Installation image of Coming Up Next at the Alberta Craft Gallery in Calgary.

Installation image of Coming Up Next at the Alberta Craft Gallery in Calgary

Installation image of Coming Up Next at the Alberta Craft Gallery in Calgary

Jared Last

Optic Series

Clear Ohira (2022)

Jared Last

Optic Series

Clear Ohira (2022)

Jared Last

Reflector Series

Sphere Off Axis (2022)

Jared Last

Reflector Series

Sphere Off Axis (2022) detail

Lael Chmelyk

Soda Fire Rx Jar (2020)

Soda fired stoneware.

Photography by Matthew Huitema.

artist statement 

My current practice revolves around soda fired ceramics. I create functional pots with contrasting surfaces that create tension between geometry and organic patterns. Areas of quiet and overwhelm in the decoration invite touch and offer the user a moment of pause and intimate investigation. Referencing botany, I look to understand my place in the world’s classifications. I attempt to catch the user’s attention, to render them in the present. The intent is to give one the chance to question the place of plants in beauty - but also the place of the environment in one’s values. 

By using a soda kiln, I can allow for the kiln and its unexpected nature to share agency over the work. This also echoes the balance between control and chaos that we, as a society, attempt to force on our environment. My work illustrates this balance through moments of chance and instances of control in a duet with the kiln. This balance is central to the work and allows for the ornate surfaces to exist on the forms without overwhelming the experience, much like the push and pull I often feel with my rational mind and my emotions. 

In this latest work, I attempt to reconcile this complicated relationship to my mental health. Rather than hiding away a plastic pill divider away to hide a dependency on medications, I hope this energized and ornate pill jar set can help me celebrate the taking of medication as an act of self-care and of ritual. It demands not to be tossed into a cupboard behind a mirror and asks gently to be placed on a mantle and to invite its presence into my home and into my self-care regiment. 

Lael Chmelyk

Soda Fire Rx Jar (2020)

Soda fired stoneware.

Photography by Matthew Huitema.

artist statement 

My current practice revolves around soda fired ceramics. I create functional pots with contrasting surfaces that create tension between geometry and organic patterns. Areas of quiet and overwhelm in the decoration invite touch and offer the user a moment of pause and intimate investigation. Referencing botany, I look to understand my place in the world’s classifications. I attempt to catch the user’s attention, to render them in the present. The intent is to give one the chance to question the place of plants in beauty - but also the place of the environment in one’s values. 

By using a soda kiln, I can allow for the kiln and its unexpected nature to share agency over the work. This also echoes the balance between control and chaos that we, as a society, attempt to force on our environment. My work illustrates this balance through moments of chance and instances of control in a duet with the kiln. This balance is central to the work and allows for the ornate surfaces to exist on the forms without overwhelming the experience, much like the push and pull I often feel with my rational mind and my emotions. 

In this latest work, I attempt to reconcile this complicated relationship to my mental health. Rather than hiding away a plastic pill divider away to hide a dependency on medications, I hope this energized and ornate pill jar set can help me celebrate the taking of medication as an act of self-care and of ritual. It demands not to be tossed into a cupboard behind a mirror and asks gently to be placed on a mantle and to invite its presence into my home and into my self-care regiment. 

Lael Chmelyk

Soda Fire Rx Jar (2020)

Soda fired stoneware.

Photography by Matthew Huitema.

artist statement 

My current practice revolves around soda fired ceramics. I create functional pots with contrasting surfaces that create tension between geometry and organic patterns. Areas of quiet and overwhelm in the decoration invite touch and offer the user a moment of pause and intimate investigation. Referencing botany, I look to understand my place in the world’s classifications. I attempt to catch the user’s attention, to render them in the present. The intent is to give one the chance to question the place of plants in beauty - but also the place of the environment in one’s values. 

By using a soda kiln, I can allow for the kiln and its unexpected nature to share agency over the work. This also echoes the balance between control and chaos that we, as a society, attempt to force on our environment. My work illustrates this balance through moments of chance and instances of control in a duet with the kiln. This balance is central to the work and allows for the ornate surfaces to exist on the forms without overwhelming the experience, much like the push and pull I often feel with my rational mind and my emotions. 

In this latest work, I attempt to reconcile this complicated relationship to my mental health. Rather than hiding away a plastic pill divider away to hide a dependency on medications, I hope this energized and ornate pill jar set can help me celebrate the taking of medication as an act of self-care and of ritual. It demands not to be tossed into a cupboard behind a mirror and asks gently to be placed on a mantle and to invite its presence into my home and into my self-care regiment. 

