeing as my art features a lot of people, I would say that it is illustrative. These people are characters drawn from my imagination rather than real representations of real people. I draw what I like and I like what I draw. Same goes with my paintings, woodburnings, and woodcarvings. I am also really into music dance and litterature and find that these other art forms influence my subjects. I choose to depict my characters in a variety of settings performing a variety of actions and rituals

Samuel Hayes

• “Stairway Through Greenery”
• 9×12 inches
• Pyrography

From the works that I am submitting for this exhibition, I am including a variety of works mainly from my oil paintings, acrylic paintings, and pyrography projects.The pieces are separate but have a common theme.They are figurative works, with a good deal of abstract mixed in for good measure. The idea for all of this came in a series of dreams i have had over my lifetime. Impulses and synapses occurring during sleep. I suppose I owe credit to all of this from a variety of sources. Most ideas are inspired from trips to a variety of museum, others are from walks around urban spaces and wild spaces. If any of the imagery is borrowed without due credit being given, then I am happy to provide remuneration as requested, and to suffer whatever penalty deemed acceptable or desirable. Otherwise, I am happy to claim ownership over my creations, ideas, and workmanship

Heather Vida-Moore

•  “Morning Warbling”
• 16” x 20”
• Acrylic on canvas

Taking visual inspiration from the natural world, my work often features complex, organic forms and patterns. I gravitate toward abstraction, which I feel allows me to play with ideas around perception and consciousness, as well as truth and objectivity. Painting is often a meditative undertaking for me, and my process is a mixture of observation and intuitive response. With my work, I hope to invite the viewer into a moment of meditation and conscious observation. Although I am skeptical of the notion of universal truth, I believe that we as humans attempt to concretely label and categorize things, often in black and white terms where things are either this or that. Through my practice, I have explored ideas around multiplicity in truth and meaning, and dialectical thinking, where our understanding is expanded to incorporate even simultaneously opposing viewpoints and “truths.”

Heather Vida-Moore

•  “Untitled”
• 18” x 24”
• Acrylic on canvas

With my paintings, I try to draw viewers in with complexity of form, pattern and colour, but I work to create spaces that are ambiguous and do not easily resolve themselves, inviting the viewer to vacillate between opposing or unstable perceptions and interpretations. I find it interesting that when people talk to me about my work, they usually want to tell me about “what they see” in the space. They might say it looks like outer-space, or a sea-scape, or a brain under a microscope. I feel like all the differing interpretations show both how we really do want to “pin things down” to understand them, and also how this truth, what we see, is also completely individual, so these truths never really come together as a unified whole.

Kate Diamond

•  “NO GMO”
• “11 x 14”
• Colour Photographs of Installation.
• All the flowers and vegetables were grown in my garden and then used to create visual narratives.

Kate Diamond is a visual artist interested in, and currently exploring sustainable art practices. She has received formal training from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Guelph University, Dundas Valley School of Art and York University. What makes an artist, who creates art? For Kate Diamond her art practice began at a young age and since has continued to pursue and investigate the practice of making art and how it integrates itself into the everyday. 

Kate Diamond

•  “EAT WELL”
• “11 x 14”
• Colour Photographs of Installation.
• All the flowers and vegetables were grown in my garden and then used to create visual narratives.

Her work touches on themes of Death and Dying, Food Security, Comfort and Protection and the lasting impact that each movement has on the earth. Presently working in clay and copper, and arranging food grown in her garden to create narrative, these materials have her grounded in a sustainable art practice.

Lillian Chow

•  “Identity”
• 40 x 60 inch
• Acrylic paint on canvas
• 2021

 Lillian makes use of acrylic paints, attempting to distort reality and develop new techniques in utilizing acrylic paints and bringing forth this difficult medium to another level. Painting various levels of this fast drying paint can make it difficult to manipulate, however she strives to create majestic images that move as the audience analyzes and takes in the images presented to them.

Lillian Chow

•  “Momentum”
• 36 x 72 inch
• Acrylic paint on wooden board
• 2021

The many images she creates often takes on a feministic perspective of lost, strife, hope and trial. As a single mother living in Toronto, it has made it difficult to continue painting. In the few pieces that she is able to produce, she takes her time in order to create emotional pieces that draw her audiences into her paintings. Understanding the difficulties of life itself can help her audience draw themselves further into her paintings and living in the moment of chaos and subtle stillness simultaneously.

Promentheus Blackthorn

•  “A Snowflake’s Chance in Hell”
• 2021
• Mixed media on canvas
• 12 x 12 in.
• $200

I facetiously refer to my work as “Pop Art Depressionism,” mixing paint, pain, and pills to explore, challenge, and critique issues within the wellness industry.

