Launch Day is the culmination and celebration of the amazing work of our artists as they pitch the business aspects of their practice with all the new skills they’ve learned in CATAPULT. Alumni also have the opportunity to network and make vital connections with other artists, employers, and supporters. Past graduates of the program have gone on to have well-established careers in the arts. Scroll down for Launch Days throughout the years and enjoy the excellence of New Brunswick’s arts culture.

In the fall of 2023, the CATAPULT Arts Accelerator's Launch Day and Reception was held in the Greater Moncton Area (Dieppe) for the first time! The graduating artists delivered their pitches at the Dieppe Arts and Culture Centre. It was an engaging event, and we were happy to be joined by past graduates from the Moncton area to help celebrate this new cohort.

Francine Francis’ arts journey is one of quietness, observation, reflection and lately research. Living in her community of Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation, her Indigenous way of being and seeing, her awareness began at an early age as she became familiar with the forests and river that her father knew so well. The act of transferring traditional knowledge of the environment and the creatures who reside within it by spending time walking in the woods with her father or being on the Miramichi River was her favourite things to do.

Her second favourite activity was to draw and colour, and she was so inspired by the art of Norval Morrisseau, she decided to continue her journey to Regina, Saskatchewan where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Indigenous Fine Arts.

Since then, she has exhibited in many group exhibitions such as “TransAtlantic Crossings” at Karlsruhe International Art Fair, Germany; “50 Years of Atlantic Canadian Art” at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton; “The Path We Share” at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax; and “Wabanaki” presented in Fredericton and Toronto by Gallery on Queen. She has done two solo exhibitions and residencies here in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

She continues to draw and colour using her favourite medium acrylic paint where she enjoys the immediate and vibrant colours that help her portray what she knows and has come to know of her natural environment. Her future ambition is to create a large body of work where it can be exhibited in a major gallery here in the Atlantic and in Toronto.

Sara Griffin, a painter and ceramic artist, is originally from Grand Manan Island, and currently resides in Fredericton, NB. Griffin holds a BFA from NSCAD, (2001) a BEd specializing in visual arts, (UNB,2010) and a Diploma of Ceramics, (NBCCD, 2023).

Highlights of her career include residencies in Italy carving marble, printing lithographs in Vancouver, BC, and creating a series of paintings in Japan. As an arts advocate, Griffin served as the former Executive Director of ArtsLink NB (2011-13) and has sat on numerous arts boards in NB.

Sara has exhibited internationally and has curated numerous learning programmes in Eastern Canada.

Jessica Kenney is a Fredericton-based disabled, neurodivergent artist, musician, and poet. They specialize in discovering unique and playful combinations between different mediums, including; digital art, needle felting, sculpture, illustration, watercolour, music, and poetry. Not only is Jessica a college-educated artist with diplomas from the Center for Arts and Technology, and the Gaming and Animation Institute of Fredericton, they are also a self-taught flutist and poet.

Jessica enjoys finding connections between unlikely mediums, in ways that delight both the artist and the viewer. With a motley and fun combination of techniques, Jessica explores chaotic ways of thinking and creating, resulting in the presentation of concepts and ideas in a new light. Jessica wants to make viewers question, learn, and think.

Jessica exhibited their acclaimed installation “Touching Music” at the Fredericton Arts Alliance group show at the Charlotte Street Arts Center in September 2023. They also had several pieces of art, poetry and an installation included in the group exhibit and zine “Speaking Out.” Jessica received a JL Micro Bursary from the Jane Leblanc Legacy Fund for their installation “Touching Music” in September 2023.

Ashley MacIntosh is a visual artist born and living in Moncton, NB. Drawing inspiration from psychedelia, nature, and her own emotions and intuition, she creates colourful artworks with paint, various traditional media and software. In 2023 she began creating outdoor chalk art, chalking in Moncton and Shediac.

Ashley is a member of the Moncton Artists Society and ArtsLink NB.

Mélanie Paulin is a visual artist based in Moncton, New Brunswick where she mothers, lives, and works. Once a PhD of environmental microbiology, Mélanie took her passion for breathing new life into unwanted furniture and turned it into a successful furniture painting studio. Wanting to push her creativity a step further, her focus has now turned towards other forms of expression such as textile arts and printmaking. 