Leia Guo

Chinook on Moraine (2021)

Silver gelatin print, blown glass plate

artist biography 

Leia Guo is a 5th year BFA Glass major studying at the Alberta University of the Arts whose interdisciplinary practice spans glassblowing, stained glass, analog photography, and lens-based print processes. In the next 2 years she will be pursuing a subsequent BDes degree in Photography to refine her lens-based bodies of work.

artist statement 

My artwork is inspired by the idea that home is not the place you are born, but the place that you love. My current body of work is a love letter to the Alberta landscape that I recognize as the home of my heart not only for its sublimity, but for also being the keeper of my fondest memories. In a historical context sublimity is often associated with the wonder and danger of the unknown wilderness, especially in North America. In contrast my practice draws its conceptual base from the lesser-known philosophies of Archibald Alison, who believed sublimity stemmed not just from the power of the natural world but also from the addition of emotion and personal narrative. And so, the Alberta I know is impossible: both sublime and familiar, born from external phenomenon and from my own memory. 

In order to capture the bittersweet sublimity of the Albertan landscape, I have spent the past 4 years exploring glass as both a vessel to contain infinity and as a remnant to stand in for what was lost. My newest body of work, “Somewhere in Nowhere” is a series of unique silver gelatin prints that explore the theme of hiraeth that is felt when I travel through the Albertan countryside. Artificial Chinook arches are created through the application of hand-blown glass plates during the printing process; a symbol of home and belonging, regardless of geography, seasonal timing, or other factors. In contrast, the landscape is impossible and mundane, consisting of views across Alberta that cannot be traced back to a single place. The finished photographs are ‘nowhere’ places that are made ‘somewhere’ by the desire to find any familiar glimpses of home. My practice blurs the line between photographic and glassmaking processes and explores how craft objects can be both final pieces and part of something more. 

Leia Guo

Chinook on Nose Hill (2021)

Silver gelatin print, blown glass plate

artist biography 

Leia Guo is a 5th year BFA Glass major studying at the Alberta University of the Arts whose interdisciplinary practice spans glassblowing, stained glass, analog photography, and lens-based print processes. In the next 2 years she will be pursuing a subsequent BDes degree in Photography to refine her lens-based bodies of work.

artist statement 

My artwork is inspired by the idea that home is not the place you are born, but the place that you love. My current body of work is a love letter to the Alberta landscape that I recognize as the home of my heart not only for its sublimity, but for also being the keeper of my fondest memories. In a historical context sublimity is often associated with the wonder and danger of the unknown wilderness, especially in North America. In contrast my practice draws its conceptual base from the lesser-known philosophies of Archibald Alison, who believed sublimity stemmed not just from the power of the natural world but also from the addition of emotion and personal narrative. And so, the Alberta I know is impossible: both sublime and familiar, born from external phenomenon and from my own memory. 

In order to capture the bittersweet sublimity of the Albertan landscape, I have spent the past 4 years exploring glass as both a vessel to contain infinity and as a remnant to stand in for what was lost. My newest body of work, “Somewhere in Nowhere” is a series of unique silver gelatin prints that explore the theme of hiraeth that is felt when I travel through the Albertan countryside. Artificial Chinook arches are created through the application of hand-blown glass plates during the printing process; a symbol of home and belonging, regardless of geography, seasonal timing, or other factors. In contrast, the landscape is impossible and mundane, consisting of views across Alberta that cannot be traced back to a single place. The finished photographs are ‘nowhere’ places that are made ‘somewhere’ by the desire to find any familiar glimpses of home. My practice blurs the line between photographic and glassmaking processes and explores how craft objects can be both final pieces and part of something more. 

Luke Winterhalt

Raven Cufflinks (2021)

Cast silver jewellery

artist biography 

Luke Winterhalt is a Canadian jeweller and metalsmith from northern Alberta. He studied at the Alberta University of the Arts for four years and is in the process of graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jewellery and Metals. His work is an amalgamation of film and historic influences focusing on themes of decay and relic in regards to jewellery and metals. His current focus revolves around experimentation with different methods of casting metal and the study of jewelry from antiquity in order to bring it into a modern context while still retaining the look and feel of an object that has seen the centuries. 

artist statement 

In my work, I explore the themes of decay and the relic through metalsmithing and digital drawing. My desire to create, paired with a love of history and mythology, led me to study jewelry and metalsmithing. Like being a reverse archaeologist; I make the objects that I hope to find. This results in the creation of pieces that formulate a view into the past with a more modern application.   

