Abby Nowakowski is a queer interdisciplinary artist. In their practice, they constantly question how their artwork can be used as an activist tool and contribute to the collective creative building of sustainable futures. Abby lives and works in Central Frontenac.

Instagram: @poorthingdesigns

Alyssa is a Canadian visual artist and educator based in Montréal, Québec and Kingston, Ontario. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta and in her youth, her family moved around Canada many times. Her family settled near Kingston fourteen years ago. Alyssa attended Queen’s University and studied Fine Art from 2015 to 2019 with a focus on printmaking and painting. Subsequently, the artist completed her Bachelor of Education with a concentration in the Artist in Community Education program from Queen’s University in 2020. After studying at Queen’s University, she attended the University of Regina in the Master of Fine Arts program, working in printmaking, sculpture, video and installation and completing her degree in 2022. Alyssa’s works are collected nationally and her recent exhibitions include an installation that was displayed at the Alternative Art Fair of Sudbury in June 2023.

I am a Kingston-based artist. I paint close-up or abstracted views of natural subjects such as reflections in water, fruits and flowers, the human form and face. My media include watercolour, acrylic, and oil. My art practice is based on creating a narrative or mood within a painting through colour and composition. With each painting, there is a dance between me, the colour palette, and the arrangement of elements on the picture plane. Each artwork is an adventure with triumphs and challenges along the way. The Coalesce Residency is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with another artist and explore new possibilities in art-making. I am looking forward to the journey!

Arshnoor Kaur, mostly referred to as Arshi is a mixed-media artist specializing in sculpture and painting from Brampton. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and is continuing her studies in the Bachelor of Education program at Queen’s University. She specializes in sculpture and oil painting but is always looking for new media to explore. Her work emphasizes personal narrative, the passage of time, childhood, curiosity, family, and more. Furthermore, she aims to further expand on immersive artwork by expressing feelings of familiarity, liminality, the BIPOC experience, and the concept of home. Her work has been displayed in various galleries across Kingston and she is an active artist in her community. Arshi is currently living and working in Kingston, Ontario.

Email: 18ak151@queensu.ca

Instagram: @arshi_likes_art

I began writing poetry in university over 50 years ago, and continue today. I have been an editor since 2010. And have facilitated one workshop, in particular, since 2012. I have occasionally collaborated with visual artists as we put together an exhibition. I’ve also hosted a radio show since 2010, and more recently have done some voice work.

Catherine Gutsche is a self-described process painter. She’s inspired by her surroundings; awestruck by nature’s transient characteristics and processes, finding beauty in how nature presents and transforms itself including imperfections. It’s not her nature to expect order in her environment; nature’s eccentricities challenge her to create her own order; her own ordinary. Paint takes Catherine on an intuitive journey with colour and texture, working with layers revealed through scratching back, rubbing away or lifting, to bring back the history of previous layers. Catherine does not replicate nature; she is inspired by nature’s improvisation and opens herself up to its influences.

Instagram: @gutscheartist

Chris Chrysler is a Canadian multi-media artist whose sculptural practice spans assemblage, installation, and painting. Rooted in cycles of place, memory, and resilience, her work transforms found and traditional materials into forms that interrogate belonging, adaptation, and survival through an intersectional feminist lens. Moving fluidly between intimate abstractions and large-scale interventions, Chrysler links domestic memory with collective experience, centring the politics of space and its influence on our perception of home as both a physical space and psychological construct. A professor of fine art and former curator, she is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists.

Email: info@chrischrysler.com

Instagram: @chris.chrysler.art

Eastal Law (b. 2003) is an emerging artist from Whitby, Ontario, now based in Katarokwi/Kingston, where she recently completed her Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) at Queen’s University. Her practice includes lithography, intaglio printmaking, oil painting, and photography. 

Law’s work explores themes of cultural identity within a Western context, personal growth, nostalgia, and how memory shapes one’s evolving sense of self. She enjoys experimenting with new techniques, perspectives, media and most recently exploring photography through the lens of a painter. 

Her work has been exhibited in several Kingston-based shows, including Home Again: The Bachelor Apartment (2024), Close to Home: BIPOC Experiences (2023), and the Obsolescence Graduation Exhibition (2025) 

Through her work, Law invites viewers to reflect on their own experiences with memory, nostalgia, and identity, while continuing to push the boundaries of her artistic practice

Ebru Winegard, is a multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, photographer, and filmmaker dedicated to celebrating diversity and unity. She held a solo exhibition as part of the Contact Photography Festival 2024 and has built an extensive portfolio through years of work in art and art education. Her creations have been featured in numerous group exhibitions and European art projects.