Forever curious in art and life, her work revisits and reinterprets life experiences with a particular focus on motherhood, environmental care and self-care. She embraces the handmade nature and imperfections of her work and holds a special interest in the acknowledgement and recognition of the many ways that women make art.

In 2023, Mélanie graduated from the Foundation for Visual Arts program at the New Brunswick College for Craft and Design. She has been supported by ArtsNB and has served on the board of the Centre des Arts et de la Culture Dieppe. She has contributed to fundraising art exhibitions and is a fervent supporter of her local art community. Her work has been featured at Galerie Sans Nom, Atelier Imago, George Fry Gallery and FICFA festival. 

Juliet Rose is a multimedia artist based in Moncton, New Brunswick. She uses a unique process to illustrate reflective and authentic documentary films using video, installation, archival media, and lights. Her method of gathering media as she builds the final project creates a subject-inspired narrative paired with Juliet’s vision. Her work explores themes of family, time relativity, and life duality.

Described by her colleagues as a peacock, Juliet’s flair and humour can be found in subtle hints throughout her work. She began to create video work at 6; Juliet feels that film has always been a way in which she communicates. There is no clear line where she began professionally, as she has demonstrated a serious passion and devotion- communicating through the lens- to creating films and art for well over a decade, putting her professional career start date somewhere between the ages of 13-15. Juliet’s creative and edged outlook on videography and life is the driving force that can visualize any story.

She studied the Intermedia (Video, Electronic & Performance Arts) BFA program and the Art Education program at Concordia University (QC). She was granted by the Canada Council For The Arts and various Municipalities to create her second feature-length film in 2022, The Stage. She worked with Atlantic Spotlight (2022-) and has created various multimedia pieces and performances throughout her career.

Mel Theriault is a member of Neuroleptix, a four-piece punk rock band hailing from Saint John NB.

With loud guitars, drums, and group vocals they are straight up and demand their listeners attention, while exploring lyrical themes of reality, society and the truth.

They have played across the East Coast of Canada, including Saint John’s Container Village.

ArtsLink NB was thrilled to hold its first in-person Launch Day and Reception in two years! Watch the business-savvy pitches of the newest batch of CATAPULT alumni, or click on the photos to learn more about the artist(s). We look forward to witnessing the positive impact these artists will have on the arts industry in New Brunswick.

Kelly Baker is a commercial, portrait, wedding, and family photographer based out of Fredericton, New Brunswick. She holds an MA and PhD in social anthropology, where she first nurtured her interest in storytelling and exploring the complex beauty of everyday life. She received a Photography diploma from NBCCD in 2015, which launched her career as an artist and commercial photographer whose work emphasizes the magic in the everyday mundane.

Her work has been shown in the George Fry gallery and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, and has been published in the Maritime Edit, Grid City, and Created Here Magazine. She has taught university-level courses exploring themes of photographic language and representation at both UNB Renaissance and Mount Allison University. Her passion for exploring people’s connections to place stems from her own upbringing in a tight-knit fishing village in rural Nova Scotia. Her clients include the Fredericton Playhouse, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, and The University of New Brunswick.

Laura Boudreau is a jewellery artist based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She began pursuing silversmithing in 2010 at NBCCD in the Jewellery/Metal Arts program. After graduating, Laura continued to practice metalsmithing while studying Applied Arts at UNB and working as a bench jeweller. In 2021, she returned to NBCCD for the Advanced Studio Practice program to refine her craft, and officially launched Laura Boudreau Jewellery in 2022. She has since received the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation Merit Bursary, an artsnb infrastructure grant, and displays work in galleries across New Brunswick. Laura also considers herself a serial hobbyist, enjoying architectural miniatures, book binding, ceramics, making furniture, and gardening.

Amber Carter is an illustrator, graphic designer, and multimedia artist currently based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Carter's artistic journey began in childhood like most, but became serious upon entering the University of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. There, they completed their Bachelor of Applied Arts with a Diploma in Graphic Design & Illustration in 2022. Since then, they have split their time between freelance/contract work as a graphic designer, working with clients such as The Cap, Shivering Songs, The Recap Market, and bell·weth·er, among others, and pursuing new skills to continue advancing their craft.

