Current and Previous Local and International Jurors
Our 2021 Jurors
Barbara Bickel Ph.D. is an artist, researcher, educator and writer. An Emeritas Associate Professor of Art Education at Southern Illinois University now practicing in Calgary, Alberta Canada, she co-founded Studio M*: A Research Creation Lab Intersecting Arts, Culture and Healing. Her creative research explores matrixial and connective aesthetics through place-based inquiries. http://www.barbarabickel.ca/
Christian Chapman is of Anishinabe heritage from Fort William First Nation, Ontario. Christian uses storytelling as a main theme in his practice to create his images. His recent exhibitions include “ Ziibaaska'iganagoodayan-Jingledresses,” Station Gallery, Whitby, ON (2019) and "Anishinaabeg: Art and Power," Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON (2017). His numerous awards include the Hnatyshyn Foundation Reveal Art National Award Prize (2017), the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts as Emerging Artist of the Year (2016), and the K. M. Hunter Artist Award of the Ontario Arts Foundation (2016). His work is nationally archived and in private collections.
Wen Shan Diao is an artist and curator from China and living in Thunder Bay. She received her MFA from East China Normal University, Shanghai in 2013. As an artist, Wenshan has exhibited in many major group shows in Shanghai and as a curator, she has led multiple curation projects for public and private clients. She has worked with major art schools in Shanghai, local/international art galleries, international hotel groups, and artists from China, Europe, and North America.
Becky Helliar works as a ceramic artist and freelance community arts practitioner in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She is an active member of Limestreet studios in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. She initially studied Architecture but has found her creative outlet best suited to ceramics. Becky also works with people with learning disabilities and autism both creatively and in a supportive role. https://www.instagram.com/rawpots_northeast/?hl=en
Joe Norris, recipient of the 2015 Tom Barone Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts Based Educational Research from the Arts Based Educational Research SIG of AERA, focuses his teaching and research on fostering a playful, creative, participatory and socially aware stance. He disseminates many of his collaborative performative inquiry projects on his website, www.joenorrisplaybuilding.ca.
Our Previous Jurors
Elizabeth Buset is an artist and educator from Thunder Bay. She received her HBFA and BEd from Lakehead University and her MFA from Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland. She has received numerous grants from the Ontario Arts Council for both her studio practice in high realism painting, and her various community arts projects that work with underserved youth. For more information: http://www.elizabethbuset.com/
Shelby Gagnon is an Anishnaabe/Cree artist from Aroland living in Thunder Bay. An advocate for the lands, waters, and Indigenous peoples, she graduated from Lakehead University's Fine Arts program. Gagnon uses multi-disciplinary media to express holism and expand her knowledge and contemporary take on traditional methods of art and healing.
Eric Hamilton, PhD, is Professor of Education with Courtesy Appointment in Mathematics, at Pepperdine University in Malibu California. He carries out research on fostering creative expression by science and mathematics teachers through digital media-making, and oversees an international digital makerspace collaborative involving students from the US, Finland, Namibia, and Kenya.
Lisa Makela is a multidisciplinary artist working in Thunder Bay. Makela completed her HBFA at Lakehead Univeristy majoring in painting and ceramics with a minor in psychology. She exhibits nationally, works as a ceramic technician, and teaches ceramics and painting to people with special needs. Makela uses landscape to explore the human experience and its interconnections.
Catherine Pirie is a lifelong resident of Thunder Bay and a former student of the Lakehead University Visual Arts program. She is a visual artist whose focus is acrylic and oil landscapes as well as textile art. Catherine's summer home is on the shores of Lake Superior at Silver Islet and it is here that she she finds her inspiration and does much of her work.
Bill Zuk, Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, is an award winning multimedia artist and educator whose work charms us with its beauty and fragility of wilderness environments. His work has appeared in numerous international juried exhibitions and refereed publications and he is best known for innovative printmaking and poetic film explorations. For more information: www.zukart.ca.
