Patrick(Pat) Macaulay, originally from Vancouver, became the Executive Director of Open Studio in December 2017. Pat holds an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He has experience working in large and small museums, galleries and art centres in Canada and the United States. As a curator and arts administrator, Pat has developed specialized knowledge of contemporary art, craft, design and architecture. He has worked on numerous exhibitions, large-scale public projects and festivals.

Pat previously worked as the Director of Visual Arts at Harbourfront Centre. During his 26-year tenure, he curated hundreds of exhibitions, designed and created new exhibition presentation spaces and revitalized the retail shop operations. He also developed new partnerships with local, national and international arts organizations and associations. He was chosen as a curator in Nuit Blanche 2013, encompassing ten large-scale installations along University Avenue.

Pat brings incredible energy to his role as Executive Director of Open Studio. He is a firm believer in the Toronto Arts community. He hopes to capitalize on the power of location while creating an international profile for Open Studio and its artist members.

Laura Bydlowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, and currently resides in Toronto. She obtained a Master’s in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and a BA Honours from the University of Guelph.

Laura is responsible for scheduling and overseeing Open Studio’s programs and events. She directs general communications, including promotional activities, and manages the institution’s online profiles (social media, website, E-commerce store). She also provides administrative direction as needed and assists with community relations, education services and development initiatives. She works closely with all staff in the day-to-day operations of Open Studio.

Her art practice revolves around etching and pyrography [wood burning], and focuses on abstract geological compositions. During her free time, Laura enjoys spinning records, video games, and spending time with her partner and cats.

Pudy Tong’s memories of his immigrant Canadian childhood are punctuated by the images of large stacks of Chinese newspapers landing on his family’s doorstep every two weeks, air-freighted in from Hong Kong to a small rural town in British Columbia.

His print-based art practice draws on elements from journalism as the subject through which our experience of contemporary, media-saturated society is refracted, reinterpreted and reimagined. He received his BFA from the University of British Columbia Okanagan and an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and exploring the city’s various enclaves of regional cuisine.

Rebecca Travis is a writer, editor, and curator, originally from the UK and based in Toronto since 2014. She was Managing Editor of London-based online contemporary art magazine this is tomorrow between 2014 and 2016. She has also contributed to Apollo Magazine, The White Review, Canadian Art, C Magazine, Momus, Prefix Photo, Aesthetica Magazine, and many more publications.

Rebecca has a degree in Fine Art from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and has worked in public and commercial galleries since 2010. Through her gallery work, writing and curatorial practices, Rebecca is passionate about generating conversations around contemporary art, focusing on the vibrancy of the Canadian art scene and bringing an international perspective.

Sally Ayre is a lens-based artist working in print and historical photographic processes. Walking is one of her passions, an activity she enjoys, where her thoughts can flow at liberty in many directions and from where many of her art projects have been sparked and fostered. A graduate of OCAD (1990), Ayre has exhibited nationally and internationally. She is an educator specializing in Historical Photo Processes and has received several grants and awards, including the 2012/13 Open Studio’s Nick Novak Fellowship. You can find out more about her practice here.

Sunny Elsom is a printmaker and illustrator with a BFA in print media from Concordia University. Sunny’s work explores the frailty of the human condition, often focusing on themes of illness, loneliness and grief. Her work is expressed through the combination of the familiar world with the surreal, often utilizing depictions of narratives centred around bizarre characters in unusual natural environments.

Sandi Ralph merges photographic images and often overlays colour blocks on aluminum or paper. Ralph studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and graduated with Honors. She is the winner of numerous awards in painting and printmaking, and her work is held in corporate and private collections in Canada, the US and the UK.

Helen Tran is a multidisciplinary artist based in Mississauga. She earned a Diploma in Visual and Creative Arts from Sheridan College in Oakville, ON and a BFA in Printmaking & Publications from OCAD University. Tran’s body of work incorporates printmaking methodology with an array of mixed media. Ranging from analogue image-making, cyanotypes, lithography, and relief. She explores the notions of ephemerality within the elements of mourning, healing and ancestral rituals from her culture. Her current work is a series of linoleum carvings of botanicals inspired by nature, gardening, and childhood memories that embody personal narratives through her prints.