As an artist ambassador for Mabelle Arts, Ebru actively participated in several community art events. She also received a grant to organize a series of workshops for newcomers and refugees. Finally, her community art event at Ontario Culture Days earned the Spotlight People’s Choice Award, standing out among strong competition from across the province.

Beyond her artistic achievements, Ebru has delivered academic presentations internationally and screened her short documentary film at sustainable film festivals in multiple countries, underscoring her commitment to social impact through creative media.  

Instagram: @ebr.winegard

Grew up writing graffiti; got in too much trouble, now I mostly just paint at home (spray paint, pastels, acrylics, paint markers) and want to give back to the community via Cultivate Art Commons.

Em Harmsen is a multi-disciplinary designer and artist. She runs emske - design studio, a mindful creative studio that is environmentally conscious and adaptably minded. She has a background in fashion design, technology and accessibility. Em is currently completing a PhD focused on user centred design at Queen's University. She is an advocate for inclusive practices and a big fan of slow thoughtful design and artistic work.

Instagram: @___emske

Emma (BAH Global Development Studies, MA Cultural Studies; Queen’s University) is passionate about amplifying the voices of creatives, organizations, and communities in the arts, culture, and heritage sectors. She is currently the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Tett Centre for Creativity & Learning and serves as a Modern Fuel Ambassador.

As a young Indigenous artist in Canada with a Bachelor’s degree in Craft and Design, Erin Roundsky is currently focused on creating functional ware as a potter. She specialized in Ceramics at Sheridan College, earning her degree in 2020. For the past couple of years, Erin has been honing her craft at The Ye11ow Studio in Picton, Ontario, along with exploring her own concepts while recently completing an artist residency at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. Erin is inspired by nature and seeks to explore identity through clay and the process of making. 

Erin loves the process of working with clay because it is rooted in play and exploration. This approach allows her to express herself and share her unique perspective of the world through nature-driven, functional pottery. As a maker, Erin seeks to explore the interplay between the past and present, layering nature and language onto the surfaces of her pots. 

She is particularly inspired to create functional pieces due to the profound relationship humans have with objects. Everyday pottery holds the power to evoke memories and associations, making each piece extra special. For Erin, clay is a remarkable medium—one that invites connection, creativity, and play.

Instagram: @roundsky_ceramics

Fraser Radford was born in 1987 in Brockville, Ontario. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art History, with a minor in Religious Studies (graduated in 2009) from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, a Fine Arts diploma from St. Lawrence College in Brockville, Ontario (2014), and a post-graduate certificate in Studio Process Advancement from the Haliburton School of the Arts (2014). He has apprenticed with Shayne Dark, one of Canada's prominent sculptors based out of Kingston, Ontario.

His work is represented by Rothwell Gallery in Ottawa, Ontario. His work is held in numerous private collections in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Barbados, France, Australia, and New Zealand, and has been exhibited across North America. His work has also been published in several magazines in Canada, and the U.S, as well as The Peace Project, a catalogue produced by Gallery 9 in Culver City, California in 2010.

Website: www.fraserradford.com

Email: radford.fraser@gmail.com

Instagram: @fraserradford

Géorgie Gagné is a multi award-winning, mixed heritage Cree and franco-québécoise artist, educator, and advocate, dedicated to infusing intersectional approaches, Indigenous ways of knowing, intentionality and care within communities around Turtle Island. Her art practice focuses on physical and digital collage, beadwork, photography, and graphic design. Géorgie's art aims to create audacious conversations on topics of 2Spirit identities, transness, interconnectivity, dignity, ruptures, and resilient love. She’s been lucky to have her work featured in Katarokwi-based spaces and collaborate with organizations such as Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Union Gallery, McCord-Stewart Museum, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and others. Through facilitation and community-building initiatives, she continuously creates thoughtful and transformative learning experiences that center 2Spirit resilience, intersectionality and decolonization practices within artistic, academic, advocacy, and nonprofit environments. With years of involvement within nonprofits and social justice movements, Géorgie has developed knowledge and expertise that supports her in creating affirming and empowering spaces for BIPGM and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals.

Instagram: @georgiegagne.ca

Helen Baker, an emerging abstract artist living in Kingston, began her artistic journey at the outbreak of COVID. From simple origins, her work has evolved into the vibrant tapestry you see today. Her artistic style has been described as both eclectic and dynamic. She also derives inspiration for many of her works from her childhood staring at stained glass windows surrounding Kingston. Helen has also gone on to launch her own clothing and accessory line. She is also an activist who donates a portion of her sales to mental health services.