Death and ruination are linked to the idea of change: the departure from what once was. This is related to much of the imagery I employ in my work, either through physical transformation or through symbols such as the raven, which embodies an omen of death as well as other connotations. I’m fascinated by the way an object can change over time, specifically, in this case, metals. I’m interested in how metals change due to outside stimuli in the environment such as heating, which can cause fractures, or changes in colour, and general decay from a pristine state. Finding ways to emulate these changes in a controlled manner is a major part of my process. It gives the piece the appearance as though it has survived the passage of time, when in reality, it is something completely modern in make; a form of artifice if you will. It creates a reason to speculate how the piece came to be here. What is its story? It becomes something for the audience to wonder for themselves. This extends into my drawing practice as well, creating digital paintings based on the same ideas and techniques that I utilize in my metal pieces in a more fantastical manner. 

Luke Winterhalt

Hacksilver Ring (2021)

Cast silver jewellery

artist biography 

Luke Winterhalt is a Canadian jeweller and metalsmith from northern Alberta. He studied at the Alberta University of the Arts for four years and is in the process of graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jewellery and Metals. His work is an amalgamation of film and historic influences focusing on themes of decay and relic in regards to jewellery and metals. His current focus revolves around experimentation with different methods of casting metal and the study of jewelry from antiquity in order to bring it into a modern context while still retaining the look and feel of an object that has seen the centuries. 

artist statement 

In my work, I explore the themes of decay and the relic through metalsmithing and digital drawing. My desire to create, paired with a love of history and mythology, led me to study jewelry and metalsmithing. Like being a reverse archaeologist; I make the objects that I hope to find. This results in the creation of pieces that formulate a view into the past with a more modern application.   

Death and ruination are linked to the idea of change: the departure from what once was. This is related to much of the imagery I employ in my work, either through physical transformation or through symbols such as the raven, which embodies an omen of death as well as other connotations. I’m fascinated by the way an object can change over time, specifically, in this case, metals. I’m interested in how metals change due to outside stimuli in the environment such as heating, which can cause fractures, or changes in colour, and general decay from a pristine state. Finding ways to emulate these changes in a controlled manner is a major part of my process. It gives the piece the appearance as though it has survived the passage of time, when in reality, it is something completely modern in make; a form of artifice if you will. It creates a reason to speculate how the piece came to be here. What is its story? It becomes something for the audience to wonder for themselves. This extends into my drawing practice as well, creating digital paintings based on the same ideas and techniques that I utilize in my metal pieces in a more fantastical manner. 

Marcy Friesen

Half Breed (2021)

Seed beads and adhesive, silver fox hat, coyote throw

Susan Stewart Photography

artist biography  

Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently resides on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, Saskatchewan. Marcy comes from a long line of traditional master beaders and talented creative family members. Marcy has always felt the need to create and has focused her career starting her Trapline Creations business where she makes utilitarian pieces. Since visiting the Remai Modern Art Gallery in Saskatoon Marcy has changed her focus to creating “useless" pieces of art. Marcy uses her beads, leather and furs in new and exciting ways opening discussions on mental health issues. Marcy has since discovered her useless art isn’t as useless as she first thought. Marcy is now enjoying creating art pieces and is excited and blessed to be an artist.  

 artist statement 

I come from a long line of creative family members on both sides of my family. My hands and mind have always felt like they needed to create. As long as I can remember I have been making all sorts of items from flower arrangements, quilts, cross stitch pieces, knitted dish cloths and so much more. My mom and I get together and enjoy creating.  

As an adult I learnt how to sew with fur and leather which lead to doing beadwork. My nephew and his wife shared their patterns and taught me how to make gauntlets.  My first beadwork was done when I was a teenager, after watching a cousin use his bead loom. I went home and made a bead loom from 2×4 board and some finishing nails. I still loom bead on a wooden loom.  I started my business called Trapline Creations and started creating gauntlets, fur hats, moccasins and more full time.  

