Public art jurors

Every year, the City’s Public Art Program convenes multiple public art juries to advise and recommend artist proposals for commission. Juries help maintain transparency, integrity and professionalism in the selection of artworks.

The contributions and expertise from the following group of jurors have helped grow Mississauga’s public art collections in 2022.

Members

Audrina Stewart

Audrina Stewart is a visual arts student at Cawthra Park Secondary School and volunteer at the Small Arms Inspection Building. She is passionate about public art, design and the environment.

She believes in advocating for the needs of youth in public art selection committees. She is always wondering what opportunities youth artists have to reimagine public art for various spaces.

Charmaine Lurch

Charmaine Lurch is a multidisciplinary artist whose painting, sculpture, and social engagement reveal the intricacies and complexities of the relationships between us and our environments. Her sculptures, installations and interventions produce enchantment as she skillfully contends with what is visible and present in conjunction with what remains unsaid or unnoticed. This can be seen in the interplay between light, wire and space in her intricate wire sculptures of bees and pollen grains. Lurch applies her experience in community arts and education to create inviting entry points into overwhelmingly complex and urgent racial, ecological and historical reckonings.

Lurch holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies from York University and has completed studies at the Halliburton School of the Arts, Sheridan College, Ontario College of Art and Design University, and the School of Visual Arts (SVA NYC). Lurch has exhibited beyond and throughout Canada, most recently at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, the Masillon Muesum in Ohio, the National Gallery of Jamaica and a virtual exhibition at WEAD/Platform 3 in Tehran, Iran. Her installations have been included in Nuit Blanche Toronto and the University of British Columbia’s Liu Institute. Lurch’s works have been acquired by Global Affairs Canada and exhibited in EXPO 2021 held in Dubai and Canadian embassies and consulates globally.

Connor Stevens

Connor Stevens is a recent graduate of the Master of Architecture program at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty. He also holds a Master of Advanced Architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Calgary.

Connor is an interdisciplinary designer focusing on melding experience in civil engineering, landscape architecture, and architecture. His research interests span scales and discipline, including using digital and analog fabrication techniques to realize experimental architecture creations, utilizing cross-platform 3D modelling techniques for design iteration, and developing creative mapping strategies to understand urban conditions.

Deborah Wang

Deborah Wang (MFA, M.Arch, OAA) is a Taiwanese-Canadian curator and architect based in Toronto, with a broad range of experiences in contemporary art, design and architecture that spans two decades. As Artistic Director of DesignTO, she has experience building and running a non-profit arts organization that produces Canada’s leading and largest annual design festival, while curating numerous public programs and exhibitions for DesignTO and independently. As a community leader and design expert, she has been interviewed by The Globe and Mail and Monocle Radio, and profiled in Azure Magazine. Alongside her curatorial work, Deborah recently launched her own architecture and design studio dw /a.

Faith Rivers

Faith Rivers is a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and is the Co-Chair of the New Credit Cultural Committee. Faith is very dedicated to her First Nation and believes in promoting, preserving and creating awareness of her First Nation’s Culture. Faith’s volunteer job has been in Event Management within the First Nation for over 30 years for the New Credit Cultural Committee, which hosts the Three Fires Homecoming Powwow and Traditional Gathering and cultural events in and around the Treaty Territory of the Mississaugas. Faith worked closely with Heritage Mississauga in 2005 and 2010 for the Maanjidowin (The Gathering) event. Faith has served on the Heritage Mississauga Board of Directors for 11 years and is also the Chair of the Indigenous Programs Committee.

Faith has grown to love learning about her Ancestral ceremonies, traditional protocols, traditional stories and way of life. Sharing a part of history where your Ancestors once lived strengthens the connection you have to the Traditional Territories, which gives you a better understanding of the Anishinaabe Culture.

