Curator on the Go Podcast

Gemma Rolls-Bentley is a curator, creative consultant & writer who has been at the forefront of contemporary art for nearly two decades. Curating exhibitions and building art collections internationally, her curatorial practice amplifies the work of female and queer artists and provides a platform for art that explores LGBTQIA+ identity. Her debut book Queer Art: From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between is being published by Quarto in May 2024. Most recently she curated ‘A Million Candles: Illuminating Queer Love & Life' at the London Art Fair. In 2023 she curated the group exhibition ‘Dreaming of Home' at Leslie Lohman Museum of Art in NYC and the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival in London. She curated the Brighton Beacon Collection, the largest permanent display of queer art in the UK. Gemma is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art and has taught at numerous institutions including Goldsmiths and Glasgow School of Art. She co-chairs the board of trustees for the charity Queercircle and sits on the Courtauld Association Committee. Learn more about Gemma Rolls-Bentley here.  Learn more about the podcast and podcast host here. 

Vancouver-based artist Amy Stewart has been drawn to the interconnections of art, play and nature since her childhood in 108-Mile House, British Columbia, where she spent most of her time outdoors. That first northern home continues to dominate much of Amy's current artistic world. The memories of childhood and nature shape her adult imagination, and they are reflected in her paintings' rich textures and vibrant tones. Her pieces are often inspired by the feelings that come both from the natural world and from engaging fully in her community and with her loved ones. “I paint how I feel and who I am,” Stewart explains. And that sense of humanity—the private experiences of suffering and celebration—is evoked by her canvases' unique explorations of colour, which range from exuberant bursts of brightness to contemplative reflections on darkness. Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Canadian artist Bibiana Hooper lives in the beautiful Okanagan, British Columbia. She moved with her family from the city a decade ago to live in the country with expansive views of vineyards, orchards, lakes, mountains and sky. As a self-taught artist, she began exploring her skills in 2018 when she joined a collective art gallery. Bibiana's art practice is all about capturing the beauty of flowers and landscapes through a contemporary and poetic brush stroke. Her passion for nature shines through her with the flow and organic elements in everything she creates. Bibiana paints in her home studio and she's also an integral part of the Naramata Art Group. You can find her artwork hanging in galleries and private homes all around the world.  Learn more about the artist here. Learn more abou thte podcast here.

Billie Rae Busby is an award-winning contemporary artist who uses a precise hard-edge painting technique and colour theory to reinvent her surroundings. Her abstract landscape paintings evoke wonder and possibility by depicting mood, memory, movement and time. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she is inspired by both the complexity of urban architecture and the vast rural landscape. She strives to interpret ordinary places in a fresh, new context. Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Claire Crawford (née Gaulin-Brown) is an artist and illustrator living and working in San Francisco, California. Claire uses surrealism and abstract tools to inquire about nature culture dualism as a place to imagine a post anthropocentric world. Learn more abou the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Andrea Soos is well known for her playful abstractions that combine creative mark-making, patterning, and gestural application of colour. Working with a fresh modern palette, Soos' paintings allow the viewer to freely journey around the canvas, enjoying the twists and turns of her engaging compositions. Although she may not know the outcome of the piece when she begins, the artwork evolves as a visceral and therapeutic practice, driven by music and song lyrics. Viewers of Soos' work connect with the many visual entry-points and feel at liberty to apply their own experiences and history to the marks on the canvas. Soos lives and works in Victoria, British Columbia, where she also trained for her BFA. Soos' work has been collected across Canada and in the USA, and works to release new series' of artwork year-round.  Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Jodi Miller is a contemporary Canadian impressionist painter whose landscapes explore our sense of belonging and how we interact with our natural environment. She is a veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force, following a 20 year career as an aerospace engineer working in aircraft maintenance and project management.  Jodi pivoted to become a full-time artist in 2015, returning to the prairies where she grew up on a family farm. She now finds inspiration in the vast land and skies. Jodi paints in response to her time in nature and her work represents optimism where the artist sees metaphorical life journeys in the many paths carved out in nature. Jodi's work has been recognized for “capturing Canadian identity through landscape” and she has been named one of “28 Contemporary Canadian Artists You Need to Know” by Create Magazine. Her work has been requested at shows across Canada and is held in private collections world-wide.  Learn more about Jodi Miller here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Jennifer L Mohr is an acrylic and mixed media painter living and creating in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada (the traditional territories of the Treaty 7 Nations in Southern Alberta, and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3).  She began exploring visual arts in early childhood, later earning her B.F.A. in painting at the University of Saskatchewan in 2003.  With a nostalgic palette, expressive, layered marks, and lingering, ground-level perspective, Jennifer's paintings place the viewer within the landscape, allowing them to experience the beauty and complexity of self-reflection within nature.  Her paintings are part of private collections across the globe and have been featured in publications, including Create! Magazine, The Jealous Curator blog, and the popular website, My Modern Met. Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here. 

