work experience
Curator, Varley Art Gallery of Markham (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 2010 - present.
Curator, Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 2010
Assistant Secretary General, Pacific Islands Museums Association, Young Canada Works, six-month graduate internship, (Port Vila, Vanuatu), 2008-2009
Curatorial Intern, Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, Academic Internship (Sunderland, UK), 2008
education
Master of Arts, Art Museum And Gallery Studies, Newcastle University (Newcastle, UK), 2007-2008
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University Of Ottawa (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 2002-2006
Ongoing professional development
Node Center – Curatorial Studies online: Creating Social Media Content for the Arts, 2022, Art Criticism and Writing: an Introduction, 2018; Curating Performance Art: from Concept to Practice, 2018.
curatorial projects
Exhibitions organized for the Varley Art Gallery of Markham unless otherwise indicated.
Temporary Solo and Group Exhibitions
The following exhibitions, primarily exhibitions of contemporary Canadian art, speak to the major directions of my curatorial practice. Projects stem from my desire to elevate the work of regional artists (Markham/York Region) through the right here / right now program that pairs exhibition and mentorship opportunities. Starting from a feminist and post-colonial framework, the following exhibitions strive to rectify imbalances within the museum sector by centring the voices of women and BIPOC artists.
2022 Shantel Miller
2022 Gathering Fictions: A Dialogue on Painting
2022 Karen Tam: With wings like clouds from the sky
2021 Jessica Thalmann: two truths and a lie
2021 Luke Parnell: Repeat the chorus three times
2019 Tout-Monde: Markham (Co-curated with Catherine Sicot)
2019 Nava Waxman: Choreographed Marks
2019 Our Children: Reflections of Childhood in Historical Canadian Art (Co-
curated with Charlotte Gagnier)
2019 NEXT WAVE, in partnership with York University
2018 Refuge: Karen Miranda Abel, Jessica Karuhanga, Lisa Hirmer, Anna
Williams
2017 Xiaojing Yan: Out from among the tranquil woods
2017 Zev Farber: Machine Fantasies/Human Events
2017 Jon Sasaki: Things Saved For A Rainy Day
2017 Jon Sasaki: We First Need A Boat For the Rising Tide To Lift Us, three-hour
long durational performance, organized with Cheryl Rego, Public
Programs Coordinator.
2017 Mother Tongue: Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Raafia Jessa, Jihee Min,
Yvonne Singer, Shellie Zhang, Alize Zorlutuna
2017 Susana Reisman: Standardizing Nature
2017 Paul Fournier: Worlds of Wonder
2016 Jeff Nye: Recovery Rooms
2016 Sarah Cale: Instants passing through the air I breathe
2015 Brendan Fernandes: In Position
2015 Jennie Suddick: Of Nails and Rope Ladders
Collections-based exhibitions
The following exhibitions, including the award-winning Moving through darkness into the clearing, with works by Greg Staats (OAAG 2019), stem from museum collection holdings. These projects all have in common my desire to address systemic gaps in museum collections and explore new ways of making collections relevant in the twenty-first century.
2023 Native Art Department International (upcoming)
2023 Field Notes: Winnie Truong and F. H. Varley
2021 Subject/Object/Process (Co-curated with Madeleine Bognar)
2020 The ties that bind us
2019 197 Main Street (Co-curated with Charlotte Gagnier and John
Abrams)
2019 Moving through darkness into the clearing, with works by Greg Staats
2018 Inscapes (In partnership with Sheniz Janmohamed)
2017 Present | Perfect | Continuous, with works by Susana Reisman, Jon Sasaki, and Zev Farber
2016 Innovative Spirit: The Prints and Drawings of Pudlo Pudlat
2016 On Your Mark I & On Your Mark II
2015 Through the Looking Glass: F. H. Varley in British Columbia
2014 The Varley Story
2014 A Study in Scarlet: Works from the Permanent Collection
2012 F. H. Varley: A Treasured Legacy
2011 Deconstructed: Works from the Permanent Collection
2011 Marion Scott: Abstracted Notions, 2011 (Ottawa Art Gallery)
2010 In Vogue, 2010 (Ottawa Art Gallery)
2010 At Land's End, 2010 (Ottawa Art Gallery)
Project management and coordination (selection)
I’ve managed several projects with guest curators, including touring exhibitions with international components. Tasks included serving as gallery liaison and on-site supervisor, managing timelines, coordinating publications, and developing floor plans (for touring exhibitions.)
2021 Elusive Desires: Ness Lee and Florence Yee, Curated by Marissa Largo.
Project and catalogue coordinator.
2019 Sara Niroobakhsh: Zaghareet, Curated by Mahmoud Obaidi
2018 Wafaa Bilal: 168:01, Circulated by the Art Gallery of Windsor.
2018 Witness: Canadian Art of the First World War, Circulated by the Canadian
War Museum
2015 Alma: The Life and Art of Alma Duncan, Circulated by the Ottawa Art
Gallery
2013 The Plasticiens and Beyond: Montreal 1955-1970, Organized in
collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
Project and Catalogue coordinator.
2012 (Daboa)(Takeout), Organized by the Varley Art Gallery of Markham,
Curated by Doug Lewis and Shannon Anderson. Project and Catalogue
coordinator.
Other
2020 Delimit: An Online Competition for Speculative Public Art, Organized with
Yan Wu.