As an artist I am always pushing myself to use my beads, fur and leather differently. My mind doesn’t slow down very often and I am constantly on the hunt for new ideas and ways to say what I need to say. I have been working on some beaded face images focusing on racism. I have found that I can make art based on what I have been through in my past. So as a Swampy Cree/Welsh brown woman I know racism. Growing up as a minority in Saskatchewan I have some stories to tell with this series. I will be having a show upcoming this spring at the Fazakas Gallery in Vancouver. So, these images are a sneak peek into that show. 

Marcy Friesen

KINDNESS (2021)

Seed beads and adhesive, silver fox hat, coyote throw

Susan Stewart Photography

artist biography  

Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently resides on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, Saskatchewan. Marcy comes from a long line of traditional master beaders and talented creative family members. Marcy has always felt the need to create and has focused her career starting her Trapline Creations business where she makes utilitarian pieces. Since visiting the Remai Modern Art Gallery in Saskatoon Marcy has changed her focus to creating “useless" pieces of art. Marcy uses her beads, leather and furs in new and exciting ways opening discussions on mental health issues. Marcy has since discovered her useless art isn’t as useless as she first thought. Marcy is now enjoying creating art pieces and is excited and blessed to be an artist.  

 artist statement 

I come from a long line of creative family members on both sides of my family. My hands and mind have always felt like they needed to create. As long as I can remember I have been making all sorts of items from flower arrangements, quilts, cross stitch pieces, knitted dish cloths and so much more. My mom and I get together and enjoy creating.  

As an adult I learnt how to sew with fur and leather which lead to doing beadwork. My nephew and his wife shared their patterns and taught me how to make gauntlets.  My first beadwork was done when I was a teenager, after watching a cousin use his bead loom. I went home and made a bead loom from 2×4 board and some finishing nails. I still loom bead on a wooden loom.  I started my business called Trapline Creations and started creating gauntlets, fur hats, moccasins and more full time.  

As an artist I am always pushing myself to use my beads, fur and leather differently. My mind doesn’t slow down very often and I am constantly on the hunt for new ideas and ways to say what I need to say. I have been working on some beaded face images focusing on racism. I have found that I can make art based on what I have been through in my past. So as a Swampy Cree/Welsh brown woman I know racism. Growing up as a minority in Saskatchewan I have some stories to tell with this series. I will be having a show upcoming this spring at the Fazakas Gallery in Vancouver. So, these images are a sneak peek into that show. 

Meng Qui

Sunny Day Diary Page 69 (2020)

Magazine, black markers, glue

artist biography 

Meng Qiu received BFA from NSCAD University in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing after finishing her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Environmental Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia to follow her passion for art and craft. She had her Solo Exhibition at Anna Leonowens Gallery in her final year of study and was a finalist for the NSCAD Student Art Award in 2021.  

With Qiu’s environmental science background, she is interested in upcycling paper. Qiu creates wearable art jewellery using discard jewellery magazines and the folding technique she learned in her childhood in China.  

artist statement 

What would you do if you had a huge collection of magazines but limited space to store them? My answer to the question is to make them wearable art jewellery.  

With the folding and cutting experimentations, I discovered the strength and flexibility relating to the different sizes of the paper forms. The elasticity of the helix structure adds playfulness to the body of work. I write down my thoughts and memories on paper strips with different colours of pens, folding them together to create a new form of a diary.  

Meng Qui

Sunny Day Diary Page 69 (2020)

Magazine, black markers, glue

artist biography 

Meng Qiu received BFA from NSCAD University in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing after finishing her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Environmental Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia to follow her passion for art and craft. She had her Solo Exhibition at Anna Leonowens Gallery in her final year of study and was a finalist for the NSCAD Student Art Award in 2021.  

With Qiu’s environmental science background, she is interested in upcycling paper. Qiu creates wearable art jewellery using discard jewellery magazines and the folding technique she learned in her childhood in China.  

artist statement 

What would you do if you had a huge collection of magazines but limited space to store them? My answer to the question is to make them wearable art jewellery.  

With the folding and cutting experimentations, I discovered the strength and flexibility relating to the different sizes of the paper forms. The elasticity of the helix structure adds playfulness to the body of work. I write down my thoughts and memories on paper strips with different colours of pens, folding them together to create a new form of a diary.

Meng Qui

Sunny Day Diary Page 69 (2020)

Magazine, black markers, glue

artist biography 

Meng Qiu received BFA from NSCAD University in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing after finishing her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Environmental Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia to follow her passion for art and craft. She had her Solo Exhibition at Anna Leonowens Gallery in her final year of study and was a finalist for the NSCAD Student Art Award in 2021.  

