Emily King Simpson is a multidisciplinary artist who creates work that engages in dialogues surrounding queer feminine identities and the introspective nature of discovering one’s own identity.
Cherie Daly finds her artistic expression in creating abstract art, using mediums like acrylic paint, pastels, and collage. Seeking a deep connection with viewers, Cherie plays with paint and pastels, exploring the interplay of shapes, lines, colors, and textures intuitively.
Brian Jiang is a queer trans multi-disciplinary artist of Chinese-descent based in Tkaronto. As an artist collaborator working within the cultural sector, their arts-practice is informed by their love for the communities that they belong to.
Audrey Feltham, a seasoned artist with 30 years of experience in traditional print and fibre art, was born and raised in Southern Alberta. Her work reflects a fusion of prairie upbringing and Maritime experiences, and exploring those diverse cultural connections.
Mahir Siraj is an Eritrean-born artist who lives and works in Toronto. Mahir’s works employ the use of symbols and metaphors to investigate the relationship between memory and meaning in the context of personal and social identity formations.
A former Criminologist from the University of Cape Town, Aadila Munshi grew up in South Africa during the apartheid regime. She is inspired by street art as a powerful voice for social justice and equity. Her abstract expressions represent her perception of the push and pull between struggle, hope, and the ability to rise above.
Elizabeth Forrest, a printmaking graduate of the OCA, mastered traditional Japanese woodblock printing in Kyoto during the 90s. Her internationally showcased mixed-media art, known for exploring social behaviours and natural phenomena, features Japanese paper ("washi") as a defining element.
The day that her son started grade one, Rita Vindedzis decided that she would not work for anyone again other than herself. She began painting again and the rest is history. Get to know her work, practice, and inspirations.
Beyond her work as an artist, Jamie Ly co-founded and facilitates FACES Collective which focuses on widening participation in the arts sector by dismantling barriers for BIPOC artists.
Diane Fine's artistic process involves the exploration of an array of subjects and mediums, allowing her to incorporate her fascination with colour, shapes, and textures. Through the organic use of materials, she allows compositions to emerge from her imagination.
Grace is a multimedia artist and production designer, with a Bachelor's of Environmental Design from OCAD University. She is interested in the intersection of wellness and design; drawing inspiration from the abstractions found in nature and everyday life using simple patterns and textures.
Toronto based artist, Jennie Lau works across a wide range of mediums and styles. She is dedicated to exploring new techniques and subjects of painting, and investigate how her artwork contributes to the local community and beyond. She holds a BFA degree with Distinction in the Drawing & Painting program from OCAD University.
Jonathan Palter began his art career as a sculptor and gradually explored other mediums such as painting. Informed by his background in sculpture, he creates abstract art which elicits a range of emotions that invite the imagination to explore.
The artworks of Canadian-Iranian artist, Maryam Ebrahimi, are magnetic in their meditative flow. Her paintings have captivated the attention of viewers and collectors from all over the world for their calming silhouettes and vibrant colours. Her work can be found in the corporate collection of the State Farm Insurance Company, Lomita, California and private collections in Canada and Europe.
Camilla Teodoro is a Filipina-born illustrator based in Toronto, Ontario. Her art is often based on observations and little delights found in her environment; a central theme of her illustrations as they often include playful characters who interact with their surroundings. She finds inspiration in everything from old children toys to the natural world.
Toronto based artist, Grace Dam creates work that investigates the complexity of being human and interconnections between ourselves and nature. Working mainly with oil and acrylic, she draws from ideas formed during childhood to her time in finance and travels.
Cherie Harte is a self-taught artist following in the tradition of Art Brut. Harte utilizes gestural painting techniques that juxtapose a character’s complex inner life with tangible expressions of naïveté and innocence. Tapping into her own life experiences, from the saddest to most uplifting, her paintings trigger a blending of feelings that express the full gamut of emotions.
Hee J. Jo was born in Seoul, Korea and studied Educational Psychology before immigrating to Canada and earning a BFA from OCAD U. Her identity as an immigrant and asian woman in an interracial marriage are major subjects of her work. She questions the boundaries between normal and abnormal, experimenting with tradition, universal value, and rational ways of thinking.
Our latest Meet the Artist feature is of Justin Mezzapelli, a multi-media artist interested in domesticity, multiplicity and queerness. Currently working with pointillist ink illustration, his images depict activity of everyday life, suggest an attention to time, and reference media of the public domain.
Daniel Maluka is a self-taught Toronto-based visual artist and writer. His work takes an Afrocentric approach while incorporating surrealist elements. In using his interest in the subconscious, Daniel brings what lurks in the deep recesses of the mind into the forefront of his work.
Jordan Clayton focuses on restructuring narratives that intersect between art, science, fiction, and queerness in a melange that forecasts a reality only a few degrees separated from the present. His painted “worlds” employ techniques rooted in abstract and surrealist painting tropes and allow him to create spaces wherein he believes he truly fits as a self-proclaimed oddball.
Metaphors of transformation sift the surface of her work, reflecting ideas of change and perspective shifts; while contrasting matte black paint magnifies the sensation of renewal despite the unknown.
Born and raised in Cuba, visual artist Diana Rosa draws inspiration from her hometown of Holguin, a city rich in culture, tradition and history. As a child, she fondly remembers growing up in a house full of music, surrounded by relatives who played in bands or sang in groups.
Canadian artist Gwynne Giles is of Anglo-Welsh ancestry who came from an academic background but began painting when he retired from a successful career in the hospitality industry. He has lived in the Beaches in Toronto for 35 years and is “as happy as a pig in muck”. With no formal training in art, his ideas are at times quirky but always original. His work has been described by collectors as 'something new and completely different’.