Carter's work primarily focuses on the exploration of value hierarchies, such as poverty and throwaway culture. They approach these topics with their personal perspective and experience, resulting in a body of work that is ever-evolving in terms of materials, techniques, and focus. They enjoy using tools in unconventional ways, such as scanners as cameras and digital microscopes to create textures for art and design. Their intent is to create bold and thought-provoking art and design that pushes boundaries and challenges the status quo.

Erin Goodine is a painter and interdisciplinary artist based in New Brunswick, Canada. Their work focuses on time, form, fluidity, and the uncanny through painting, drawing, sculpture, video and installation. Goodine graduated from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 2011 and has developed an oil painting and interdisciplinary art practice through mentorship, community collaboration and peer support. Goodine collaborates as a curator and writer with the 3E Collective and maintains a dedicated studio practice in downtown Fredericton.

Helen Hillis is a weaverknitterspinnerdyer working and imagining out of her attic home studio. Having grown up in a family of fine crafters, she is interested in the practice of making and using handmade textiles as a means of intergenerational material and social exchange. She holds a BA (Hons.) in Early Modern Studies and English with a minor in Contemporary Studies from the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University where, in 2019, she won the Paul McIsaac Memorial Prize for demonstrated creativity in the English Department for her knitted response to Larissa Lai’s novel Salt Fish Girl. She studied floor loom weaving at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and is self taught in tapestry weaving. A DONA-trained Labour and Birth Doula, Helen is currently marrying her passions for textiles and supporting parents and babies by producing a line of handwoven baby carriers which she intends to debut in farmers markets and on digital platforms in the summer of 2023. She has taught multi-session tapestry weaving workshops to elementary-aged children at Armbrae Academy in Halifax. Her work appears in homes across Atlantic Canada, where she hopes it serves as a call to intimacy, witness, and quietude.

Melissa Kennedy is a visual artist and art instructor that lives and works in New Brunswick, Canada. Her career began as a student at The Florence Academy of Art, where she learned traditional methods of sculpture and drawing. For her third year of study at the academy, she received a teaching assistant scholarship, and she remained in Florence for an additional three years as a principal instructor at the academy. Since returning to Canada, she has taught various art courses, while continuing to develop her art own practice.

Her art consists of exploration and experimentation of many different mediums and techniques in both drawing and sculpting. And she has participated in many local opportunities such as residencies in both Fredericton and Campobello, as well as interning at the rock sculpture symposium in Saint John. Her work has been included in exhibitions both locally, as well as internationally in cities such as London and Barcelona. Melissa also enjoys visiting art museums, loosely following recipes while cooking, and snuggling with cats.

Joëlle Martin is a visual artist living in New Brunswick, at the edge of Fundy National park. Her studio is located in her lakeside lodge, nestled amongst ancestral orchards in the Acadian Forest, where she peacefully brings her artworks to life under the brand “Mon Pré” (My Meadow). After working as a makeup artist for 15 years, she embarked on a new journey of expression and transitioned to the visual arts field. She currently uses watercolour as her main medium, combining antique or vintage paints with modern paints to depict flora, fauna and found objects, thus infusing a bit of history into her work.

Curious and observant by default, she loves exploring nature’s rhythm and life cycle as the seasons change, searching for new subjects to discover and portray. Heavily inspired by ancient botany and bygone naturalists, her work brings about an intricately detailed, layered and vibrant aesthetic combined with a playful twist on realism. Joëlle has exhibited work at Picadilly Coffee Roasters in Sussex and has had the opportunity to collaborate with local businesses such as Sussex Ale Works and Lady Smith Manor to develop artwork to feature on their products.

In her spare time, she likes collecting antique books, vintage art supplies and timeworn treasures, exploring nature with her husband and Shetland Sheepdog Stella, experimenting in her kitchen and crafting espresso-based drinks as a barista at her local café.

Jill McNair is a visual artist and an educator based in New Brunswick. She has a background as an art therapist and art instructor, and this experience has expressed upon her the connection between the creative art process and one’s imagining of a more hopeful future. She studied Applied Social Sciences at the University of Guelph, Art Therapy at Western University and Education at York University. Her love of the natural world and her intention to seek physical and mental well-being has led her to her current body of work. Jill lives on the banks of the Petitcodiac River near Moncton, New Brunswick with her husband and her Yorkshire Terrier. She can often be found seeking inspiration along the Atlantic coastline, beach combing, or hiking in one of the sensational provincial or national parks.