With Qiu’s environmental science background, she is interested in upcycling paper. Qiu creates wearable art jewellery using discard jewellery magazines and the folding technique she learned in her childhood in China.  

artist statement 

What would you do if you had a huge collection of magazines but limited space to store them? My answer to the question is to make them wearable art jewellery.  

With the folding and cutting experimentations, I discovered the strength and flexibility relating to the different sizes of the paper forms. The elasticity of the helix structure adds playfulness to the body of work. I write down my thoughts and memories on paper strips with different colours of pens, folding them together to create a new form of a diary.

Sophia Lengle

Squares Within Squares (2020)

Cotton, soybean solution, sumi ink

artist biography 

Sophia Lengle is a Canadian artist based out of Edmonton, AB. Sophia earned her BFA in fibre with honours, from the Alberta University of the Arts in May 2020. 

“I use weaving, sewing, drawing and lapidary to delve into my lived experience and to relate to the stories of those around me, predominantly the stories of women, past and present. The themes that underpin my inspiration, materials and creations relate to resilience. Resilience in this case, refers to resourcefulness, endurance, and an ongoing dedication to the many mundane tasks that have been traditionally associated with woman’s work. In particular, the resilience women have shown in their personal craft, work that had to be portable, easy to put down and pick up again, and could be done in the midst of family life.” 

artist statement 

'Squares Within Squares' was the last weaving I made at AUArts before graduating in 2020. I spent over a hundred hours on this work. Warping the loom, grinding sumi ink, mordanting, painting the threads, and weaving. I worked methodically taking pains to keep my technique consistent. As a result, I learned a great deal about my materials, the process, and the math involved. While there are many ways that I could have gone about creating a square within a square pattern, I chose to use an ikat inspired approach to achieve shapes that are at once defined, but blurred at the edges. Creating this work was an exercise in technique and patience. 

Sophia Lengle

Squares Within Squares (2020)

Cotton, soybean solution, sumi ink

artist biography 

Sophia Lengle is a Canadian artist based out of Edmonton, AB. Sophia earned her BFA in fibre with honours, from the Alberta University of the Arts in May 2020. 

“I use weaving, sewing, drawing and lapidary to delve into my lived experience and to relate to the stories of those around me, predominantly the stories of women, past and present. The themes that underpin my inspiration, materials and creations relate to resilience. Resilience in this case, refers to resourcefulness, endurance, and an ongoing dedication to the many mundane tasks that have been traditionally associated with woman’s work. In particular, the resilience women have shown in their personal craft, work that had to be portable, easy to put down and pick up again, and could be done in the midst of family life.” 

artist statement 

'Squares Within Squares' was the last weaving I made at AUArts before graduating in 2020. I spent over a hundred hours on this work. Warping the loom, grinding sumi ink, mordanting, painting the threads, and weaving. I worked methodically taking pains to keep my technique consistent. As a result, I learned a great deal about my materials, the process, and the math involved. While there are many ways that I could have gone about creating a square within a square pattern, I chose to use an ikat inspired approach to achieve shapes that are at once defined, but blurred at the edges. Creating this work was an exercise in technique and patience. 

Adriane Vant Erve

Tissues Impressions #11 (2019)

Silk, organza, thread, madder

artist biography 

I am an artist living in Calgary, Alberta.  I grew up on a wheat farm and am always influenced by the open spaces, rhythms of nature, and solitude I began life with.   I completed a Bachelor of Interior Design at the University of Manitoba and worked as an Interior Designer for 8 years.  I have also spent time living in Sydney, Australia, and attended the sculpture program at the University of Sydney.  I completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fibre) at the AUArts.  Exploring three-dimensions, texture and transparency is an exciting part of my practice.  

artist statement 

Tissues conveys impressions about fragility and the delicate and mysterious forms of our bodies.  This body of work explores deeper meaning and complex visual experiences, and it also features multiples and kinetics.  The silk organza is luminous and softly glows with transparency.  Silk dyed with madder is used to create blood-coloured organs which are placed in some of the sculptures to give an eerie reminder of what it would be like if we could see inside ourselves.  The colours chosen for the thread reflect the colour of hair, veins and blood vessels.  The ethereal imperfections create a feeling of spirit and vitality which evokes the uncanny.  

Chen Si

Read My Corpse (2021)

Copper, enamel, ceramic, green patina

Photography by Zhongqi.

