Mentorship Program
This year-long, intensive initiative pairs artists with experienced mentors across disciplines.
Building on traditional models, it fosters reciprocity, self-directed goals, and unique collaborations shaped by each mentor–mentee partnership.
Imagine how the experience of working with a mentor could benefit your practice.
Who is your dream mentor?
New Brunswick artists achieve extraordinary success, despite facing challenges when pursuing an arts practice in an under-resourced area of the country. Connecting with national networks ensures that our artists can continue to thrive and succeed, building their community and exploring new perspectives. ArtsLink’s Mentorship program connects New Brunswick artists with a mentor from anywhere in Canada, allowing them to access the experience, knowledge and expertise of accomplished artists through careful guidance and open dialogue.
For 2026-2027, nine artists will be selected for a year-long mentorship with a professional artist in their field. Each mentee is carefully paired with a mentor whose experience and knowledge can enhance that of the mentee, and is selected through a collaborative process between mentee and the ArtsLink staff.
Mentorship candidates (mentees) must be practicing arts professionals (at any career stage) in New Brunswick, who aspire to gain knowledge and skills to expand their current practice. Mentors can be professional artists based anywhere in Canada, and will commit to advising the mentee on various aspects of their careers, offering feedback, and guiding them in accomplishing defined goals.
Timeline: for 2026-27 Mentorships
- Call for mentors and mentees opens: July 20th, 2026
- Submission deadline: August 17th, 2026, 11:59pm
- Mentees selected & notified: September 4th, 2025
- Mentor selection process: September 6-25, 2026
- Mentorships begin: October 5th, 2026
- Six-month progress reports due: April 5th, 2027
- Mentorship ends, reports submitted: October 4th, 2027
Pairing and Mentorship Process:
- Selected mentees complete a pre-mentorship survey detailing their goals and expectations for the mentorship.
- Based on each survey, and through collaboration with the mentee, potential mentors are proposed by the ArtsLink team.
- Potential mentors are contacted to determine their interest and availability.
- Selected mentors are contracted by ArtsLink NB
- Mentorship pairs meet virtually or in-person, for an average of 3 to 4 hours per month.
- At the 6-month mark, mentors and mentees complete a short report outlining their experience and the work they have done, the status of their goals; and comment on the successes/challenges of the relationship.
- At the 12-month mark, mentors and mentees complete a short final report to gauge the success of the mentorship.
Mentee Application Criteria:
- Must be a member of ArtsLink NB whose primary residence is in New Brunswick.
- Must be a practising artist (at any career stage, in any discipline).
- Must commit a minimum of 3-4 hours/month to their mentorship.
- Must detail how a year-long mentorship would positively impact their practice, and define specific short- and long-term career goals.
- Applicants do not need to have a mentor in mind, but are encouraged to make suggestions.
Mentor Application Criteria:
- Must be a practising professional Canadian artist (in any discipline)
- Must be able to commit a minimum of 3-4 hours/month to providing mentorship.
- Must detail relevant experience and expertise that would make them a qualified candidate
- Mentors may apply in tandem with a specific mentee, but pairings are at the ultimate discretion of the ArtsLink team
Important Note:
- While all mentees will be selected from this year’s pool of applicants, mentors are selected based on their relevance to a specific mentees’ career goals and practices, and may come from beyond the applicant pool. Applications for the position of “mentor” are intended only to draw our attention to potential interested parties.
- Mentors that are not selected for this year’s program have the option to be added to a list of interested artists, and may be contacted in the future for similar opportunities.
Remuneration:
- Mentors receive a fee of $2,000, disbursed in two installments (1 at the beginning of the mentorship, 1 after the 6-month report)
- An additional $500 discretionary fund is available for travel, materials, or to attend workshops together, etc. This fund is disbursed upon submission of an itemized spending plan, and is optional.
How to Apply:
Past Mentorships
Winter 2026: CATAPULT
Ellie Desire is an artist, graphic designer, and art educator whose practice blends surreal storytelling with a commitment to creative accessibility. Working primarily in acrylics and ink, she explores the meeting point between the eerie and the beautiful through restrained color and narrative imagery. Alongside her studio practice, she teaches art fundamentals, creative process, and career development through YouTube, with a focus on helping artists build sustainable creative lives regardless of resources.
elliedesire.com
Catherine Arseneault est artiste et travailleuse culturelle qui habite et œuvre sur le
territoire Mi’kma’ki dans le district Siknikt (Moncton). Elle est titulaire d’un BAV de
l’Université de Moncton et un Diplôme en Conception graphique du CCNB.
