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Meet the artists

2025 artists in residence

• Joaquim (Juka) Almeida

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  About Juka 
  Joaquim (Juka) Almeida is a Brazilian Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in North Vancouver. Working across illustration, animation, sculpture, film and 3D modeling, Juka blends analog and digital techniques to create immersive, character-driven narratives. 
  Originally from São Paulo, he began his career as an illustrator and educator, publishing more than a dozen books—several of which were featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and nominated for Brazil’s prestigious Jabuti Award. His work explores themes of identity, cultural memory and transformation, often drawing from the expressive movements of Capoeira, a traditional Brazilian martial art that’s rooted in elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality.
  In addition to his artistic work, Juka is an active researcher and lecturer, collaborating with universities on interdisciplinary projects that bridge movement, myth, and material exploration. Whether creating on the page, screen, or in public space, Juka brings a deep curiosity and commitment to accessible, community-engaged storytelling.
   storytelling.

  Embodying Memory Through Art
  Juka’s NVRC residency focused on the creation of a life-sized sculptural figure inspired by Besouro Mangangá, a legendary capoeirista from Brazilian folklore. Reimagined as a time-traveling figure, this version of Besouro bridges the physical and symbolic—blending character design, cultural myth, and personal memory into a work that invites viewers to reflect on transformation.

  Built from cardboard, aluminum cans and wood, the sculpture was informed by both digital modeling and hands-on techniques. The project explored themes of invisibility, resilience and inherited knowledge through material choices and process. A chisel handed down from his great-grandfather was used in shaping Besouro’s eyes—connecting generations through a literal and symbolic act of making.

  Throughout the residency, Juka maintained an open studio, welcoming conversations with community members. These informal exchanges created space for reflection and storytelling across diverse experiences and backgrounds. The project’s rhythm—cutting, shaping and sculpting—mirrored the movement traditions of Capoeira while grounding the work in stillness, presence and personal ritual.

  Artist Residency Workshops
  In addition to his large sculpture project, Juka explored the fluid nature of identity through sculpture, storytelling and creative movement through a series of hands-on workshops. Drawing inspiration from Capoeira’s rhythms and the transformative nature of masks in cultural storytelling, he invited community members to take part in collaborative artmaking with people of all skill levels, leading both a cardboard sculpture workshop and a Capoeira & creative movement workshop. 
   

  Website: en.jukaart.com

   

• Sam Chang Bravo

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  About Sam 
  Sam Chang Bravo (they/them) is a queer-Venezuelan Canadian 2D animator and filmmaker based in British Columbia. Graduating with honours from Vancouver’s Film School classical animation program, their work blends their personal storytelling and their deep appreciation for the iconic cityscapes of BC.  

  Sam’s multidisciplinary work explores the intersection of heritage, belonging and urban life. Through animation and illustration, the artist crafts heartfelt tributes to the places and people that shape British Columbia. 

  Visual love letter to British Columbia’s cityscapes 
  Sam’s work is deeply personal, drawing from their own culture background to create characters and narratives that reflect a rich, multicultural experience. 

  “My intention is to create visual love letters to the cityscapes of British Columbia and to highlight the communities that live there.” 

  Drawing from personal experience as a mixed-race first-generation immigrant, Sam tells their personal stories while capturing the everyday beauty of British Columbia. Their animated short film Virus Girl was featured in TIFF's Young Creators Showcase, and their latest film, The Worst Kind of Aftertaste, continues their exploration of human emotions and connection. 

  NVRC Artist Residency Project: Parchita! The Dancing Lion
  Parchita! The Dancing Lion follows Parchita, a magical creature inspired by Chinese lion dancers and piñatas, who arrives in North Vancouver to help a child in need. That child is Manuel Zheng, a Chinese Venezuelan kid who insists he’s fine, but as Parchita gets to know him, it becomes clear that not asking for help is part of the problem. With the support of Manuel’s friends, they embark on a journey of mixed-identity, friendship and belonging.

  Check out Sam’s Spring 2025 artist talk for a sneak peek at the film's storyboards and creative process! Watch a portion of their talk on our YouTube channel. 

  Sam hopes to have this project out by summer of 2026, follow their Instagram for updates and more sneak peaks!

  Instagram: @samyychang
  website: samchangbravo.com
   

• Keerat Kaur

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  Keerat Kaur is a Canadian-born artist of Sikh-Panjabi heritage and a background as a licensed architect (OAA). Her work takes shape through the disciplines of painting, sculpture, writing, music, and architecture. Drawing inspiration from Sikh philosophies, she employs the art of metaphor and symbolism to revolutionize our relationship to nature and spirituality. Her aesthetic sensibility lies within a realm where the ordinary merges with the dreamlike.

  She completed her schooling in French Immersion, received her BA in 2012 (Western University) and her Master of Architecture in 2016 (U of T), while continuing her formal training in the Dhrupad and Khayaal schools of Indian Classical Music. Having a passion for languages, she is able to read, write and speak Panjabi, French, and Hindi. She is currently learning the Shahmukhi script and is studying the ancient language of Braj through the examination of historical Sikh texts. Most recently, Keerat has been deeply engaged in exploring how the symbolism in her work transcends boundaries and evolves across various media. Keerat currently lives and works between Burnaby, BC and London, Ontario.

