January 7- February 4, 2019
Allison Rowe – Social / Interdisciplinary Practice – Toronto, ON 

For the inaugural Winter Island Residency artist Alison Rowe will, with the help of youth Island residents and Artscape Gibraltar Point residency participants, build a large snow fort.  Her residency will culminate in a community winter play day and snow ball fight inspired by the Canadian film classic La Guerre des Tuques (commonly known in English as The Dog Who Stopped the War). The day will conclude with hot chocolate and a screening of the aforementioned film.

The aim of this work is to create an opportunity for children and adults to participate in a communal exploration of the natural sculptural materials available on the Toronto Islands in the winter (snow, ice, twigs, dried leaves, and fallen logs) and to find joy in outdoor winter play.

Allison Rowe is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist, educator, and researcher who works at the intersection of socially engaged art and pedagogy. She holds an MFA in Social Practices from California College of the Arts and a BFA in Photography from Ryerson University. Allison’s artwork has been exhibited at Haven Gallery, La Centrale, and the Power Plant. Her community-engaged projects have been manifested in numerous spaces including the Dovercourt Boys and Girls Club, the Yukon Riverside Arts Festival, and at Toronto Public Library. Currently, Allison is a doctoral candidate in Art Education at the University of Illinois.

February 4 – March 4, 2019
Sandra Smirle – Multimedia/Video – Montreal, QC

Using balloon and kite mapping, along with cyanotype printmaking, found object collecting and walking as her modes of research, Sandra proposes to create a multi-media, video-based “map” of the ever changing shoreline of the Toronto Islands. She invites members of the public to join her on these walks and collecting expeditions and to participate in cyanotype and aerial (kite/balloon) surveying workshops, conducted during the course of her residency.

I want to zero in on and draw out my relationships with weather & climate, disintegration & pollution, boundary, location and journey … My intent is to offer a visual snapshot on a shoreline-as-timeline that may act as a public measure or mark for future documentation/reference.

Sandra Smirle is a multidisciplinary Canadian artist based in Montreal, who uses drawing, sculpture, paper cutting, photo, video, and installation, to explore ideas around surveillance, dataveillance and our ‘viewer society.’

Smirle graduated with an MFA (2015) from Concordia University. Her work has been exhibited nationally as well as internationally, and is held in private and corporate collections in Canada, Australia, and Europe. Her work has been featured in The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, published by Princeton Architectural Press, as well as the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.

March 4- April 1, 2019
Brendan George Ko – Photography/Storytelling – Toronto, ON

Before there was an image, now there are layers upon layers of memories that each come with their own spirits.

During his residency Brendan George Ko, invites the public to come listen to the stories collected from the oral traditions of the Hawai’ian Islands as he translates them through spoken word, documentary video and, landscape photography from Kānaka ‘ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) perspective to Canadian audience.

Brendan George Ko is a visual storyteller that works in photography, video, installation, text, and sound based between Toronto and Maui. His work is about conveying a sense of experience through storytelling and describes the image as supplementary to the story it represents. In 2010, Ko received his BFA from Ontario College of Art & Design where he majored in photography, and in addition he practiced sculpture and curation. During his time in the Masters in Visual Arts programme at the University of Toronto his practice shifted into video and sound.

April 1- 15, 2019
Addae Nurse – Painting/Assemblage – Toronto, ON 

* Jurors Emerging Artist Award Recipient *

During his time on the island Addae Nurse will complete a series of paintings exploring what they refer to as: personal issues that plague many young individuals but that are too taboo to speak about publically.

Addae Nurse is an emerging Toronto-based artist whose work often involves the investigation of class and the re-contextualization of race through appropriated imagery. Addae’s body of work explores the nexus between femininity, sexuality, expression, and anonymity. Fascinated by shadow and movement, his images are intimate and often temperamental, juxtaposing the vastness of space with the details of the human form.

At the conclusion of his residency, Nurse will present an artist’s talk discussing the impact of the residency on his work and practice.

Get Involved

Want the unique opportunity of working in close proximity with our award winners? Interested in participating in the unique projects they are creating?

Apply for your stay during the Winter Island 2019 stay of the artist of your choosing.

Simply fill out an application at https://artscapegibraltarpoint.ca/artist-residences/book-a-residency/  and indicate your desired dates of residency .

Pursue your own work while participating in studio visits, socialization and interactive art projects.

About Winter Islands 2019