Past Residents

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Past Resident
2024: Canada Council for the Arts

Artist

Amy Ching-Yan Lam

Amy Ching-Yan Lam is an artist and writer whose work explores personal and communal histories, approaching them through intuition and necessity. Her practice is rooted in absurdity—where humor and sadness meet, or where the line between them blurs, creating a sense of instability. She primarily works in poetry, site-specific projects, and installation. Her publications include Property Journal (forthcoming, 2024), Baby Book (2023), and Looty Goes to Heaven (2022). Born in Hong Kong, Amy now lives in Tkaronto/Toronto.

Amy Ching-Yan Lam has exhibited work at Eastside Projects, United Kingdom; Seoul MediaCity Biennale, South Korea; and Richmond Art Gallery, Canada, among others.

Events & Exhibitions

Artists at Work: Ulrike Königshofer and Amy Ching-Yan Lam

October 15, 2024, 6:30–7:30pm

Photo of a USB key in the shape of the Rosetta Stone, on a miniature plinth

Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Stolen from the British Museum (Rosetta Stone USB Key), 2021, USB key.

Photo of a water fountain that consists of a sink with an overly large faucet, water pours out of the faucet into a garbage can in front of the sink

Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Needing and Wanting (fountain), collaboration with HaeAhn Woo Kwon, 2023, water pump, sink, cabinet and garbage can.

Photo of a one-page-a-day calendar printed on newsprint, with magenta acrylic binding

Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Property Calendar, 2023, newspaper print and acrylic.

Photo of 10 of the Property Calendars installed on a wall, with ripped off pages on the ground

Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Property Calendar (install), 2023, 10 calendars.

Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Looty Goes to Heaven, 2022, animation.

Residents from Canada

Jude Griebel

Canada, United States

Canada Council for the Arts

Studio #301

Alice Wang

United States, Canada

Canada Council for the Arts, Capsule Shanghai

Studio #213

Stanley Wany

Canada

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

2024

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Ireland

Past Resident
2024: Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
2014: Arts Council of Ireland

Artist

Sonia Shiel

Sonia Shiel’s paintings take the shape of terrains, portals, pageants, and props. Her exhibitions have a multi-dimensional quality that transcends their material form, creating dynamic opportunities for performance where the audience often becomes entwined in a shared folie à deux. In these otherworldly realms, humans, animals, plants, gods, and ‘artists’ coexist non-hierarchically with cosmological and enchanted phenomena. Drawing inspiration from art history, theater, mythology, and literary fiction, Shiel delves into our capacity for self-determination, love, autonomy, and courage.

Sonia Shiel has exhibited work at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art; Kunstverein Aughrim; and Void Art Centre, all in Ireland, among others.

One irregularly shaped painting hangs on a white wall. It has botanical qualities, with a dark green vertical section splitting in two, and bordering a burst of yellow. Inside the yellow section are spiraling spurts of seed-like red and orange, and fringed with a green frill.

Sonia Shiel, Dirty-Wow-Sun / The bud, 2024, oil on canvas, and wooden lapel frame, 23 × 31 in. (58.42 × 78.74 cm).

Two paintings which appear to be free standing are at either end of a large brightly-lit white gallery space. On the left, at the far end of the room one of the large paintings stands in two pieces each the mirror image of the other, the joining middle section is hinged open. Its irregular shape is characteristic of a butterfly, and is pink and green. The imagery includes golden reptilian scales, and white wing-shaped clouds, four triangular teeth, foliage, and branches. On both sides the clouds form crescent shapes and arms with gloved hands emerge wearing elaborate yellow sleeves with yellow and black yarn tassels. One arm holds a fan. In the foreground, the second painting occupies half the frame. This circular-shaped work displays elements of a shell. Slabs of blue and green animal print border the same motif in a white and blue crescent hinge, with translucent tones, wherever they merge.

Sonia Shiel, Medusa In Pieces / Installation Shot, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, dimensions variable.

One painting appears to be free standing in the centre of a wide brightly-lit white gallery space. It stands in two pieces each the mirror image of the other, the joining middle section is hinged open with two further sections closed over, creating a slight gap, like two saloon doors flapping. Its irregular shape is characteristic of a butterfly, and is pink, green, with vertical shafts of blue. The imagery includes golden tails, that curl like coils of hair, and white fan-shaped wedge-like flowers, leafy foliage, and branches. On the top two golden claws reach to meet each other over the middle and form an arch. In the foreground, brightly colored fabric sleeves and gloves, in pink and yellow, with yellow and black yarn tassels, sits in a pile like a discarded animal skin.

Sonia Shiel, Medusa In Pieces / Act 2 Break Fall, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, with fabric sleeves on stool in foreground, 350 × 390 in. (889 × 990.6 cm).

One painting, in three rounded parts, with two capsule shaped lapels, is attached to a set of large swing doors, dividing a sun-lit room. The painting has geometric and symmetrical values, with red, blue and white motifs, and two yellow horizontal lines. Small bone-shaped fragments, made of clay, appear attached to the surface of the painting like four ribbons, and together form a double-helix-like shape. At each end the final bone is shaped into a foot and at the centre the final bone is shaped like a hand. The painting is interrupted by a large natural granite rock, over which the two hinged sections meet. On the rock appears to be a stick of incense, burning within a pile of leaves, also made with clay. On the floor a circular groove is embedded into the concrete and extends in a half semi-circle from the centre of the painting, towards the bottom left frame of the image.

Sonia Shiel, Supernatural Bureau / The bones, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, attached to revolving door structure. With natural granite rock and insence, 203 × 82 in. (515.62 × 208.28 cm).

A figure is seated under a spotlight, in a large red velvet chair within a blackened room. The figure’s legs, in black, are crossed with one bent knee perched on the seat. The figure is wrapped in a deep saffron yellow silk cape, with yellow yarn tassels fading into black towards the ground. Pink ruffled fabric forms a flower on the figure’s lap, and the figure wears a blue glove which holds a microphone, while the other hand falls over the figure’s knee in a gold and black glittered glove.

Sonia Shiel, Pulse Event - an event of the heart, 2023, video documentary and performance, 5:39 min.

Residents from Ireland

Aileen Murphy

Ireland

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin

2023

Celina Muldoon

Ireland

Arts Council of Ireland

2023

Aideen Barry

Ireland

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin

2023

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Latvia

Past Resident
2024: Kim? Contemporary Art Centre

Artist

Jānis Dzirnieks

Jānis Dzirnieks’ work cuts through the facade of technological efficiency, revealing the unsettling and often sinister forms that emerge from our relentless drive for optimization. By repurposing industrial remnants into thought-provoking installations, Dzirnieks prompts viewers to confront the ecological and societal costs of progress. This exhibition vividly explores the stark contrasts between economic development and environmental decay, challenging us to reconsider our relationship with technology and nature.

Jānis Dzirnieks has exhibited work at Robert Fruinstraat 56, Netherlands; Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Latvia; and Extra City, Belgium.

Jānis Dzirnieks, Conservation of Energy For Greater Access of Milking, 2022-2024, gas stove, PLA fillament, acrylic putty, epoxy resin, fiberglass, spray paint, found luminous wall sticker, found paper cut out hat, colophonium, neodymium magnets and steel.

Jānis Dzirnieks, Fracture Stimulation for Short-Lasting Joy (ongoing), 2019- ongoing, extruded polystyrene, dimensions variable.

Jānis Dzirnieks, Body-fitted Topology Optimization and Stove Grate, 2023, inkjet print on paper, pine resin, plywood, scrap wood and custom steel mount, dimensions variable.