• Ghazal Majidi

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  Ghazal Majidi is an interdisciplinary new media artist and filmmaker based in Vancouver, Canada. Her works span 3D animation, extended reality, interaction design, generative systems, and audiovisual installations. Playing in the intersection of digital media and non-linear storytelling, her work challenges the constructed stereotypes of contemporary technoculture, examining liminality, simulations, nostalgia, disintegration, and noise. Magical realism is a common genre in her works, probing questions about the nature of memories, dreams, and reality. Drawing from her academic background in architecture, Majidi’s work is deeply entangled with the poetics of space and involves intricate world-building in virtual space. By critically engaging with digital tools and immersive technologies, Majidi crafts alternative narratives and affective experiences that invite the audience into the uncanny valley.
   

  Majidi’s works have been presented internationally at film festivals and galleries, including Vienna Shorts, Mutek AE, Brussels Independent Film Festival, MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival, Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, and Denver Digerati Emergent Media Festival. Majidi holds a Bachelor of Architecture and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Simon Fraser University.

  ghazalmajidi.com

• Beth W. Stewart

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  Beth W. Stewart is a self-described abstract artivist who creates vibrant, complex acrylic paintings inspired by social justice. Having begun painting expressively in the midst of conducting research in post-conflict northern Uganda, her creative practice is consequently rooted in an ethic of bearing witness. Now, as an educator of history and social justice, Beth draws inspiration from historical and contemporary stories of resistance, resilience, and revolution. 
  Beth’s creative work currently focuses on developing and sharing her practice of abstract artivism. Through expressive abstraction, abstract artivism challenges dominant ways of seeing and thinking. While traditional artivism harnesses art’s communicative power to inspire social change, abstract artivism prioritizes the transformative potential of the creative process itself.

  Beth W. Stewart’s website
  Beth W. Stewart’s Instagram
   

• Melifawn

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  Melifawn is a singer/ songwriter based in Vancouver, BC. 

  In her music, she explores imagery and themes inspired by the west coast. Originally from Vancouver Island, Meli grew up near the ocean. She is a 2016 graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria. Her background in theatre inspires her music further, pushing her to create thoughtful and authentic stories. 

  
  Melifawn has toured across Canada with the Shameless Hussy production of Love Bomb. In the Chemainus Theatre Festival’s production of Classic Country Roads, she understudied four separate roles and went on for two. She has also performed with the Blueweed Band in North Vancouver, where she further developed her love of bluegrass music. 

  Mel Kahan (she/ they) | Voice Actor, Singer/ Songwriter
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• Sophia Longo

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  Sophia is a visual artist, watercolour painter and fashion textile print designer. 
  Her art practice explores the liminal space between nature and human experience, using memory fragments as both material and metaphor.

  Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, Sophia holds a BFA in Fashion Design from Faculdade Santa Marcelina and a post-grad in Art History from FAAP. She has worked in fabric print design since 2007 and began exploring watercolor in 2012. Sophia has taught fashion illustration, pattern design, and painting at various institutions, and is currently a Fine Arts Instructor at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, North Van Arts, and təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre.

  During her NVRC residency, Sophia will invite the community to share nature-inspired stories. These memory fragments from North Vancouver residents will inform and inspire her creative process, culminating in a drawing workshop and public art exhibition titled Global Garden. 

  Follow Sophia on Instagram @sophialongo

2024 artists in residence

• Chelsey Stuyt

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  About Chelsey
  Chelsey Stuyt is a portrait photographer working on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her photography blends intense color, theatrical lighting and quiet storytelling, often balancing humor with introspection. Trained in portraiture and performance photography, Chelsey works across commercial and artistic contexts and currently serves as the resident photographer for Pacific Theatre and Tightrope Theatre in Vancouver.
  Her work explores the tension between constructed identity and quiet honesty. In an image-saturated culture, Chelsey focuses on moments where what we present intersects with what we keep hidden. She brings a collaborative spirit to each session, creating portraits that feel both intentional and deeply human.

  Artist in Residency Project: List Makers
  During her NVRC residency, Chelsey developed and launched List Makers—a conceptual portrait project documenting individuals who use list-making as a tool for coping, creating or staying grounded.

  Through a series of stylized photographic portraits, the project invited participants to share not only their faces, but also the lists that keep their lives in motion. The result was a collection of images that quietly revealed how people manage the unseen pressures of daily life.

  One moment that stood out for Chelsey came when she was installing the completed pieces for display at Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre. As she was putting up the first few photos, two women passing by stopped and exclaimed, “That’s totally me!”—each pointing at different portraits. That immediate connection between subject, setting and viewer captured the very essence of the project.

  Reflections on the Residency
  Chelsey describes the residency as transformative. As a self-taught photographer working mainly in commercial settings, she had long viewed the fine art world as somewhat out of reach. The NVRC residency shifted that perspective.

  “It gave me the confidence to believe this kind of work was not just possible, but supported,” she said. “Being recognized by a public institution helped me see that I could step into this space and keep going.”

  She credits the NVRC staff for making the experience feel collaborative and welcoming. Several team members even participated in the project—often without revealing they were staff until after their portraits were taken. That quiet endorsement, along with ongoing support from staff like NVRC Cultural Services Programmer, Laura Grant, made a lasting impression.

  “I felt held by the team,” she said. “It gave me insight into how the work was landing behind the scenes, and it pushed me forward in ways I hadn’t expected.”

  The residency also allowed Chelsey to fully define the creative vision and visual style for List Makers, giving her the tools and clarity to begin seeking new opportunities. She’s now applying to other artist-in-residence programs and connecting with galleries and institutions to bring the project to new communities.