Comme artiste visuelle, elle travaille principalement avec des techniques
photographiques analogiques et alternatives. Son processus explore la communication
intrapersonnelle et le dialogue interne. Ses œuvres ont été présentées dans plusieurs
expositions et elle à participé à quelques résidences de création à l’internationales.
En tant que travailleuse culturelle, Catherine s’engage dans plusieurs initiatives de sa
communauté. Présentement, elle siège aux conseils d’administration de l’Association
des centre d’artistes autogérés de Atlantique (ATLANTIS) et du Centre culturel
Aberdeen. Depuis 2023, elle travaille à fonder une chambre noire communautaire: F
Stop Studio – un nouveau centre d’artiste autogéré en devenir à Moncton.
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Catherine Arseneault is an artist and cultural worker living and working on unceded
Mi’kma’ki territory (Moncton). She holds a BFA from Université de Moncton and a
Diploma of Graphic Design from CCNB.
As a lens-based artist, she mainly works in silver print and alternative photographic
techniques. Her creative process explores the intuitive nature of intrapersonal
communication and internal dialogues. Her work has been shown in several group and
solo exhibitions and she has taken part in creative residencies internationally.
As a cultural worker, she is consistently involved in local cultural initiatives. She
currently sits on the board of The Association of Artist-Run Centres of the Atlantic
(ATLANTIS) and of the Aberdeen Cultural Centre. In 2023, Catherine officially took the lead in founding F Stop Studio Inc. — a new artist-run community darkroom opening
soon in Moncton.
catherinearseneault.com
Shane Drever is a Fredericton-based visual artist whose work encompasses oil painting, public murals, and figurative practice. His work examines adversity and beauty as inseparable forces within the human condition. He is interested in how art can exist both intimately and publicly.
shanedrever.com
Natt Cann (he/him) is a settler-Canadian visual artist whose projects of print hone upon the haunting of lands – ideologies and industries keeping afloat Canadian notions of colonial heritage and their subsequent degradations. Natt’s aim is to share Atlantic centric discussions of commorancy, climate, and past snuffed economic aspirations amidst the celebration of current peoples, politics, and newfound practices onto new audiences. Natt has ventured across Canada through numerous residencies and exhibitions, and his recent print projects have been intertwined with a variety of publications, expositions, and research grants. He has been consistently supported by both ArtsNB’s funding programs and the Canada Council for the Arts, and has provided grant assistance to countless organizations, charities, and peers in obtaining their own funding. Nat received his BFA from Mount Allison University (2012) and now resides in Moncton, New Brunswick, an Acadian colonial city which sits on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples.
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Natt Cann (il/lui) est un artiste visuel canadien issu de la colonisation dont les projets d’estampe explorent la hantise des terres – les idéologies et les industries qui entretiennent les notions canadiennes d’héritage colonial et leurs dégradations qui en découlent. L’objectif de Natt est de faire découvrir à de nouveaux publics des réflexions centrées sur la région atlantique concernant la commémoration, le climat et les aspirations économiques passées étouffées, tout en célébrant les peuples, les politiques et les pratiques émergentes d’aujourd’hui. Natt a parcouru le Canada à travers de nombreuses résidences et expositions, et ses récents projets d’estampes ont été étroitement liés à diverses publications, expositions et bourses de recherche. Il a toujours bénéficié du soutien des programmes de financement d’ArtsNB et du Conseil des Arts du Canada, et a aidé d’innombrables organisations, associations caritatives et pairs à obtenir leur propre financement. Nat a obtenu son baccalauréat en beaux-arts à l’Université Mount Allison (2012) et réside aujourd’hui à Moncton, au Nouveau-Brunswick, une ville coloniale acadienne située sur le territoire non cédé des peuples Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) et Mi’kmaq.
nattcann.com
Rob Johns is an oil painter based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, whose work explores the “third culture” where his dual expertise as practicing artist and professional ecologist intertwine to generate perspectives unavailable to either domain alone. As an artist, he has completed museum residencies, been a top seller at the Capital Art Sale in Fredericton, and is preparing for a solo exhibition in May 2027, “The Precarious Lives of Insects” at Charlotte Street Arts Centre. As an ecologist, Rob has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, received the national C. Gordon Hewitt Award for outstanding contributions to entomology, and currently serves as President of the Entomological Society of Canada. His dual expertise reveals the precarity and resilience of ecosystems most never see.
robcjohns.com
Cindy Stelmackowich is an artist, curator, and academic from Saskatchewan. Cindy works within the boundaries between art and science, exploring the materiality of the body and the effects of climate change through experimental sculpture, installations and digital collage. She has exhibited her artwork across Canada for decades as well as the United States (Los Angeles and New York). She has received numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and a Chalmers Arts Fellowship. Her artworks are in the collection of the Canada Council Art Bank, the Ottawa Art Gallery, City of Ottawa, and York University.