Chen Si

Read My Corpse (2021)

Copper, enamel, ceramic, green patina

Photography by Zhongqi.

Dalayce Smith

Reflecting on Covid (2021)

ASCII embroidery

artist biography 

Dalayce Smith is an engineer turned artist who has a passion for making in a multitude of media. With a background in mathematics and engineering, her work is approached with an eye toward empirical discovery and meticulously executed process with an occasional balancing deviation into complete kitsch. Dalayce received her BFA in glass in 2018 and continued on to obtain a BFA in fibre in 2020; a master’s degree in craft is inevitably in her future somewhere. She currently resides in SW Calgary but has her gaze firmly set on building a studio in the East Kootenays. 

artist statement 

ASCII is the code that a computer uses to represent alphanumeric elements and each character consists of a string of eight 0’s and 1’s.  My ASCII embroidery technique utilizes square blocks of satin stitch to represent the 1’s and blank spaces to represent the 0’s.  This piece encodes the phrase “Covid-19” in the top left block and then reflects and inverts the code block to create a Rorschach-esque, kaleidoscopic abstract image.  This format reflects the feeling that we are going around in circles during these unusual times and that life is sometimes upside down and backwards.  The material choice represents a need for comfort (woolen fibre) and the subtle variegation in color shows the muted pace of life in isolation.  This piece is number 1 in a series of 6. 

Daniel Labutes

Pink Moon (2021)

Low fire ceramic

artist biography 

Daniel Labutes is a studio potter living in Calgary, Alberta.  

In 2013 he took his first pottery class at North Mount Pleasant Art Centre as a gift from his wife in order to destress from his busy job as a chef in a fine dining restaurant. One class led to another at ACAD (now AUArts) through the Continuing Education programs. After taking his third class at ACAD he decided that he would leave his culinary career and pursue an arts education with a major in Ceramics.

In 2019 Daniel graduated with a BFA in Ceramics from AUArts with honors as part of the first class to have University designation, and he received the Board of Governors scholarship for the Ceramics department. After graduation he spent some time renovating the basement of his home into a ceramics studio. He bought a small electric kiln and was now able to concentrate on making ceramics full time during the COVID crisis. Now he spends his days making pottery and finding ways to sell his work in the new environment that the pandemic has created.  

artist statement 

I make vessels that wish for more than admiration – they expect to be used and interacted with, and come alive through a sense of purpose. I make them to be comfortable, practical, and attractive articles of the home. My inspiration for how I work and create comes from the ideals of the Mingei movement in Japan, the philosophies of wabi-sabi, and the mountainous landscapes of southern Alberta. My pots are approachable and minimal in form and decor, I emphasize their handmade qualities: they lean; they are bumpy, and they show fluidity of movement.  

 I make my work using a combination of wheel-thrown and handbuilding methods. This combination of methods enables me to emphasize their handmade nature and to provide a more interesting texture and surface. I low-fire in an electric kiln, using simple glazes and decorating. I glaze some of my work with a translucent white glaze to allow the details of the clay surface to come through. My other work is brush decorated with earth tone slips reminiscent of mountain scenes.  

Some might consider the making of functional pottery in the 21st century to be a subversive choice. If there is no practical need for my wares and no void in the production of cheaply-made and mass-manufactured pots; then my work is a gentle rebellion against the machine of progress.  

In the landscape of innocuous and mass-produced functional wares, I am making unconventional conventional objects hoping to be accessible alternatives in the view and consciousness of contemporary society. They connect and celebrate the sense of respect between the modern maker and consumer. These vessels hope to have purpose: to be used, to be interacted with, to be experienced, and to live among us in our homes as cherished objects.

Esther Imm

Quilt without border (2019)

Cotton and wool, handquilted

artist biography 

Esther Imm is a textile artist who was drawn to quilt design as a way to explore abstraction and construct it into tactile form. Her work is based on intuition and spontaneity of execution, each piece is found through experiment. All works are quilted by hand. 

She currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada. 

artist statement 

Chogak po - a traditional Korean textile patch-worked from scraps into colourful abstract design.  

An attempt to explore the traditions of one culture can bring us closer to the place we are from. Quilt without border is from a series of modern western quilts that are unintentionally traditionally Korean

Esther Imm

Quilt without border (2019)

Cotton and wool, handquilted

artist biography 

Esther Imm is a textile artist who was drawn to quilt design as a way to explore abstraction and construct it into tactile form. Her work is based on intuition and spontaneity of execution, each piece is found through experiment. All works are quilted by hand. 

She currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada. 

artist statement 

Chogak po - a traditional Korean textile patch-worked from scraps into colourful abstract design.  

An attempt to explore the traditions of one culture can bring us closer to the place we are from. Quilt without border is from a series of modern western quilts that are unintentionally traditionally Korean

Graham Boyd

Black and Chrome Stack (2021)

Blown glass

artist biography 

I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from The Alberta University of the Arts with a major in glass in 2020. I am currently pursuing my second BFA at AUArts with a focus in Sculpture, as well as a minor in 3D object design and fabrication. 

artist statement 

My work is centered around formal glass art that focuses on a purity of form, silhouette and colour. We interact with and perceive form, surface and colour in relation to ourselves and space, through optical phenomenology, perception and intervention. I also produce sculptural work that provides the tools for one to observe and interact with the things around them in a unique way. 

Graham Boyd

Blue Stack (2021)

Graham Boyd

White Primary Stack (2021)

Gillian Tolliver

Spirit Sprout (2021)

Burnt basswood

Photography by James McLachlan.

artist biography 

Gillian Toliver is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto. As an artist of mixed Scottish and Caribbean descent, her work often explores spaces existing in an in-between, a world caught in a moment of creation. In an honouring and opening of self, her work is a reaction to the absurdity, multiplicity and fluidity of being. Utilizing practices of labour, repetition and ritual, she navigates the condition of body and mind from systemic censorship through creating new forms in which to pour and bind self to. The creation of these new ‘host’ bodies is used in an act of reclaiming physical and mental environments. 

Toliver has exhibited across Canada and Italy. Her thesis work Paper Skin Makes Me Waver in the Breeze was awarded the Medal for Drawing and Painting and Nora E. Vaughan Award at OCAD University in 2019.  

artist statement 

Spirit Sprout is part of a series of wood sculptures titled Animalcules. Animalcule is a word invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek to refer to the microorganisms he observed in rainwater. This series is an attempt to give form to elusive emotional and spiritual stages of an evolving self. Acting as a host body, this sculpture was created to express the absurdity, multiplicity, and fluidity of being.  

As a woman, society has made claims on my physical and mental presence. So, though I am held within a body I love, it is a body that moves under the confines of systemic censorship. It is through this cycle of creating objects of self that I can continuously deconstruct, expand and re-grow. It’s this growth that reconstitutes the borders of my being. 

Dealing with my own inability to connect seemingly enigmatic and anamorphic fragments of identity. I create host bodies in which to pour into and bind self to; letting these fragments have the unspoken conversations that the ‘I’ cannot. This piece acts as a way to reclaim space, negating the societal structures that encourage my containment. 

Gillian Tolliver

Spirit Sprout (2021)

Burnt basswood

Photography by James McLachlan.

artist biography 

Gillian Toliver is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto. As an artist of mixed Scottish and Caribbean descent, her work often explores spaces existing in an in-between, a world caught in a moment of creation. In an honouring and opening of self, her work is a reaction to the absurdity, multiplicity and fluidity of being. Utilizing practices of labour, repetition and ritual, she navigates the condition of body and mind from systemic censorship through creating new forms in which to pour and bind self to. The creation of these new ‘host’ bodies is used in an act of reclaiming physical and mental environments. 

Toliver has exhibited across Canada and Italy. Her thesis work Paper Skin Makes Me Waver in the Breeze was awarded the Medal for Drawing and Painting and Nora E. Vaughan Award at OCAD University in 2019.  

artist statement 

Spirit Sprout is part of a series of wood sculptures titled Animalcules. Animalcule is a word invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek to refer to the microorganisms he observed in rainwater. This series is an attempt to give form to elusive emotional and spiritual stages of an evolving self. Acting as a host body, this sculpture was created to express the absurdity, multiplicity, and fluidity of being.  

As a woman, society has made claims on my physical and mental presence. So, though I am held within a body I love, it is a body that moves under the confines of systemic censorship. It is through this cycle of creating objects of self that I can continuously deconstruct, expand and re-grow. It’s this growth that reconstitutes the borders of my being. 

Dealing with my own inability to connect seemingly enigmatic and anamorphic fragments of identity. I create host bodies in which to pour into and bind self to; letting these fragments have the unspoken conversations that the ‘I’ cannot. This piece acts as a way to reclaim space, negating the societal structures that encourage my containment.