  For Chelsey, the residency was a turning point—one that opened a door into the fine art space, built credibility for future projects and affirmed Chelsey’s commitment to creating portraits that resonate far beyond the frame.

  Chelsey Stuyt’s Instagram 
  Chelsey Stuyt’s Website 
   

• Ciara Brady

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  About Ciara

  Ciara Brady is a textile artist with over 15 years of experience in the film industry, specializing in costume design and special effects. Born and raised in Ireland, Ciara began her career after completing a postgraduate degree in Performance and Production in her native Irish language. Her practice bridges performance, production and textile art, focusing on how using fabric, colour and texture can shape characters and narratives.

  A self-proclaimed advocate for upcycling and restoration, Ciara’s work often incorporates recycled materials and explores how clothing informs both personal and collective identities. Her approach is rooted in observation, experimentation and a deep personal connection to the natural world.  
  
  Artist Residency Project: Natural Colour and Community

  Ciara’s residency grew out of her fascination with colour, nature and the communal aspects of artmaking. She led hands-on workshops where participants experimented with natural dye techniques, using kitchen waste, seeds, plants and flowers to create colour on silk and cotton fabrics and then fashioned the fabrics they created into various types of clothes and decor. 
  Participants learned the slow craft of scouring and mordanting fibers to prepare them for dye, then wrapped and steamed their fabric bundles before unwrapping the results together. The process encouraged patience and connection, offering a counterpoint to the frenetic pace of everyday life. 

  One of Ciara’s favourite parts of the residency was partnering with local catering company, The Beet, which collected avocado pits and skins for her dye baths. Their enthusiasm highlighted the ways curious community members can support and engage with sustainable art practices.

  Throughout the residency, Ciara embraced the unpredictability of natural dyes, letting go of being in control to allow the organic processes to shape the outcome. The work combined her love of textiles with her ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, showing how colour and craft can become a shared experience.

  Reflections on the Residency 

  For Ciara, the residency was a chance to slow down and reconnect with both her materials and her community. “I learned to enjoy the whole process without fixating on the result,” she said. “It was liberating to let the dyes and fabrics respond in their own way.”

  Her time with NVRC deepened her knowledge of natural dyes and reinforced her passion for sharing and teaching the craft. 

  Ciara leaves the residency with a renewed sense of purpose, eager to continue blending sustainability, story telling and textile art in ways that invite collaboration and celebrate the beauty of natural colour.  

  Ciara Brady’s Instagram  
  Photo credit: @creativeinspo_daisy

• Pat Chessell

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  About Pat
  Pat Chessel is a Celtic-Canadian singer-songwriter known for his high-energy performances, heartfelt lyrics and deep appreciation for storytelling through music. Based in the Lower Mainland, Pat’s work is rooted in tradition but constantly evolving. Drawing inspiration from history, place and personal memory, his songs speak to working-class stories, local legends and everyday resilience.

  A familiar face in Canada’s folk and Celtic music scenes, Pat has performed across the country and built a loyal audience with his distinctive voice and honest songwriting.

  Telling local stories through song
  During his summer residency at NVRC, Pat wrote and refined a new collection of songs inspired by the landscapes and stories of North Vancouver. From the pirate lore of Deep Cove to the legacy of local shipbuilders, his lyrics uncovered North Vancouver’s history and gave them new life through melody.

  “This residency helped me focus in a way I haven’t in years,” Chessel said. “It gave me the time and space to actually finish things I’d started long ago.”

  One of the songs, The Best Man Wins, was co-written with friends and inspired by Pat’s grandfather. Thanks to the dedicated creative time the residency allowed, the song was completed, released and now gets played on local folk radio stations! 

  Artist Residency Project: Writing North Vancouver’s Soundtrack
  Pat used his residency to create a new body of work that reflects the character and history of North Vancouver. Key tracks include:

  • Down in Deep Cove – exploring legends of hidden treasure
  • Sore Feet, Sore Heads and Sore Hearts – inspired by Lynn Valley’s Walter Draycott
  • Shipbuilder’s Square – a love song rooted in the Wallace family’s shipbuilding past
  • Lure of the Mountains – a tribute to the local geography

  Alongside writing and recording, Pat led two songwriting workshops—one for youth and one for adults. The youth session drew participants from across the region, with one attendee traveling from Cloverdale to take part. The enthusiasm was clear, and the sessions became a meaningful way to connect through shared creative practice.

  He also performed two outdoor plaza concerts at Delbrook, offering the community a chance to experience his work live and in person. Between performances and workshops, Pat often walked the centre with his guitar in hand—an instrument crafted locally in North Vancouver. It sparked conversations with fellow musicians and community members alike, creating unexpected moments of connection that became a memorable part of the residency.

  Reflections on the Residency
  For Pat, the experience was both personal and professional. “Stepping away from home life and into a new creative space helped me reset,” he said. “It reminded me how much I can get done when I give myself permission to focus.”

  He discovered his most productive hours were in the morning—a simple but important insight that’s already shaping how he approaches his time. The residency also helped build his artist profile and gave him new confidence to pursue future projects.

  “This program laid the groundwork for what’s coming next. It’s had a real impact.” Supported by the NVRC team, Pat found the structure, freedom and encouragement he needed to dive deeper into his music. It was, in his words, a grounding and transformative experience.
   