Cindy Stelmackowich received degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, Carleton University, and a PhD from Binghamton University, New York. Her funded dissertation research was conducted in medical and scientific libraries around North America and Europe and focused on the visual cultures of science. She was awarded Fellowships with the New York Academy of Medicine, the SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Cluster “Situating Science”, and the Lichtenberg-Kolleg Institute in Germany.
Dr. Stelmackowich has worked as an exhibition consultant, researcher, and curator for permanent and temporary exhibits at Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature, Carleton University Art Gallery, Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Gallery 101, Museum of Health Care at Kingston, Health Canada, and the Canadian Consulate (New York City).
cindystelmackowich.com
Sophia Angbao is an American-born mixed media visual artist currently residing in Canada. Pairing her background in ceramics and her studies in textiles Sophia creates one of a kind whimsical sculptures, ceramics, and polymer clay creatures.
sophiesculpts.ca
Kami Goertz is a self-educated fibre-based soft sculpture artist who has been exploring form and variety in nature through vintage, reclaimed and quality textiles and mixed materials for over 15
years.
Her character-based work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States and in Germany, and
resides in many personal collections across the globe. Her work is available at several art gallery gift
shops and boutiques in Canada and the US.
The goal of Kami’s art is to inspire a remembrance of youngness, play, curiosity, and discovery while highlighting the living characters in our common environment.
kamigoertz.com
Bianca Prajescu is a visual artist based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, whose work explores Romanian immigrant identity and body positivity. She challenges perceptions of fat stigma with imagery of regal, divine femininity. Her practice consists primarily of digital drawing, though she occasionally works with watercolour, gouache, acrylic, and ink. Bianca’s work Ballad of The Cycle, 2025, has been displayed at the Becoming Us exhibition hosted by the Multicultural Association of Fredericton, at the Governor’s House, in 2025.
biancaprajescu.com
Kayla Biuim is a queer Montreal based artist primarily working in the commercial art world creating large murals and illustrations for corporations like Ardene, CBC, Uber Eats, Cirque du Soleil. She also gifts murals and illustrations for at risk communities and queer organizations.
“My art is whimsical, surreal and explores my experiences navigating patriarchy, femmehood, queerness and mental health. I use plants, animals and hilly landscapes that act as metaphors for the hardships I experience as a young queer femme person. It acts as a visual diary breaking down the difficulties I’ve learned to overcome.
Some of my work centers on developing the flower head motif. The image symbolized femme people based on my own experience, representing them as resilient, beautiful and powerful. Then, I take this motif and immerse them in scenarios that reveal the hardships of femme experiences. These works use humour and fun colours to easily draw attention to a wider audience while delivering powerful ideas. I want to continue investigating these motifs because their messages are important, especially in a time where many people are feeling erased through anti-queer and misogynistic politics.
This year I won a grant from the Canada Art Council to learn oil painting through mentorship. I look forward to debuting these new skills in 2026.”
kaylabuium.com
Lisa Killam is an acrylic painter and graphic designer living in Moncton, New Brunswick. She returned home in 2019, with her family after a design career in Toronto. Since then, she has focused her energy on painting; her true passion. Lisa holds a BFA from Queens University in Kingston, majoring in painting and art history. Her Diploma in Corporate Design from George Brown College in Toronto has had a significant influence on her structurally controlled painting style. Lisa has participated in various group exhibitions finding strong response from collectors. She is currently represented by the Art Artiste Gallery in Dieppe.
lisakillam.ca
Paul Édouard Bourque (born 1956, Moncton, New Brunswick) is a celebrated Acadian visual artist whose multifaceted practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking and installation, spanning over 50 years. After studying at the Université de Moncton and later working as an art technician at the university’s gallery for 25 years, he has dedicated himself full-time since to his own creative work and to mentoring emerging artists.
Artist portfolio
Patrick LeBlanc is a New Brunswick-based multidisciplinary artist who developed his foundation in painting and fine art at NSCAD before earning a BFA in Film Studies from Concordia University. His current practice explores the relationship between interpretations of reality through photographs and paintings, translating the atmosphere of the southeastern region of New Brunswick onto canvas. An aspiring entrepreneur, he is dedicated to transitioning into a full-time artistic vocation while supporting his local creative community.
patrickleblanc.ca
Jon Claytor is a graphic novelist, painter, and writer based in Sackville, New Brunswick. After having established himself as an oil painter, Jon has recently found his passion and true calling in graphic storytelling. He has written many illustrated
interviews for the CBC since 2021 and his memoir, Take The Long Way Home, was
published by Conundrum Press in 2022. Jon recently completed the manuscript for Nowhere, a fictional graphic novel about growing up among monsters in a small maritime town. He is currently working on a book about the toxic drug supply affecting rural New Brunswick with harm reduction advocate, Ashley
Legere. Jon has also run a number of creative workshops for a variety of audiences focusing on storytelling and comic memoirs.
