following a narrow trail up through the bush behind the house, i arrive at a large field grown in with grass and low bushes, bordered by trees. pine and birch trees, mostly: the smell of the needles on the ground. it is my mother’s mother who tended a garden here, carrying the water. this asparagus was planted years before she ever arrived. i cut down the overgrown rhubarb and i cook jam, standing over the stove — steaming and sweating. in the underbrush there are small wild strawberries — a seemingly endless supply — though by now i understand that nothing is endless —

email / bartholomew . sophia @ gmail . com

instagram / @bartholomew.sophia

 

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b. 1987 in Toronto, the territory of Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe nations, including Mississaugas, Wendat, Seneca, and Ojibwe –– land governed by a Dish With One Spoon wampum, and more recently subject to Treaty 13, an agreement made in 1805 between the British Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit

academic

2020 – 22   MFA in Studio Art at the University of Guelph

2007 – 12   BFA in Visual Art at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver

2009 – 10   academic exchange at the École National Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, France

2005 – 06   Fine Arts diploma at Åsane Folkehøgskole in Bergen, Norway

education

2022 meLê yamomo decolonial sound seminar and workshop in Guelph

2018  mentorship work with Sheilah ReStack, with support from Canada Council

2017  movement workshops with keyon gaskin at Studio 303 in Montreal

2017  Future Imaginary symposium with Initiative for Indigenous Futures at the Winnipeg Art Gallery

2017  community care workshops with Carmel Farahbakhsh and with Kai Cheng Thom at The Khyber in Halifax

2017  Black Lives Matter reading group with Shaya Ishak and Jade Byard Peek at The Khyber in Halifax

2013  The Atlantic Symposium: new directions in art writing with cmagazine at NSCAD in Halifax

2012  reading and writing workshop with Amy Fung at 221A in Vancouver

exhibitions

2022 “All Flourishing Is Mutual” (co-curated by Katie Lawson and Jaclyn Quaresma) group exhibition with Images Festival installed at Commerce Court in Toronto

2022 “Loose Parts” (curated by Hannah Keating) three-person exhibition at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa

2022 “ankle biter, bean counter, fender bender” (MFA thesis exhibition) at Boarding House Gallery in Guelph

2021  “Performance Drawing” (co-curated by Carali McCall, Birgitta Hosea, Maryclare Foá) online group exhibition hosted by The Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD) in London UK

2021  “grass taps” group exhibition at the plumb in Toronto

2019  “I could be writing about you, but I’m writing about me.” (with Hannah Doerksen, curated by Alicia Buates McKenzie) for Femme Wave festival in Calgary

2018  “nose/knows\notes of care” (co-curated by Lucy Pauker, Luke Mohan) group exhibition at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax

2017 “Limited Time Offer” (curated by KC Wilcox) at Connexion artist-run centre in Fredericton

2017  “A through H” for water cooler gallery in Calgary

2016 “ERI 7” (Eyelevel Re-shelving Initiative) group exhibition at the Dalhousie Art Gallery in Halifax

2015  “Frontier” (co-curated by Solveig Font Martínez, Daz Paz and Marilyn Volkman) group exhibition at avecez art space in Havana

2014  “Somewheres” (curated by Pan Wendt) group exhibition at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown

2014  “going out of business like its going out of style” for Third Space Gallery in Saint John

2013  “EPLE SLANG [apple scrumping]” (curated by Tara Bursey) for window box gallery in Toronto

2013  “formerly george’s footwear” for Roadside Attractions in Toronto

2013  “window dressing” for The New Gallery in Calgary

2012  “here you are.” (curated by Colleen Heslin) mural project for the crying room in Vancouver

2012  “a version” for TopDown BottumUp in Vancouver

2011  “an/aesthetic” group exhibition at Gam Gallery in Vancouver

2011 “Effects become Causes” (curated by Phillip McCrum) group exhibition at AHVA Gallery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver

awards

2023 Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance grant

2022  University of Guelph, College of Arts: Travel, Research and Creation award

2021  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters

2021  University of Guelph, College of Arts: Travel, Research and Creation award

2020  University of Guelph, College of Arts: Travel, Research and Creation award

2020  University of Guelph, Graduate Tuition Scholarship

2020  Canada Council for the Arts, Research & Creation grant

2019  Canada Council for the Arts, Research & Creation grant

2019  British Columbia Arts Council, Visual Arts project grant

2018  Canada Council for the Arts, Professional Development grant

2017  New Brunswick Arts Board, Creation, Career Development, Creative Residency grants

2015  New Brunswick Arts Board, Career Development, Creation, Infrastructure grants

2014  New Brunswick Arts Board, Documentation grant

2013  New Brunswick Arts Board, Career Development grant

2010  University of British Columbia, Dean of Arts ATLAAS award for study abroad

residencies 

2019  Tools for Women, woodworking residency in Vancouver

2018  Medalta historic clay district, ceramics residency in Medicine Hat

2017  Platform centre for photographic + digital arts, photo residency in Winnipeg

2017  Connexion artist-run centre, studio residency with rudi aker in Fredericton

2017  The Khyber Centre for the Arts, studio residency in Halifax

2016  The City of Calgary, Open AiR residency

2016  The Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen, “L’inventaire” research residency in Moncton

2014  arte no es fácil, “Art Present” research residency in Havana

2013  Banff Centre, “Our Literal Speed” visual arts thematic residency

performances

2021  “sound-making, walking” (curated by Carali McCall) for The Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD) via Instagram Live

2016  “future fitness” (curated by D’Arcy Wilson) for Saltbox Festival of time-based art at Grenfell Art Gallery in Corner Brook

2016  “bag body, body bag” for the Rencontre Internationale d’Art Performance (RiAP) at Le Lieu in Quebec City

2016  “Friday night book club” for M:ST performative art in Calgary

2016  “bread & roses” (with rudi aker) for Flourish Festival in Fredericton

2015  “twenty eight minutes like twenty eight years.” for pizza hut publishing in Vancouver

2014  “ULTIMATE WORKOUT” for M:ST performative art in Calgary & Lethbridge

screenings

2022  Alice Street Clubhouse, “Face Machine” as part of CLUBHOUSE TV in Guelph

2021  Art in the Open, “Ultimate Workout Video” (curated by Damien Worth) in Charlottetown

2016  nGbK Berlin, “Ultimate Workout Video” as part of PUMPED (queer video curation by Coral Short)

2016  Struts Gallery, “Face Machine” as part of OK.QUOI?! in Sackville

2016 Galerie d’art Louise Reuben Cohen, “The Keeping Myself Company presents: Been Trying To Meet You” screened with a live score in Moncton

artist books

2021  “Solutions to the Problem of Staying Alive” (with Hannah Doerksen, curated by Alicia Buates McKenzie) published by M:ST performative art

2018  “Screen Ecologies” (with Emma Hicks) published by Moniker Press

2017  “Companions to the Body” published by The Khyber Centre for the Arts

2016  “TROIS CHAPITRES THREE CHAPTERS” (with Emma Hicks) published by the Galerie d’art Louise Reuben Cohen

published writing

2022 Peripheral Review, “Ask The Mountains” (review)

2020  Artforum, “Jeremy Laing: New Work” (critic’s pick)

2020  cmagazine, “darkness is as deep as the darkness is” (review)

2020  BlackFlash, “Online Exhibitions and the Long Game of History” (essay)

2020  qoqqoon, “Season One” (poems, with Emma Hicks)

2019  cmagazine, “not the camera but the filing cabinet: performative body archives in contemporary art” (review)

2019  Public Parking, “A Sound for Punctuation” (online feature)

2019  Public Parking, “The Thickness of That Fabric” (online feature)

2019  Public Parking “Into Obscurity and Points of Contact” (online feature)

2019  Martha Street Studio, response to “Obscura” by Angela Snieder (exhibition essay)

2019  Visual Arts News, “found/held” (review)

2018  Whiny Femmes, “from the moisture of breathing” (poems)

2017  Canadian Art, “The Women Who Could Transform Acadian Art” (review)

2017  Canadian Art, “Jennifer Bélanger: Self Becomes Art” (online feature)

2017  Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben Cohen, “Future Folklores” (exhibition essay)

2017  sad dog magazine, “you are here even when you are not here” (poems)

2016  cmagazine, “the accursed share” (review)

2016  cmagazine, “Writing Topography” (review)

