Equally inspired by Mi’gmaq ideations and quantum physics, Montreal artist Renée Condo delves into these subjects in her art practice, creating two- and three-dimensional works that incorporate beads. Renée is of Mi’gmaw First Nation ancestry and applies her ancestral worldview, one of connectedness and interdependence, to her practice. With a particular interest in the concept of pema, which describes movement and relationships between things, Renée makes joyful pieces that are immediately open and accessible to the viewer.

In beaded works signified by a use of colour and imagery that blurs abstraction and figuration, Renée celebrates joy, being with community and allowing space for duelling cosmic and scientific forces. Beading has been a part of First Nations life in Canada for an estimated 8,000 years, both culturally and as a means of trade. Renée puts her own spin on the medium. Her “beads” are larger than traditional ones, about the size of a grape or peppermint. She rolls these in gesso and paint to give them their colour before applying them to her works. Rather than threading the beads together, she affixes them onto a canvas, inventing her own beading technique.

The post Indigenous Artist Renée Condo’s Beaded Works Express Joy and Interconnectedness appeared first on House & Home.

Twenty-three-year-old artist Jack Cocker is developing his own visual language with great success. In paintings that often feature a person in a landscape, the Norwich, Ont., native explores notions of memory, connectivity and authenticity.

Jack’s style is figurative; his works are inspired by something familiar to him that he then explores and expands upon in order to create a fully formed painting. Much of the imagery has autobiographical undertones, with typically southwestern Ontario landscapes, and figures and their interests connected to his own life.

He received his BFA in Studio Art from Western University in 2023. Now represented by Michael Gibson Gallery, Jack has received several awards including the 2023 Gray Creative Arts Award in Visual Arts, and was named One to Watch by the website Canadian Art Junkie.

Some of Jack’s more intimate works are small studies that he later develops into larger scenes. I find this fascinating because, while you can see a connection between the initial study and the larger finished canvas, there are often significant changes in palette, form and subject.

I find the sense of normal, everyday activity in the artist’s paintings particularly appealing. Be it skiing, basketball or simply being by the water, Jack seems to want to capture the human spirit and connect to what is real. There are no lofty pretenses of “high art.” Across the works, many figures demonstrate a sameness, often depicted in a moment of leisure. He captures these moments without fanfare and we recognize ourselves in them — there’s a sense of familiarity.

The post This Young Canadian Artist Explores Ontario Landscapes With Colour And Connectivity appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

The Artist: Caitlin Cronenberg is a Canadian photographer and filmmaker. Having grown up on sets with her legendary father, filmmaker David Cronenberg, it’s no surprise that Caitlin feels at home in the studio. She began her career as an event photographer, later shifting her focus to celebrities. She also works in fine art photography; her stunning images adorn walls across Canada and beyond. Recently, she directed her first film, Humane, an eco-thriller.

The post Artist File: Caitlin Cronenberg’s Striking Photographs Have A Cinematic Energy appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

The Artist: Jason Baerg is a Cree-Métis artist who explores the Indigenous connection to the land and themes of language through an abstract visual practice. Raised in Prince Albert, Sask., Jason is now based in Toronto where they’re an associate professor at OCAD University. The artist works in painting, drawing, sculpture, film, new media and fashion, looking at the beautiful aspects of Indigenous life and envisioning the best path forward as a way to inspire today’s Indigenous youth and celebrate their collective stories.

The Works: As a starting point for recent works, Jason has looked to the Cree Medicine Wheel. They spent the entirety of 2022 focusing on yellow, which represents the spring. In 2023, Jason looked at red, representing summer, the earth and metal and, this year, they’ve moved to blue, which represents autumn and water.