Sam Shahsahabi was born in Iran. He obtained his B.F.A from Azad University in Tehran, where he studied both modern and classical art. He has received his MFA from York University. Sam specializes in public art and kinetic and mechanical installation. His artworks exhibited in Canada, Iran, Turkey, and Japan.
Lora Northway, HBFA, is an exhibiting artist and Program Co-ordinator for Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Founder of three successful art collectives, Die Active, Neechee, InVisible Ink, and recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the ARCCO Emerging Cultural Leader Award and the Ontario Arts Council Visual Artist Grant. Most recently she delivered a Tedx Talk on Youth Led Cultural Production.
Jean Marshall (b. 1976) is of Ahnishnaabe/English descent, born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Band member of Kitchenuhmaykoosib, also known as Big Trout Lake. Currently lives along the shore of Lake Superior, on the traditional lands of Fort William First Nation, Ontario. Her formal education extends back to 2000 where she earned an Honours BA in Native Studies from Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. She was the recipient of the K.M Hunter Award in 2012.
Patrick Doyle is a painter from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He has studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in the Fine Art Graduate Program, and the Independent Studies Program in Florence, Italy. Patrick has headlined and been featured in several art exhibitions in Thunder Bay. He works primarily in oil on masonite.
Sandra L. Faulkner is Professor of Communication at BGSU. She authored three chapbooks, Hello Kitty Goes to College (dancing girl press, 2012), Knit Four, Make One (Kattywompus, 2015), and Postkarten aus Deutschland (http://liminalities.net/12-1/postkarten.html). She researches, teaches, and writes about relationships in NW Ohio. She received the Knower Outstanding Article Award from the National Communication Association for her narrative work.
Geoffrey L. Hudson, PhD (Oxford), is an Associate Professor in the History of Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, based on the Lakehead campus. His research interests are in the social history of medicine, with a focus on disability.
Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning independent sociologist and novelist. Her eighteen published books include Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice, Low-Fat Love and American Circumstance. She edits five book series for Oxford University Press and Sense Publishers and has regular blogs for The Huffington Post and The Creativity Post. She is currently based in Maine, USA.
Kristy A Homes, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Lakehead University. She received her PhD from Queen's University in 2008 and her MA in the Social History of Art from the University of Leeds in 2000. Her research explores modern and contemporary feminist art and visual culture in Canada and the United States and critical cultural theory.
Kathryn Grushka, PhD, is an internationally recognized fibre artist with over 25 years experience in various forms of education, from visual art secondary teaching, community arts projects to tertiary teaching in Fine Art and Teacher Education. She currently works in pre-service teacher education at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
John J. Guiney Yallop, PhD, is a parent, a partner and a poet. John is also an associate professor at Acadia University where he teaches about the creative arts and literacy in teaching and research.
Roland Martin was born in Windsor, Ontario and received his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of Windsor, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from James Madison University in Southern Virginia in 1992. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Thunder Bay to begin a teaching position with the Department of Visual Arts. He is currently an Assistant Professor and the Department Chair.
Carl Leggo is a poet and professor at the University of British Columbia. His books include: Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill; View from My Mother’s House; Come-By-Chance; Teaching to Wonder: Responding to Poetry in the Secondary Classroom; and Sailing in a Concrete Boat: A Teacher’s Journey.
Julie Titone is a U.S. writer whose articles and photographs have appeared in regional, national and international publications; her essays have been published in three college texts and two literary collections. She is co-author of “Boocoo Dinky Dow: My short, crazy Vietnam War. “ Her novel, "Deadline Affairs," was recorded by Books in Motion. She lives in Washington State.
Siobhan Farrell is the Director of Active Learning at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Communications Studies from Concordia University and a Master of Science in Rural Planning and Development from the University of Guelph. She is interested in enhancing arts and humanities content for medical learners.
Gisella Scalese is the Education Librarian at Lakehead University who has just completed a three year term as the President of the Ontario Teacher Education Library Association. She has a Master of Library and Information Science Degree from the University of Western Ontario and is devoted to teaching students the skills they need to find and evaluate information.
