Introspect: a nature residency, 2026

ArtsLink NB is proud to announce the resident artists for the fourth iteration of Introspect: a nature residency. The two-week residency will bring these five artists together in Parc Provincial de la République to work on a personal project. The artists will have the experience of having two dedicated weeks without distraction to work on their art, taking inspiration from the beautiful, picturesque setting of the park.

Resident Artists

Svitlana Goncharova

Artist Bio: Svitlana Goncharova is a Quispamsis-based Ukrainian-Canadian watercolor artist, author, and educator holding an MFA in Visual Arts and Architecture. Specializing in vibrant watercolor impressionism and her signature One-Touch Method™, she uses bold, unedited brushstrokes to capture the immediate velocity of light, atmospheric shifts, and sensory emotion in nature.

Project description: During the residency, Svitlana’s project, Impressionist Watercolors of the Madawaska, will explore the shifting natural light, morning mists, and low-angle autumn sunlight of Parc Provincial de la République through deep plein air observation. Grounded in direct open-air painting and supported by photo studies, she will create a collection of 20 original watercolor works capturing the emotional and sensory landscape of northern New Brunswick.

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Thu Ho

Artist Bio: Thu Ho is a Vietnamese Canadian visual artist based in New Brunswick whose interdisciplinary practice spans photography, printmaking, and fibre art. Through slow, material-based processes and careful observation of the natural world, she explores themes of memory, place, identity, and belonging, creating works that invite viewers to pause, look closely, and reconnect with the landscapes and stories that shape us.

Project description: During the Introspect residency, I will create a large-scale flora-inspired textile tapestry using slow stitching, weaving, and embroidery with reclaimed fabrics and natural materials respectfully gathered from Parc Provincial de la République. Through daily observation and mindful handmaking, the work will become a tactile reflection of the park’s botanical landscape, celebrating the interconnectedness between people, place, and nature.

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Van Pham

Artist bio: Van Pham is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Riverview, New Brunswick. After immigrating to Canada from Vietnam, Van Pham developed a deep appreciation for nature and our connection to the natural world, which continues to inspire her creative practice and exploration.

Project description: The project, “Symbiosis”, will take place in the Botanical Garden at République Provincial Park where Van will be observing and studying the symbiotic interactions, whether between different plant species or between plants and insects. She will then turn these studies into an intricate watercolour paper-cut artwork. 

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Shalini Tewari

Artist Bio: Shalini Tewari is a writer and photographer based in Saint John, NB, working at the intersection of embodiment, storytelling, and place. After two decades abroad, Shalini built a career in travel, culture, and lifestyle documentation, with work published globally in magazines and online platforms, and, most recently, as a contributor to the ArtsLinkNB anthology of New Brunswick artists. She is now developing a body of fine art work exploring the reciprocal ways we shape and are shaped by the world around us.

Project description: This project uses photography and writing as tools for slow, embodied observation, exploring patterns in nature and the ways they reflect my experiences, emotions, and relationships. By staying in one place and noticing what emerges, I will create images and written pieces that explore what becomes possible when I slow down and pay closer attention to nature, my body, and the stories I carry, letting meaning and metaphor emerge, and the recognition of myself as part of a living ecosystem rather than separate from it.

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Michael Wood

Artist bio: Michael Wood is a ceramist whose work explores time and space through shape and the memories held in clay’s lifecycle — rock to clay, clay to pot — turning geological processes into sculptural form. His work has been featured across Canada, and his piece Arcanum is on display in the permanent collection of the University of Manitoba’s Paleontology & Geology Museum.

Project description: During this residency, Michael plans to explore the relationship between built structures and landscape through ceramic assemblage created directly on site. Using modular ceramic structures that echo bones and antlers, the work is photographed with double exposure — layering two images into one — to blend the human-made forms with the natural world around them.

Residency Information

Introspect: a nature residency is a low-tech residency; a return to the simplest forms of creation. The residency will focus on the essentials, eliminating all potential distractions by limiting the use of screens and other technologies, to focus entirely on the process of creation.

Location

The selected artists will be staying in Parc Provincial de la Republique, in the park’s rustic shelters and ch-A-lets. Each artist will have their own shelter, and will get the full camping experience while still having all the resources and amenities needed for their comfort.

Open Studio Day

The artists will give a brief presentation about their work, and be available to meet with the public and answer questions about their work at Introspect Open Studio Day:

📍 Parc Provincial de la République
🗓️ September 20, 2026
🕑 2pm – 4pm

Residency Goals

• To encourage artistic exploration and the creation of new works in healthy, artistically conducive conditions
• To contribute to the increasing artistic quality of works
• To facilitate collaboration and the sharing of expertise
• To facilitate meetings between the artists and the public and to help the public better understand the creation process.

The works that are created will be presented publicly at the end of the residency. The artists will be given complete artistic freedom, but they will be asked to open their studio space to allow the community to learn about their creative processes on one or two of the days, subject to the park and other factors.

For more information contact:

Jeri Knopp – Programming Director
ArtsLink NB
jeri@artslinknb.com
(506) 647-6201