Promentheus Blackthorn

•  “A Special Snowflake”
• 2021
• Mixed media on canvas
• 11 x 14 in.
• $200

My work is a reflection on the struggle to achieve personal harmony in a culture obsessed with the pursuit of perfection. 

• Miserywithoutborders.com
• @prometheusblackthorn

Rafael Flores

•  “Connection”
• 2021
• Digital Photography
• 20 x 30 in.

As a self-portrait artist, I not only photograph myself, but I also become the character that I want to be in my images. My work shows a lot of darkness, and sadness, however, I only see beauty. It is my way of expressing myself. It is my way of conquering my insecurities and my fears. In the moment of the shoot, I become someone else, and I have full control of everything, including those dark feelings. My work also tackles mental health, body insecurities, queer, and racial issues.

Rafael Flores

• “Falling Apart”
• 2021
• Digital Photography
• 20 x 30 in.

My studio location is my home, for now at least, and my process in creating is simple. I set up my backdrop, my studio lighting, my camera, and I get to work! I usually have my ideas sketched out beforehand, but the odd time, I will have an idea just pop in my head. I finish off the rest in Photoshop, with a coffee or glass of wine. Depending the mood!

Mark Krause

• “Breathing”

I paint. I write. I draw. Sometimes words hit the mark. Other times a series of realistic drawings capture what I mean to say. But when words fail and realism comes up short, I paint. I paint to communicate feeling. I paint to discover something beyond myself. I paint, surrendering my faith to the spontaneous interaction of water, pigment and paper.

Mark Krause

• “High Tide”

And when I’m done, if I’m lucky, what looks back at me from the paper is not me but also me. A different understanding. An expanded view of things. Not in words or pixels. But in colour, mood and form. I paint to understand a world I cannot see.

• Instagram @markrausestudio
• Website: www.markrause.com

Do Yeon Esther Kim

• “A Joyful Bath”
• 29″ X 24″
• mixed media on canvas (oil pastel, acrylic, acrylic pen)
• 2021

Kim’s works scrutinize the idea of gratitude on mundanity, delivering a sense of picturesque happiness-a celebration of a tedious moment. She explores simple, flat forms to encompass expressive, whimsical, calm, and joyous moments with her vibrant and pastel colour palettes. Her art practice is instinctive, schematic, almost childlike, represented by her simplified yet precise forms, shapes, and lines.

Do Yeon Esther Kim

• “A Room filled with Happiness”
• 11″ X 14″
• acrylic on wooden board, 2021.

To the simplification and abstraction in her art-making, Kim adds soft colours to bring a sense of tranquillity and vibrant colours to deliver a sense of energy and power. She shares her genu- ine gratitude for life and surrenders contemplation and tension within mundanity, family, home, and nature. Her works are an outlet of comfort, an undemanding space of serenity.

Ian Alter

• “Flame #1(2796)”
• Giclee on Brushed Aluminum Alupanel
• 24inW x 36inH
• Unretouched photo of a flame

Beyond fire’s use as a source of heat, light and energy, we as Humans are drawn to stare at it. But why are flames so mesmerizing ? Our conscious mind uses, what is referred to as  Pareidolia. This allows us make sense of  visual stimuli, even if nothing is really there. We can also share these observations, while they are occurring. Perhaps you have seen a lasting form, resembling a rabbit, in the clouds. But is anyone’s sub-conscious mind capable of registering an image, that may only last a millisecond? In 2020, I discovered that subliminal images occur periodically within some flames. As outlandish as this observation may sound  at first, I can photographically prove it to many viewers.

Ian Alter

• “Flame #2(2795)”
• Giclee on Brushed Aluminum Alupanel
• 42in W x 18in H
• Unretouched photo of a flame
• 2021

Others in the past, have been considered fortunate to have captured, even one of these flukes of nature. I have come to the realization, that my mind not only can recognize these images, but somehow, allows me to photograph them, the instant they occur. I currently feel that giving these individual images descriptive names, deprives the viewer of the experience.

Catharine Somerville

• “Peri Blues”
• 2021
• 23 x33 x 1.5″
• oil on canvas                                          

I paint colour.

I consider the ‘shades of grey’ and vibrancy of the moment in both my landscapes and “A La Prima” flower paintings. A kaleidoscopic relationship with colour is my dream and I try to connect to the viewer though an emotional stream that colour evokes similar to the feeling music might create by exploring our human senses.

Catharine Somerville

• “A Winter Flower”
• 2021
• 24 x30″
• oil on canvas                                     

• catharinesomervillewilson  Instagram
• www.catharinesomerville.com

Alysha Rocca

• “Coiled”
• 2021                                

My creative practice involves an emphasis on textiles, while still labeling my work as paintings. I try to be a sustainable artist in my practice by using recycled materials or found objects. Covid-19 has impacted my practice by pushing me to use recycled materials because I was unable to go purchase new materials in-store, as the arts were deemed “nonessential.” But art is ESSENTIAL, art is NOT DEAD, and art is needed to transform and rebuild our communities. 