Shabnam Afrand is a multi-disciplinary visual artist and educator, born and educated in Tehran, Iran.  She taught in the faculty of Fine Arts at Azad University from 2003 to 2010. Shabnam moved to Canada in 2013 and since then has been based in Toronto. Shabnam’s themes relate to power, the intersection of personal and collective memory, relocation, and fragility through various bodies of work. In 2017 and 2018, Shabnam was a recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s RBC Arts Access Fund.  She recently received the Toronto Arts Foundation RBC Space Award and was the grant recipient of the Toronto Arts Council Newcomer Refugee Artist Mentorship Program.

Joe Borowiec is a retired civil servant with a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and an MBA. He has had a life-long interest in visual art and admires the technique of printmaking and the tactile product produced by the interplay of a medium and ink. Joe wants to contribute his experience in city planning, budgeting, board recruitment and corporate governance to the arts community in Toronto.

Kestin Cornwall grew up in the Windsor, Ontario area. He spent much of his youth in Detroit, Michigan, with his family. Over the past ten years, Cornwall has focused on creating relevant, progressive art. Cornwall explores culture and humanity’s relationship with beauty, sex, nature and a long history of cultivation. In addition, Cornwall uses images to explore the notion that culture, entertainment, including film and other media, shape the mass public perception of Black people and people of colour in North American society. Each piece depicts an analysis of our obsession with beauty, age and change. Kestin Cornwall lives and works in Toronto.

Andrea deBruijn has been hooked on printmaking for over ten years. She earned her BFA with a concentration in print media from Concordia University and was selected for the 2014-2015 Studio Practicum in printmaking at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Andrea joined Open Studio in 2018 as an artist member and began serving on the Board of Directors in 2020. Her ongoing print projects combine woodcut, monotype, and installation processes to explore ideas of home and belonging. When she’s not at the studio, Andrea enjoys riding her bike or getting to know a new place on foot. She currently lives in Sackville, New Brunswick, where she works as the Printmaking Technician at Mount Allison University.

Alysa-Beth Engel is a visual artist and writer. Her work explores Jewish identity, vulnerability and tikkun olam (healing the planet). Alysa is an Artist Member of Print London, and an Artist Board Member of Open Studio Contemporary Artist Centre, where she was previously the archivist and sales manager. Alysa was a contributing writer for D.A., published by the Porcupine’s Quill. She worked at Sotheby’s (London, UK), trekked solo in Nepal, and summited Mount Kilimanjaro. Alysa’s art is in corporate, public, and private collections nationally and abroad.

Kathleen Lew is an arts professional and Associate Curator, Public Programs & Learning at Myseum of Toronto. She has worked at Myseum for over three years, shaping dynamic programming that explores the city’s past, present, and future. Kathleen holds a Master’s of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. She has volunteered at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto’s Feminist Art Collective, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. She is looking forward to bringing her programming experience and love for the arts to the Open Studio Board during this exciting new chapter.

Aleksandra Salomon was born and raised in Poland. She left her homeland at 25 and emigrated to Ireland and then a few years later to Canada. She holds an MA degree in psychology from the University of Szczecin, Poland and is currently finalizing a CPA designation. Aleksandra has over ten years of Canadian experience as an accounting and finances professional, working in a broad range of industries with a focus on commercial real estate, land development, and transportation.

Aleksandra is an enthusiastic admirer of printmaking as an art form. Aleksandra will be the incoming Treasurer for Open Studio.

Emma Juliette is an emerging bi-racial artist based in Mississauga, Ontario. Her work is focused on processing her own negative experiences with violence and mental health issues through art-making, specifically on photographic and printmaking processes. She graduated in 2020 from Art and Art History, a joint program between the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College. Since then, she has founded The Take Action Gallery, an online gallery for current students of the Art and Art History program and has established a presence with the community.