Out of Sight

Claire Anderson, Bethany Kenyon and Catharine Mellinger engage with the idea of invisible labour, reflecting on unseen care in their artistic practices. They explore what it means to care for someone: from the often invisible identity of being a caregiver to a partner with chronic illness, to the physiological and sensory experience of parenting, to violence in intimate partner relationships. Through their work the artists show how care-work is implemented in their artistic practice and reflect on how they engage as a community in recognizing labour that is often free and unseen.  Artworks explore themes of both one to one and group relationship dynamics, unseen emotional, physical, and free labour.

Bethany Kenyon is an artist who works with combinations of figuration and abstraction to bring forward various emotions and a powerful sense of personhood and body in the work she creates. Bethany became a mother recently and motherhood has become the focus of much of her current work as she navigates this new identity. She enjoys working with a variety of mediums, more recently moving towards soft sculpture and found object art. Over the last few years Bethany has completed a variety of art residencies including Eucharist Church Residency in Hamilton and the Westport Schoolhouse Residency in Nova Scotia. Her work has been shown at various co-operative and commercial galleries in the Greater Hamilton Area and she was recently included in an exhibition at the Artlink Gallery in Indiana. 

Catherine Melinger Born and raised on Treaty 6 territory (colonially named Saskatoon), Catherine Mellinger (she/they) is a mixed media collage artist and inter-arts artist currently living on land that is part of the Haldimand Tract, belonging to the Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabe and Neutral Peoples (colonially named Waterloo). Her works have been exhibited across Turtle Island and published Internationally, as well as commissioned by musicians, writers and private collectors. Catherine identifies as an artist living with invisible disability.

Her collaborative works include an artistic exchange with contemporary writer Marianne Apostolides, which resulted in a suite of images that was published in Apostolides’ book Deep Salt Water (published by book*hug 2017). She is lead artist of Post-Part, an inter-arts exhibition in collaboration with Nat Janin, Adam Harendorf and Pazit Cahlon inspired by the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, last exhibited as part of CAFKA21.

Claire Anderson Claire attended Sheridan College, taking the Craft and Design Glass program where she discovered her passion for glass. She spent a number of years working for other artists, helping to create their work until she started her own practice in 2019. Over time, her series’ and ideas have evolved, however, they continue to revolve around themes of feminism, capitalism and social justice.

Most recently, Claire has been creating larger works and installations that are more interactive with the viewer. She has created multiple outdoor installations as well as had her first solo show in Montreal. She has participated in many group juried exhibitions as well as has a piece in the permanent collection of the Niagara Falls History Museum. While glass is still her primary obsession, Claire continues to experiment with different processes and materials to push her ideas and grow as a conceptual artist.