Andrew Wang is a Toronto based mixed media artist.  He has a non-traditional background, coming from two decades in engineering and business.  He left this career 6 years ago to pursue art and has developed into a professional artist showing in galleries, art fairs and public art installations. Andrew uses meticulously folded origami objects to create large scale assemblages. He tells stories of individual journeys and migrations of previous generations.  With his unique background, he draws on science and mathematics for his compositions and metaphors.  Fluid dynamics, planetary motion and weather patterns are often seen in his work. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.  I also want to share a new exciting art podcast called In/Tension. In/Tension, produced by Toronto-based The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, is a limited podcast series of intimate, thought-provoking and accessible conversations with emerging, mid-career, and established contemporary visual artists across Canada. Detailing the ideas, inspirations and experiences that fuel their art, In/Tension aims to shed light on the breadth of the Canadian contemporary art scene and provide a platform for diverse artistic voices to dive deep into their creative intentions. Learn more here. 

Cobie Cruz was born in Manila, Philippines into a family of artists. He started his career in advertising as an art director, then became a director of television commercials before starting to paint professionally. Cruz participated in several group and solo exhibitions before emigrating with his family to Canada in 2005. Cobie Cruz's paintings are an exploration of composition, color and texture. The bold and determined brushstrokes are created by both intention and spontaneity and reflect his interpretation of the world around him. Cruz is curently represented by Canvas Gallery, Petroff Gallery, Arta Gallery in Toronto and Galerie Bloom in Montreal. Learn more about Cobie Cruz here.  I want to share a new exciting art podcast that will be premiering next week, called In/Tension. In/Tension, produced by Toronto-based The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, is a limited podcast series of intimate, thought-provoking and accessible conversations with emerging, mid-career, and established contemporary visual artists across Canada. Detailing the ideas, inspirations and experiences that fuel their art, In/Tension aims to shed light on the breadth of the Canadian contemporary art scene and provide a platform for diverse artistic voices to dive deep into their creative intentions. Learn more here.  Learn more about the podcast here.

Carol Loeb is a Canadian acrylic and mixed media artist who has always been fascinated with nature and our relationship to it. Carol's main subject is the landscape, both rural and urban. She works mainly in acrylics, usually blocking in dark and mid-tone areas first then adding thin layers of saturated color to create luminosity and depth. The result is a realism that goes beyond a photographic representation or record of place. In the lead-up to Canada's 150th anniversary, she conceived and executed the Trans-Canada 150 art project, a cross-continental documentation of the Canadian landscape along the Trans-Canada Highway from coast to coast, culminating in a series of 52 studio paintings and a book. More recently, as travel had been restricted by the global pandemic, she has concentrated on industrial and urban landscapes. Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Canadian-born artist Ramona Nordal began her art exploration at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia. Here she studied lithography, colour theory, painting and drawing and later focused on anatomy drawing and painting. Colour theory has always been a huge part of Nordal's process and she is quickly becoming known for her richly evocative colour palette. The central theme that unites all of her work is the mixture of the traditional with the unconventional. Her work is a representation of her interest in the human form, pop art culture and capturing the presence of her subjects. Nordal is hyper aware of art's relationship with human emotion and her subjects reflect this as they captivate you and entice you into their world. Her work can be found in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia, Honk Kong and Europe. Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Chicago-based visual artist Britni Mara is innately drawn to paint as a medium and has a sensory attachment to the physical push and pull of pigment. Intuition and years of experience guides her work as she seeks a meditative state to curate chaos towards intentional happenstance. She strives to bring a sense of structure to coincidence. Mara finds freedom in gestural energy and peace in the color field interplay which is rooted in post-war abstract expressionist movements. Her original artworks have been sold and shown all over the world.  Britni is also deeply passionate about creating platforms for emerging artists to thrive. In 2020, Mara founded the hallway gallery, which is an alternative pop-up style gallery dedicated to showing female and non-binary artists in the Chicago area. The goal is to turn the empty walls of hallways into opportunities and provide support to first-time and upcoming artists.