• Willoughby Arevalo & Isabelle Kirouac

  About Willoughby & Isabelle
  Willoughby Arévalo is a mycologist, visual artist and educator originally from Arcata, California, and now living in Vancouver. His artistic practice is rooted in deep ecological engagement, often incorporating fungi not just as subject matter but as material and active collaborators. His work spans education, eco-art, writing and community facilitation, bringing fungal life into public imagination through immersive experiences.

  Isabelle Kirouac is an interdisciplinary choreographer and educator from Quebec, now based in Vancouver. Her work explores the poetics of movement and the body’s connection to the land. With a master’s in interdisciplinary arts from SFU, she bridges contemporary movement practices with sensory engagement and ecological themes. Together, Isabelle and Willoughby co-lead the Art & Fungi Project, a collaborative, evolving series that merges community artmaking with environmental education.

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  Felting the Mycelial Web
  As part of their 2024 NVRC artist residency, Willoughby and Isabelle offered Felting the Mycelial Web — a richly layered, community-engaged arts experience based at Ron Andrews Community Centre. Over several weeks, residents of all ages contributed to a series of collaborative felted books that celebrated local fungi through wet felting, needle felting and sensory exploration.

  The process began with guided mushroom walks where participants identified native fungi, listened to biosonified fungi sounds, and learned to document native species. These discoveries formed the creative foundation for the felted books — pages built from wool and stitched landscapes that held needle-felted fungi crafted by community members.

  Alongside the felting workshops, participants engaged in forest-based movement practices inspired by mycelial networks, blurring the line between art and ecology. The project culminated in a public celebration, where the completed felted books were unveiled alongside chaga tea, edible mushroom snacks and a final walk in the forest.

  Rooted in Community, Guided by Fungi
  Isabelle & Willoughby’s NVRC residency marked a key evolution in their Art & Fungi Project—an ongoing series of artistic projects offering creative experiences relating to fungi and how they shape and connect our world, to grow the interconnections between communities, the land, and it's more than human inhabitants. 

  While the duo had previously worked primarily in schools, this was their first time delivering the program across generations in a fully public setting. The response was overwhelming — families, elders, children and adults came together to co-create, learn and build connections through a shared artistic journey.

  The residency expanded the reach and depth of their work, growing not only public appreciation for local fungi but also new networks of creativity and care. The felted books now have a home in the Ron Andrews Community Centre as an invitation for future visitors to explore the fungi-filled forest through fibre and form.

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• Hannah Campbell

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  About Hannah

  Hannah Campbell is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores shared experience, world-building and storytelling. Using photography—both digital and manual—alongside embroidery, drawing and writing, she creates narratives that often blur the line between fact and fiction. By altering photographs with text or stitched and drawn elements, she invites viewers to step into liminal spaces where personal memory meets collective experience. Her practice highlights small but meaningful moments of the everyday, revealing how individual stories can resonate beyond the self.

  Artist Residency Project: Maplewood Creek

  During her NVRC Artist Residency, Hannah set out to create a hopeful project that celebrated the impact of small community actions on the environment. She partnered with the Maplewood Creek Streamkeepers, joining their weekly gatherings to document their work and learn about their efforts to restore and protect the creek’s ecosystem.

  Hannah photographed the streamkeepers at work—planting, clearing invasive species and shaping habitats for salmon and trout—and combined these images with embroidery and drawing. Some compositions reflected the chaotic, shifting perspective of the salmon’s own journey through the creek.

  She also hosted two public workshops focused on personal narrative and creative expression through photography, collage, embroidery, drawing and text. Participants explored their own stories, often deeply personal, working with images tied to healing, loss, resilience and transformation. Hannah was moved by the generosity and vulnerability participants brought to these sessions, and the way their work reflected the same spirit of connection and care that inspired her own project.

  Reflections on the Residency

  The residency culminated in a 10-by-130-inch scroll that combined photographs, stitched and drawn elements, and poetic text. The scroll tells the story of Maplewood Creek’s cycles—its wildlife, human interventions, ongoing challenges and moments of renewal—woven together in a visual thread symbolizing the interconnectedness of all these elements.

  For Hannah, the project was as much about connection as creation. “I wanted to make something that reminded people of what’s worth fighting for,” she said. “The streamkeepers show how a small group can make a real difference.”

  Her time with NVRC deepened her commitment to using art as a way to hold and share stories, and to continue hosting workshops where community members can engage creatively with their own narratives.
   

• Erin MacNair

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   About Erin 
  Erin MacNair (she, her) is a writer, metalsmith and full-time parent whose creative work draws inspiration from nature, curiosity and quiet resilience. Originally from Wisconsin, she now lives on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in North Vancouver. Her short stories have appeared in The Walrus, The Baffler, Grain, EVENT, PRISM international, and others.

  When not writing, Erin can be found photographing mushrooms in local forests, metalsmithing in her home studio or playing bass guitar. Her practice reflects a deep love for the natural world and a drive to explore the intersections of motherhood, creativity and solitude.

  The Silent Writers Workshop 
  As part of her residency, Erin created the Silent Writers Workshop—a calm, structured space for writers of all backgrounds to focus, reflect and create. Designed as a pressure-free environment, the workshop offered participants a chance to simply show up and write, surrounded by the quiet support of a like-minded community.

  What started as a simple writing space quickly evolved into a hub of connection and mutual encouragement. Erin’s quiet leadership and inclusive spirit helped cultivate a group dynamic rooted in trust, productivity, and presence. Through her residency, she created a space where writers can not only get words on the page, but feel seen, supported and inspired along the way. 