2016  The Bows, “Nine things that happened.” (poetry, for exhibition catalogue)

2016  Canadian Art, “Old Music for New Paintings: in the studio with rudi aker” (feature)

2016  Canadian Art, “A Fortune isn’t a Future: Bennie Allain’s New Brunswick Tarot” (feature)

2016  Visual Arts News, “Ray Fenwick’s ‘le moat juice'” (review)

2016  Canadian Art, “Art in 2016: a view from New Brunswick” (online feature)

2016  The New Brunswick Museum, “Suzanne Hill: by your self” (exhibition essay)

2016  Grid City, “LAPS w Cellarghost, nightbummerz & WHOOP-szo” (review)

2015  CRIT paper, “The Vardørg” (essay)

2015  Kings ARI, “Black Hole, White Wall, Face Machine” (exhibition essay)

2015  Canadian Art, “Working Title” (review)

2014  Canadian Art, “Off the Grid” (review)

2014  Visual Arts News, “On Gathering” (review)

2013  Eastern Edge Gallery, “Another story of erasure, a different one” (exhibition essay)

2011  FRONT magazine, “Reckless Coiffure” (essay)

bibliography

2021  broken pencil, “sophia bartholomew & Emma Hicks find comfort in ambiguity in ‘Screen Ecologies'”

2019  SPIT on the radio, “Screen Ecologies” (with Emma Hicks) interviewed by Emma Metcalfe Hurst

2017  Grid City, “Limited Time Offer: a conversation with rudi aker and sophia bartholomew”

2016  Canadian Art, “our editors’ favourite articles of 2016″

2016  Canadian Art, “Big Art in a Small Town: A Report on Sackville’s Ok.Quoi?!”

2015  Grid City, “Goodbye sophia: Associate Director of Connexion ARC steps down after three inspiring years”

2014  The Telegraph Journal, “Exhibition Features T-shirts From Former Project for a Dollar” (review of ‘going out of business like it’s going out of style’)

2014  Visual Arts News, “Creative Dislocation” (review of ‘Somewheres’)

2013  HERE magazine, “An Existential Workout as Performance Art” (interview with Jon McNeil about ‘ULTIMATE WORKOUT‘)

presentations

2021   “process” panel discussion for MFA Open Studios at the University of Guelph

2019   co-reading with Emma Hicks for “Screen Ecologies” launch with Moniker Press

2018   “Art NOW” lecture at the University of Lethbridge

2018   reading for “Whiny Femmes” launch at the Prairie Art Book Fair at Plug In ICA

2017   artist talk at The Khyber Centre for the Arts

2017   “Active Research Lecture” at Platform centre for photographic + digital arts

2017   “book retort” for also as well too artist book library

2016   visiting artist talk at the Alberta College of Art and Design (AUArts)

2016   contemporary performance panel discussion at Saltbox Festival of time-based art

2016   international performance art panel at RiAP at Le Lieu

2016   co-reading with Emma Hicks for “Trois Chapitres” launch at Galerie Sans Nom

workshops

2017   workshop in lieu of an artist talk, with rudi aker at Connexion artist-run centre

2016   Night School performance workshop for M:ST performative art

2014   reading group in lieu of an artist talk at Third Space Gallery

professional experience

2020 – present   member of the Hammock Residency collective, online

2023 sessional instructor for Experimental Studio I (SART 2800) at the University of Guelph

2021 teaching assistant for Specialized Studio (SART 4750) and Core Studio (SART 1060) at the University of Guelph

2019 – 2020   Operations Coordinator for the Lands to Travel Through gathering, co-organized by AAARC (Alberta Association of Artist-run Centres) and ARCA (Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference/Conférence des collectifs et des centres d’artistes autogérés)

2013 – 2016   Volunteer with Atlantis, the association of artist-run centres from the Atlantic

2012 – 2015   Associate Director of Connexion artist-run centre in Fredericton

2012   Research Assistant for Barbara Zeigler, Associate Professor at UBC in Vancouver

2011 – 2012   Gallery Attendant at The Belkin art gallery at UBC in Vancouver

2012   Studio Assistant for Geoffrey Farmer in Vancouver

symposia 

2015  organized “what the non-human taught us” at Connexion artist-run centre in Fredericton

2012  presented “Lady Brute & the Banal Beauty Inc. Archive” at the UBC Undergraduate Art History Symposium in Vancouver

collections

“The Keeping Myself Company presents: Been Trying To Meet You” in the collection of the Galerie d’art Louise Reuben Cohen