The Haven/Gabriola Arts Council Artist in Residence for 2017 has been selected!
The Haven and The Gabriola Arts Council are pleased to announce that Talia Peckel has been chosen as the Haven/Gabriola Arts Council Artist in Residence for 2017. Talia is a Toronto-based artist who was born in Canada and raised in Colombia. She moved back to Toronto and completed her BFA with a major in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University in 2014. After her studies she travelled and worked on a farm in rural Ontario, then worked as an art instructor in a community-run studio in downtown Toronto for a year. However, having fallen in love with farming, she decided to keep travelling and completed a series of murals on a farm in Salt Spring Island. Her aesthetic is heavily influenced by children’s illustration, as is the tendency toward narrative in her work.
Talia’s one-month residency will run from March 26 to April 23, and will include time for her to work on her own projects, participation in the Isle of the Arts Festival (April 6 to 16), and other opportunities for her to engage with the local community.
Talia say, “I am thrilled and honoured to have been selected to participate in the 2017 Artist in Residence program on Gabriola Island. It is a unique opportunity to develop my work independently, while still engaging with a vibrant artistic community that I can contribute to as well as integrating the surroundings into my practice. To me, the purpose of creating murals is to embed visual art into physical spaces we inhabit on a daily basis with the intention of bringing people’s awareness more fully into the present moment and their environment. As a workshop instructor, my aim has been to guide people into a state of fluid expression where they feel safe to be creative in their own unique way, letting go of specific results. I’m excited to develop these practices further during my residency, which is sure to be beneficial in myriad ways, offering an exploration into nature, community, and an artistic practice that shares a relationship with both.” Examples of Talia’s work can be seen on her website.
Talia was chosen from among a collection of talented and interesting artists who applied for the position. This year’s jury included local artists Carolyn Bell, Daniel Petersen, and Chris Straw, and 2014 artist in residence Brooke Leifso, from Edmonton. Their review process was facilitated by GAC and Haven board member Mary Holdgrafer and Haven Executive Director Rachel Davey.
This is the fifth year of the Artists Haven program, through which young artists (under 30 years) from around the world are invited to apply for a month-long residency. This creative collaboration between The Haven and GAC is an opportunity to introduce the work of artists from across the country, and working in a variety of forms, to the local audience. Previous artists-in-residence include musician Justin Kautz (2016), painter Claire Uhlick (2015), and performance artist Brooke Leifso (2014).
We look forward to welcoming Talia to The Haven and Gabriola Island in 2017.