Claire Desjardins is an award-winning abstract painter based in Gore, Quebec and Sarasota, Florida. Claire's paintings, though abstract, take their visual cues from forms, colors, textures and patterns in nature: the feathers of a bird, the shades of turquoise in the water, how the light through the trees dapples on the ground below.    Beyond the canvas, Claire's art transforms commercial and residential interiors, urban exteriors, housewares,  furniture, package design and women's apparel. Her work has appeared in major motion pictures and popular television shows. Claire's long-standing corporate collaborations shape and define the customer experience – most notably for retail North American retail giant Anthropologie.  Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Toni Hamel describes her work as “an illustrated commentary on human frailties“. Rooted in story-telling, her art practice draws from personal experiences and outward observations to create thematic bodies of work that reflect on and interpret the psychological unease of this anthropocentric age. Virtues and vices, the holy and the profane, the good and the bad all share equal weight in her work and supply an infinite source of material for her investigations. Pointing to historical references, popular culture and our current conceptual standing, Hamel's satirical narratives ultimately seem to question our behaviour while alerting us about the repercussions of our current thinking models. Learn more about the artist here.  Learn more about the podcast here.

Internationally renown as the Queen of Double Eyes, Alex Garant studied visual arts at Notre-Dame–De-Foy College just outside Quebec City. After graduating in 2001, she ultimately settled in Toronto, Canada. She decided to truly commit to her passion for Arts after suffering from a heart attack in 2012, changing forever how she would see the world. ​As a pioneer of Contemporary Figurative Op Art, her oil paintings offer a graphic quality combined with traditional portrait techniques. Garant establishes herself as one of the leaders of analogue Glitch Art by using patterns, duplication of elements,  symmetry and image superposition as key elements of her imagery. Her paintings are a reflection on human duality, the battle for self-definition between one's inner self and outer persona.  Learn more about the artist here. Learn more about the podcast here.

Félix Bélanger is a long-time contributor in the world of art and culture in Canada.  His encounter with the work of Savlador Dalí was a turning point that changed his life, eventually leading to a close relationship with the world-renowned scholar and archivist for Dalí, Frank Hunter. His friendship and collaboration with Frank Hunter broadened his vision of the great master of surrealism and led to the success, development and creative vision for Divina Dalí. Learn more about the exhibit. Learn more about the podcast.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Colin Morris from Kingston FrameWorks and discussing his passion for helping artists thrive. Morris studied finance, but when he was in his early 20s, he never imagined taking over his father's business. Now, helping Kingston artists and improving FrameWorks' online store has become his “central focus.” We discussed topics like limited edition prints, framing, and marketing art products and services on social media to connect with buyers from all over the globe. We also discussed a new show Colin is launching - called Prolific. I am excited to be Colllin's first guest on June 15th and we hope you can join us live, sign up and get a link here.

Breann Ritchie had a keen interest in the arts from an early age. She actively pursued her passion for creating and in 2011, graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art and Art History from the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Visual Arts from Sheridan Institute. Breann has actively sought creative spaces to connect with other artists, art collectors and gallerists. She was involved with a number of prominent galleries in Hamilton and the surrounding communities. She worked extensively with the Hamilton and Mississauga arts communities by acting as a jury member for public art installations, local exhibitions and arts award ceremonies. She was Chair of the Hamilton Arts Council's Visual Arts Committee for several years raising awareness for artists exhibiting locally by creating a series of artist talks and providing informational support for businesses exhibiting original art. Breann worked for several years with the prestigious artist agency, Progressive Fine Art, liaising with art galleries in Canada and the United States to further market and celebrate the work of their artists. From there, she moved into a Registrar and Art Consultant position with Crescent Hill Gallery in Mississauga. Breann now works as the Gallery Director at Crescent Hill where she has had the opportunity to work with brilliant local and international collectors and some of the most influential artists in Canada. She continues to maintain her own art practice and exhibits locally in between spending time with her two young boys.

Canadian artist Nicole Allen is motivated by colour and the chaotic beauty of the organic. Born in Oakville, Ontario, Nicole developed an early appreciation for painting the Canadian landscape from her father. Over the years, Nicole has consistently developed her painting and figurative skills through her studies at the Ottawa School of Art and local artists' groups. In 2010, Nicole began exhibiting her work in the Ottawa region and now paints full-time at her studio as a member of The Loft Artists collective. Her paintings are held in private collections in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Learn more about the podcast. 