Instagram: @bakerhelen86

Haley Sarfeld (she/they) is a writer, performer, and arts-worker-of-all-trades living in Katarokwi-Kingston. A nationally acclaimed theatre critic (Nathan Cohen Awards, Outstanding Emerging Critic 2024) and locally prolific cruciverbalist (The Skeleton Press), Haley enjoys singing, gardening, and telling stories about love, onions, and Lindworms. This fall, she held the role of Garlic Poet Laureate at the Toronto Garlic Festival.

Harvey Tolentino Doniego (he/they) is a queer Filipinx emerging artist based between Toronto and Kingston-Katarokwi. A multidisciplinary artist, Harvey explores queer identity, generational trauma, and liminal experience through crafts, photography, printmaking, painting, and poetry. Their photography and poetry appeared in Queen’s University’s MUSE magazine (2024/25). Harvey’s work has been shown in group exhibitions across Kingston, including Modern Fuel, Union Gallery, and Trellis HIV & Community Care’s Pride Art Show. They support the Kingston art scene in various ways including program coordinating and workshop facilitation. As a second-generation immigrant in a multigenerational household, Harvey draws on hidden histories and surreal, spiritual storytelling themes.  

Instagram: @h.d.living.it

Email: harvey.doniego02@gmail.com

Jill Glatt is a Katarokwi/Kingston-based illustrator, natural dyer, printmaker, and arts educator. Her artistic practice is informed by ecology, community, and sustainability, and aims to inspire people to observe a less extractive relationship with the Earth. She is honoured to collaborate with local organizations like Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Union Gallery, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and the Juvenis Festival. Jill is also the Volunteer Coordinator for the Skeleton Park Arts Festival and sits on their board of directors as President.

Instagram: @magpieprintshop

Kyara Andrews is a Painter, Illustrator, and Muralist based in Toronto/Tkaronto. Born in Calgary and raised across South Korea, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia, Kyara’s art is deeply influenced by her global experiences. The cultures, landscapes, and energy of the places she’s lived and traveled to are woven into her work, resulting in bold, expressive pieces that shift in style depending on the piece. She mixes traditional and digital techniques, often incorporating acrylics, oils, and digital illustration to bring her visions to life. This sense of immersion is also at the heart of Drift Designs, the creative brand founded by Kyara. Drift represents not only the fluid, organic process of her art-making but also the feeling of being carried away—of drifting into the artwork and escaping reality, even for a moment.

Instagram: @drift.by.kyara

I am a mid-career artist with four decades of experience, whose current work is presented as sculpture and painting in installation. My years living close to nature on an island where I tended shorelines and fields guide material choices for art making with foraged, found, and gifted materials to speak for nature and our current human condition. Sculptures, drawings, and paintings presented as installations explore ancient artifacts and mythologies while finding new meaning in the present. I create my installation design and format layout with the presence of the viewer in mind.

Prior exhibitions at the formerly named Modern Fuel Artist Run Centre include Archive (September 2022), and 10 Years (1987). My work has been exhibited, collected, and appreciated locally, regionally in Canada and beyond.

Lola Posy (she/they) is a multimedia artist who embraces the intersection of queer and disabled life experiences with her values of community, nature, and colour. Variety is her medium; soft sculpture, illustration, and fibre arts are her current focus, but she loves exploring new mediums and finding new ways to engage her artistic practice with the world around her.  

Instagram: @lolaposy

Email: lolaposyart@gmail.com

I am a local artist painting primarily abstract works that focus on colour, shape and energy. I currently work in oil (on canvas, cardboard, paper, masonite), oil pastel (on cardboard and paper), gouache (on paper), and occasionally printmaking (monotypes, linocuts, etc). Paintings on my website, smaller works and sketches on Instagram.

Instagram: @michelelaroseart

Email: michele@michelelarose.ca

Website: https://michelelarose.ca

Michelle Peraza (b. 1991) is a visual artist of Cuban and Costa Rican descent with a BA from Western University, a BFA from OCAD University and an MFA from York University. She completed residencies at Mauser EcoHouse (Costa Rica), Vermont Studio Centre (United States), Arquetopia (Mexico), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada) and upcoming in the Sustainable Colour Lab Institute (OCAD University) and Artscape at Gibraltar Point, Mnisiing/Toronto Island. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Arts Council, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Joe Plaskett Foundation. She has exhibited in public and artist-run galleries including Niagara Artists Centre, Cambridge Art Galleries, Sur Gallery, TAP Centre for Creativity, and Guelph Civic Museum. Her practice centralizes LatinX identity within the discourse of coloniality and current research is inspired by the colonial-led movement of plant life throughout the globe, geological strata, natural dyeing, Curanderismo (Mesoamerican healing practices) and aligning her creative practice to the sun and the moon patterns. She teaches in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University.