Jon was born in San Francisco and has lived and worked in Moncton, Sackville, Halifax, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. He co-founded SappyFest
independent music and arts festival in 2006 and opened Thunder & Lightning Ideas Ltd. in 2013. Jon holds an MFA from York University (2012), attended Nova
Scotia College of Art and Design University (1991), and holds a BFA Mount Allison University (1998). He was nominated for a Juno Award for the cover of Gord Downie’s “Battle Of The Nudes” in 2004.
jonclaytor.com
Andrea deBruijn is a New Brunswick-based artist whose practice centres on printmaking. She uses analog techniques like woodcut, screenprint, and photoetching to wrestle with themes of environmental anxiety, relationship to place, and the nature of artistic process. Andrea earned her BFA with a concentration in Print Media from Concordia University. Since then, she has been invited to work in print studios across Canada and the world, including at the Banff Centre (Banff, AB); Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA); Zea Mays (Florence, MA); and the Skaftfell Art Centre (Seyðisfjörður, Iceland). Whether in or out of the studio, Andrea cares deeply about issues of governance and labour. She works as the Printmaking Technician at Mount Allison University, where she also serves as Chief Steward of her staff union.
andreadebruijn.com
Remi Belliveau est un·e artiste et musicien·ne interdisciplinaire acadien·ne originaire de Belliveau-Village (vallée de Memramcook, Nouveau-Brunswick), un hameau acadien situé sur Mi’kma’ki, le territoire ancestral non cédé du peuple Mi’kmaq.
Son travail artistique s’attache à déconstruire et reprogrammer les fondements, les structures et les imaginaires de la culture acadienne à laquelle iel appartient dans le but de cultiver des capacités d’(auto)analyse et de sens critique.
Récemment, iel a été deux fois en lice au Prix Sobey pour les arts (finaliste Atlantique en 2021, liste préliminaire Atlantique en 2024), lauréat·e du Prix Claudine et Stephen Bronfman (2022), lauréat·e des Ateliers Montréalais de la Fonderie Darling (2023-2026) et finaliste au Prix en art actuel du Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2025).
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Rémi Belliveau (them/they) is an Acadian interdisciplinary artist and musician hailing from Memramcook, New Brunswick, a village located in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people.
Their artistic work attempts to deconstruct and reprogram the foundations, structures and imaginaries of the Acadian culture to which they belong with an aim towards cultivating capacities of (auto)analysis and critical thinking.
Recently, they were twice in the running for the Sobey Art Award (Atlantic finalist in 2021, Atlantic long-list in 2024), laureate of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Prize (2022), Laureate of the Darling Foundry’s Ateliers Montréalais (2023-2026) and is currently finalist for the Prix en art actuel du Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2025).
ruinebabine.com
2025-26: Expansion
Maika Branch is an author, performer, and arts educator from Moncton NB. An alumna of the School of Atlantic Ballet, Maika graduated from Mount Allison University in May 2025 with a double major in Drama and English Literature. During this time, she performed in many roles through the Motyer-Fancy theatre, including musicals, comedies, dramas, and design-led pieces. Discovering a passion for playwriting, she worked for several years with PARC (the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre).
Maika is also a published children’s author and passionate advocate for literacy, having led creative writing workshops across NB for over five years through the provincial Writers in Schools Program (WiSP). She is elated to continue growing as a storyteller with ArtsLink NB.
branchdesign.com/maikabranch
Ryan Griffith is a playwright from Lower Woodstock, New Brunswick and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (2007).
In 2024, he won the inaugural Jenny Munday Atlantic Canadian Play Award for his two-act play, WHARF. His plays FORTUNE OF WOLVES and LUTZ have been published by Playwrights Canada Press, while his plays RETURNING FIRE and A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MARITIMES AND EVERYWHERE ELSE, as well as his adaptation of Alistair MacLeod’s THE BOAT have been produced by Theatre New Brunswick. He has served as a board member for PARC (Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre) and the Playwrights Guild of Canada.
Currently, Ryan is the Artistic Director for the Next Folding Theatre Company in Fredericton.