Alex Hunt is a Canadian abstract artist with a flair for bold, well-constructed colour palettes and elaborate compositions. Alex's love for colour and working with acrylics as her chosen medium stems from her longstanding background as a magazine Fashion Editor. This has enriched her talent and technique evident in her colour combinations, exquisite layering and spontaneous brush strokes. Her artwork evokes joy reflective of her positive and playful personality. Intuition and raw emotion make up the layers and texture in her artworks creating a visual delight for her clients to love and adore in their homes. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Alexandrya Eaton is a contemporary Canadian painter. In the past decade her practice has grown to include rug-hooking and weaving, incorporating the same vibrant palette and feminine icons across all mediums. Alexandrya Eaton's work is an emotional tribute to the self, working mothers, and women everywhere who have experienced the loss of significant   figures. Eaton's superpower has always been her radical expressions of love as she navigates the world with an open heart and confidently proves there is strength in vulnerability. Learn more about the podcast.

Early in life, Adele Webster found the escape creativity provided, the peaceful place your brain wanders while creating. Everything she paints begins in nature; the way water moves, the way clouds form. Natural landscapes, seascapes and horizon lines are a constant theme throughout her creations. She works on birch panels with acrylic and high gloss resin, allowing the wood to peek through and add a natural, textural element to her work.  Adele paints to find peace and joy and hopes that it's reflected back to everyone that sees it. Learn more about the podcast.

Karen Jeffrey is an abstract artist working in acrylic, and cold wax, and oil. Karen's body of work is largely reflective of her many travels and she draws her inspirations from her surroundings and the ongoing dialogue in her mind. Each painting represents a collection of fragments from her memories of travels, and they come together to form a larger visual story. Giving the piece lively energy and captures an environment, where the forms, lines, and marks coexist. Learn more about the podcast.

Stephen Perry's paintings range from intimate to mythic. There is a story going on in Stephen Perry's work... but you're never quite sure what it is. There are recurring themes: animals, nature, humanity, technology… and the places and moments where they intersect. The creative approach has a unique contemporary feel - a "stylized realism" - with smooth gradations, subtle blends and a distinct use of light and shade. Stephen Perry's background includes photography, graphic design, film making and 3D animation.    

Gail Blima is a creative innovator who has explored photography, representational art and mixed media. She uses the power of language to make a statement and draw out emotion. “By layering vibrant acrylic accents over a collage base and incorporating the written word, I connect the audience to cultural references that are ironic, humorous or directed from pop culture. The first thing people notice about my art is the clear-cut message. I want to convey a feeling of empowerment, optimism, and positivity through my paintings.”   Learn more about the podcast.

Keren Toledano is a self-taught artist based in New York City specializing in art to furnish existing spaces.  She worked as literary agent, editor and writer and after publishing several short stories in literary journals, writer's block led her to explore fine art. Her current work revolves around the act of telling stories in the absence of a formal language. She now splits her time between painting and writing, finding connections across disciplines. In addition to collaborations with interior designers and art publishers, her work has been featured at international fairs and in various magazines. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Crystal Beshara has been drawing and painting since childhood inspired by her rural upbringing in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Crystal moves easily between watercolour, oil and dry media. Her work is recognizable with it's rich, earth toned palette and emotionally charged, rural narrative. She spent years as a child observing and quietly illustrating the life around her which has informed the accuracy of her anatomy in both her flora and fauna subject matter as well as her ability to capture expression and emotion in her portraits. Learn about the artist. Learn about the podcast.

Kristy Gordon is a Canadian-born artist living in New York City.  "My visual narratives counter-historical representations of the figure in painting, namely white bodies performing conventional gender roles. Instead, I populate my work with people from diverse backgrounds. I also insert feminine or camp motifs—flowers, unicorns, and fairies, for example—into traditionally masculine genres. The presence of monsters and mythic beings further suggests that these are spaces where identity is fluid." Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Marina Nazarova is a Russian-Canadian painter and illustrator. Her work mainly focuses on people and spaces as she endeavours to investigate themes of subjectivity, duality and shifting perceptions. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Sicilian-born and raised and currently Toronto-based artist Mimmo Baronello paints the tensions he observes as a new Canadian, pristine nature contaminated by consumer culture and the slow erosion of the natural landscape by human industry. His paintings blend the mannerist and baroque style present in Sicilian culture and architecture, with contemporary imagery from Canadian natural richness. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

So excited to get back to podcasting and releasing Season 3 of Curator on the Go Podcast!

