Looking back at 2023 Creatives in Residence

May, 2024

In 2023, the Ontario Culture Days Creatives in Residence program welcomed our fourth lineup of residents. These artists worked across artistic disciplines and were active in regions across the province, developing new community-engaged projects for the annual fall festival.

In 2023, the series was inspired by themes of material culture. From textile art to digital projections, each artist explored the theme in unique ways – including workshops, installations, and performances in local Ontario communities.

Based in Guelph

Alisa McRonald is a contemporary textile artist who experiments with themes of folklore, fables and the esoteric. For her residency, Alisa created colourful, contemporary punch-needle wall-hangings and hosted an exhibition of these wall-hangings. She facilitated a large-scale collective art piece during the 2023 Queen West Art Crawl which takes place during the Ontario Culture Days Festival. Art lovers were invited to learn the art of punch-needling on-site and to contribute to this collaborative art piece.

Thanks to our partners Queen West Art Crawl, City of Guelph, and Toronto Public Library.

Based in Thunder Bay

Betty Carpick is a multidisciplinary land-based artist, educator, and environmentalist, who offers stewardship of land and water shaped by her Cree and Eastern European heritage. Using Boreal Forest inks made by Betty, community participants made ink blots that were photographed and assembled as patterns in a galaxy for a digital projection. Following an Artist Talk at the Co. Lab Gallery, the projection went live as an outdoor public installation in Thunder Bay during the Ontario Culture Days Festival. A Maker Session at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery gave people of all ages a chance to play with the inks.

Thanks to our partners Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Destination Northern Ontario, and CO. Lab Gallery & Arts Centre.

Based in Temiskaming

Chelsea Smith is an artist of mixed European and Anishinaabe descent from Northern Ontario. Chelsea grew her own plants to create dye, which she used to tint natural fabric. The fabric was then made into a traditional hand-tied quilt through a series of community quilting and story sharing sessions. The artist exhibited the resulting artwork, and hosted an artist talk, as well as a participatory workshop. Which inviting attendees to experiment on paper with natural pigments created by the artist.

Thanks to our partners Destination Northern Ontario and Temiskaming Art Gallery.

Based in Toronto

Juliane Foronda is a Filipina-Canadian artist, writer, and researcher. During her residency, she researched the board game archive at Ottawa’s Canadian Museum of History. From there, she created a text-based installation scattering extracted board game phrases throughout the city of Ottawa. Through this, the city becomes similar to a game itself, with the public as participants. A complementary artist talk and interactive event also took place during the Festival.

Thanks to our partners Canadian Museum of History, OC Transpo, Ottawa Art Gallery, and SAW.

Based in Toronto

Kevin A. Ormsby, along with KasheDance, hosted the ‘Kultcha Live Yah’ series during the Ontario Culture Days festival, hosting workshops which drew from Pan-Africanist based movement. A final show case was hosted at Citadel + Compagnie.. The series included in-person and online workshops that lead up to a final performance, which featured a spectrum of dancers performing against a backdrop of digital artwork. The series was part of the organization’s 15th anniversary celebration that will incorporate dancers and the general public.

Thanks to our partners Citadel + Compagnie, Toronto Public Library, Kashedance and Destination Toronto.

Based in Pickering

Mushtari Afroz is a classical dancer trained in the North Indian classical dance form called ‘Kathak,’ and is director of the Kathak Bandi Dance Collective. For her project, Mushtari worked with dancers to surprise and engage public audiences through a series of dance performances that interacted with Pickering’s public spaces and invited public participation. The project raised awareness of the importance of these shared spaces as gathering points and places of pride within diverse communities.

Thank to our partner City of Pickering.

Based in Toronto

Myung-Sun Kim’s project, ‘Rituals for Belonging’ invited artists of various disciplines to share objects associated with rituals that may recall joy, desire, and belonging. These rituals are encompassed in the series of objects that were on exhibition. The exhibition ran for the duration of the festival at the Toronto Public Library – Lillian H. Smith Branch. On October 7th, Myung-Sun hosted an in-person event at the library featuring an exhibition walk-through and ritual sharing.

Thanks to our partners Toronto Public Library and Destination Toronto.

Based in Toronto

Owen Marshall is an artist and printmaker who examines the way text and signage influence the surrounding environment. He presented a series of printed flags which used humour to challenge and undermine the perceived authority of flags and the significance they carry. The works were presented on flagpoles throughout the Queen West neighbourhood. In partnership with the Queen West Art Crawl, the artist provided a series of informative and performative guided tours of the works in this neighbourhood.

Thanks to our partners Queen West Art Crawl, Toronto Public Library, West Queen West BIA and Destination Toronto.