Being driven by a fierce do-it-yourself ethic and curiosity for how things are made, while being inspired by the spark of alchemy that transforms something from matter into artifact is what resulted in me becoming an artist, designer, and maker of objects.
Object-making is largely how we have left our mark in the physical world as humans, and the resulting artifacts become a thread that binds us to the people who came before us. I am fascinated by the stories both personal and collective that a tool or piece of art can tell, often pondering what the things around us will reveal to future generations about the invisible forces that inform us and the greater world.
I studied Industrial Design at OCAD University (Ontario College of Art & Design) where I learned a plethora of product design processes, but was spending a significant portion of that time perfecting skills in woodworking, furniture making, and fabrication in general. I came out of the program with a reinforced certainty that my interests lie largely in hands-on making in the studio building pieces in the realm of functional art, which I have since continued to create to communicate ideas. These objects that you can touch, hold, and interact with draw connections between things both tangible and intangible, forging relationships that oscillate between the opposite sides of perceived dualities.
What interests me most is work that asks questions, putting the spotlights on the absurdity of everyday norms, questioning what is taken for granted as commonplace, as well as creating things that bring people moments of delightful amusement to invigorate a new way of seeing the things around them previously gone unnoticed. I seek to examine what certain objects mean to us, the inherent symbolism of different object archetypes, the encoded messages that shape, form, and material can communicate in an instant. I tend to see everything as multifaceted and find myself drawn to the outlying and uncommon side of things- the hardware under a table, the stage set after it comes down, an abandoned church after the congregation are long gone. The side of things that continue on silently existing. And perhaps the sides of ourselves we hide as well as show.
Experience
Model/Prototyping Shop Technician at OCAD University Faculty of Design
2021 Toronto, ON
Wood Studio Class Assistant at OCAD University
2017 – 2020 Toronto, ON
Model Maker & Project Lead at Friction Fit Models
2015 – Present Toronto, ON
Woodworking Instructor at Toolbox Initiative
2019 – Present Toronto, ON
Education
Bachelor of Design at Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD University)
2017
- Industrial Design (with minor specialization in Furniture Design)
Exhibitions
Tables, Chairs & Other Unrelated Objects 10 Retrospective
Ignite Gallery Virtual
20 Artists, 20 Answers
Publication
Art book featuring 20 artists on the theme of "Why I Create"
OSF X 10th Anniversary
Gladstone Hotel Toronto, Canada
Oasis Skateboard Factory collab art show and charity auction
Tables, Chairs & Other Unrelated Objects 8
Ignite Gallery
Co-curator
Outside the Box
StreetArt Toronto Scarborough, ON
Utility box street mural
Boards of Education
Gladstone Hotel Toronto, Canada
Oasis Skateboard Factory collab art show and charity auction
Tables, Chairs & Other Unrelated Objects 7
Ignite Gallery + Daniels Spectrum Toronto, Canada
Co-curated with Ellie Oram
GradEx 102
OCAD University Toronto, Canada
Thesis exhibition
Off Course
Toronto Design Offsite Festival Toronto, Canada
Unbounded
OCAD University Great Hall Toronto, Canada
Tables, Chairs & Other Unrelated Objects 6
Gladstone Hotel / Come Up To My Room Toronto, Canada
Awarded with ‘Designlines Loves’ Top 100 Designs
Wong Dai Sin Photo Exhibition
Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism
Two Honourable Mentions
Reflection
OCAD U Student Gallery Toronto, Canada
Gibraltar Point Artist Residency
Artscape Gibraltar Point Toronto Islands