  In 2025, she is continuing to make space for writers to come together, running sessions of the Silent Writers Workshop in the spring and fall! 
  
   Reflections on the Residency & Looking Forward 
  “The NVRC Artist Residency gave me the confidence and space to focus on my work. It’s been a gift, and I’ll be sad when it’s over.” 

  For Erin, the residency was transformative. It gave her the time and space to focus on her novel—something that had been difficult to prioritize amid the demands of daily life. Twice a week, she wrote from 9am to 2pm in the Delbrook Community Recreation Centre art room, creating dedicated space that became her creative sanctuary. “It’s really helped me further my goals,” she said. “Having someone say, ‘Here, you can do this,’ made all the difference.”

  The residency also reignited Erin’s passion for teaching and mentoring. Having previously assisted NVRC resident artist Jackie Bateman in 2019, Erin felt ready to lead her own classes, and discovered how fulfilling it was to guide others in their creative journeys, both through the Silent Writers Workshop and a youth writing workshop. 

  Looking forward to continuing her work with the Silent Writers Workshop in 2025, she’s also exploring other ways to cultivate community for fellow writers, including hosting story salons, organizing community write-ins and dreaming up future programs for young writers.

  More info at erinmacnair.com.

• Camilo Martin-Florez & Carolina Silva

  About Camilo
  Camilo Martin-Florez is a Colombian Canadian filmmaker and film researcher based in North Vancouver. His artistic practice blends multimedia cinema, live performance and poetic experimentation. Working across found footage, video art and performative cinema, Camilo’s work examines migration, memory and identity through layered visual storytelling.
  His filmography includes The Vernacular Danse, The Interrupted Chilean, and Whose Boards Are These—works that have screened at international festivals and art events around the world. Known for weaving archival footage with live performance, Camilo creates immersive experiences that speak to displacement, resilience and cultural transformation.
   

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  About Carolina
  Carolina Silva is a Colombian musician, proficient in various musical disciplines, including composition, singing, and songwriting. Her musical education focused on classical, musical theater, and traditional Latin American folklore, refining her skills in each genre. She has participated in esteemed choral competitions across Europe, earning notable recognition. Carolina's compositions are deeply personal, serving as a vehicle for introspection and reflection on life's themes. Through her music, she explores her own experiences and questions herself, inviting listeners on a journey of self-discovery and contemplation, aiming to share her distinctive voice and perspective with audiences worldwide. 
   

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  Artist Residency Project: Migration Triptych
  During the residency, Camilo developed Migration Triptych—a multimedia performance that revisits the journeys of Latin Americans to Canada through three powerful movements.

  The first section presents workers abroad making bread, using imagery and sound to explore labor and longing. The second revisits the haunting past of a political refugee, who returns to the site of his former detention camp, offering a reflection on trauma and survival. The third is a deeply personal portrayal of Latin American immigrants as they adapt to life in Canada, capturing their struggles and hopes through film, poetry and sound.

  Migration Triptych was performed live with Carolina providing vocals and composition. The work combines original footage, recycled material and spoken word to create a layered, emotional narrative that transcends conventional storytelling.

  Reflections on the Residency
  The NVRC residency allowed Camilo to deepen his exploration of live cinema and experiment with new collaborative formats. Working closely with Carolina , the project evolved into a full multimedia performance—one that merged voice, music and image into a cohesive emotional arc.

  Set against the backdrop of North Vancouver, Camilo's work connected with audiences through its immediacy and cultural relevance. The support of the residency gave him space to refine his visual language and bring a complex subject to life in a public-facing format.

  Migration Triptych stands as both an artistic achievement and a tribute to shared experience. Through it, Camilo has expanded the reach of his practice while staying grounded in the stories that continue to shape his community.
   

2023 artists in residence

• Dolores Altin & Elvira Monteforte

  Dolores Altin and Elvira Monteforte (aka Elvis and Lola) are public artists with a passion for environmental art. They make art that makes a difference and that's meant to be experienced in person. The art work is site-specific and often uses recycled and natural materials to create a sense of place. The artists strongly believe that art should be accessible to everyone, thus creating pieces that can be enjoyed by all.

  Read our story about their artist in residence projects: Bugging out – artists in residence create willow sculpture insects

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• Allison Chow

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  About Allison

  Allison Chow is a multidisciplinary, community-engaged artist who strives to create work in experimental spaces that spark curiosity and compassion. Through sculpture, found objects and installations, she explores themes of belonging, collective healing and the power of shared experiences and stories. Her practice emphasizes collaboration and invites audiences to imagine new models of community and connection. 

  Artist Residency Project: The Communal Poetry Machine

  During her time with NVRC, Allison developed The Communal Poetry Machine, a project that merged sculpting, soundscape and movement. Drawing on found objects from the Seaspan drydocks, she created a series of shifting sculptures that carried the weight of North Vancouver’s industrial history and invited playful and collaborative engagements.

  Earlier in the Residency, Allison collected artifacts such as valves, lifting lugs and shackles—objects tied to the legacy of Lonsdale Quay’s shipbuilding history. Through conversations with Seaspan workers and residents, she explored the stories embedded in these artifacts, from wartime ship launches to the first women entering trades in Canada. These objects became the foundation for five large-scale sculptures and interactive scrolls designed to encourage dialogue and communal creativity. 

  The project also included soundscapes created in collaboration with local recording artist, rec12, using field recordings from the Shipyards to build an auditory layer of history and place. Workshops and public sessions invited participants to move through space together, mark surfaces collectively and explore how personal and communal narratives intersect. 