Barbara Bickel Ph.D. is an artist, researcher, educator and writer. An Emeritas Associate Professor of Art Education at Southern Illinois University now practicing in Calgary, Alberta Canada, she co-founded Studio M*: A Research Creation Lab Intersecting Arts, Culture and Healing. Her creative research explores matrixial and connective aesthetics through place-based inquiries. http://www.barbarabickel.ca/
Christian Chapman is of Anishinabe heritage from Fort William First Nation, Ontario. Christian uses storytelling as a main theme in his practice to create his images. His recent exhibitions include “ Ziibaaska'iganagoodayan-Jingledresses,” Station Gallery, Whitby, ON (2019) and "Anishinaabeg: Art and Power," Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON (2017). His numerous awards include the Hnatyshyn Foundation Reveal Art National Award Prize (2017), the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts as Emerging Artist of the Year (2016), and the K. M. Hunter Artist Award of the Ontario Arts Foundation (2016). His work is nationally archived and in private collections.
Wen Shan Diao is an artist and curator from China and living in Thunder Bay. She received her MFA from East China Normal University, Shanghai in 2013. As an artist, Wenshan has exhibited in many major group shows in Shanghai and as a curator, she has led multiple curation projects for public and private clients. She has worked with major art schools in Shanghai, local/international art galleries, international hotel groups, and artists from China, Europe, and North America.
Becky Helliar works as a ceramic artist and freelance community arts practitioner in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She is an active member of Limestreet studios in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. She initially studied Architecture but has found her creative outlet best suited to ceramics. Becky also works with people with learning disabilities and autism both creatively and in a supportive role. https://www.instagram.com/rawpots_northeast/?hl=en
Joe Norris, recipient of the 2015 Tom Barone Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts Based Educational Research from the Arts Based Educational Research SIG of AERA, focuses his teaching and research on fostering a playful, creative, participatory and socially aware stance. He disseminates many of his collaborative performative inquiry projects on his website, www.joenorrisplaybuilding.ca.
Our Previous Jurors
Elizabeth Buset is an artist and educator from Thunder Bay. She received her HBFA and BEd from Lakehead University and her MFA from Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland. She has received numerous grants from the Ontario Arts Council for both her studio practice in high realism painting, and her various community arts projects that work with underserved youth. For more information: http://www.elizabethbuset.com/
Shelby Gagnon is an Anishnaabe/Cree artist from Aroland living in Thunder Bay. An advocate for the lands, waters, and Indigenous peoples, she graduated from Lakehead University's Fine Arts program. Gagnon uses multi-disciplinary media to express holism and expand her knowledge and contemporary take on traditional methods of art and healing.
Eric Hamilton, PhD, is Professor of Education with Courtesy Appointment in Mathematics, at Pepperdine University in Malibu California. He carries out research on fostering creative expression by science and mathematics teachers through digital media-making, and oversees an international digital makerspace collaborative involving students from the US, Finland, Namibia, and Kenya.
Lisa Makela is a multidisciplinary artist working in Thunder Bay. Makela completed her HBFA at Lakehead Univeristy majoring in painting and ceramics with a minor in psychology. She exhibits nationally, works as a ceramic technician, and teaches ceramics and painting to people with special needs. Makela uses landscape to explore the human experience and its interconnections.
Catherine Pirie is a lifelong resident of Thunder Bay and a former student of the Lakehead University Visual Arts program. She is a visual artist whose focus is acrylic and oil landscapes as well as textile art. Catherine's summer home is on the shores of Lake Superior at Silver Islet and it is here that she she finds her inspiration and does much of her work.
Bill Zuk, Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, is an award winning multimedia artist and educator whose work charms us with its beauty and fragility of wilderness environments. His work has appeared in numerous international juried exhibitions and refereed publications and he is best known for innovative printmaking and poetic film explorations. For more information: www.zukart.ca.