In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 spread quickly around the globe and put more than half the world under lockdown for months. Because of this, ArtsLink NB had to pivot quickly so that the CATAPULT program could still take place. We quickly familiarized ourselves with Zoom, contacted our workshop presenters to ask them if they would be able to present online, and set up a new program schedule. From March to May, we ran our first ever online cohort. Unfortunately, COVID-19 also meant that even though restrictions had started to lift in May, the participants weren’t able to pitch to a room full of artists and entrepreneurs like they would normally do. Instead, we’ve hired a videographer, rented a gallery, and presented to each other, in a low-key, socially distanced variation of pitch day. Scroll through and watch the presentations from the last few sessions, or click the photos to learn more about the individual participants.

Crystal Drew is a visual artist and crafter based in Saint John, New Brunswick. She holds a Foundation Visual Arts certificate and Photography/Videography Diploma from New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Her work often explores themes of memory, domesticity and observations of the everyday. These themes are represented through digital and analogue photography, mixed media collage, textile craft and other alternative processes.

Crystal has exhibited work with the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, the George Fry Gallery, Flourish Festival and Third Space Gallery. She currently serves as Treasurer on Third Space Gallery’s board of directors. She has received awards from ArtsNB, NBCCD, Atlantic Photo Supply and Photo Fredericton.

Katelyn Rae Halliday, who works under the pseudonym Yeah Okay, is a self taught visual artist that specializes in surrealistic paintings, ink drawings, and digital media. Inspired by the mystical and the macabre, she creates a broad array of illustrations with psychedelic and unsettling imagery depicting a reality filled with fantastical creatures, flora, and magical worlds that bridge the disconnect between life and death.

Lindsay Hazen (they/them/iel) is a high soprano and electronic music producer who performs as Stellaleona. They are a co-founder of Moondrip Collective, a queer run record label and fledgling community organization. Stellaleona is about low fidelity, high emotions and voices, and a personal reclamation of inner-space and peace of mind as a non-binary lesbian living under capitalism. Their voice is their instrument and their productions an expression of the cacophony of choirs and rock bands that sing inside their mind. They recently expanded their practice to include performance art with an express residency collaboration at Moncton’s Mirror/Miroir feminist festival. Stellaleona and Moondrip Collective have been featured on CBC Radio, in Dominionated and in Grid City Magazine. They won the Party Sauce Award 2022 for Best Experimental Artist and the Local 107.3 Best of Saint John Award 2021 for FEMCORE Artist of the Year. Their work can be found on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. 

Lazermortis is an instrumental Synthwave producer based in Atlantic Canada. She fuses her experiences working in the funeral industry with her passion for retro-electronic music, exploring themes of organic death and artificial life through a melodic journey rooted in the past.

Her debut album Backseat Demons was released in 2020 and quickly gained attention, making heavy rotation on Spotify Synthwave playlists and gaining over 90 000 streams, most notably with her standout track Below the Sunrise. In 2021, Lazermortis challenged the imagination of her listeners with her MNB and GNB grant funded concept EP Autonetic Afterlife. Each song explores different concepts of how death and the afterlife might be perceived by artificial intelligence. 

Misha Milchenko is a Fredericton-based artist and educator whose work combines acrylic mediums and sculptural elements to develop tactile paintings. After nearly two decades of hobbyist art experience, he has begun pursuing art as a career. His interactive pieces are hybrid creations meant for the viewer to interact with in more than one way. His imagery is organic and intricately detailed. He works in bright colors with floral and fantasy elements. His first solo exhibition, Dysmorphic Dreams (2021), focused on the disconnect between the reality and perception of living in one’s body.

CJ Norris is a Maritime-based comedian and musical theatre performer. He discovered his love for the performing arts in elementary school, and has never looked back. You may have seen on stages as Angel in RENT (Dalhouse Theatre Society), LeFou in Beauty and the Beast, (Capitol Theatre) and Jinx in Forever Paid (Hazy Grape). His history of playing humourous roles has led him to explore the arts of stand-up comedy and drag, which he has recently combined to create the acclaimed dragsical “Flyin’ Solo!” (Fan Favourite Award at Fundy Fringe 2021; Maritime tour 2022). You may have also caught one of his many performances at Grafton Street Dinner Theatre and McSweeney’s Dinner Theatre (Halifax and Moncton). When not on stage, CJ enjoys teaching theatre classes at Moncton’s Capitol Theatre, and working as an event host. His motivation as an entertainer is to bring joy to audiences, and create a positive impact on society.

