sophia bartholomew works outwards from the ruins and runes of their own cultural inheritance to build material-spiritual constructions. They are descended from Norwegian immigrants on Treaty 3 territory (rural Northwestern Ontario) and English and Irish settlers in and around so-called Toronto. Spanning drawing, writing, sculpture- and installation-making, collaboration, and small, daily negotiations with found materials and household waste, their work borrows its poetics from rural knowledge systems, including craft patterns and junk piles, folk stories and sagas, improvised adaptations and decisions of necessity. They have presented their work at C4RD in London, nGbK in Berlin, avecez art space in Havana, and at galleries and artist-run centres across Canada.
PHOTO: SKU STUDIO
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bartholomew . sophia @ gmail . com
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b. 1987 in Toronto, on the territory of Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe nations, including Wendat, Seneca, and Ojibwe nations –– 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
A C A D E M I C
2020 – 22 / MFA in Studio Art at the University of Guelph
2007 – 12 / BFA in Visual Art at the University of British Columbia
2009 – 10 / academic exchange at Beaux-Arts de Paris
2005 – 06 / Fine Arts diploma at Åsane Folkehøgskole
E D U C A T I O N
2022 / meLê yamomo decolonial sound seminar & 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 Ishaq & 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
E X H I B I T I O N S
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 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) group exhibition 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 stealing] (curated by Tara Bursey) for window box in Toronto
2013 / formerly george’s footwear for Roadside Attractions in Toronto
2013 / window dressing for The New Gallery‘s window space 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
P E R F O R M A N C E S
2021 / sound-making, walking (curated by Carali McCall) for C4RD via Instagram Live
2017 / book retort for also as well too artist book library
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 / The Friday night book club for collected sights and sounds 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
S C R E E N I N G S
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 LRC, The Keeping Myself Company presents: Been Trying To Meet You screened while performing a live score
B O O K S
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
R E S I D E N C I E S
2019 / Tools for Change, woodworking & metalworking residency in Vancouver
2018 / Medalta, 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 LRC, L’inventaire research residency in Moncton
2014 / arte no es fácil, Art Present: Mapping Space that Could Return to Earth Again research residency in Havana
2013 / Banff Centre, Our Literal Speed visual arts thematic residency
A W A R D S
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
W R I T I N G
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)
T E A C H I N G
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
P R E S E N T A T I O N S
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 / workshop in lieu of an artist talk, with rudi aker at Connexion artist-run centre
2016 / visiting artist talk at the Alberta College of Art and Design
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
2016 / Night School performance workshop for M:ST performative art
2014 / reading group in lieu of an artist talk at Third Space Gallery
S Y M P O S I A
2016 / co-wrote Emma Hick’s presentation Present, not present (or the smell that comes from the rocks before the rain) for the Digital Ecologies panel at the Pop Culture Association of Australia & New Zealand conference in Sydney, Australia
2015 / organized what the non-human taught us at Connexion artist-run centre in Fredericton, with Marina Roy, D’Arcy Wilson, Janice Wright Cheney and Corinna Ghaznavi
2012 / presented Lady Brute & the Banal Beauty Inc. Archive at the UBC Undergraduate Art History Symposium in Vancouver, presenting a paper that considered Kate Craig’s persona Lady Brute, looking at photos and ephemera found in the Belkin Gallery archives
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
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″
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‘)
C O L L E C T I O N S
“The Keeping Myself Company presents: Been Trying To Meet You” in the collection of the Galerie d’art LRC
O T H E R
2023 / tending a Mike MacDonald butterfly garden for Musagetes in Guelph
2020 – present / member of the Hammock Residency collective, online
2022 – present / Operations Manager at Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area
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)
2012 – 2015 / Associate Director of Connexion artist-run centre in Fredericton
2012 / Research Assistant for Barbara Zeigler, Associate Professor at UBC in Vancouver
2012 / Studio Assistant for Geoffrey Farmer in Vancouver
b a r t h o l o m e w / / s o p h i a 