Hazel Eckert: [MONUMENTAL] – The Donald O’Born Family Scholarship

Open Studio presented the 2009 Scholarship Exhibitions from November 5 to 28, 2009 by artists Pamela Dodds (Nick Novak Scholarship), Hazel Eckert (Donald O’Born Family Scholarship), and Kelsey Schuett (Don Phillips Scholarship). Each year, Open Studio awards three scholarships, providing artists working in print media with both professional support and access to studio facilities to create new work during a one-year period. All three artists gave illustrated talks about their work and the progress of their projects over the year on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at Open Studio, followed by an opening reception.

A Torontonian, Hazel Eckert was made in another country and assembled throughout Canada. Employing a BFA by the Ontario College of Art and Design, she documents converging telephone wires that capture ready-made compositions strung above the cityscape. Her days are spent at a letterpress print shop salvaging scraps of printed matter from refuse bins and hoarding paper ephemera. By night, Hazel collects pieces of old wood and metal from the streets, warehouse loading docks, and train tracks. These materials then endure a process of cut and paste assembly combined with digital doctoring to produce print-based collage works verging on installation.

An exhibition brochure with an essay by Toronto-based artist and writer Lauren Nurse accompanied these exhibitions. Lauren Nurse is a transplanted Québecer living and working in Toronto, Ontario. She is a graduate of Concordia University’s Print Media program, and recently completed York University’s MFA program. She has participated in exhibitions in Toronto, Montreal, New Mexico and Italy, and attended residency programs at Montréal’s Atelier de L’ile, Atelier Circulaire, the Vermont Studio Center, Newfoundland’s Pouch Cove Foundation and Muskoka’s Tree Museum Sculpture Garden. She teaches Design at Sheridan College, and Lithography at York University. Her current work explores intersections between real and fictive environments. Lauren’s diverse art practice includes print media, painting and drawing, video and performance.

Exhibition Brochure: Download Brochure Here