Faith holds degrees in Social Work, Sociology, Indigenous Studies along with Women’s Studies. Faith’s paid job is as the New Beginnings Worker (Mental Health) at the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Faith believes in helping people by combining both Traditional and Western Social Work. Faith is also training to become a certified Trauma Counsellor and has her Reiki Master Level 1. Faith is a daughter, sister, auntie, community member and a great friend, and resides on her First Nation.

Glodeane Brown

Glodeane Brown is an arts and culture writer, an arts management professional with experience in contemporary public art and visual arts related project coordination, and a curator. Glodeane is a Mississauga resident and is the founder and editor of Culture Fancier, an arts and culture blog she started in 2016 to educate, entertain and inspire. She has juried art competitions for local businesses, Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Art on the Street in Guelph, Stratford Business Improvement Area, and for Contemporary Art Forum – Kitchener and Area.

Glodeane believes that public art plays a crucial role in fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Taking art out of the gallery and museum space and placing it in public space makes it accessible to everyone and enhances the urban environment.

Gloria C Swain

Gloria C Swain (she/her) is a Toronto based multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and writer whose art practice includes abstract paintings, performance and photography. Her practice centres around storytelling and advocacy with a focus on anti-Black racism, violence against women and Trans people, mental health, seniors’ rights and ageism.

Her work has shown in Toronto, Manitoba, Montreal, New York and Kingston, Ontario. Her writings have been published in Cultivate Feminism, Marvellous Grounds, the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, Shades of Noir Journals and CBC Arts. Her works have been commissioned by Pride Toronto office and is part of The Wedge Collection, Toronto.

She holds a certificate in Community Arts Practice and a degree in Environmental Studies from York University. She is a recipient of the York University Robert J. Tiffin Student Leadership Award, Canadian International Black Women’s 100 Black Women to Watch and Toronto Archives Black Women in Leadership. She has received various art grants, including Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canadian Council for the Arts, and Art Gallery of Ontario.

Gloria continues to use her art and social media platforms as an opportunity to create spaces for older Black women, Trans people, youth, and elders.

Isabelle Poirier

Isabelle Poirier is Senior Vice President, Innovation and Communications for Kilmer Brownfield.

Since 2018, Isabelle Poirier has overseen the development of Kilmer Brownfield’s Innovation-Impact programs. More specifically, she manages innovation for all development projects in collaboration with stakeholders: smart building, smart home, telecommunications, mobility, and sustainability (including energy transition), as well as industry certification.

At a community level, she contributes to art programs and is currently involved in the design of the Brightwater Art Program. In 2012, she produced the first permanent collection of iphonography in Quebec. Earlier in her career, she launch the first corporate collection of Canadian art for Coopers & Lybrand (PWC) in Montreal. Ms. Poirier holds a Bachelor’s degree in art history from l’Université du Québec à Montréal.

Jada Wallace

Jada Wallace is a Media and Communications student at the University of Guelph-Humber. She has experience working in film, as well as expressing her creativity through photography and videography. She loves reading, exploring and documenting her experiences through vlogging and poetry.

Janet Hinkle

Janet Hinkle (she/her) is a mixed-race multidisciplinary artist with a practice rooted in both contemporary fine art and craft. With a fondness for mixing juxtaposing materials and a practice rooted in shared histories, she is driven to explore concepts involving identity. Pulling inspiration from both mid-century forms and futuristic design, her work manifests as installation, sculpture, gatherings, time-based media, and both human-food and human-flora interaction. She is also one third of studio.docx, a creative team that presents innovative contemporary art in public spaces to create unique community experiences.

In addition to her creative practice, Janet Hinkle coordinates and curates art projects and artist capacity-building programs.

Jennifer Cortez

Jennifer Cortez is a creative, business and higher education professional, formally educated in design, graphic design and fashion business. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Higher Education, Administration and Leadership from Royal Roads University.

Jennifer has been a resident of Mississauga for over 30 years and has a deep love and appreciation for the arts, including visual arts, music, dance and fashion.

Jennifer is a Professor at Humber College for the Faculty of Business and Faculty of Media and Creative Arts, and most recently at Sheridan College for the Pilon School of Business.

