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Gillian Toliver

Artist member since 2019
Toronto, ON

Gillian Toliver is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto. Recently graduating from OCAD University for Drawing and Painting, Toliver’s thesis work, Paper Skin Makes Me, Waver in The Breeze was awarded the Drawing and Painting Medal for 2019. As an artist of mixed Scottish and Caribbean decent, her work often explores spaces existing in an in-between, a world caught in a moment of creation. In an honouring and opening of self, her work is a reaction to the absurdity, multiplicity and fluidity of being. Utilizing practices of labour, repetition and ritual, she navigates the condition of body and mind from systematic censorship through creating new forms in which to pour and bind self to. The creation of these new ‘host’ bodies is used in an act of reclaiming physical and mental environments.


Work


Inside the Studio


Q+A

Describe your home in 3 words

big fat orange

In a previous life I was (a) ...

Definitely a tiny bug or a bird. Something that either burrows and nestles into the earth endlessly, or that soars over it taking everything in at once. I often find myself desperately trying to get back to those sensations

Your favourite spot in Toronto right now

My bed

When I'm not making art, I'm (a) ...

Reading. Even while creating art I am often listening to audio books. I'd like to say these books are expanding my knowledge and feeding my craft but often they are deep dives into sci-fi and fantasy worlds....

Select Past Exhibitions
2022

Alberta Craft Council
Coming Up Next

2022

The Space Between What's Left
The Riverdale Hub

2022

2gallery
Colour & Warmth

2021

SAMARA Gallery, Bela Farms
Stick and Bone

2021

The Riverdale Hub
Stitching You into the Seams

2020

2gallery, Prince Edward Country
Time Will Tell

2020

Better Living Centre, Toronto
Artist Project

2020

Art Gallery of Mississauga
VAM's 42nd Annual Juried Show

2019

Women's Art Association
EXUBERANT

2019

OCAD University
GradEx 104

2018

Great Hall, OCAD U
FRUTTI - Fruits of Our Labour

2018

Ada Slaight Gallery
Awenda Inspired

2018

14 Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
Emulsion 2

2017

14 Bonifacio Lupi, Florence, Italy
Emulsion

Accolades
2020

Art Gallery of Mississauga
VAM's 42nd Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts Award

2019

Ontario College of Art and Design University
Medal for Drawing and Painting

2019

Ontario College of Art and Design University
Nora E. Vaughan Award

Press
2022

Ontario College of Art and Design University
Drawing Fundamentals Textbook, Different Types of Texture, Unit 6 – 6:25

2020

99.3 Country FM
Artscene: Sarah Moran's Interview with Gillian Toliver

2019

The Artist & The Viewer
Interview with Gillian Toliver

Residencies

Florence, Italy
Self Directed, OCAD U

Education
2019

Ontario College of Art and Design University
BFA Drawing and Painting

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