Olivia Thomson is an artist and writer from Fredericton, New Brunswick. She works with acrylics, markers, and comics, and makes zines to tell colourful and dreamy stories. At the center of her work is both playfulness and anxiety, with the aim to inspire discomfort, curiosity, and critical thinking. In 2022 she graduated with an honours in English from the University of New Brunswick and won the Charles G.D. Roberts prize for short fiction. She has been featured in several local gallery exhibitions and participates in local and national zine fairs.

STEPHEN HERO makes raw, regional hip hop from Canada’s east coast, with a sly, working class lyricism, anchored in hip hop tradition. He began writing and recording raps on a tape recorder in his bedroom in the early aughts, and spent his teens and twenties honing his craft, exploring other genres and learning a few instruments and engineering skills. His style is heavily influenced by alt-rap legends like Kool Keith, El-P and MF DOOM, with a strong penchant for the relaxed and joyous energy of groups like De La Soul and Beastie Boys. His taste in production is eclectic and open-minded, working with artists in various genres as well as producing himself.

Josh Hooper is a woodworking craftsperson and artist, husband and father. He is the owner of Warbler Woodworking. He has always been inspired by his working class family’s ability to create something from humble materials with their own hands, down to the house he was raised in, built by his father, and the house he was raised in built by his father. 

As a woodworker, he believes it is important to use locally harvested materials such as spruce, pine, oak, birch, and maple to support the local economy and keep more of his own money in his New Brunswick communities. He also believes in the beauty of our local forests and hopes to contribute to their sustainability.  He has plans for many exciting art installation pieces and is known for his inventive commissions such as blanket mirrors and bookshelf staircases. He enjoys a design challenge and loves an opportunity to create something unique. 

Lucy Koshan is a visual artist living in Sackville, New Brunswick, whose practice centers on figurative painting and drawing. Making narrative bodies of work over long stretches of time, Lucy uses personal visual storytelling to investigate the ongoing process of defining and performing the self. Lucy holds a foundation year certificate from the Yukon School of Visual Arts and a BFA from Mount Allison University, and has been a provincial finalist for the BMO 1st! Art Award (Yukon Territory, 2014), as well as the recipient of the John P. Asimakos prize in painting (Mount Allison University, 2018), two New Brunswick Arts Board grants (2018, 2021) and a Canada Council Research and Creation grant (2022). Lucy was the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s Studio Watch: Painting artist in 2020.

Jalianne Li is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in contemporary dance from Moncton, NB, the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples. After obtaining her BSc from Dalhousie University, she studied dance at Trinity Laban in London, UK, and apprenticed with Springs Dance Company. She founded surFace Dance in 2013 and has presented work in the UK, The Netherlands, and the Maritimes. Through her company, Li has been specializing in the integration of facial movement with the body, dance on film, and site-specific work. Her work is also highly collaborative, having explored wave field synthesis with composer Tommaso Perego, video mapping with Collectif HAT, and newspaper costumes with visual artist Mathieu Francoeur.

Li has also delved into theatre and circus and has also performed with Satellite Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Connection Dance Works, Circus Stella and Danse En L’Air. During her spare time, Li can be found filming dance videos for her Instagram @jlidance, creating colourful looks with makeup, meddling on her harp and volunteering at her church. Li has received funding from artsnb and the Canada Council for the Arts and was nominated as a finalist for Les Prix Éloizes in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Jess Naish Lingley escapes reality by creating dreamy colourful art. After six years of the 9-5 grind, she pulled a 180 and dropped everything to move away from Fredericton, NB to Halifax, NS, on a quest to pursue her dream of going to art school, and obtained her Bachelor of Fine Art at NSCAD University in 2016. White attending NSCAD, she worked at the NSCAD Library slinging books, and after graduation she worked part time at an art supply store (where her paycheques rarely went unspent). All the while she painted up a storm, displaying her work in group shows around Halifax. In 2020 the pandemic sent Jess, her husband and two cats back home to Fredericton, where she is enjoying the quiet and slower pace of life. When not in her art cave, she enjoys sewing, yoga, reading, and day-dreaming.

