SIDE-WAYS

A RESIDENCY EXHIBITION IN 2 SPACES

Michelle Bunton, William Carroll, Francisco Corbett, Grace Katie Dixon, Brian Hoad, Deena Jacobs, Jean Jamieson-Hanes, Rafael MacDonald

Co-presented by Union Gallery + Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre
Coordinated by GHY Cheung

October 12 – 30, 2021: Main Space and Project Room, Union Gallery
October 12 – December 4, 2021: Window Space, Modern Fuel










Image: Brian Hoad, Sticks and Stones, cyanotype on paper, 2021 | Courtesy of the artist







Side-ways Artist Residency is a remote residency which brought together a group of artists based in Katarokwi-Kingston during this past year. Starting in November 2020 and culminating in a 2-part exhibition across Union Gallery and Modern Fuel, Side-ways generated an environment of ongoing exchange among the artists in formats spanning group critiques and informal group discussions. Other artists, curators and cultural workers were invited to add their voices to the year-long dialogue on occasion. Throughout, the residency held fast to sustained conversatons and peer-to-peer support, seeing what might happen if artists took on these ways of working as not only generative methods but the critical mass that enables their artmaking.

Side-ways artists include, Michelle Bunton, William Carroll, Francisco Corbett, Grace Katie Dixon, Brian Hoad, Deena Jacobs, Jean Jamieson-Hanes and Rafael MacDonald. Many thanks to our visiting artists, curators and cultural workers: Pansee Atta; Sebastian De Line; Ella Gonzales; Hadley Howes; and Suzanne van de Meerendonk.

Side-ways is co-presented by Union Gallery + Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, designed and coordinated by GHY Cheung and naphtali; the two-part exhibition is coordinated by GHY Cheung, with exhibition support provided by Alexander Rondeau, Curatorial Assistant at Union Gallery, and Emily Veysey, Program Coordinator at Modern Fuel.


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Deena Jacobs
Still Here 3D
2021
Mixed media installation
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography






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Michelle Bunton
MUSHROOMJAM
2021
Digital print
Courtesy of the artist




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Exhibition view, Side-ways, 2021 | Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography






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Grace Katie Dixon
DISASSEMBLY REQUIRED
2021
Digital print and mixed media installation
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography






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Grace Katie Dixon
DISASSEMBLY REQUIRED
2021
Digital print and mixed media installation
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography





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Francisco Corbett
The Lament of Cerberus
2021
Acrylic, house paint, spray paint, oil stick on canvas
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography





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Exhibition views, Side-ways Studio, 2021 | Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography





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Deena Jacobs
Still Here III
Still Here 3D

2021
Mixed media installation
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography




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Deena Jacobs
Still Here 3D
2021
Mixed media installation
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography




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Michelle Bunton
MUSHROOMJAM
2021
Digital print
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography



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Rafael MacDonald
"Is He a Visible Minority?" (I Will Not Be Your Token)
2021
Digital video
Photo: William Carroll, Green Moth Photography










Michelle Bunton


Michelle Bunton is a multi-media and installation artist/fledgling curator/derby jammer currently residing in Katarokwi/Kingston. They work at Agnes Etherington Art Centre as Curatorial Assistant–Artist Residencies, are one of four co-founders of the micropress Small Potatoes, are one-half of the artist duo Tear Jerkers, and occasionally assist with the Ayatana Artists' Research Program. Bunton’s recent work prioritizes decolonial ethics, femi-queer science, collaborative praxis, multi-species orientation, and the para-curatorial.

Embracing the possibility of failure and the potential of remaining in-progress, their installation MUSHROOMJAM is comprised of a series of fragmentary and unfinished ideas, sketches, photographs, and thought experiments. Somewhere between parafiction and speculative fabulation, Bunton shares a series of imaginings and propositions for maintaining collective intimacy while (forced to be) apart. Thinking alongside the more-than-human intelligence of slime mold and various other fungi, and taking up the methodological framework of roller derby jamming, MUSHROOMJAM is an intimate collection of proposals-in-progress that hope to queer expectations of/desires for productivity, collectivity, and visibility in exhibition-making.



William Carroll


I am a self-taught artist currently based out of Kingston. I have spent the last three years refining my photography practice, under the banner of my own business, Green Moth Photography. While also working towards producing art pieces that exceed the frame, becoming tangible, interactive representations of my disdain for the current financial practices present within the visual arts community at large preventing true accessibility to those who are low-income. As a non-binary person living on the autism spectrum, I strive to present my unique visual perspective to the world. I see my disability/diagnosis as the unique gift that it is an endeavour to advocate for the value of diversity in all its forms. As an artist living with high functioning autism, I strive to present a unique perspective to the world. I see my disability as a unique gift and I endeavour to advocate for the value of neurodiversity in all its forms.

My current artistic practice is focused on producing simple and high contrast images. In particular, I seek to isolate everyday objects I encounter in order to push the boundaries of the viewers’ perspective. By turning household objects into abstract images and surreal landscapes, I present microcosmic worlds that mirror the myriad viewpoints of human experience. I am currently working on a number of installation-based public art projects exploring the idea of 'financial gate-keeping' in art and exploring the use of spray foam as a material for sculpture.