  Reflections on the Residency

  For Allison, her residency was an opportunity to combine personal healing with collective exploration. “My work is about making spaces that allow us to reimagine and expand our models of community and power” she said. “This residency gave me the support to create those spaces with and for others.”

  Spending time at the Shipyards and in conversation with the community reinforces her interest in how objects, land and memory hold layered stories. The process of sitting, observing, and letting go of meaning until it emerged naturally shaped both the sculpture and the zines she produced during her residency. 

  Allison leaves the residency with a body of work designed to evolve beyond the studio. The Communal Poetry Machine and shifting sculptures are meant to continue as living, interactive pieces, offering future audiences a chance to add their voices to the ongoing conversation about place, history and collective imagination. 
   

• Lori Goldberg

  About Lori

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  Lori Goldberg is a painter based in Vancouver whose work examines how environment, memory and material form influence one another.  With an extensive background that includes studies at Langara, OCAD and Emily Carr University, Lori has exhibited widely and received recognition from the Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Vancouver and numerous private collections across the country and abroad. Her practice has long focused on the environmental impact of consumer culture—particularly single-use plastics—and how visual art can inspire awareness and change. As a second-generation Vancouverite, her connection to the local landscape runs deep, but until her residency, she had never painted directly in the forest. 

  Artist Residency Project: Painting the Forest

  Lori began her NVRC residency looking for a reset. After years of painting about climate change and environmental degradation, she wanted to reconnect with nature not only as a subject, but as a collaborator. Inspired by Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s novel, To Speak for the Trees, Lori made a conscious shift toward listening, both to the forest and to herself. Her first painting paid homage to Canadian artist Frederick Varley, the founder of the Group of Seven, by capturing his Lynn Valley home at the start of the local trail loop. From there, she immersed herself in the forest, walking, sitting and reflecting under the changing canopy. Each brushstroke became a response to what the forest offered at that moment, an artistic understanding of its light, texture, scent and sound.

  Lori painted over 17 pieces during her time in the program, working both on-site and back in her studio using photographs and memory. As the seasons shifted from spring to late summer, the forest transformed with the dryness and haze of BC’s wildfire season. This evolving landscape deepened her appreciation for impermanence and regeneration. Lori’s residency concluded with a public sharing event at Delbrook. More than 20 people attended, viewing her paintings and joining her on a guided forest walk to better understand her creative process. The response was personal and enthusiastic, reflecting the emotional connection viewers felt to both the work and the place.

  Reflections on the Residency

  This residency marked a turning point for Lori—one that offered clarity, renewal and a new creative direction. Being outdoors changed the rhythm of her process. She let go of control and followed the light. She listened to the wind and painted what she felt rather than just what she saw.
   

• Nathan Lee

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  *About Nathan

  Nathan Lee is a multidisciplinary artist who weaves together place, history, culture and ecology into richly layered works of art and design. His approach blends research-driven storytelling with humour and whimsy, drawing attention to overlooked natural and cultural systems. Each project is rooted in site-specific meaning, resulting in work that is both engaging and thought-provoking while remaining accessible to a wide audience.

  Artist Residency Project: The Rookery

  For his NVRC residency, Nathan explored the history of the Moodyville Sawmill, which opened in 1863 and became one of the first permanent European settlements in North Vancouver. While the mill town was multicultural, equality was far from a reality. By 1889, 160 men worked at the mill—36 of them of Chinese descent.

  Nathan focused on the “Chinese Rookery,” an ethnic enclave located in the lowlands of the site. Historical records on the lives and working conditions of its residents are scarce, so this project used archival research, site interpretation and creative reconstruction to imagine what the area may have looked and felt like.

  The resulting model layers historical context with artistic interpretation, creating a physical representation that invites reflection on the complexity of place, cultural contribution and the erasure of certain histories. It’s a work that balances accuracy with imagination, encouraging viewers to consider both the known and the unknown in local history.

  Reflections on the Residency

  This project aligns with Nathan’s broader practice of weaving together social and ecological narratives in ways that are relevant, playful and resonant. By engaging with a little-documented chapter of North Vancouver’s past, he not only brought visibility to the contributions of Chinese workers, but also opened space for conversations about labour, migration and cultural memory.

  View a short video about the project here: 

  Build a scale model and discover for yourself what the area may have been like:

  Make Your Own Rookery

• Pierre Leichner & Johnny Trinh

  About Pierre & Johnny

  Pierre Leichner is a multidisciplinary artist who’s socially engaged practice explores the intersection of art, wellness and community. With a background in both visual arts and psychiatry, Pierre’s work often invites participants to reflect on identity, memory and collective belonging through collaborative experiences. His recent projects span interactive installations, public engagement events and community-driven storytelling initiatives.

  Partnering with spoken word artist and community facilitator Johnny Trinh,  Pierre brings a unique blend of empathy, creativity and curiosity to his work. At the heart of his practice is a commitment to fostering connection—using accessible, inclusive formats that draw people together across cultures and generations.

  Food, Memory & Community

  During his NVRC Artist Residency, Pierre co-facilitated Stories from the Kitchen, a four-part community event series exploring the deep connection between food, memory and storytelling. Held at Lions Gate Community Recreation Centre, each session featured a guest chef from a different cultural background—Ukrainian, Asian, Persian and Indigenous—who prepared a traditional dish while sharing the stories and cultural context behind it.

