Gallery Talk: Ellen Bleiwas on INTERGALACTIC PLANETARY
- Talks & More
Saturday November 8 | 2 - 3 PM
Ellen Bleiwas will guide us in a walk-through of the exhibition INTERGALACTIC PLANETARY:
Tracey Snelling, with an attunement to world building through architectural sculpture.
Together, we will do a close read of sorts: zooming in and out, from subtle symbols to glowing
neon signage, from gritty city blocks to voyeuristic windows, noticing decisions made, pausing
on surprises, asking questions, noticing materials and colours, immersing in the sensorial,
delving into urban details, feeling the glimmer of recognition, and the thrill of that which is just
beyond recognition. We will consider what we are bringing to the work from our personal
experiences, building a layered reading informed by the multiplicity of experiences in the room.
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Ellen Bleiwas is a visual artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. Her practice is
rooted in space, slowness, and sensory perception, often drawing upon textural materiality,
minimalist geometry, overwhelming repetition, and a fulsome emptiness. She holds an MFA
from York University, and a Master of Architecture from McGill University. She has participated
in artist residencies including the NARS Foundation (New York), Robert McLaughlin Gallery
(Oshawa), Studio Faire (Nérac, France), Artscape Gibraltar Point (Toronto), and Takt
Kunstprojektraum (Berlin). She has exhibited at galleries including The Plumb (Toronto), Galerie
And (Berlin), The Robert McLaughin Gallery (Oshawa), and Idea Exchange (Cambridge). Her
practice has been supported through grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts,
Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada, Urbanspace Property Group, and the RBC Foundation.
Prior to transitioning to visual art, Ellen spent a decade in architecture, earning a Master’s
Degree (McGill University); completing internships at Shigeru Ban Architects (Tokyo) and Proje
Mimarlik (Istanbul); working at firms including Paul Raff Studio (Toronto) and Design Workshop
Architects (Toronto); and working as a Set Designer for the Director’s Guild of Canada.
