Ignition 7: Deeshani Fernando, Katherine A. Laird, Audrey Pearson

Ignition 7: Hamilton Artists Inc.'s Award for Distinction in the McMaster Studio Art Program
Deeshani Fernando, Katherine A. Laird, and Audrey Pearson

February 2 – March 9, 2019
Opening Reception: February 2 from 2:00-4:00 pm

Hamilton Artists Inc. is happy to announce the recipients of the 7th annual Ignition Award for Distinction in McMaster’s Studio Art Program. Ignition is an awards exhibition providing a launchpad to ignite emerging artists’ careers. Congratulations to this year’s winners -- Deeshani Fernando, Katherine A. Laird, and Audrey Pearson -- on their amazing work! In addition to a professional exhibition, the selected graduating students receive dedicated mentorship, a cash honorarium, and a certificate of distinction.

Hamilton Artists Inc. would like to thank and acknowledge its exhibition partner: McMaster University School of the Arts.

Deeshani Fernando was born in Sri Lanka and lived in the middle east for twelve years and then immigrated to Canada. In Canada, she valued the changing landscape compared to her past environments. To discover Canada as a new citizen she decided to fully experience and enjoy the scenery of her new country by taking every opportunity to venture out to new pathways.

Katherine A. Laird is an inter-media artist fusing photo-lithography, etching and re-imagined print processes activated by digital GIFs, dimensional collage and installation. While considering the relationship of nature and invasive human existence, she explores the impact of human intervention on the environment through conceptual and speculative fictions in the new Anthropocene. Laird confronts this theme by exploring surreal landscapes and narratives that are grounded in realities, histories, social systems and biologies that engage in the greatest challenge of our time, climate change. Laird has exhibited in Venice, Italy in Tocolieri Canadese a Venezia in May 2017, BIMPE X, in Western Canada in 2018, and 2019 SGC International Print Conference, Texchange, in Denton Texas, USA.

Audrey Pearson is a fourth year McMaster university student in the Honours Studio Art program. As a queer, intersectional feminist, she is deeply invested in issues surrounding the environment, LGBTQ rights, and the modern implications of colonialism. Pearson's work reflects her core values and explores the idea of human intervention in a natural landscape.