About
What does it mean to be adaptable? To be resilient? Curated by Kate Tessier and featuring Harbourfront Centre’s current roster of Artists-in-Residence, Objects for Adaptation and Resilience is a collaborative installation of craft and design, presenting a new collective body of work responding to the ideas of adaptation and resilience.
Curated by Kate Tessier.
Curatorial Statement
“What does it mean to be adaptable? What does it mean to be resilient? Kate Tessier has invited Artists-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre to collaborate in creating a new collective body of work responding to the idea of adaptation and resilience. Each artist is invited to present a selection of their current work to display along with new work created in collaboration.
Objects for Adaptation and Resilience is a collaborative installation of craft and design representing the development of a process for Kate Tessier’s practice, Kilowatt Kate, in which co-design and collaboration converge to respond generatively to the human predicament.”
– Kate Tessier
About Kate Tessier
Kate Tessier is a Chartered Industrial Designer with a penchant for lighting, material reclamation and developing new work as part of a collaborative curatorial practice that goes by the name Kilowatt Kate. Kate joins Harbourfront Centre as Senior Designer-in-Residence and as curator of Everyday Lighting, now in its second iteration. Kate brings two decades of experience in product development to offer her expertise to fellow Artists-in-Residence to develop some exquisite and captivating new work.
About Viyan Petekkaya
Viyan Petekkaya is a Kurdish jewellery and metal artist based in Canada. Her work, primarily non-representational, carries modernist influences and constructs a visual narrative that invites introspection and contemplation. She is intrigued by the challenge of translating abstract concepts into tangible forms, often resulting in sculptural pieces.
“I reflect on the themes of adaptation and resilience through my craft and identity.
Adaptation, to me, is about finding the balance between staying true to the initial idea and embracing the changes that emerge through the process of making. While working with metal, I engage in a constant dialogue with the material. I listen to it, attune to its needs, and respect its boundaries. Like a true friend, metal is unflinchingly honest and pushes me to grow. Yet, it is equally generous and adventurous, offering endless possibilities when approached with an open mind and curiosity.
Through my work, I explore storytelling as an act of resilience—resilience as holding onto what defines us: our memories, values, and identities, even in the face of adversity. As a Kurdish artist, I share my story to preserve and carry forward a cultural heritage that has withstood attempts at erasure.
For this exhibition, I marry adaptation and resilience in a pair of cutlery. What if cutlery could serve as a tool for sharing stories and nourishing collective memory? By integrating a small container into the handle design, I transform the handle from something that is merely held into something that also holds. The container can hold anything from small, meaningful tokens to tiny letters with text prompts, inspiring conversations around the table and inviting thoughtful contributions from everyone involved. From choosing what goes into the box to responding to its contents, the meal becomes a ritual of connection—among those who prepare the food, set the table, and share in the gathering. This sense of connection is reflected in the design itself, where the hand-forged strips of metal overlap each other like the interlocked arms in the traditional Kurdish dance.”
About Khadija Aziz
Khadija Aziz is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. A love for playfulness, patterns, collaboration and spontaneous art-making processes fuels her creativity. She investigates the making and transformation of patterns through the play of analogue and digital processes. Aziz creates installations, digital images, animations and Augmented Reality (AI) experiences by marrying slow textile-making techniques and tools with spontaneous digital manipulation methods.
“Adaptation and resilience are essential survival strategies. As an interdisciplinary artist, adaptation looks like working with mediums that effectively convey the concept at hand. For example, for my art projects investigating the impacts of colonization on the historic Kashmiri shawl industry, I have made glitch art, tapestries, and digital interactive projects. For this exhibition, I collaborated with Christian Maidankine to design and create a day pack made primarily of leather and crochet. Leather is a material that I only started to play five months ago. The ability to adapt keeps my art practice both challenging and entertaining for my curious mind. I view resiliency as developing strategies to face and overcome adversities. As an aspiring resilient artist, I try to establish self-care and community-building routines to navigate the inevitable rejections and criticisms that are integral to artistic growth.”
About Anna Xiaoyin Luo
Anna Xiaoyin Luo is a Chinese interdisciplinary fibre artist in Tkaronto (Toronto). She is interested in the collaborative potential of craft and how it emerges as an antidote for crafting belongings in a world of flux and isolation. Her current works explore the role of materiality and tactility in contemporary art by reutilizing discarded fibre materials in papermaking, kami-ito making, and weaving practices. Luo’s practice focuses on the physical engagement with natural materials and the slow process in craft practice as a vital methodological approach for exploring and expressing the complexities caused by Solastalgia. She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr University. Luo became an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre’s Craft & Design Studio (Textiles) in 2024.
