2013 Artists

Andrea Thorne and Anna Bald 

HACKMATACK // TAMARACK is an oddball naturalist duo of Andrea Thorne and Anna Bald.  Practicing tinker/tailor/artists in their own rights, they have been looking for an opportunity to creatively make mischief and hope to bring this spirit to White Rabbit. Both Andrea and Anna live and work on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, round about LaHave.

Becky Welter-Nolan and Daniel Higham

Becky Welter-Nolan and Daniel Higham are interdisciplinary artists based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They both work in media and installation and collaborate on performative projects that explore social structures and learning from experience. They received BFAs from NSCAD University in 2011 and have exhibited at the Anna Leonowens and Eyelevel Gallery. They work as coordinators at Visual Arts Nova Scotia and the Centre for Art Tapes respectively.

Christopher van Donkelaar 

Christopher is a cognitive artist with a MFA in New Media. His work aims to share what the earth teaches through delight, investigation, giving thanks, and being still. A typical day for him includes some combination of the following: Mindmapping; hiking; digging a hole; collecting plants; creating new pigment colours; sketching; writing a spidergram; painting a sacred icon; lecturing in an university; or installing in a gallery. These pursuits have taken him far afield—but he’s at home in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. 

vandonkelaar.ca

Clare Waque 

Clare Waque has been a practitioner of theatre since childhood in Toronto. She moved to Nova Scotia to attend the University of King’s college, and in 2009 graduated with a combined honours degree in Contemporary Philosophy and International Development. During her time at King’s she worked extensively with their Theatre Society to further her skills of acting, directing, designing. In 2008 she launched her own production company, and started to work with the independent artists in Halifax. Since 2010 Clare has wore a rotating cast of caps, working for the Bus Stop Theatre as Managing Director, Bar Manager, Technician, Technical Director and Admin. The Bus Stop Theatre, now a decade old, is an unfunded artist-run rental venue, it is the space for local emerging artists to showcase their work.

thebusstoptheatre.org

Hangama Amiri 

As an artist in Canada from Afghanistan, Hangama Amiri paints on the subject of childhood ecstasy, cross-cultural dialogue, and Afghan feminism. She paints in the styles of representational realism and abstract realism, using large-scale two-dimensional surfaces, integrating mixed media: oil, acrylic, screen-printing, and earth. 
Hangama graduated from NSCAD University with a BFA (Major in Fine Arts) in Canada in 2012. She has exhibited her paintings in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her first solo exhibition, The Wind-Up Dolls of Kabul, was displayed at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in the fall of 2011. Two paintings from The Wind-Up Dolls series, were selected for IV Passion for Freedom Festival London (UK), 2012. Her most recent collaborative project, “Dome of Secret Desires” was shortlisted at the 7th International Arte Laguna Prize 2013, in Venice, Italy. She has won the 2011 Lieutenant Governor’s Community Voluntarism Award and received an honourable mention for the 2008 Newcomer Achievement Award. Currently she is a Nova Scotia Culture and Heritage Grant recipient, and a Lunenburg Artist in Residence.

Mentor Artists