A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Alexander Froese recently completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Printmaking at OCAD University. While at OCADU he participated in exhibitions, art fairs and print anthologies in Toronto and abroad. Froese’s practice straddles the commercial and fine art histories of letterpress and screenprinting, examining the relationship between text and image, and text as image. Engaging in the themes of alienation, angst and urban ennui, his work marries these concepts through a distinct graphic style and use of the comedic punch line.

Jennie Suddick is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited in Canada, the US, Germany and Italy; she has participated in residencies in Canada and abroad. She received both a BFA and Advanced Visual Studies Certificate from The Ontario College of Art and Design, where she was the recipient of multiple awards. She went on to receive her Masters of Fine Art at York University in Spring 2009. Her work in print, photography and sculpture deals with issues of Canadian identity, cryptozoology, museological display, and hyper reality.

The Donald O’Born Family Scholarship will allow Jennie to expand her explorations in model making, giving me the resources to work in three-dimensional paper craft, particularly card models and paper tolling. She plans to create a series of fold-able printed plans of the Service Centres along the Trans-Canada Highway. They will be screen printed onto card stock, which can be cut out, folded and adhered together to form scale models. Each of the printed editions will be an interactive kit, allowing individuals to create the three-dimensional versions themselves after acquiring the printed patterns. Through this body of work, she hopes to elevate these buildings, presenting them as iconic ways of looking at the Canadian landscape that are worthy of our detailed attention.  

Liz Menard is a Toronto based visual artist, printmaker and educator. Inspired by an AGO exhibition that included etchings by Whistler and Rembrandt, Liz enrolled in a class at Open Studio in 1997, and since that time, has printed at Open Studio. She has exhibited in Canada and the United States. Recent exhibitions include Fandango in Washi, Washi Summit (2011); Wasteland and The City, George Gilmour Member’s Gallery (2011); Cedar Ridge Gallery (2011); Canadian Juried Landscape Exhibition, Agnes Jamieson Gallery (2010); Around the Frayed Edges, Agnes Jamieson Gallery (2010); 40 Years, 40 Prints, 40 Printmakers, Open Studio (2010), and Revealing the Matrix, Proof Gallery, Toronto (2010). Liz has attended residencies at Atelier Circulaire (Montreal) and Engramme (Quebec City).  Currently, Liz is participating in a two-year collaborative printmaking exchange between Engramme and Open Studio. Liz is interested in nature, the lifecycle, and the environment. Using time-honoured methods, techniques, and materials, Liz explores contemporary environmental issues and concerns.

During her tenure as Nick Novak Fellow, Liz plans to explore her interest in Toile de Jouy--a type of decorative pattern generally of a pastoral or botanical theme most associated with fabrics first manufactured at a factory in Jouy-en-Josas, France, founded in 1760 by Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf. She plans to explore the possibility of creating contemporary Toile de Jouy using techniques similar to those used by Oberkampf’s employees in the 18th Century: etching on copper plates, hand wiping plates using French inks, and hand-printing images on paper and textiles.