With over 19 years working in art direction and graphic design, Jennifer has had her creative work published in popular fashion magazines, product packaging, signage for retail stores and more.

Jihee Min

Jihee Min is a Korean-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in the Greater Tkaronto/Toronto Area. Centered on her personal experiences of Korean Diaspora in both Quebecois and English-Canadian environments, Min explores art as a means to engage problems of identity and displaced culture within Canada’s multiculturalism. Using a wide range of media, such as sculpture, installation, performance, photography and drawing, Min recreates a sense of location within displaced culture with a focus on stereotypical issues of culture, language, memory and geography. Min’s work tends to stand in between being poetic and playful, without being didactic.

Min holds a Master’s in Fine Arts from Concordia University (2008) and Bachelor in Fine Arts with Honours from Ontario College of Art and Design University (2005). She has received various grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council, as well as numerous awards and scholarships. She has exhibited nationally across Canada and internationally, in USA, Italy, Finland and Korea. Her work is part of various private and public collections.

Jihee Min lives and works in the Greater Tkaronto/Toronto, the ancestral and traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, and the Huron-Wendat. As an immigrant settler, she is indebted to the original owners of this land.

Kyla Radoja

Kyla Radoja has been the Public Art and Partners Manager at Artscape Atelier since July 2020. She manages projects from start to finish and liaises with the artist(s) and developer(s), city planners and building owners throughout the entire process. Kyla’s passions for art, urban design and organizing are united and utilized fully in this role.

Prior to this, Kyla was an Interior Architect in her hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland. Kyla has since traveled and lived around the world, gathering inspiration from many cultures in her explorative nature and moved to Toronto around a decade ago. During this time in Toronto, Kyla has gained rich experiences in event planning, production management/operations, and art curation at Nuvango Gallery and Notion Manufacturing, before moving further into the public art management realm at Artscape Atelier.

In her spare time she creates and showcases her own art (acrylic and crystals on canvas and public sculpture installations made with reused and natural materials) and spends as much time walking in nature and urban exploring as her feet will take her.

Lesmar Leslie

Lesmar Leslie is an emerging photographer in the city of Mississauga, who likes to capture moments that no one has ever experienced.

Meghan Cheng

Meghan Cheng is a digital technologist and musician based in Toronto. She creates artwork in the form of light sculptures, projection mapping or screen-based work for festivals, concerts, galleries and retail businesses. Her work is interactive and data based, in that she takes real world elements such as audio, motion and web, and social media activity and uses that data to drive visual elements. Meghan aims to make digital content that feels tangible, relatable and natural through the use of hand drawn images, photography, acoustic instrumental music as well as generative forms. She uses programs such as TouchDesigner, Unreal Engine and Cinema 4D to integrate the data with the visual content. Meghan has a Masters in Fine Arts from York University and a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Michael Barker

Michael Barker is a landscape architect and artist. He has a BLA from University of Guelph and a MLA from University of Toronto. His art projects include installation work as well as abstract painting. Barker is a Principal at SHIFT Landscape Architecture, an office of seven people which he started in 2010. SHIFT’s work is generally positioned at the intersection of landscape, ecology and art.

Previously, Michael was a sessional instructor at the University of Guelph, University of Waterloo and Georgian College. He has been a member of the City of Guelph’s Public Art Advisory Committee as Vice Chair and a member of the art jury for a public art installation project. He is also a past member of the City of London and the City of Burlington’s Urban Design Review Panels.

Prabh K. Banga

Prabh is a corporate sustainability strategist who’s leading the development and execution of sustainability strategies (strategies which provide a framework for corporations to make decisions that balance economic, environmental, and social responsibility in a way that drives business value). Currently, Prabh is the Senior Director of Sustainability with Aecon Group Inc. Prior to joining Aecon, Prabh was the Associate Director, Strategy and Sustainability at Toronto Pearson International Airport, where she was ranked Top 40 under 40 in North America by Airport Business Magazine.

Prabh has a Master of Resource and Environmental Management and undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies. She is currently serving as the North American representative on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Stakeholder Council, City of Mississauga’s Cycling Advisory Committee and serves on the Board of Family Services of Peel and Halton Environmental Network.

Quentin VerCetty

2010 Governor’s General Bronze Medal award recipient, Quentin VerCetty is a multidisciplinary storyteller, educator, artivist and an ever-growing interstellar tree. VerCetty is one of the world’s leading Afrofuturists and is the first artist ever to be commissioned by Carnegie Hall to create art for their 2021 to 2022 season based on the theme of Afrofuturism. Quentin VerCetty in partnership with Javid JAH, is creating Mississauga’s first Black and Brown artist collaboration public art piece, a dynamic archway entitled RAYYAN Cosmic Bloom (2023). Quentin VerCetty’s work draws on the use of connecting historical past and symbolism with futuristic elements while exploring cosmic connections. He has permanent public artworks in Belize City, Toronto, Montreal, Brampton and Mississauga.

Currently he is the steward of the Black Speculative Arts Movement Canada and is the artist director of AstroSankofa Arts initiatives, a non-for profit organization focused on public art production, art exhibitions and NFTs development and support for Afro-descendant creatives.

Quentin VerCetty hopes to use his artistic ability to inspire minds and move hearts to make the world a better place.

Reza Nik

Reza Nik is the founding director of SHEEEP – a licensed architect, artist and educator based in Toronto. Reza has a background in Art History and he is currently an Assistant Professor in the Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. His research is focused on a deeper dialogue between the socio-political nuances of the urban context and playful experimentation. Disrupting the traditional architectural processes and institutions is at the forefront of his pedagogy and practice.

Steven Barr

Steven Barr is the Director of Development for Urban Capital, a private equity real estate development company behind the ground-breaking M City master planned community in Mississauga’s city centre, as well as other award-winning mixed-use developments in the Greater Toronto Area and across Canada. Steven brings hands-on experience working with artists, municipalities, selection committees and stakeholders in overseeing public art commissions from procurement to final delivery. He is a proud supporter of Canadian contemporary art, and in particular the Inuit art practice of Cape Dorset.

Tyler Matheson

Tyler Matheson is a queer interdisciplinary research-based artist, educator and culture worker residing in the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. Matheson received his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and Art History at York University and his Master’s in Fine Arts; Studio Art from the University of Waterloo.

He recently held positions with The Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto Mississauga and the Toronto Biennial of Art. Currently, Matheson is a Resident Artist and Fellow at Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre, serves on the Board of Directors at Hamilton Artists Inc., and is an Art Instructor with Visual Arts Mississauga at Riverwood. His work has been exhibited at Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Sudbury; The University of Waterloo Art Gallery; Above the Belt, Below the Bush with Minor Hockey Curatorial Collective, North Bay; Hamilton Artists Inc., Art Gallery of Mississauga; Art Mûr, Montreal; and the plumb, Lonsdale Gallery, Gallery TPW, and Stephen Bulger Gallery, all Toronto.

Matheson received the Shantz International Research and Travel Scholarship and the Superframe framing Award in 2019. Matheson’s practice has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.

Vivan Rosas

Vivian Rosas is a Toronto-based, queer, Mestizx/Latinx multidisciplinary illustrator, dancer and muralist. Her work explores empowerment and diversity. She works hard to envision a brighter future for all through her work. She’s worked on murals for the City of Mississauga, Toronto and Hamilton, and has also completed several commissioned works for commercial clients.

Zarmina Rafi

Zarmina Rafi is a Pakistani-Canadian public arts curator, writer and editor. Rafi has worked in Mississauga, Berlin, Lahore and Dubai. She was Assistant Curator of the first, and second Lahore Biennales held in Pakistan in 2018 and in 2020. From 2012 on, Rafi has been on various juries for literature and the visual arts in Canada and abroad, and is the recipient of several fellowships as a writer.