Devin Rockwell is a non-binary, 24 year old interdisciplinary artist- while they primarily work as a playwright and musician, their experience runs the gamut of theatrical disciplines— including directing, acting, and all aspects of technical design (with a particular focus on set, lighting, and sound design). With a background in psychology, (neuroscience) and theatrical studies, along with a deep interest in history and religion, they have sought to combine their eclectic interests into a body of work that uses the esoteric (the cosmic, mystical, and speculative) in service of stories, music, and poetry that are fundamentally personal. Select score credits include Concord Floral (TST, 2019) for which they crafted a score mixing sleepless, moaning synths, church organs, and guitar melodies inspired by both Gregorian Chants and indie-folk, for an eery and heartfelt modern teenage recreation of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Their upcoming solo album, As The Credits Leave the Sky is an ode to New Brunswick as much as it is a tumultuous period of growth in their life, between 2015 and late 2021, utilizing influences as diverse as Folk, Bossanova and Japanese Classical to build an ‘alternative-pop’ album with themes of religious conversion, death, love, and fear/hope for the for the future.

Danielle Smith is a self-taught mixed media fiber artist from Fredericton New Brunswick. She received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick.  She is the owner of Thistle Cove Fiber Studio.

Danielle taught herself felting in 2018 while living in the UK with her husband. Danielle uses art as a mechanism to engage communities in conversations around the impacts of climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the importance of connecting people to nature. She is a juried member of Crafts NB and a Member of the Conservation Council’s From Harm to Harmony Artist Collective. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at the UNB Art Centre and the Sunbury Shores Nature and Art Center. 

Sarah Elizabeth Irving is a visual artist from Salisbury, New Brunswick, Canada. With an array of paints, brushes, and palette knives, Sarah cuts away the fabric of what we think of as motherhood, revealing the sometimes gory, sometimes hilarious personal narratives that are often concealed behind the response, “I’m okay.” Sarah studied Fine Arts at Mount Allison University and has been an active promoter of the arts in her community since 2016. Her motivation for creating art is centered around cultivating spaces for open conversations, especially surrounding community issues and women’s issues. Her work, whether it be canvas painting, mural painting, public art, sculpture, art classes or workshops, is rooted within her desire to improve the lives of others, and provide greater opportunities for the arts within her community.

Wyatt Lawrence (he/him) is a fisherman, naturalist, boatbuilder and visual artist based in Mascarene. A keen observer of tides, trees and people and with a range of experiences on the water, in the woods and the studio, each of these vantage points informs his unique maritime perspective. As a loyalist settler descendant living on unceded Peskotomuhkati territory, he aims to inspire more ecological consciousness by helping us see and feel who we are and how we best interact with the land. Whether by his work boatbuilding, marine inspired woodwork, stone sculpture, forest walks or through the lens of his camera, he hopes to draw society’s gaze towards more gratitude for the healing power of our surroundings. To help foster better acceptance for humanity’s place within nature, not apart from it. 

Saxophonist-composer Joel Miller grew up with a musical family in Sackville, New Brunswick. He got his passion for jazz music from his mother and her record collection, but his bass-playing brother, Andrew, suggested the saxophone at the dinner table one evening. Andrew said to a ten-year old Joel, “You know, the instrument that Zoot on the Muppet Show plays”.

Joel began his career as an innovative bandleader in 1997, winning the Grand Prix of the Montreal International Jazz Festival on the heels of his début record, Find A Way (1997, Isthmus/Page Music). In the intervening two decades, his bands have included musicians of international acclaim including pianists Geoffrey Keezer (heard on his 2012 Origin album Swim) & Henry Hey; drummers Matt Wilson & Brian Blade; and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel (heard on 2005’s Mandala, on Effendi). 

Joel speaks of his saxophone playing, albums and music creations with humour, optimism, celebration and fantasy. In 2016 he returned to his alma mater McGill University to pursue a master’s degree in jazz composition and develop a “chamber symphony”, a term he picked up from his composition professor and mentor John Rea. The results are showcased on his latest album, UNSTOPPABLE which features an 18-piece orchestra made up of Montreal’s finest classical and jazz players.

