Artist Biography
Hannah Craig is a jeweller and silversmith from rural Manitoba, currently pursuing her BFA at NSCAD University after previously studying philosophy and art history at the University of Winnipeg. As a jeweller, her academic background and love of history translates into a focus on traditional materials and techniques, and an artistic practice that is rooted in academic research. Her work is inspired by myth, magic, and mysticism, drawing on concepts from existentialism, occult traditions, and psychoanalysis to explore the human experience. Her pieces encourage the wearer or viewer to delight in both the spiritual and material joys of life.
Hannah is a 2021 recipient of a Nova Scotia Talent Trust scholarship
In this body of work, the artist explored her pandemic experiences by creating a series of contemporary reliquaries. A staple of Catholic material culture, reliquaries are small containers made of precious materials which house physical remnants of deceased saints and martyrs. In the process of creating these precious vessels for things that had been lost, she was able to find meaning and joy within an ongoing experience of existential despair.
Max TS. Yang “I am a sculptural ceramic artist. Clay is both the material I represent myself with and the vessel I tell my stories through, it is this passion for the earth and fire; rigidity and flexibility; heritage and innovation that fuels my creative soul.
“Most of my work can be summed up with three descriptors: Figurative, Repetition, and Installation. The figure fascinates me with each expression and gestures: graceful, energetic, burdened, withered… They are the perfect vessel for narrative storytelling, they are the base of how we understand and communicate between cultures and through time. Repetitions are the base of patterns, society, and life, it is this through the repeating of the simple and mondain arose the complex system of life and society. I seek to capture this complicated relationship with my molds and bestow them to enrich the narratives of my work. Installation gives me the freedom to create a conversation between my works, outside of their physical forms. This ability to communicate within the gallery transforms the space into a story book, allowing the audience to walk through and around the cast and experience the play firsthand. Packed with these baggage’s, I seek to tell the stories of our generations through the vantage point of an Asian