Sam Shahsahabi was born in Iran. He obtained his B.F.A from Azad University in Tehran, where he studied both modern and classical art. He has received his MFA from York University. Sam specializes in public art and kinetic and mechanical installation. His artworks exhibited in Canada, Iran, Turkey, and Japan.
Lora Northway, HBFA, is an exhibiting artist and Program Co-ordinator for Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Founder of three successful art collectives, Die Active, Neechee, InVisible Ink, and recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the ARCCO Emerging Cultural Leader Award and the Ontario Arts Council Visual Artist Grant. Most recently she delivered a Tedx Talk on Youth Led Cultural Production.
Jean Marshall (b. 1976) is of Ahnishnaabe/English descent, born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Band member of Kitchenuhmaykoosib, also known as Big Trout Lake. Currently lives along the shore of Lake Superior, on the traditional lands of Fort William First Nation, Ontario. Her formal education extends back to 2000 where she earned an Honours BA in Native Studies from Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. She was the recipient of the K.M Hunter Award in 2012.
Patrick Doyle is a painter from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He has studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in the Fine Art Graduate Program, and the Independent Studies Program in Florence, Italy. Patrick has headlined and been featured in several art exhibitions in Thunder Bay. He works primarily in oil on masonite.
Sandra L. Faulkner is Professor of Communication at BGSU. She authored three chapbooks, Hello Kitty Goes to College (dancing girl press, 2012), Knit Four, Make One (Kattywompus, 2015), and Postkarten aus Deutschland (http://liminalities.net/12-1/postkarten.html). She researches, teaches, and writes about relationships in NW Ohio. She received the Knower Outstanding Article Award from the National Communication Association for her narrative work.
Geoffrey L. Hudson, PhD (Oxford), is an Associate Professor in the History of Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, based on the Lakehead campus. His research interests are in the social history of medicine, with a focus on disability.
Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning independent sociologist and novelist. Her eighteen published books include Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice, Low-Fat Love and American Circumstance. She edits five book series for Oxford University Press and Sense Publishers and has regular blogs for The Huffington Post and The Creativity Post. She is currently based in Maine, USA.
Kristy A Homes, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Lakehead University. She received her PhD from Queen's University in 2008 and her MA in the Social History of Art from the University of Leeds in 2000. Her research explores modern and contemporary feminist art and visual culture in Canada and the United States and critical cultural theory.
Kathryn Grushka, PhD, is an internationally recognized fibre artist with over 25 years experience in various forms of education, from visual art secondary teaching, community arts projects to tertiary teaching in Fine Art and Teacher Education. She currently works in pre-service teacher education at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
John J. Guiney Yallop, PhD, is a parent, a partner and a poet. John is also an associate professor at Acadia University where he teaches about the creative arts and literacy in teaching and research.
Roland Martin was born in Windsor, Ontario and received his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of Windsor, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from James Madison University in Southern Virginia in 1992. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Thunder Bay to begin a teaching position with the Department of Visual Arts. He is currently an Assistant Professor and the Department Chair.
Carl Leggo is a poet and professor at the University of British Columbia. His books include: Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill; View from My Mother’s House; Come-By-Chance; Teaching to Wonder: Responding to Poetry in the Secondary Classroom; and Sailing in a Concrete Boat: A Teacher’s Journey.
Julie Titone is a U.S. writer whose articles and photographs have appeared in regional, national and international publications; her essays have been published in three college texts and two literary collections. She is co-author of “Boocoo Dinky Dow: My short, crazy Vietnam War. “ Her novel, "Deadline Affairs," was recorded by Books in Motion. She lives in Washington State.
Siobhan Farrell is the Director of Active Learning at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Communications Studies from Concordia University and a Master of Science in Rural Planning and Development from the University of Guelph. She is interested in enhancing arts and humanities content for medical learners.
Gisella Scalese is the Education Librarian at Lakehead University who has just completed a three year term as the President of the Ontario Teacher Education Library Association. She has a Master of Library and Information Science Degree from the University of Western Ontario and is devoted to teaching students the skills they need to find and evaluate information.