Anne-Marie Donovan is a theatre and opera performer, designer and creator. In 2023, she premiered two new works on main stages in Toronto: Maanomaa, My Brother at Canadian Stage and très loin at Theatre Centre. In 2024, Anne-Marie directed the premiere of the opera, Information, Montreal 1970 at Espace Orange in Montreal. Her exhibition, The Walking Project, a series of maps and installations based on the experience of walking the Kingston Peninsula, opened at The Creek House in Kingston, NB, in October 2025.
Next season she will direct Hommage at The Citadel in Toronto, a work collaboratively created with choreographer Sylvie Bouchard of BoucharDanse. Anne-Marie is a former artistic director of NUMUS Concerts and founder of Inter Arts Matrix, a charitable, national arts organization dedicated to the development of interdisciplinary art. Originally from Montreal, Anne-Marie has made Long Reach, NB, her home since 2017.
annemariedonovan.ca
Linda Rae Dornan’s art practice is performative and interdisciplinary, inclusive of video, installation, performance, sound and writing. Each feeds into the other exploring how we speak/communicate and connect to each other, and the land around us through voice and body, listening, language, place, memory and being.
She has screened her video work and created performance artwork in China, Europe, and South and North America, and has attended many artist residencies. She is the recipient of the Linda Joy Media Arts Award for NB, the Stratbutler Award, The Sheila Hugh McKay International Artist Residency Grant and has been recognized by multiple arts grants.
Since 2017, she has co-organized PERFform with Mathieu Léger, travelling New Brunswick to eight or nine venues every two years and inviting other NB artists at various stages of craft to perform on the tour with them. She writes the PERFform blog, disseminating their events internationally.
lindaraedornan.ca
Mike Erb is a photographer and visual artist located in Fredericton, NB. His work includes depictions of past and present with a strong emphasis on creating work reflective of his surroundings during their creation. Erb’s works encompass themes exploring nostalgia, folklore, humour and community.
He has recently begun exploring design and repetition in the form of cyanotype print making, with an emphasis on creating work outside of his usual practice in order to develop new processes and techniques.
Mike Erb CV
Matt Horseman was born in Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory. His multimedia projects blossom from questions about relationality, fate, poetry, and concepts of home. He explores these ideas through a practice characterized by emphasis on connection, reading, immersive research, and walking.
matthorseman.com
Kate Giles is a disabled, queer artist and curator living in St. Andrews, NB, the traditional territory of the Peskotomuhkati Nation. Kate is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Arts & Design (ECUAD), and is currently working as Artistic Director at Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre.
Their visual practice is rooted in drawing, provisional processes, and intentional incompletion, working on a language of absence to explore the melancholy in struggling with daily life– the exhaustion and doubt of perpetual struggles. Their curatorial practice is led by a belief in action over perfection followed by dialogue to connect communities and strengthen communication.
@kategiles.art
Aislinn Thomas (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, performance, sculpture, installation, and text. Many of Aislinn’s recent projects respond to standard approaches to access—or the lack thereof. She gratefully works alongside and in the legacy of so many who treat access and survival as spaces for creative acts, experimentation, and pleasure.
Recent exhibitions and commissions include the San José Museum of Art (San José, California), WRO Media Arts Biennial (Wroclaw, Poland), Tangled Art + Disability (Toronto, ON), Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (Kitchener, ON), The Walter Phillips Gallery (Banff, AB), and 221A (Vancouver, BC). In 2023 she was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award.
aislinnthomas.ca
Mélanie Paulin (she/her) is an Acadian artist based in Moncton, New Brunswick. Working with textiles, printmaking, and installation, her practice is rooted in care, feminism, and lived experience. Her work often extends beyond the studio through community engagement that fosters dialogue around sustainability, materiality, and the stories carried by cloth.
Paulin holds a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Copenhagen, as well as a diploma from the Foundation Visual Arts program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Her approach weaves connections between science and art, creating spaces that honour both human and ecological care.
Since May 2024, she has been developing The Water We Wear, a project supported by artsnb and the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2025, this project led to invitations to the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Imaginature at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, and the Mactaquac Craft Festival in Fredericton.
melaniepaulin.com
Jane Whitten is an experimental basket-maker and knitter presently living in North Bedeque, Epekwitk/PEI. Born in Australia, she has spent much of her adult life in Eastern Canada establishing her craft practice while also pursuing her career as an education consultant, first in Nova Scotia and, later, in Australia until her retirement.
Jane has a distinctive response to a variety of materials and techniques. She creates functional and dysfunctional pieces using traditional techniques in non-traditional ways often using unconventional materials. Her work engages the viewer forcing them to reflect on issues impacting the environment and the urgency of taking action.
