Participating Artists - ‘Akin Studio Program’ Exhibition

Afifa Bari
(B.1997) Afifa Bari is a contemporary realist oil painter and textile artist based in Toronto. She earned her BFA from York University in 2020. She is currently pursuing her MFA from OCAD University. Through representational art, she examines the contemporary world through the lens of capitalism, uncovering consumerist values in her work. She discusses issues around ideas of capitalism, such as poverty and the cycle of consumerism. Her work focuses on material possessions and the desire for materialism in the newly advancing society. She discusses fast fashion trends and the constant desire to purchase more in modern society from a socio-political and environmental outlook.

Email: afifabari22@gmail.com

Amada Estabillo
Amada Estabillo was born in Scarborough and grew up in Newmarket. She is of mixed Filipino-Irish heritage. Amada attended York University and earned a BFA in Visual Art as well as a BEd. She is currently participating in the studio residency through the Akin Collective at the Auto BLDG on Sterling Rd and teaches art in York region. She lives in the Brockton Village area of Toronto with her partner, two daughters, a small dog and a budgie. Amada’s work explores the boundary between representation and abstraction through a variety of subjects; play, landscape, figure, self-portrait, and most recently textiles. She aims to find the critical elements of an object and expand these in a formal way through line, colour, pattern and space while maintaining a sense of spontaneity. Her materials include acrylic paint, oil stick, graphite, spray paint and collage.

Email: amadaestabillo@gmail.com

Chico Togni
“For over 15 years I've been making large sculptures, and creating situations and happenings that take place in structures I build with discarded wood, cardboard, metal and other found materials. I have B.F.A. in Sculpture from São Paulo University, in Brazil, and exhibited in many different countries, from South to North America and Europe. Most recently exhibited in Paris, France, and Leipzig, Germany. I was also an Artist Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and an artist in residency in major institutions in Paris, Vienna, and Zürich. In 2021 I started experimenting with quilting and developed the Bellaroche Stories, https://www.instagram.com/bellaroche_stories/?hl=fr which I'm continuing to produce here in Toronto.”

Email: chicotogni@gmail.com | IG: @bellaroche_stories, @chico_togni

Emma White
Emma White is a Toronto-based artist. She is a current resident of the Akin Studio Program at AUTO BLDG, where she works on her oil paintings and photo collages. She recently participated in the 2022 Adventure Painting Residency in Banff, Alberta, where she painted en plein air for two weeks with a group of fellow painters. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including with Smoke the Moon in Santa Fe, Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago, Warbling Collective in the United Kingdom, Dianna Witte Gallery in Toronto, and most recently, with Wallack Galleries in Ottawa.

Email: emmacameronwhite@hotmail.com | IG: @eeeemmawhite

Felicia Cirstea
Felicia Cirstea is a Romanian-Canadian contemporary visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. Born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, Felicia Cirstea completed her studies at OCAD University and Toronto School of Arts. Her practice involves drawing and painting while investigating themes of personal identity, self-discovery, survival and cultural displacement. Using abstraction and representation Felicia’s paintings carry a visual language influenced by architectural landmarks of Europe, nature, biology and Romanian folklore while depicting human forms such as faces as the main subject matter.

Email: info@feliciaart.com | IG: @feliciacirstea

Gulay Alpay
Email: alpaygulay@icloud.com

Hamid Mohammadi
Email: hamid_mo1@hotmail.com | IG: @hamidxvi

Jason Bomers
Jason Bomers is an artist living in the west end of Toronto. Jason is a multidisciplinary artist; the materials and process of his projects are concept-driven and in the past he has created paintings, drawings, sculptures, performances, installations, photographs or a combination of these different mediums.

Email: jason@jasonbomers.com | IG: @jason_bomers_artsa

Linds Miyo
Self-taught artist Linds Miyo is a Canadian abstract painter. Born and raised in California, her work strives to evoke the strong, direct light of her childhood. A trauma survivor, Linds is interested in the balance between intention and that which is beyond our control, the meeting place between our best efforts and happenstance. She often uses broad representational panes of textured black in her work, washing layers of colour over top - folding the dark relief of the past into multi-dimensional present-day, with honesty, happiness and sparkle.

IG: @wonderandstory, wonderandstory@gmail.com

Livia Roscioli
Livia Roscioli was born in Rome in 1989 where she lived and studied photography until 2014. In 2015 she lived and worked in Paris before moving to Toronto in 2016. She is currently based in Toronto.

Email: liviaroscioli@gmail.com

Marcia Bianchi
Marcia Bianchi is a contemporary figurative artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has evolved since pursuing a career in graphic design, when she began fusing the design principles with canvas. Heavily influenced by psychology and the exploration of the mind, her intention is to create pieces that will allow the viewer to experience a moment of ease. Bianchi graduated from the University of Toronto and continued to develop her practice as studio assistant to Canadian Painter, Michael Adamson. Since then, she maintains a studio residency with Akin Collective at Auto BLDG in the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. She has participated in multiple exhibitions, most notably, a digital billboard in Times Square, New York City, with Artist Talk Magazine in 2022, and prints of her work are sold in the gift shop at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her practice continues to evolve as she explores mediums and muses.

Email: marciabianchi.studio@gmail.com | IG: @marciabianchi.studio

Maren Boedeker
Maren Boedeker is a Toronto-based artist. Born and raised in Germany, Maren earned an MA in Fine Arts and Art Education from the Academy of Fine Arts Münster. She was selected for residencies in the AKIN Studio Program at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (2019), Collision Gallery at Commerce Court Toronto (2020), and she is a current resident at AUTO BLDG. Various exhibitions have shown her work in both Canada and Europe including the European Community in Brussels. Her work is held in private, public, and corporate collections.

Email: art.boedeker@gmail.com | IG @marenboedeker.artist

Mel Hayes
Mel Hayes is a multi-disciplinary artist who pushes the boundaries between visual arts and graphic design. Originally trained as a graphic designer and BDes graduate from the Alberta University of the Arts. Her studies informed her approach to abstract painting, relying on shapes and composition to elevate her ideas and evoke strong emotions.

Email: mel@melhayes.ca | IG @melhayes.art

Torin Craig
Torin is an oil painter and musician working in Toronto. His practice explores themes of mental health, spirituality, the occult, psychedelia, and counter-narratives. He has experimented with installation, sound, and animation and intends to continue to develop a cross-disciplinary practice. He completed studies at OCAD University in early 2020, receiving a BFA with Distinction in the Drawing and Painting program and has displayed paintings in 14 exhibitions from 2015 onwards. He is currently enrolled as a York University MFA Candidate in the Visual Arts program.

Email: torin.craig@gmail.com | IG: @paisleyrobeforthegoldenglobe