Patrick Skals is a Canadian contemporary artist living in Toronto, Canada. After working 10 years in corporate marketing, in 2017 he decided to make a career shift in pursuit of his artistic ambitions. For years Patrick produced commissioned while developing his signature style. In 2021 he finally discovered his unique identity – his work challenges societal norms and rules, intent on reframing common perspectives and exposing overlooked ones. Patrick draws audiences in with engaging imagery and stimulating composition. His art is distinctive, spirited and curated to provoke reverie and reflection.  Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Aadila Munshi is a contemporary artist living and working in Toronto, Canada. She is known for her paintings of distressed urban surfaces. In her work, grit and decay are uniquely juxtaposed with elegant marks and her signature calligraffiti forms. Her paintings are meaningful, emotive, and ultimately inspired by the human condition. A former Criminologist at the University of Cape Town, Aadila grew up in South Africa during the apartheid regime and paints from a deep sense of repressed voice. Composed intuitively, her abstract expressions emerge as visual representations of her perception of the push and pull between struggle, hope and the ability to rise above. She studied painting with a professional artist and has been painting for over 25 years. In 2000, she moved to Toronto permanently, where she studied at the Toronto School of Art and established her painting practice. Her work has been sold in North America, Australia, U.K. and South Africa. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Canadian artist Boyd Waites has always been most interested in our natural surroundings and people, as well as people's impact on the landscape. He is not interested in faithfully depicting a particular place, his work could be categorized broadly as Abstract Expressive Landscape. Boyd keeps inside emotions and feelings about places and my own experiences or inner reactions and their memories. He is always seeking to elevate and uplift through his paintings, to elevate the viewers perceptions, feeling or mood and sense of place. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Alyson Borycki is a contemporary abstract artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her work tells stories of empowerment, healing, growth, and self-acceptance. "Using bold and playful gestures and colours, I feel my way through my work, infusing both raw emotion and energy with softness and tranquility. I create my paintings by adding layer upon layer of colour as the story unfolds.  Every piece is a reflection of myself at any given time, but I love the idea of viewers seeing themselves reflected in the work and connecting their own experiences and interpretations to the work. In this way, the story I tell continues to evolve after it leaves my hands." Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Morgan Jones is a mixed media artist, living and working in Toronto, Ontario. This former Director of Sales turned artist is inspired by the casual observation of the people and life around him. His work is constantly evolving, guided by his tendency toward patience, observation, perseverance and, quite simply – effort. His philosophy embraces ‘trial and error' which he believes are wonderful teachers. With a keen eye for texture, design and composition, coupled with a whimsical flair, Jones creates works that are aesthetically engaging while also evoking a visceral response in the viewer. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Work by Canadian abstract landscape artist Samantha Williams-Chapelsky interprets landscape with color, gestures, and texture using acrylic paints to capture patterns of meaning and historical significance. She investigates the parallels between grassland crops to textile patterns, conversational meaning and emotion within a skyline, and spirituality within a landscape. “My work primarily focuses on the depiction the landscape of Canada and specifically that of Western Canada is in a constant state of change. From weather to the effect of human presence to the pastoral landscape, idyllic in the minds of prairie dwellers, there are never ending conversations of patterns, lights, and landscape horizons. I aims to capture the relationship between the sky and ground. This stark divisional line suggests a disconnect and yet neither sky nor ground would exist without the other.” Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Toronto-based photographer Edith Levy is inspired by the world around her and strives to translate what she sees into unique pieces of art. She has been involved in photography and the creative arts for over 30 years and in the last 10 years Edith's focused primarily on landscape and travel photography, embracing the beauty that she sees around her and the people that she meets during her travels. Her limited edition photographs are held in private collections in Canada, US, Israel and Europe. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

American artist Jenna Kast started painting as a way to express emotion and release her anxiety. Through painting she discovered an outlet of self-expression, healing, joy, passion - and not just her own - for her collectors too. The work Jenna creates is colourful, interpretive and free-flowing. Her self-taught style has been developed through exploration of the natural interaction of paints and pigments, and inspiration of natural colours and movement that have positive effects on our mood and emotions. She often uses a combination of fluid painting techniques, along with texture-giving brush work and light-catching metallics. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Jose Cifuentes is a mixed media abstract artist from Colombia. Jose moved his life and practice to Toronto, Canada, to find inspiration for his current chapter of creation. Known for manifesting varied visual representations of freedom, his art is a mixture of thick knife strokes with free-hand illustrations on canvas and recycled surfaces. He collects and portrays moods and faces that are in vivid, visceral paint strokes, loose lines, deliberate drips and passionate splatters. All this to the great end of creating the ideal marriage of fine and urban art.