Jane’s basketry and knitting has been exhibited in group and solo shows in Canada, USA, New Zealand, and Australia. Her work is in public and private collections nationally and internationally.
janewhitten.ca
Heather Sproat is a ceramic artist based in Moncton, New Brunswick. Raised in Alberta, she earned a diploma in Graphic Design from Medicine Hat College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge. Working full-time from her home studio, Sproat combines wheel-thrown and hand-built techniques to create functional yet narrative ceramic works. Influenced by science fiction, folklore, and the clean aesthetics of the atomic age, her practice explores the intersection of technology and nature. Drawing from her background in graphic design and photography, she incorporates printmaking and image transfer methods onto clay surfaces, producing layered pieces that reflect on social issues, mythology, and our evolving relationship with technological advancement. In 2022, she received two ArtsNB grants—a Creation Grant for her Bread and Butter series and an Arts Infrastructure Grant—and has exhibited in March of Mugs and Feasts of Pottery in St. John’s, Newfoundland (2022, 2024).
heathersproat.ca
Toni Losey (1977) is a full-time ceramic artist based in Halifax, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD). Losey creates complex, highly saturated organic ceramic sculptures. Through the abstraction and reinterpretation of common plant life, her work is articulated using wheel-thrown, hand-built, and altered parts. The layers of her process—from constructing intricate patterns to developing colourful, deeply textured surfaces—create a captivating viewer experience for which she is internationally recognized. Losey has taught ceramics at workshops and conferences around the world and currently instructs at NSCAD.
She has received numerous grants and was the first recipient of the Artist in Residence award from Cluster Craft London. In 2020, she was named a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist, and in 2021, she held her first international solo show in London. In 2023, she received special recognition at the Cheongju International Ceramics Biennale. Her work has been exhibited at prestigious venues including Collect London, Salon Art + Design NY, Design Miami, SOFA Chicago, and Ceramic Art London, with pieces in permanent collections at Global Affairs Canada, Aberystwyth University Wales, and the Nova Scotia Art Bank.
toniloseypottery.com
Sydney Smith is an emerging artist currently living and working in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Wolastoqey, Mi’gmaw, and Peskotomuhkati peoples.
A graduate from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, Sydney uses painting as a vessel to interact and reflect with the visual world around him. Through translations of found and original photographs of interiors, portraits, and landscapes, reimagined with oil paints, he has been able to enjoy the sensory joys of art making, while immersing himself in comforting and intriguing visual worlds. With saturated colours and expressive brushwork, his works occupy the space between the comfortable and the uncanny, connecting our understood reality with vibrant altered perspectives.
sydneydraws.ca
Paul Édouard Bourque (born 1956, Moncton, New Brunswick) is a celebrated Acadian visual artist whose multifaceted practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking and installation, spanning over 50 years. After studying at the Université de Moncton and later working as an art technician at the university’s gallery for 25 years, he has dedicated himself full-time since to his own creative work and to mentoring emerging artists.
Artist portfolio
Terri Kingsbury is a multidisciplinary artist located in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
@hook.loom.and.needle
Larry Weyand is a material practices artist whose work challenges the complexities of pre-conceived ideas of domesticity and gender. Fueled by the complex history of food, emotional trauma, autoethnography, queerness, and domestic spaces, Larry investigates how hard-to-swallow narratives can occupy space within the soft, fluffy, frilly dis/comfort of textile-based craft practices. Larry’s work has been presented across Canada, most recently at the Bonavista Biennale (Bonavista, NL, 2025), the Rotary Arts Centre (Corner Brook, 2024), The Grenfell Art Gallery (Corner Brook, 2023), The Rooms (St. John’s, NL, 2019-2020), the Art Gallery of Burlington (Burlington, ON, 2021), and Struts & Faucet Artist Run Center (Sackville, NB, 2019). Having completed their MFA at Concordia University in Fibres & Material Practices, Larry is now Graduate Program Officer for Grenfell campus’ School of Fine Arts MFA program in Newfoundland & Labrador.
larryweyand.com
Tracey Richard is an Acadian filmmaker, musician, and multidisciplinary artist. Classically trained as a flutist, she now focuses on media arts, exploring stop-motion animation, audiovisual installations, and projections, in collaboration with Collectif HAT.Her work has been presented internationally and nationally at several festivals (such as Le Festival International du Film sur l’Art, Les Sommets du cinéma d’animation, Dawson City International Short Film Festival). In 2019, her film Le grous poisson won the ACIC/NFB “La Vague” Award for Best Acadian Short at the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie. She has also performed at numerous music festivals and venues across the Maritimes. Recently, she participated in SOCAN Foundation’s Equity X music production mentorship. She is currently developing a project using hydrophone recordings, drawing inspiration from pink noise and her experience with insomnia, as she explores both her place and the role of femininity in the world of electronic music.
