Artist Bios
Tara Nicholson
Tara Nicholson is an artist and curator pursuing a degree in the Curatorial Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. Tara has participated in many of Toronto's annual art and culture events and festivals, and collaborates with colleagues on grassroots projects around the city. Devoted mainly to not-for-profit organizations, in 2011 she assisted in curating an art show for the alternative learning program sponsored by Frontier College, and recently she has successfully designed and installed a large-scale aerial sculpture for the Sunnybrook Foundation. Tara can be contacted at nicholsontara@gmail.com.
E Martin Nolan
E Martin Nolan writes poetry and non-fiction. He received his MA in the Field of Creative Writing from the University of Toronto in 2009. He's a poetry editor at The Puritan Magazine, where he has also published interviews, reviews and poetry. He contributes essays to Hockey in Society (hockeyinsociety.com) and has published non-fiction in The Detroit Free Press and The Toronto Review of Books. His poems have also appeared in The Toronto Quarterly and Contemporary Verse 2 . He teaches and writes in Toronto. You might know him as Ted. Read more at emartinnolan.wordpress.com.
Kyle Duffield
Kyle Duffield is a Toronto based interdisciplinary New Media artist. In 2011, he graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design University with a major in Integrated Media and a minor in Digital and Media Studies. During his studies, Kyle was awarded the Sumo Arts and Technology Scholarship (2009) as well as the Integrated Media Faculty Choice Award (2011). Kyle is continuing to work in a range of media such as painting, Interactive installation and video.
Andy Verboom
Andy Verboom studies indigenous literature and colonial discourse in North America and the Pacific, with a focus on contemporary poetry and the politics of time. He recently won the Echolocation Poetry Prize (echolocationmag.wordpress.com) and has previously been published in Canada, France, and Ireland: in several Dalhousie University journals (Fathom, Green Perspectives, Hinge, Verso), Her Royal Majesty (heroyalmajesty.ca), and Bare Hands Poetry (barehandspoetry.tumblr.com).
Mandy Martin
Mandy is a 24 year old digital artist from Kingston, Ontario. She has attended E=MC2 for Visual Art at Queen's University, and has created a portfolio through the Creative Arts Focus Program. In her high school, Mandy was awarded a place in the Art Hall of Fame. She is currently residing in Toronto for her fourth year majoring in Illustration, and minoring in Expanded Animation at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Mandy loves many AWESOME things like kitties, castles, unicorns, dragons and dinosaurs!
Melissa Penny
Melissa is a Toronto artist who recently graduated from OCADU with a BFA in Sculpture/Installation. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and photographer, who is also a member at Gallery1313 in Parkdale.