Joel Miller’s dedication has been recognized with a long list of honours, including a Juno award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album (Swim) and ECMA awards for his albums Swim (2012 Origin Records), Dream Cassette (2016 Origin Records) and UNSTOPPABLE (2019 Multiple Chord Music). He lives and works in Fredericton, New Brunswick. 

Tracey O’Brien is a Fredericton, NB based textile artist. From a young age, Tracey was drawn to textiles. Though, it wasn’t until later in life that she decided to return to school to pursue her passion. In 2020 she graduated from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design’s Textile Design program with a major in weaving. 

Since then, she has become a juried member of Craft NB. Some of the galleries her work has been exhibited at include Gallery 78, UNB Art Centre, and the Charlotte Street Art Centre.  She has also participated in numerous artist residencies, including Kings Landing, Fredericton Botanic Gardens, and Fredericton Arts Alliance.

Tracey is active in the local arts community and is a member of the Fibre Arts Network, the Connexion Artist Run Centre and serves on the board of Craft NB. On a typical day, you can find her in her studio, spinning, weaving, natural dyeing, and sewing.

Ji Hyang Ryu was born in Busan, South Korea. She received a microbiology degree from Pukyung National University. While there she pursued drawing classes and was a member of the university's Fine Art club, where she had the opportunity to exhibit her work for the first time.

After immigrating to Canada and starting her family, Ji began pursuing art and expression daily. Ji aims to express her country’s beauty on canvas by drawing traditional symbols as well as animals similarly referencing traditional Korean paintings. 

Ji is a member of the Moncton Art Society and Riverview Art Council. Her artwork was purchased by the Town of Riverview and has been displayed in the Moncton City Hall as a part of a juried exhibition and has been featured on Global News and CBC Halifax. Since 2010 she has lived in Riverview, NB and works as a visual artist full-time, teaching drawing and painting at her studio. 

Lucy Smith is a self-taught illustrator and sculptor inspired by wildlife and wild places. Her work highlights the beauty in decay and the small dark places few ever take time to examine in hopes to leads towards a better understanding of nature and a greater interest in biology. She integrates taxidermy and found natural objects into polymer and epoxy clay sculptural work, and informs her illustrations with the anatomical and botanical imagery gleaned from biological study and time spent in the field and lab as a museum specimen preparator.

Caitlin is a New Brunswick based printmaker working in Moncton. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University, and moved to Moncton to become a member of Atelier Imago printmaking studio in 2009. In 2018, Caitlin turned her living room into a studio space and opened Maplewood Studio. Here she teaches art lessons, prepares to host her “Artventures” art tourism day trips, and designs greeting cards, which she later hand-prints at Atelier Imago. In her free time, Caitlin can be found with her horses Oliver and Oscar or exploring the wilderness with her sketchbook and her dog Sadie.

“Please pass me a Chinese brush when I am sitting in the wilderness, Please give me a Xuan paper when I am in the woods. I would open the third space for you and look back at the past world. I would like to open the door for you, through the tunnel of space, and look back at your homeland.”                               

Dan Xu is trained in traditional Chinese painting; her work features delicate ink and washes applied with a wool brush on Xuan paper. After immigrating to Canada from China, she started using plein air painting to uncover the ancient Chinese landscape aerial perspectives from 600 hundred years ago and applied this floating perspective to the Maritime landscape. Xu’s approach is simultaneously ethereal and grounded; viewers will readily recognize iconic landmarks and known features of the Fundy landscape.

Xu has participated in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and China, and her work is held in the public collections of the New Brunswick Art Bank. Xu is a recipient of numerous grants and awards, including funding from ArtsNB and the Canada Council for the Arts.  She has a BA from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China (1992) and is currently based in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Hailley Fayle is a professional photographer in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She works at CreatedHere Magazine as their Content Developer and at The New Brunswick College of Craft and Design as their Photo Studio Lab Technician. In her spare time she is a freelancer for various local small business, fashion designers, artists, and crafts people around NB. Her eye for detail and off-beat, eclectic personality leads her to collaborate with others who also boldly express their individuality. Through her lens-based practice, she turns the creative process into a memorable experience that leaves you feeling inspired.