collectifhat.ca/tracey
Charles Harding is a Fredericton-based sound artist and composer whose work grows from deep listening and a commitment to building empathy toward natural spaces and more-than-human interconnections. Trained in electroacoustic studies at Concordia University, he often works with field recordings to map memory and place. His solo releases include Rain Beast (2022) and Hellsö (2024), the latter featured in Musicworks Magazine. His ongoing series Hum, developed during a residency at Fredericton’s Charlotte Street Arts Centre, debuted at RE:FLUX 20 and was later presented in Sweden at a residency with Schhh Vardagsrummet. Harding is a member of Trajectories Collective and Pallmer, and contributes to various festivals and events around eastern Canada.
charlesharding.ca
Fall 2025: CATAPULT
Eereen Shevchenko is an artist working in three traditional Ukrainian folk art styles: Petrykivka painting, Vytynanka (paper cutting), and Pysanka (Easter egg art).
“I grew up deeply connected to the visual world — surrounded by peonies and hollyhocks in my backyard, watching seedlings grow on my grandfather’s windowsill, and discovering art through books in my grandmother’s library. My imagination transformed ordinary moments into living stories, and this early sensitivity continues to shape how I see, feel, and create.
Art has supported me through many stages of life — from everyday stress to emotional challenges in my teenage years, and through personal losses in my twenties. Creating has always helped me stay grounded, listen to myself, and return to a sense of clarity and balance.
Looking back, I see that my artistic voice grew directly from these early impressions, and they continue to inform the way I work today.”
eereen-studio
Janice Wright Cheney’s textile-based sculptures and installations consider the fragility of our present state. Examining delicate interspecies relationships, her work laments loss of wilderness and imagines ecological life in the future.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, her works are included in public collections across Canada and beyond. Wright Cheney has exhibited nationally and internationally, with high profile presentations at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts), the Anchorage Museum (Alaska), and most recently at Museo de Cabañas (Guadalajara, Mexico), among others. She is the recipient of numerous grants and prizes, including the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in Visual Arts, the David Suzuki Rewilding Arts Prize, the Strathbutler Award for Excellence, and in 2010, was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
As a visual artist living on traditional Wolastoquey land (Fredericton), she also plays a vital role educating and nurturing future generations as a longtime instructor and mentor at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.
janicewrightcheney.com
Paloma Carvalho is a Brazilian visual artist based in New Brunswick, Canada. She creates playful papier-mâché sculptures inspired by animals, nature, and children’s literature. Her work explores themes of memory, belonging, and cultural identity, often reflecting her connection to Brazil and its biodiversity. Through her artistic practice, Paloma combines storytelling, imagination, and sculpture to create expressive and meaningful work.
palomacarvalhoart
Alisa Arsenault holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Université de Moncton (2013). Her practice centers on installation, integrating print, video, and sound while exploring collage and textiles. Her work investigates biographical truth in identity construction, using myth and metaphor to create narratives that transcend chronology.
Her career includes group exhibitions such as Harbour at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and solo shows across New Brunswick and Quebec. She has completed residencies at Montreal’s Atelier Graff (2016) and Ireland’s Cow House Studios (2024). Since 2018, her work has featured in Moncton’s public art circuit, Image Rémanente.
As a curator, Arsenault led the 2023 and 2024 Media Arts Program for FICFA. She is currently completing a graduate program in clinical psychology and is interested in writing and collaborating with artists at the intersection of the psyche and the creative process.
alisaarsenault.com
“I am a Mexican visual artist living in Fredericton, NB. My paintings are very colorful and are a unique blend of geometry and abstraction inspired by the bright colors of Mexico. I try to connect people’s everyday experiences and emotions through art.”
@davidcha_art
Fabiola Martinez is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, cultural leader, and community arts organizer based in New Brunswick. Her work explores identity, migration, culture, and belonging, expressed through vibrant colours and symbolism inspired by her heritage. Her artwork has been exhibited in art centres, universities, and galleries across Canada and internationally, and is included in the New Brunswick Art Collection.
She is the founder and director of the Dia de los Muertos Atlantic Canada Festival, a multidisciplinary celebration that builds cultural bridges between Canada and Mexico, connecting communities through art and shared traditions.
Alongside her leadership in community arts, Fabiola continues to develop her personal artistic practice, creating paintings and public murals that reflect stories of resilience, memory, and identity. Through artist residencies and collaborative projects, she creates welcoming spaces where culture is experienced and shared, using art to foster inclusion, cultural understanding, and meaningful community dialogue.
fabiolamartinezart.com
Gabriela de Austin is a visual and fiber artist.