Alysha Rocca

• “Lady Touch”
• 2020                                

During the first lockdown of Covid-19, I asked my friends and family to donate their materials to me and I was overwhelmed by the amount of support and materials that were donated. Textiles have become a major factor in my work; I try to connect with my generational history, as my Nonna was a seamstress in Italy. I found that fabric was very forgiving and I wanted to be like fabric: fluid, forgiving, and malleable. I am interested in Object Oriented Ontology because of the human connection to objects and I try to incorporate this theme in my work. I feature space through the tactile quality of my work to create an interesting combination of art in space.

Marie Kim

• “Paris dreaming”
• oil on canvas
• 36 x 48 inch
• I have always admired traveling to Paris. Eiffel tower makes me excited, brings me romantic imagination.                              

Jinkyoung Kim (JKim) was born in May 21 1983 in Seoul , South Korea, migrated to Canada in 2013 and currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from Catholic University, Korea with a degree in classical piano music. Soon after, JKim discovered a fascination in fashion and continued her studies at kookje fashion school , Seoul. Following her studies, JKim worked as a piano teacher and fashion freelancer in Seoul.

Marie Kim

• “Toronto”
• mixed media on canvas
• 36 x 48 inch
• The city we live in is filled with multicultural colors.                              

After moving to Toronto, she self-studied abstract painting and then Jkim took various art classes with the Toronto Art School (TSA). Art inspired her in many ways and acted as a source to overcome the loneliness and her panic disorder and anxiety she faced as a newcomer to Canada.

Nandy Heule

• “No More Talk”
• Video (1 min) – https://youtu.be/XYXnxwGBAq4
• Music credit: Canadian composer Erik Satie performed by Canadian pianist Eve Egoyan             

This video provides a light-hearted response to relentless pressure put on artists to expose injustices in Canadian society primarily by producing art works which share their personal trauma and suffering. “Making room” for the dispossessed shouldn’t require them to share their personal suffering or self-identify or else be dismissed by the art establishment.

Dorsa Zarrabian

• “Flight”
• Watercolor on watercolor paper
• 10″x8″       

Attended Central Technical School Adult Art Program 2006-2007 and 2015-2016. I have also taken a number of art related courses through the general interest programme for adults at the Toronto District School Board. I work in a number of mediums, including photography, copper plate print, oil, watercolour, silkscreen and acrylic.

Mei Chan-Long

• “Untitled”
• 12″ x 13 1/2″ x 14″
• Steel sculpture on 2 1/2″ high hydrocal base

Sculptor Mei Chan-Long turns to art-making as a vehicle for self-expression. Alternating between steel, hydrocal, and ceramics, and contemporary and figurative styles, Chan-Long’s sculptures act as lines of communications, translating experiences and emotions that are oftentimes difficult to verbally articulate. 

Mei Chan-Long

• “Untitled”
• 10″ x 9 1/2″ x 10 1/4″
• Steel sculpture on 1 1/2″ resin base

Her sculptures express undergoing emotional and spiritual changes. These apparent contradictions that present themselves in Chan-Long’s sculptures point to the fluctuating emotions that ebb and flow within us.

• https://www.meichanlong.com/experience

Betty Tran

• “Fire Escapes”

Fire escapes intent of use are:

“In the event of a fire, please use stairs.”

Although, some of us have seen or even used them for other purposes than a fire exit. For me, they were notorious in gangster movies. Where the gangsters were either running up or down the stairs just to get “the guy.” 

Betty Tran

• “Fire Escapes”

They were also popular in romantic movies.  Just seeing the hopeless romantic trying to get to their crush and profess their love, made you wish it was you they were climbing to. But sometimes, we may have taken the wrong staircase or mistaken it for a different one.  Kinda like, ‘Snakes and Ladders.’ Either way, your going in or out, up or down. Life as we’ve all known it to be.

Love Always Wins.

Melinda Luna

• “Bad Romance”
• acrylic with clay accents
• 18×36”
• 2021

Based in Toronto, Melinda Luna is a Filipino-Canadian artist fascinated by the play of words and how it pertains to her beloved urban surroundings.

Melinda Luna

• “Only the Good Die Young”
• acrylic with clay accents
• 18×36”
• 2021

Inspired by graffiti and music lyrics, she uses clay lettering hidden in plain sight in the layering of swaths of acrylic painted words, drawing viewers to find their own meaning in what this artwork means to them.