Natalie Very B. is a Polish-Canadian illustrator, muralist, and educator. She is passionate about facilitating art workshops with a strong focus on the therapeutic aspect of creative expression. Her large-scale murals depict modern female empowerment and can be found all across the city of Toronto. She makes art with the goal of changing preconceived notions of feminism and promoting self-love and body positivity in the world. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Canadian artist Antony John is well-known as an organic farmer and singer, he is also an accomplished painter who has been painting for three decades. Antony is interested in the emotional and moral effects that generate tension and unrest in both the controlled, ordered world of farming, and the unknown, apparently chaotic world of the American jungles, representing a journey through an unfamiliar landscape. He has received numerous juried show awards and his works hang in private collections across Canada and the United States. He has lectured at the Perimeter Institute, The Art Gallery of Ontario, and Fogo Island Inn, and his work has been discussed in the National Post, the Toronto Star, and numerous periodicals and television. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Rachael Speirs is an award winning fine artist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She creates unique, moody, narrative mixed media textile art that is full of atmosphere and evoke a dreamy, fairytale-like memory. Her creations are conversational pieces, brought to life with the intention of sparking imagination, connection and meaningful conversation. Seeing the work in person is like losing yourself in a kaleidoscopic dreamworld. Though her work is beautiful at first glance, the work goes beyond just being decorative art to enrich your world. Rachael believes in the life changing impact of art and creates all her works with intention and meaning.  Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

San Diego-based artist Yahel Yan was born and raised in Mexico City where she was exposed to art and color from a young age. Yahel's palette and compositions lend life and spirit to inanimate objects which are often overlooked. She is always seeking to express the unexpected, unseen magic hidden in each “thing.” Yahel gives her imagination full freedom to pursue this mysterious journey. She wishes for her art to inspire humanity and love for one another.   Learn more about the artist   Learn more about the podcast and the host

Caterina Stambolic is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario. Harnessing her own experiences with depression and anxiety, her work seeks to make sense of those feelings and create spaces where people can feel a sense of togetherness and peace.  This has led her to investigate how our brain chemistry, and specifically mental illness, affects so much of how we relate to our world on a physical level.  Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Sandra Morellato's artworks utilize colour to emphasize movement and sentiment. Her use of saturation and sensational colours often create a whimsical composition, immediately transporting the viewer to a marvelous and curious world. Meanwhile, her architectural background adds significant meaning behind every individual impressionist brushstroke, mapping the blueprints of a landscapes' identity or a subject's life force. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Patricia Langevin is a contemporary abstract painter living and working in Calgary, Alberta. Her engaging paintings are created intuitively in an expressionist style and are infused with movement and depth. Through her art, Patricia explores the role of play in building resilience in response to life's hectic pace. Her artistic journey began at a young age. Growing up in Quebec City, in a family that loved music and the performing arts, she was encouraged to try different forms of artistic expression. This laid out the foundation for her desire to find her own artistic path, and in 2007, her fascination with abstract art compelled her to pick up a brush and start painting with acrylics. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Italian-Canadian artist Fabrizio Sclocco creates a hybrid mix of abstract and figurative works revised in a Contemporary way, extrapolating the egoic mind, our fears, desires, compulsions, and habits strong themes of nostalgia, traditions, belonging, and the essence of emotions as an expatriate.   Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

Canadian artist Ravinder Ruprai works mainly in acrylics on canvas. Her paintings invite the viewer into binary worlds where layers of pattern and texture, drawn from her East Indian heritage, combine with nature, the body, and the landscape. Her use of colour is rich, bold, and dramatic. Ravinders' paintings often use her own internal struggles as a starting point with the aspiration of 'mapping' out solutions. She firmly believes that it is through the arts that we gain profound insights into the human condition. Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.

The works of Toronto-based artist Allison Rietta are strongly influenced by spirituality, nature, and architecture. Primarily abstract, her work has led her to explore sacred—or mystic geometry—tapping into the magic of imagination and the subconscious mind. Textures, colours, and the relationship between shapes and forms is what guides her intuition most.  Learn more about the artist. Learn more about the podcast.