Her background as an auditor, flower designer, teacher of traditional crafts went forward to her love for art.
She is a visual and fiber artist. Although, she introduces herself like Peruvian and Canadian artist. It is always the curiosity for Peru.
Her art is based to answer these questions through her interpretation and transfer in optimistic, peaceful and historic art.
Paul Édouard Bourque (born 1956, Moncton, New Brunswick) is a celebrated Acadian visual artist whose multifaceted practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking and installation, spanning over 50 years. After studying at the Université de Moncton and later working as an art technician at the university’s gallery for 25 years, he has dedicated himself full-time since to his own creative work and to mentoring emerging artists.
Artist portfolio
Stella d’Entremont is a professional wildlife, nature, and landscape photographer. She is also an author who shares her experiences through words and images. As a storyteller, she brings the beauty of the natural world to life for others to enjoy.
stelladentremont.com
Matthew Brown is a filmmaker based in New Brunswick. Matthew grew up on a small family farm in rural New Brunswick. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in philosophy) from the University of New Brunswick, he studied photography at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. He has produced, directed and collaborated on short films for The National Film Board Of Canada, CBC Arts, and The Globe and Mail.
mountaindaleproductions.com
Winter 2025: CATAPULT
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Garry Sanipass (he/him) | Alan Syliboy (he/him) |
| Anthony Bryan (he/him) | Danjelani Ellis (he/him) |
| Ramneet Kalra (he/him) | Ambrose Albert (he/him | il) |
| Sabrina Goupil (she/they) | Caroline Savoie |
| Amanda Balestreri (she/her) | Chelsea Gauvin |
| Jen Pilon (she/her) | Toni Losey (she/her) |
| Sylvia Loomis (she/her) | Beth Crowell |
| Audrey Favre | Angèle Cormier |
2024-25: Expansion
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Chloe Keith Barnaby | Paul-Edouard Bourque |
| Marie-Luce Queverdo | Michelle Maillet |
| Gemma Marr | Michelle Winters |
| Kaitlin Hoyt | Jennifer Pazienza |
| Emilie Grace Lavoie | Brigitte Clavette |
| Ralph Simpson | Bruno Vinhas |
| Grace Van Der Velden | Amy Ash |
| Jacob Rose | Chris Kirby |
| Gretchen Mejorada | Marie-Luce Queverdo |
Fall 2024: CATAPULT
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Max Brown | Stephanie Coutourier |
| Ranz Bontogon | Chris Donovan |
| Alina Karmadanova | Sarah Jones |
| Jasmine Violette | Emily Phillips |
| Janie McLaughlin | Janice Goguen |
| Tina Antle | Brenda Parks |
| Sabarah Pilon | Joseph Shabason |
Winter 2024: CATAPULT
2023-24: Expansion
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Jacqui Clydesdale | Rebecca Kohler |
| Catherine Arseneault | Alana Traficante |
| Janine Daigle | Fabiola Martinez |
| Ryan Cubberley | Peter Powning |
| Duncan Ireland | Fred Penner |
| Ella Christison | Laura Findlay |
| Ronnie Stanley | Karen LeBlanc |
| Nadine Lipton | Wendy Johnson |
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Zack Ingles | Peter Rowan |
| Leone Pippard | Stephen Hutchings |
| Sebastian Fleet | Joel Miller |
| Robin Bradshaw | Heather McCaig |
| Michael Wood | Sheila Watters |
| Ramneet Kalra | Kelly Baker |
| Dan Armstrong | Maggie Higgins |
| Alison Taylor | Amy Stewart |
| Dee Olinglass | Suzanne Babineau |
| Thu Ho | Catherine Arseneault |
Fall 2023: CATAPULT
Winter 2023: CATAPULT
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Mel Theriault | Avery Theriault |
| Juliet Rose | Cait Milberry |
| Melanie Paulin | Alexandrya Eaton |
| Jessica Kenney | Joel Miller |
| Sara Griffin | Janice Wright-Cheney |
| Ashley Macintosh | Midas Well |
| Francine Francis | Nadia Khoury |
| Mentee | Mentor |
|---|---|
| Kelly Baker | Dave Brosha |
| Laura Boudreau | Erica Stanley |
| Amber Carter | Jenny Gitman |
| Erin Goodine | Kimura Lemoine |
| Helen Hillis | Tammy Bast |
| Melissa Kennedy | Nathan Cann |
| Joelle Martin | Vicky Lentz |
| Jill McNair | Sarah Jones |
