Artists
Amanda Amour Lynx is a Two Spirit, neurodivergent urban L’nu-Scottish interdisciplinary artist and facilitator currently living in Guelph, Ontario and member of Wagmatcook First Nation. Their art combines traditional l’nu’k approaches, contemporary painting with new media and digital arts guided by Mi’kmaq cosmology, star stories, ecological knowledges, gender identity and language resurgence.
(They/Them/Nekm)
Melanie Barnett is a ceramic sculptor originally from Treaty 4 Territory in Grandview, MB. Barnett received her BFA Honours in Ceramics from IshKaabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg Department of Visual Arts, Brandon University, Brandon, MB (2021) and her MFA from NSCAD University, K'jipuktuk/Halifax, NS (2024).
Barnett’s work draws upon themes of mycology and climate science to speculate upon a future where through mutations, chance, and circumstance, future humans have developed an intricate symbiosis with a number of species of fungus, moss, and algae.
Melanie’s work has been included in several national and international publications and has been exhibited across Canada. She has been the recipient of a number of scholarships and awards, most notably the Elizabeth Greenshield’s Foundation Grant (2022), the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship (2023), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship-Masters (2023) and the Governor Generals Gold medal in Academic Excellence (2024).
She/Her
Pablo wields his talents across realms: language and imagery, motion and sound, flavour and scent. His wisdom lies in the answers to unknown questions, inscribed in forgotten tongues and discarded like candy wrappers in the wind. He doesn't entertain fools nor looks a gift horse in the mouth, but has been known to count his blessings. God favours him, but Ganesha remains unimpressed. ☟︎♏︎ ♎︎□︎♏︎⬧︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♏︎■︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎■︎ ♐︎□︎□︎●︎⬧︎ ■︎□︎❒︎ ●︎□︎□︎🙵⬧︎ ♋︎ ♑︎♓︎♐︎⧫︎ ♒︎□︎❒︎⬧︎♏︎ ♓︎■︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ❍︎□︎◆︎⧫︎♒︎📪︎ ♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ♒︎♋︎⬧︎ ♌︎♏︎♏︎■︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎■︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♍︎□︎◆︎■︎⧫︎ ♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ♌︎●︎♏︎⬧︎⬧︎♓︎■︎♑︎⬧︎📬.︎ Pablo dances through time: witnessing the past, savouring the present and listening to the whispers of what lies ahead. And why, indeed, are cuttlefish, with their three hearts, so merciless? TUVWX why 7 ate 9? The future unfurls as a blank canvas, awaiting Pablo's strokes to render a route to tomorrow. Are you on board?
He/Him
Yulia Shtern is a Canadian Visual Artist. For over a decade she worked as a Scenic and Costume Designer for Theatre, Dance, and Opera while maintaining an active visual art practice. Shtern earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto, Canada), and a Master degree in Scenic Design from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada).
Yulia attended artist residencies in Italy, Germany, South Korea, and China, and is scheduled to attend one in the USA in 2024. Both her theatre design work and her art have been recognized by a number of awards, including Jessie Richardson Award for Significant Artistic Achievement: Outstanding Design Team, as a Costume Designer for a musical (Vancouver BC, Canada, 2011), and the Blue Lily of Florence Cultural Association’s 2nd Place Award for Sculpture (Florence, Italy, 2019). Her art exhibits internationally, and can be found in private collections across North America and Europe.
Her series Magical Zoo consists of sculptures of animals created from upcycled materials without the use of paint or pigment. It places an emphasis on environmental preservation and on sustainable artistic practices.
She/Her
Amanda White (she/her) is an artist and scholar currently living and working in Tkaronto/Toronto. She is a postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Curating in the Department of Visual Art at Western University and is a co-initiator of the Creative Food Research Collaboratory. Amanda holds a PhD from Queen’s University (Cultural Studies) and a MFA (Visual Art) from the University of Windsor. Amanda works from a critical white settler perspective, with a focus on environment, plants, and food. Her current works-in-progress include several collaborative and solo studio-based projects and a graphic novel. Her co-edited book, Ecologies in Practice: Environmentally Engaged Art in Canada was published in June 2024 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
She/Her
Ele Willoughby is a Toronto-based science artist, scientist and communicator. Trained as an experimental marine geophysicist (PhD, U of T physics, 2003), she has worked as a research scientist in academia and government. She now works primarily as a printmaker, making relief prints employing linoleum and wood, which reflect her love of science. She makes prints about the history of science, natural history and interactive art, incorporating colour-changing or electrically conductive inks and electronics, which straddle the art/science divide. Some of her work also incorporates painting, multimedia, sculpture and electronics. She has exhibited at galleries across Canada and internationally and her prints are in several museum collections.