“As an artist, I approach craft as a method of adaptation – a way to navigate the changes in our living environment. In my interdisciplinary textile practice, I adapt to the unique characteristics of the materials I work with, emphasizing material sustainability throughout the making process. By focusing on locally sourced, found, or discarded materials, I see adaptation not only as the idea of using what is available but, more importantly, as revaluing and giving new life to materials that might otherwise be overlooked.
By working closely with discarded paper materials, this project offers me a chance to collaborate with other artists who specialize in ceramic and metalwork. Together, we explore the dynamic interaction between clay, fibre, and metal to create a captivating tabletop kinetic sculpture.
Resilience in my practice stems from a long-term commitment to rethinking material use. By focusing on repurposed materials, I engage in a making process that honours the lifecycle of resources in my environment. Crafting with these materials reflects resilience not just in their physical form but also in their ability to carry forward memories and cultural practices.
Sustainability in my practice also involves recognizing and respecting the agency of materials. This perspective shifts my focus from domination to partnership, allowing the materials to guide the creative process. This reciprocal relationship in the making process fosters a sense of care and stewardship, reinforcing the principles of resilience and offering a grounded approach to living in a time of constant change.”
About Jiho Choi
Jiho Choi is a South Korean jeweller and metalsmith. He comes from an engineering background, studying at Hanyang University. Choi started jewellery making as an apprentice in Korea before studying at NSCAD University in Halifax, NS. While at NSCADU, he found an interest in kinetic objects. His works are interactive, generating satisfaction and playfulness to for the viewer. Choi became an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre in 2023.
“In today’s fast-paced world, it often feels as though we are constantly racing against the clock, driven by deadlines and responsibilities. Growing up in Korea, I became accustomed to a culture that prioritizes speed and productivity. However, I’ve realized that this fast-paced environment is not the way I want to live. I long for slowness, for the freedom to pause and appreciate the world around me, to fully experience life as it passes by.
In my work, I explore the tension between the pace of modern society and the need to slow down. I’ve found that small acts of self-care—taking breaks, napping, going for walks—help me adapt to this constant rush, but they don’t change the world around me. This led me to create the metronome, an object that symbolizes the passage of time but also offers a reminder to slow down. It is an attempt to counterbalance the fast-moving world and provide a sense of rest. The sound of the metronome, steady yet contemplative, becomes a symbol of time itself—one that encourages reflection rather than constant motion.
Through my work, I seek to adapt to the demands of modern life while also building resilience against its pressures. My practice is an ongoing exploration of how to make space for slowness and mindfulness in a world that pushes us to keep moving. I hope my art offers a moment of stillness, inviting others to pause, reflect, and find a slower, more intentional rhythm in their own lives.”
About Christian Maidankine
Christian Maidankine has completed his Master of Architecture at Toronto Metropolitan University and is now an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre. His background in architecture and interest in making has led to his exploring various materials, mainly leather. Having aphantasia, the inability to imagine any types of visuals or sensations, Maidankine has developed a process rooted in making through iteration. Sketchbooks are constantly filled with notes and drawings, moving into maquettes, full-scale mock-ups and the final material. Documentation is critical to this process to record observations and suggestions for future work. Craft and design play an integral role in our lives, and working with leather has allowed Maidankine to explore aspects which we, quite literally, carry with us in our everyday lives. Primarily, his work carefully considers making, crafting and the person for whom the object is made.
“Adaptation and resilience work hand in hand. It’s a never-ending process that allows us to respond to changes in our environment. Being resilient and adapting requires us to remain present and aware of what is happening around us.
We can only adapt to something if we know what’s going on. Then, we must make the decision to do so. We make adjustments to our lives every day, changing the paths we travel, the things we carry, and the places we go. There are countless reasons for why we may do so; our mood may shift or there may be a global event that is entirely beyond our control. In any case, we are first acknowledging a change in our world and then responding to it.
I am most interested in our ‘everyday’ condition. While often ordinary, it is the one we return to every time we wake up. It encapsulates all of our habits, routines, and rituals, and has a huge impact on our well beings. Designing for the every day requires us to pay attention to what we actually need in our lives. The objects we have better be doing something for us whether functionally or, equally important, by bringing us joy. Our everyday objects have the potential to ground us in our present surroundings and help us remain focused. Instead of just “getting through the day”, we can slow down and appreciate the time we are living in.”
