Wayfinding

works from the Youth Art Mentorship Program

June 7 – October 1, 2023

Lauren Reese, A. Carabine, Mujgan Hussain Zada, Kellan Mackenzie, Charley Pesonen, and Amber Rose

Artist-Mentor: Spencer J. Harrison

This exhibition is the culmination of the Youth Art Mentorship Program. Now in its second year, this program provides an opportunity for artists at the end of their high school careers to work with an artist-mentor, developing work for an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Selected by a jury of arts professionals at the end of 2022, artists Lauren Reese, A Carabine, Mujgan Hussain Zada, Kellan Mackenzie, Charley Pesonen, and Amber Rose, have spent the last three months working with artist-mentor Dr. Spencer J. Harrison, Education Programming Coordinator Andrew Ihamaki, and Curator Fynn Leitch as they work in their own ways to create work in their unique artistic voice.

The works in “Wayfinding” speak with visceral conviction. This cohort of six artists have brought forward diverse perspectives, informed by lived experience. Through storytelling, experimentation, imagination, and documentation, they invite us to chart pathways to different futures by opening fissures and forging new connections.

Lauren Reese is a grade 12 visual art student at Thomas A. Stewart secondary school. It is through her education and experiences as a young woman she found her passion for making expressive and meaningful feminist art work. Lauren enjoys using various media and techniques to provoke emotion and compels viewers to consider unfamiliar points of view.

A. Carabine “I was born in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. My passion for art bloomed at around the age of 3. I’ve taken art classes all throughout high school, & made pieces in my own time, my dream is to be a tattoo artist. My other passions include music, psychology, and criminology. I love to combine art, anatomy, and the process of decay to create disgustingly beautiful pieces of art. I love to work with emotion, scenery, and other-worldly concepts that are completely unrealistic for the sake of creativity.”

Mujgan Hussain Zada bought her first sketchbook in middle school (or 2017), drawing in class every chance she could get, to the dismay of her teachers. She is now a senior art student at Thomas A. Stewart. Her main inspirations are comic books, animated shows/movies, and the people around her. She likes exploring and combining mediums like watercolour, ink, acrylic, pencils, digital art and many more. Currently, Mujgan is exploring fantasy. Influenced by fables and fairy tales, she is looking into how stories and messages can be portrayed in her artwork.

Kellan Mackenzie “At 17 years old, I am currently finishing grade 11 and trying desperately not to think about the future. Art, for me, is a method of deep self-reflection. I use many forms of media to capture the emotions we feel in powerful, fleeting moments. My goal is to express the shapes between us and that which defies description. I find inspiration in the soft moments between myself and the earth. The intersection of words and paint fascinates me, along with imagery such as stars, clouds, and warm colours.”

Charley Pesonen “I have had a passion for art from a young age and am loving expanding on my range of work and mediums ever since; I have done so while enrolled in art classes at the Art School of Peterborough. I often strive to create work that is visually captivating, mentally stimulating, and emotionally resonant. I hope to influence the viewer to think and engage with art on a deeper level. I enjoy continually growing as a person and artist, while collecting more knowledge and skills along the way. I love being able to provoke feelings, thoughts, and emotions through my work, in whatever way one interprets it. In essence, I view art as a form of expression, a way to communicate emotions, feelings, and ideas that otherwise may be difficult to articulate.”

Amber Rose is a mixed media artist and traditional hand-poke artist. Growing up in the GTA, she was surrounded by extreme drug use and held a blurred vision of the things she was capable of. After experiencing a counting of sexual assault cases, she indulged in the things that she knew she had control over. The poetry she wrote in the lowest point of life, now have place in public magazines, she’s poured anger and fear onto canvases that sit in coffee houses. Striving in each and every piece to give perspective on something not everyone may get to see. coming from nothing gives you a blank slate to become anything you need yourself to be.

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Opening Reception: June 7, 2023 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm