As part of the International Ceramic Art Fair, join exhibiting artists Courtney M. Leonard and Judy Chartrand, represented by Ferrin Contemporary, for an online discussion about their work and practice.

Judy Chartrand is a Manitoba Cree who grew up in a marginalized neighbourhood in Vancouver. She gained an interest in ceramics in the late 1980s, starting with painting ready-made ceramics and eventually hand-building her own creations. She uses her practice to share personal encounters with racism, as well as to bring visibility to the experiences faced by many others on a daily basis. She adeptly layers ready-made appropriations and found objects with humor and/or satire.

Chartrand earned a BFA at the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design (Vancouver) and an MFA from the University of Regina. She has exhibited in solo and group projects at the Outsider Art Fair (New York); Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver); San Diego Art Institute; Glenbow Art Museum (Calgary); Tucson Museum of Art; and elsewhere. She lives and works in Vancouver.

Courtney M. Leonard is an artist and filmmaker of the Shinnecock Nation on eastern Long Island. Her work explores marine biology, Indigenous food sovereignty, migration, and human environmental impact. Leonard’s current projects articulate the multiple definitions of the term “breach” and investigate and document Indigenous communities’ historical ties to water, marine life, and native cultures of subsistence.

In collaboration with national and international museums, embassies, cultural institutions, and local Indigenous communities in North America, New Zealand, and Nova Scotia, Leonard’s practice centers narratives of cultural viability and the relationship between Indigenous people and the environmental record.

Join exhibiting artists Courtney M. Leonard and Judy Chartrand for an online discussion about their work and practice, with a focus on the themes of this year's International Ceramic Art Fair. Courtney Leonard’s work explores the multiple definitions of “breach,” considering and documenting historical ties to water, whale, and material sustainability. Judy Chartrand creates work that addresses and exposes racism, ignorance, and privilege, often through historical and personal references.

About the International Ceramic Art Fair

The International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) is a 10-day celebration of some of the most compelling recent ceramic art, featuring works by emerging and established artists from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as online and in-person programming by artists and curators.

Many artists are reconsidering how we define ourselves as a species and how these changing definitions can alter our relationships to each other, to other animals and life forms, and to the land we inhabit. The separation of the human and non-human is increasingly understood as porous or insignificant. Clay can be seen as a mediator between the human and non-human, blurring the boundaries with its life-giving properties, its capacity to record and hold human memory, its characteristic of absorption, and its capacity to connect us to the land.

How can we re-orient our relationship to the planet through a more nuanced understanding of our connection to other forms of life? How can emerging discourses of the human shift us toward new and generative understandings of our bodies place in the world?

Join us to view the works at ICAF and participate in the accompanying programs to explore these and other questions.