During the residency, Andres aims to further develop his engraving skills by focusing on precision, control, and consistency. He will hone his linework, depth variation, and shading techniques, while experimenting with different tools and methods. He plans to work in a variety of metals to better understand how each surface reacts to engraving, helping to refine his technical approach. Andres will be exploring more complex compositions and integrating engraving as a central element of his designs rather than a secondary detail.

He primarily works in silver, employing techniques such as filigree, wax carving, casting, and engraving. Inspired by nature, he is especially attracted to the fluidity of organic forms, as well as the expressive movement found in gestural figure drawing.

Cameryn Mattie is a settler Acadian artist, maker, and activist living and working on the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She began her studies at OCAD University in Drawing and Painting before transferring to NSCAD University, where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Ceramics.

Cameryn’s practice is a consideration of the landscape of Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), focusing on the intricacies held within the soil. Through material, ecological, and historical research, her work functions as a physical dialogue between people and place. Central to her process is a commitment to the land and community. This ethic of care is reflected in the respectful gathering of materials, consideration of impact, and fostering a sense of shared presence. Working with materials physically linked to the past, Cameryn views her practice as a collaboration with the land, creating objects that encourage reflection and ground us in our environment.

During the residency, Cameryn is building upon her research into locally sourced materials to create a new body of functional ceramics for everyday use. Using clay and glazes developed from local materials, she will create objects that directly reflect the landscapes they come from. She is interested in how these objects can foster a deeper connection to place and our shared responsibility to the land and each other.

Christy Guo is a jewellery and holloware artist originally from Shanghai, China, and currently completing a BFA in Jewellery and Metalsmithing at NSCAD University. Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese window lattice patterns and geometric forms, Christy explores structure, intimacy, and spatial relationships. Working primarily with metal, often combined with acrylic and enamel, she aims to create contemplative jewellery and table objects that invite viewers to pause and reconsider their relationship to space, light, and form.

Christy plans to produce a small body of Holloware objects that further explores lattice windows through geometric frameworks and open compositions that echo the visual rhythm of traditional window designs. Her goal during the residency is to create objects that investigate ideas of spatial intimacy and the relationship between body and surrounding space.

Ekaterina is originally from Europe and currently lives and studies in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Migration has become for her, not just a change of geography, but a state in which identity is no longer stable and is constantly being reconstructed. She works with ceramics, viewing clay as material that holds the trace of time but is never completely fixed. 

She is interested in memory—especially childhood and cultural memory—as a shifting and disintegrating process. At a distance, it loses precision and turns into fragments: sensations, colors, and bodily traces that cannot be fully recovered or named. This in-between state, between what “was” and what “is,” has become the central space of her work.

Her ceramic objects exist as states rather than functions or resolved forms. They invite slow perception and quiet presence. Her developing practice is at the intersection of personal memory, migration, and a visual language that remains open and unstable. For Ekaterina, it is important to speak about this honestly— without closure or final conclusions—allowing the work to remain in the process of becoming. 

During the residency, Ekaterina plans to work in large-scale ceramic sculpture, developing a visual language based on naive imagery, ornament, and symbolism. Through simple, almost archetypal forms like figures, animals, and plants, she will create sculptures in which figurative elements are combined with richly ornamental, painterly surfaces, referencing themes of memory and cultural imagination.  

Textiles

Eula Palmer is a textile artist specializing in weaving whose work explores color, playfulness, rhythm, and the patterns found in nature. Growing up in rural Vermont, she was surrounded by forests, streams, animals, and constantly changing landscapes, experiences that continue to influence her approach to color, texture, and movement 

In May 2026, Palmer graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles/Fashion. Her work has been featured in the curated exhibition String and Wire (2024), her solo exhibition Warping Rhythm (2026), and the 2026 NSCAD Graduation Exhibition. She is currently participating in a three-month weaving residency at Craft Nova Scotia. Palmer lives and works in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she continues to develop her weaving practice.

During the Summer Studio: Practice + Presentation Residency, Eula will be working on a project called The Traveling Weaver. This project is rooted in a planned journey across North America, where she will gather sensory impressions of diverse landscapes—textures, colors, atmospheres, and emotional responses—and translate them into woven forms that bridge movement, memory, and material. Eula will produce a cohesive series of textiles that explore the relationship between place and perception, and the idea of “home” as something fluid and constructed.

Lara Sturzenbaum, born in Río Gallegos, Patagonia, Argentina is founder of the jewellery brand Mallercas. Her artistic path led her to Halifax, Canada, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2022, specializing in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing. Following graduation, Lara continued developing Malercas, participating in art fairs locally, nationally, and internationally.

Inspired by the breathtaking landscapes of Patagonia and the uniqueness of nature, her work blends traditional jewellery techniques with unconventional materials, including coloured and textured biomaterials created with natural dyes. She thrives when the technical side of jewellery-making meets experimentation with unconventional materials, as it makes the creative process more challenging and exciting. Alongside her artistic practice, Lara shares her knowledge through online classes focused on jewellery- making and sketchbook techniques for beginner and intermediate students in schools across the US, Argentina, and Spain. 

Lara’s focus during the residency is on developing a series of large-scale neckpieces that harmoniously incorporate metal and naturally dyed biomaterials. She will explore metal forming techniques that enhance the organic shapes biomaterials acquire during the drying process. 

Ceramics / Glass / Metals

Lily Lin is an emerging artist who works across various craft media. She began her artistic journey through high school courses in jewellery, ceramics, and textiles. She then received her jewellery design diploma from Vancouver Community College (VCC); pursuing further studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) by double majoring in Jewelry/Metalwork and Ceramics. 

Her work is mainly inspired by the colourful and mysterious sea world, a world yet to be fully explored. By observing the form, shape, and colour of natural marine creatures, she unleashes herself to imagine all the possibilities of marine creatures. Through exploring various materials, Lily has developed a unique way of merging diverse mediums into her work. She uses techniques like beading, shell inlay, 3D modelling, casting, fabrication, and glass flameworking to bring her imaginary marine creatures to life.

Lily's goal for the summer studio residency is to develop her artistic practice in ceramics, glass, and metal. She will focus on her glass lampworking skills, specifically exploring the potential of melting glass on ceramics. The aim is to create interesting contrasts that transition from a solid ceramic surface to transparent glass: sparking curiosity about the mysterious growth of ocean creatures.