The post Jason Baerg’s Works Are A Celebration Of Indigenous Strength, Resilience And Joy appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

The Artist: Sarah Anne Johnson is a photo-based artist from Winnipeg who’s made the natural world her focus. Most recently, you might recognize her work from The Idea of You, an Amazon Prime movie starring Anne Hathaway. The main character owns a gallery and Sarah’s piece “Unclose Me” is featured in one — or more — of the scenes. While the Canadian landscape is a quintessential subject for Canadian artists, Sarah differentiates her practice by not just capturing a moment in time in a photograph, but further manipulating her photographs in ways that evoke deeper emotions. By incorporating materials such as paint, retouching inks and glitter as well as using techniques including burning, scratching and gouging, each photograph becomes tactile and unique.

The Works: Sarah’s impetus has always been to recreate a feeling from a specific perspective — it could be as a summer employee as seen in the Tree Planting series, as an advocate for climate change in the Arctic Circle series or, most recently, as a nature lover celebrating trees and their calming effect in the Woodland series. In all her works, Sarah explores ways that we can feel the subject matter rather than just see it.

Scroll to learn more about this talented artist!

The post Discover The Multidisciplinary Artist That Made A Cameo In Anne Hathaway’s Latest Rom-Com appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

The Artist: Painting immersive outdoor scenes, Emmanuel Osahor creates sanctuaries for his viewers. He’s interested in illustrating the natural contrasts inherent in gardens while offering beautiful tableaus to engage in. Looking at gardens as places of refuge from daily life, he provides a break for himself, as much as for others, from the constant cycle of anxiety-inducing news, including recent events such as the death of George Floyd, the spike in anti-Asian hate and the ban on discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools across Florida, all highlighting the continued oppression of marginalized communities. His work serves as an antidote to this — it’s a glimmer of hope, a moment of beauty. Emmanuel believes that beauty is necessary to surviving, and that surviving is the precursor to thriving.

The post Artist File: Emmanuel Osahor Paints Immersive Garden Sanctuaries appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

Artist Caroline Monnet explores ideas of “the home” and “our land” using industrial materials and techniques inspired by her Indigenous heritage.

The Artist: Caroline Monnet is inspired in equal parts by her Anishinaabe and French heritage. Her multidisciplinary practice explores what it means to have a dual identity — and how to reckon with it. Pulling references from her daily life growing up in Quebec, Caroline creates visually vibrant work that is at once playful and serious.

The Works: Exploring our contemporary relationship to notions such as “the home” and “our land” seen through both an Anishinaabe and Western lens, Caroline highlights the contrast between these two viewpoints. She grew up in Aylmer, Que., and her parents built and flipped houses on the side. As such, she was surrounded by construction and building materials. These have now become the defining characteristic of her own practice. Using elements such as Styrofoam insulation, polyethylene and multicolour sandpaper as her mediums, Caroline creates brightly coloured, abstract pieces that hold layers of meaning.

The post Artist Spotlight: Caroline Monnet’s Work Is Inspired By Her Indigenous Heritage appeared first on House & Home.

In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.

Jenn Mann’s high-concept work explores identity, critiquing how we “sell” ourselves in today’s consumerist society.

The Artist: Jen Mann’s body of work explores the self and our obsession with how we present ourselves to the world. While the self-portrait has been a mainstay in art since the dawn of time and has evolved over the years (think Egyptian wall paintings to Rembrandt to Warhol), Jen’s interest lies in how we brand ourselves — a consumerist approach to both expressing ourselves and relating to other people. Her work is clever and multifaceted, including photography, painting, music video and sculpture. She draws viewers in with slick, beautiful surfaces and then surprises them with something deeper and darker in the underlayers.

The Works: The paintings themselves are beautiful and mostly self-portraiture. She paints
in a hyperrealist manner, starting with photography, then working off the photos to achieve the desired effect in paint. Color becomes a means of disrupting the realism: “Using color in the work takes it out of the everyday,” says Jen. “It’s now an unreal place, and using crazy colors helps people look at an image and see that it’s not part of the real world.”

The post Artist Spotlight: See Jen Mann’s Colorful Work appeared first on House & Home.

The post Artist Spotlight: See Evocative Paintings By Colleen Heslin appeared first on House & Home.

The post Artist Spotlight: Diana Hamm On Five Canadian Artists Who Have Mastered Small Scale appeared first on House & Home.