Back to Akimblog

Kristin Sjaarda, Artist – Toronto

Kristin Sjaarda is a photographic, textile, and ceramics artist based in Toronto. She attended the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver on a full tuition scholarship. Known for lush large-scale still-life images of local flora and fauna from her garden and the urban environment, she collaborates with the Royal Ontario Museum to include real specimens of birds, eggs, and shells in her arrangements. She has also designed silk scarves using her imagery, taught workshops on floral arrangement and natural-light still-life photography, designed and hand-made ceramics for use in her photos, and lectured on the intersection of art and ecology at Sheridan College, the Ontario Science Centre, and the Toronto Botanical Gardens. She has been an artist-in-residence at Kingsbrae Gardens in New Brunswick and at the Royal Hotel in Picton, Ontario. The Art Gallery of Hamilton hosted Sistere, her third solo exhibition, last year. Her work is currently included in the group exhibition Smokestack Published Projects at Smokestack in Hamilton.

  1. Insect pinning

I source specimens from Ontario collectors or find insects on my walks. I learned how to pin through YouTube tutorials. My photos often include insects that are pollinators for the flowers in the depicted arrangements.

  1. The Toronto Flower Market

Flower farmers from all over Ontario set up in a park once a month from May to October and feature some of the best freshly picked flowers I’ve ever seen. I really admire the bounty they bring to the city. The flowers in my works currently showing at Smokestack feature flowers from two different Market farmers. It’s an incredibly connected, vibrant community.

  1. The iNaturalist app

I upload pictures taken while hiking and also use it to source specific specimens for shoots. I recently got in touch with an ecologist specializing in mussels and was able to borrow his shell collection for some photos.

  1. Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750)

I saw a retrospective of this Dutch painter’s work in Toledo, Ohio this summer. She was an artist, a mother, and a keen observer of the specimens that she used in her art. I especially love her sottobosco (forest floor) paintings where she focuses on fallen leaves, fungus, and the various creatures that feed on the forest detritus.

  1. Pottery

I got a wheel for my birthday, and I make things as often as I can. Lately I have been using my own vessels in my still life arrangements, and have been participating in the Toronto Flower Market, where I sell my ceramics.

Type
Top