  Participants observed the cooking process, engaged in a Q&A session with the chefs, then came together to share a meal in a welcoming, informal setting. Following each dinner, the artists led a reflective conversation where community members were invited to share their own food stories, memories and cultural perspectives.

  With strong attendance and a waiting list for each session, the program demonstrated how food can serve as a universal entry point to deeper conversations about heritage, identity and shared experience.

  Artist Residency Project

  Stories from the Kitchen brought together people of all ages and backgrounds to build community through creative cultural exchange. Over four Thursdays from March 30 to April 20, 2023, the program offered hands-on learning, meaningful dialogue and delicious meals.

  Feedback from participants highlighted the joy of connecting over food, learning about different traditions and sharing stories in a casual, inclusive space. Many requested more sessions, additional cultural themes and added art components in the future.

  Pierre & Johnny’s residency successfully demonstrated how simple acts, like sharing a meal, can create space for connection, learning and new stories to emerge. Looking ahead, Pierre hopes to expand this work to other community centres, reaching broader audiences and continuing to build bridges through shared experiences.
   

• Gemma Crowe

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  About Gemma

  Gemma Crowe is a new media and movement artist based in Vancouver. Her work explores how sound and movement can change the way we perceive and connect with the world. By focusing on sensory and emotional responses rather than visual appearance, she creates performances that invite audiences to experience dance in unexpected ways. Her research looks at how movement can be understood through sound alone, opening new possibilities for how we listen, feel and engage with one another.

  Artist Residency Project: Sounding Movement

  During her NVRC residency, Gemma developed a new dance work built entirely around the sounds of movement. Instead of focusing on how the dance looked, the process prioritized how it sounded— shifting the dancers’ attention away from visual synchronization towards sonic unity. To sound the same, dancers were often required to move differently and independently.

  Gemma recorded rehearsals using audio only, accompanied by spoken descriptions of the movement. These descriptions conveyed force, direction, intention and metaphor rather than visual details, allowing dancers to interpret the movement without a fixed spatial reference. This approach removed hierarchy in the studio, as no one performer’s movement dictated the visual form, and encouraged exploration from any orientation in the space. 

  The work evolved to identify and experiment with different modes of sonic movement—breath, skin and fabric textures, wind, disruption of airflow, percussive impacts and locative tones. Rehearsals took place in various NVRC spaces and in outdoor settings, where the natural soundscapes of water, trees and open air became part of the performance.  

  Reflections on the Residency

  Gemma describes the residency as essential for exploring this concept in depth. The structure and resources allowed her to focus fully on the project without the administrative complexity of other funding models. Working in multiple locations, from recreation centres to natural outdoor spaces, expanded the dancers’ awareness of sound and scape.

  The residency also created an opportunity to share the work-in-progress with a small public audience. This informal showing was a key step in refining this piece, offering feedback and perspectives that would not have surfaced in a closed-off research process. 

  For Gemma, the project opened a new trajectory in her practice – one that continues to investigate how movement can be experienced and understood through sound, and how listening differently can shift both creative process and audience connection. 
   

• Pattern Nation

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  Pattern Nation is a slow fashion sustainable clothing design brand, artist collective and creative platform for colourful humans run by cosmic partners and spouses Cyd Eva and Costa Besta and friend and artist Brianna Klassen. They create handmade one-of-a kind & small run ungendered street wear and accessories, interactive art installations called blobs, visual art and surface pattern designs, fashion films and photography, DJ & live music sets, events, workshops, collaborative projects and more. Their current work takes place on the stolen, unceded and traditional territories of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm people (Kwikwetlem) in Coquitlam BC and have previously worked and lived in Vancouver Canada (all), Durban and Cape town South Africa (Cyd & Costa) and Bangalore India (Bri).

2022 artists in residence

• Cara Guri

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  About Cara

  Cara Guri is a visual artist based in Vancouver whose practice explores the relationship between identity and portraiture. A graduate of Emily Carr University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, she has exhibited her work across Canada and in New York. She has also completed residencies with Columbia University, Burrard Arts and the City of Abbotsford. Her paintings have received numerous awards including the Takao Tanabe Scholarship, the Brissenden Scholarship and the Bishop’s Undergraduate Prize in Fine Arts.

  Cara’s work often examines what is revealed and what is withheld in portraiture. By reworking historical conventions and symbols, she creates images that question what it means to see and be seen in contemporary contexts.

  Artist Residency Project: Memory and Mind Space

  For her NVRC residency, Cara set out to explore new approaches to painting that merge observation with imagery rooted in memory. Moving beyond her usual focus on what is seen in the present moment, she sought to capture the shifting sense of identity and experience across time.

  North Vancouver became central to the work’s development. With many formative childhood memories tied to Lynn Canyon, she began the residency sketching and painting in and around the area. Observing light flickering across the canyon’s water evoked the sensation of trying to recall a memory, something partially obscured and fluid. This visual metaphor became a key element in the imagery she developed back in the studio.

  The resulting paintings began as intimate portraits blending temporal moments and gradually expanded to include environmental elements. Cara experimented with surfaces like layered vellum and old watercolor paper inherited from her grandmother to echo the passage of time.

  Reflections on the Residency

  Being grounded in the Lynn Canyon landscape sparked a deeper reflection on the connection between people and their environment. Cara’s work evolved to consider how memory is held not only in individuals but also in place, and how nature itself carries its own kind of memory.