Francisco Corbett


My name is Francisco Corbett. I was adopted from Guatemala when I was 5 months old and have grown up in Kingston. I am now a full-time practicing artist working in mediums such as abstract acrylic painting and performance art. I began creating art seriously to convey my message of being free. My paintings now show that freedom coupled with an immense amount of physical energy.

My career is about pushing boundaries and showing other artists they can strive to do this, as well. By creating grassroots art galleries, concept art shows, billboard art installations, inviting other young artists to my studio, and performance pieces for myself and with my close collaborators, I prove that pushing boundaries allows every artist to be more impactful through their work. Currently I am working on a sustainable youth arts platform for myself so in the future I can support other young artists trying to practice art professionally. Everyone should do art. Everyone should strive to be free.



Grace Katie Dixon


Grace Katie Dixon is an interdisciplinary artist from Kingston. She enjoys blending mixed media and graphic design with emotive and thoughtful themes including embodiment, spirituality and individuality. She occasionally dives into an unresolved, humorous and/or deconstructed critique of popular culture. Her practice mimics her relationship and fascination with both the quietness in nature and the stimulating hum of metropolitan living. Her works have been included in album artwork, poetry collections and public displays in the Kingston area.

Uncover,
be honest,
tell stories sensitively.
Themes in my work speak to an interest in individuality, spirituality, self-discovery and vulnerability; letting go, breathing in, cultivating sincerity. Giving of my voice; my vocal chords now exercized anxiously, outgrowing the quietness.
To listen,
observe,
g  r  o  w   .
Creating requires a pure sort of bravey.
Heavy breathing becoming soft.
I hope to embody that in my work; a melancholic, lively and yet haunted entanglement of personhood and discovery.



Brian Hoad


Brian Hoad received initial studio training working as an assistant for Canadian artist David Blackwood, later completing a BFA (Honours), Visual Art, minor Art History at Queen’s University and MFA, Visual Art at University of Regina. Maintaining a studio in Kingston, Hoad is a term adjunct at Queen’s and Nipissing University. His artwork responds to personal experience coming-of-age in Ontario, demonstrating a connection with nature and an interest in how people have responded to wilderness spaces throughout history.

Like many before him, Hoad enjoys the activity and reflection associated with making art in nature. He has always felt moved by landscape rendering, both as a viewer and artist, observing its visceral potential for mark-making. After experimenting with cyanotype as an instructor, he became interested in its ability to function in an outdoor setting alongside other mediums more commonly associated with working en plein-air. Cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic processes, akin to blueprints. Unlike drawing and painting, this light-sensitive process requires one to account for the environment’s direct influence on their piece when working outdoors.



Deena Jacobs


Deena Jacobs combines painting, drawing, and collected ephemera to create cognitive landscapes. Pieces are fluid and connected. The presentation shifts with the light. The style is playful and melancholic, with specifics skewed by layering techniques. The pieces are detailed multimedia work that intentionally blurs time and boundaries. Into music, nature, and the specific stains we leave behind. Exploring themes of identity and community. The focus of research this year has been “salt.” In 2008, Deena graduated from York University with a Fine Arts BA. They have exhibited work in Canada and abroad, and contributed to publications and collaborative projects, like film.



Jean Jamieson-Hanes


body
trauma
harm
encountering
body
rage
fury
expulsion
grief
decay
permanence
body
healing
remembering
mourning
impermanence
release
body
self
memorial
rebirth



Rafael MacDonald


Rafael MacDonald (A.K.A Donald Martin Hernandez; Dos Caballos; El Scotiadoran) is a Canadian-El Salvadoran Digital Media Artist now residing in Kingston with his partner. He grew up on the East Coast of Canada just outside of Halifax and proudly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NSCAD University. He has a deep love for both sides of his heritage and often references this subtly and obviously throughout his work. Pre-Pandemic he developed small and large public art projects with youth in Halifax and Kingston, spent 12 years in various departments in the film industry, and was a bit of a civic activist. Today he spends most of his time with his amazing partner and focuses on his practice.

The work can be presented under one of three names depending on several variables: His birth name Rafael MacDonald, or either one of his artistic pseudonyms, Donald Martin Hernandez or El Scotiadoran. Participants in his work include friends, family, and other interested parties who share his love of creativity and wish to make something beautiful. He mostly works in film, performance, radio, ceramics, sculpture, but will work in any medium if the resulting visual suits the needs of his project. His current interests include Rubik’s cubes, 3D printing, light art, western iconography and the increasingly tenuous relationship between authorities and citizens.



GHY Cheung


GHY Cheung is a Hong Kong-born writer and artist. His research spans public art and interventionist practices; spatial theory; queer and feminist theories; and utopian studies. Across his inquiries, he centers queer kinships as archive, method and sustenance.



naphtali


naphtali is an yt trans non-binary jew, artist, and PhD student in Cultural Studies at Queen’s. In their PhD work they trace how perspective and representation emerge in white settler colonial discourses to silo human and non-human relations in ways that spread the carceral imagination across institutions and relations more broadly, and how that spread can be un-imagined through abolitionist and decolonial intimacies.