About Lauren Rice
Lauren Rice is a glass artist from Manitoba now based in the GTA. She studied at Sheridan College and received a Bachelor of Craft and Design with a specialty in glass. She creatively mixes mediums, incorporating materials like underglaze which is traditionally used in ceramics. This unique approach adds texture and dimension to her organic and whimsical glass sculptures, transporting viewers to a nostalgic place of childhood. Lauren teaches art classes to children and draws inspiration from their sense of wonder. Her work invites observers to rediscover the magic inherent in the natural world. Lauren became an Artist-in-Residence (Glass) at Harbourfront Centre in 2022.
“Adaptation and resilience are essential for survival. As life moves and changes so rapidly around us, the ability to adapt to these changes affects whether we will thrive or buckle to the pressure. Being resilient and moving past obstacles is the only way forward. This collaborative work explores these themes using the materials of glass and ceramics. Combining the fragility and strength inherent in these materials. The piece integrates positive affirmations contributed by each collaborator—personal messages that resonate deeply with their own experiences, creating a mosaic of shared strength and individuality. Together, these affirmations form a collective voice of empowerment, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and cultivate inner strength. This artwork serves as a visual anchor for self-assurance and resilience, offering a moment of grounding before stepping into the challenges of the day.”
About Sydni Weatherson
Sydni Weatherson is a recent Sheridan College Craft and Design program graduate. Her time in the studio focused on blown glass as well as engraving. Weatherson’s current work captures the fluidity of the glass during the making process, exploring colour, texture and movement frozen in time. Outside the studio, she maintains a fine arts practice and is a hobbyist analog photographer. Sydni Weatherson was accepted as an Artist-in-Residence (Glass) at Harbourfront Centre in 2022.
“Exploring the personal meaning of adaptation and resilience can take many forms. This collaborative piece is made of a glass journal that utilizes writing and documentation as acts of resilience and survival. This approach echoes historical practices of collecting, communicating, and disseminating information, capturing even the smallest human experiences that resonate universally and reflect our capacity to adapt. The work produced is suspended, emphasizing both the fragility and strength inherent in all materials involved, particularly through the use of recycled glass, metal, and textiles.
This journey involves taking the time to learn new methods of working with glass, further enriching the exploration of resilience in the face of change. Choosing to work with recycled materials from previous projects allows me to create a more circular studio practice. This evolution allows me to shift focus toward more serious and personal topics, reclaiming autonomy and independence amid a rapidly evolving sense of self.”
About Mohammad Tabesh
Mohammad Tabesh (he/him) is a mixed-media artist residing and working in Toronto. His practice is focused on the human condition, the art of resistance, art and social change. Through writing, printmaking, multimedia and sculpture, Tabesh strives to convey these stories in a profoundly human and universal language, avoiding the cliché of shock and horrors of violence on the one hand and the abstract notion of war far away on the other. His ceramic work, including sculptural forms and sound installations, focuses on themes of body and censorship. Tabesh completed his BFA at OCAD University and is the 2020 recipient of OCAD University’s Sculpture and Installation medal. He was accepted as an Artist-in-Residence for ceramics at Harbourfront Centre in 2022.
“In my previous work, Add and Subtract, I used a 3D-printed prototype to create plaster moulds to slip-cast a small bud vase. I explored how a single form could evolve by repeatedly adding and subtracting itself, resulting in a series of ceramic sculptural objects reimagining the original form.
In Gulistān: The Flower Garden, I expand the concept in my proposed work by introducing collaboration. Taking inspiration from Sa’adi’s introduction to Gulistān, I invite artists from various mediums to contribute to an everlasting flower garden: “For the delight of observers and the joy of gatherings, I can compose the book of Gulistān, which will not fall victim to the autumn breeze, and the passage of time will not replace its springtime joy with the chaos of autumn.” Starting with a 3D-printed form resembling a small vase as the foundational element for a brooch, I invite artists working in other mediums—glass, metal, and textile—to respond to it. They create new forms, uses, and ideas by combining their unique materials and techniques with the original object.
This project investigates adaptation and transformation through interdisciplinary collaboration. It highlights how a seemingly fixed object can become a source of boundless possibilities when shaped by diverse creative perspectives. By fostering these dialogues between materials and makers, the work celebrates the resilience and innovation that emerge from shared artistic practices.”
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