  Working in the studios at Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre, Cara observed the construction across the street and thought about how communities shift visually and conceptually over time. The contrast between the enduring stillness of Lynn Canyon and the rapid erasure and rebuilding of urban spaces prompted questions about what we choose to preserve, destroy and remake.

  As the residency progressed, environmental themes came to the forefront. The pieces she created explored the precarious balance between people and nature, the resilience of the natural world and the uncertainty of the future. Much of the resulting imagery is intentionally interpretive, echoing both the ambiguity of memory and the fragility of the world we inhabit.

  Cara leaves the residency with a body of work that intertwines personal history, environmental reflection and an expanded visual language—one that explores not just what we see, but what we remember, imagine and stand to lose.

  Cara Guri's website

• Cath Hughes

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  Cath Hughes is a British and Canadian multi disciplinary visual artist, living and working with gratitude on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh nations. She holds a BFA from Oxford University, and an MA from London University as well as a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Goldsmiths College and recently participated in the postgraduate painting correspondence course facilitated by Turps Art School. She has worked for many years in art and gallery education, including at Tate Modern and the National Gallery in London before immigrating to Canada in 2008. She now teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Burnaby Art Gallery and the Shadbolt Centre. 

  Cath Hughes Art | Facebook
  
  Cath Hughes' website

   

   

• Nathan Lee

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  CONTEXTURE is a noun that refers to an interwoven structure – a fabric.  It is also the work of Nathan Lee.  CONTEXTURE weaves together threads of place, history, culture, and ecology into playful, richly layered objects of art and design. 

  Nathan’s creative approach seeks to engage meaningful social and ecological concepts with humour and whimsy, while celebrating overlooked natural and cultural systems. His projects are built on a foundation of thorough research and layered with site-specific meaning. The end result is relevant and playful, profound and engaging.

  Nathan Lee's website

   

2021 artists in residence

• Andrea SUPERstein

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  Andrea Superstein is one of the most versatile voices in Canadian music today. Dubbed as "redefining jazz" by the Vancouver Province, her debut performance at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival earned her a nomination for a Galaxie Rising Star award and launched her squarely into the limelight. She later shared a triple bill with Canadian female heavyweights Laila Biali and Brandi Disterheft.

  Her performance stylings exemplify powerful vocals, evoking the gentle and the strong, deep blues to pop confection, often in the same song. She lithely navigates the colours of the emotional spectrum, luring us in deeper with killer improvisational instincts and exceptional storytelling.  

  Her latest oeuvre, Oh Mother is a Juno-nominated multimedia experience rooted in the stories of motherhood. It’s an ambitious tour de force highlighting her ever growing creativity and sensitivity as a songwriter and arranger. It includes a who’s who of the musical world, with a killer female dominated creative team including Jane Bunnett and Elizabeth Shepherd. Although the stories are rooted in motherhood, the free-spirited music is for everyone.

  Previous release Worlds Apart showcases her talents as vocalist, composer and arranger, bringing her fresh, modern ideas to the forefront. Her sophomore record What Goes On was produced by Juno winner, Les Cooper (Jill Barber) and released on the esteemed Cellar Live imprint.                                                         

  She has graced multiple official Spotify playlists, notably #4 on Vocal Jazz, just ahead of Norah Jones, received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine, spins on BBC Radio2 and an explosive release in Japan as well as impressive charting on Earshot and a steady rotation on JazzFm and CBC/ici Musique.

  Super has been a guest on TV and radio nationwide including CBC’s Hot Air, CTV news, Breakfast Television, CKUA, Quand le jazz est lá and Sirius XM radio and is a crowd favourite on the touring and festival scene.

• Pierre Leichner

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  Between Arts and Sciences, I first chose science. Curious about the mind, I eventually became an academic psychiatrist. But my increasing frustration with the business mentality that has infiltrated health care led me back to question my early decision. I received my BFA from Emily Carr in 2007 and my MFA from Concordia University in 2011. I am presently a full-time interdisciplinary artist with a socially engaged practice. My works has focused on environmental and mental health issues. I am a member of the Connection Salon Collective, and on the board of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver. I am the founder of the Vancouver Outsider arts Festival now in its 8th year.

  Website

2019 artists in residence

• Jackie Bateman

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  Jackie Bateman, Author, Screenwriter, Copywriter jacbateman.com/about

  Jackie Bateman is a British author and screenwriter. She was raised in Kenya, lived in London and Edinburgh, and eventually found home in Canada in 2003. She has published three award-winning novels: a character-driven, psychological suspense trilogy set in Scotland. The books are being developed into a television series called Thirst. Locally, she was featured at the North Shore Writers Festival in 2017 and that year’s Local Authors Cafe, events which received enthusiastic praise from both the audience and the festival organizers. jacbateman.com
   

• Matthew Ariaratnam

  Matthew Ariaratnam is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, guitarist, and listener based on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations – also known as Vancouver, BC. He creates sensory walks, writes dumbpop and chamber music, and frequently collaborates with choreographers, visual artists, and theatre-makers. His Soundwalks are focused on the sensory perception of listening. matthewariaratnam.wordpress.com/

• Virginia Duivenvoorden

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  Virginia Duivenvoorden

  As a maker of dance Virginia removes hierarchy within the form, embracing a specific  combination of freedom and technique. The concept for this residency has grown out of research observing the human figure composed in space. The simplicity of the form tells a story as a vibrant living image or tableau vivante. Whether live or recorded, creating movement this way invites all trained and untrained participants to create together live compositions of art. Moving, breathing sculptures in space, informed by and including dance. imageryexercise.com