Morgan Wedderspoon (she/her) is an artist, educator, and arts administrator who is passionate about art practice in community and its potential for grassroots-led social transformation—both imagining and working toward a more just and livable future for all. She earned a Master of Fine Art in Printmaking from the University of Alberta and holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from Queen’s University.

Canadian artist Narmin Kassam (she/her) creates art as a meditative and healing practice, exploring themes of women’s empowerment, gender equality, and cultural diversity. Her unique mixed-media style - developed under the mentorship of impressionist painter Gordon Harrison - combines paint and decorative paper on wood panels. Through this layered technique, she expresses feminine strength, inclusion, and the richness of cultural identity. 

Kassam’s work has been exhibited widely across Canada, including at the Manotick Art Gallery (2019), National SEEN Exhibition (2022), Roundhouse Centre in Vancouver (2022), Surrey Art Gallery (2023), Summer & Grace Gallery - Oakville (2025), and Moder Fuel Centre - Kingston (2025). She will be featured in upcoming exhibitions with the Women in Arts Network and the Chicago O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, along with a solo show with the Women United Art Movement in 2025. Her collaborative public murals appear in Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary. 

Her work has been featured in Art Seen Magazine, New Visionary, Artany, Visual Art Journal, and the Arts to Hearts Project: 100 Emerging Artists of 2024. In 2024, she was longlisted for the Women United Art Prize in the Collage and Fibre Art category.

Oriana Confente is an artist-researcher, writer, and maker-of-things currently living in Tiohtiá:ke / Montreal. They explore postnatural ecologies and sustainable practices, with particular interest in more-than-human entanglements. When she’s not making a mess at her studio, Oriana is walking, talking, writing, or workshopping. Since completing their MA in Rhetoric and Communication Design at the University of Waterloo, Oriana’s projects have been exhibited in Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Kingston) and Portugal, and also published through peer-reviewed journals (Feral Feminisms, Imaginations) as well as creative platforms (Syllabus Project, Batshit Times). She has attended residencies in New York (SFSIA, Groundworks) and Spain (JOYA: arte + ecología). Between 2024-2025, Oriana graciously received support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Sumera Khan (she/her) is a visual artist, urban sketcher, and arts educator from Katarokwi/Kingston. A BIPOC artist and caregiver to individuals with invisible disabilities, her work explores memory, storytelling, and domestic space with a focus on accessibility and inclusion. Active at the Tett Centre and beyond, she founded the Urban Sketchers Hub and has received multiple Ontario Arts Council grants.

Instagram: @artsskart

Tania Craan settled in Toronto after graduating from Sheridan College, where her passion for design guided her into a career as a graphic book designer. In 2018, she relocated to the Kingston region and opened the Odessa Project ceramic studio, a dedicated space for her artistic expression. As of 2024, Tania has fully embraced her role as a ceramic artist, committing herself to her craft. 

Instagram: @odessa_project

Taylor Tye, the artist behind Jackpine Designs, weaves beadwork with intention. She is a novice bead worker with over five years of experience in multi-medium contemporary and traditional designs. She is of mixed Anishinaabe and Celtic-French Canadian ancestry. With deep gratitude to the generous teachers that have shared their artistic knowledge, and the beautiful land with which we live, natural materials such as antler, quill, caribou fur, birch bark, natural gemstones and leather are central to her creations. Inspired by the windswept trees that graze the shorelines of back country canoe adventures, her designs are meant to reflect inner strength and the beauty of true grit.

Instagram: @jackpine.designs

I hold a Major in Studio Art, Bachelor of Fine Arts, from Concordia University Montreal Quebec. My primary practice is drawing and painting, my real love is metal work. Growing up in Thunder Bay landscapes taught me drawing. I stand with Collectives and Centres in the public and educational sectors. A recent Set Designer and a community art organizer, I’ve created public group exhibitions and collaborative artistic events. Attracted to the use of art as an apparatus, shifting my focus on creating art for hospitals as I navigate my health journey. My dream is to create a space for healing.

Email: tessacharlebois@gmail.com

Artist and polymath Vladimir Kolosov is known as a colourist and for his ability to create works that make the viewer to think. During different periods he worked in distinctive styles developing the philosophy that is behind each of his artworks. Vladimir considers empathy as the foundation of creativity. He sees and understands the outer and inner world of his model, empathizing and portraying this model in all its integral diversity. According to Vladimir, empathy relates to memory and imagination both of which have the capacity to bring us back to the past or let us to see the future.

Email: vladimirk@artofvk.com