Darcy Hunter is a quilt artist residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She creates original art landscape wall hangings with fabric and stitch, using her sewing machine as her paintbrush. Her representational fibre artworks are inspired by her love of the natural world and evoke the colour, movement, and sense of place of her surroundings. She shows her dedication to the environment by upcycling some of the textiles she uses, to create a more meaningful process. She began her business, Darcy Doodle Quilts, in 2014. In addition to having her work in many Maritime shows and shops, she also has an active online Etsy shop with over 700 sales. Her work can be found in many private collections all over North America. Darcy is a juried member of Craft NB, and an active member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). Her successful art practice propelled her to participate in an artist residency at Odell Park with the City of Fredericton in 2020, and to exhibit at Gallery 78 and the University of New Brunswick Art Centre the same year. Darcy is also a part-time elementary school teacher. She loves teaching and has shown her commitment to the art community through online classes, speaking engagements, and her publication of numerous articles in Art Quilting Studio Magazine and Sew Somerset. Darcy continues to learn new techniques and expand her creative process so that she can continue to grow as an artist.

Cheryl Lavigne is an artist living in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She enjoys hiking New Brunswick’s trails and exploring fields, forests and wetlands that are off the beaten track. She can be found gathering, arranging, painting, drawing, and taking photographs while out in plein air. This kind of creative contemplation with nature has long been a part of her work and process. Cheryl is intrigued by the organized chaos of our natural world. She sees beauty in organic matter, particularly what results from symbiotic relationships and from decay. In her paintings, she captures a balance between spontaneity and order. She uses familiar organic forms that blur the boundaries between abstract and representation. In her drawings and mixed media work, she is observing the relationships and connections that we have with our natural environment.

Karen LeBlanc is a fibre artist and weaver focusing on: traditional, functional and practical forms of weaving; innovative, contemporary tapestry pieces; and, repurposing tartan and tweed garments into hand-stitched pieces. She has exhibited internationally, nationally, regionally and locally and has participated in residencies in Fredericton and Toronto. In 2019, four of her woven wearables were part of the ArtWear fashion show and exhibition in Fort Collins CO. She has also exhibited in fibre art and weaving exhibitions in Reno NV, Milwaukee WI, Muskegon MI, New York NY, Toronto ON, Halifax NS, and many other galleries. She is a member of several professional organizations: American Tapestry Alliance, Complex Weavers, Handweavers Guild of America, CraftNB, Guild of Canadian Weavers, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, CraftNS, and many more. She is the Past President of the Fibre Arts Network and the Treasurer of the NB Crafts Foundation.

Juno is a multidisciplinary artist from Montreal, Canada. She currently lives in Moncton, New Brunswick. Drawing inspiration from nature, mythology, folktales and symbolism, her paintings and sculptures represent a need to reconstruct and heal the wounded feminine caused by an androcentric society. In New Brunswick, she had the privilege of creating a mural with Festival Inspire and of being part of the CATAPULT acceleration program with Arts Link NB. Her work has been showcased in several exhibitions in Montreal: at the Exposition du Festival d’Art Erotique de Montreal, Stimuli and Transformation group exhibitions at Usine 106U, Baazarts group exhibition, Mainline Gallery, Totem Animal group exhibition at Gallery Abyss and Uncovered group exhibition at Théâtre Paradoxe. She is currently working on a multi-disciplinary project exploring the alternative stories of the feminine and goddess archetypes.

Heather McCaig was raised in Toronto and London, Canada. In her early 20s she began growing roots with her husband Nick McCaig in Markhamville, New Brunswick. Together they live in a tiny house surrounded by fruit trees, vegetable gardens and wild blueberries. A full time flameworked glassblower since 2013, Heather is a committed self taught artist. In 2019 she transitioned from her production glass line to creating one of a kind fine craft. From 2020 - 2021 Heather's received a scholarship to the Pittsburgh Glass Center in the United States and support from the New Brunswick Arts Board through their Career Development Grant Program and a Arts Infrastructure Grant for New and Emerging Artists. Captivated by nature and strongly believing in its protection, Heather tries to convey these emotions through her art.

Candice Ostroski is a watercolor artist located in Bathurst, NB. Her topographical studies capture the charm in everyday locations around the Chaleur Bay. Her process involves slowing down to examine scenes close to home, through different light, season, and rhythm. Regularly reserving time for adventures in her own backyard, whether by walking, skiing, or paddle boarding, helps Candice keep in touch the world around her. A mixture of watercolour and ink draws you into these scenes and makes special what could otherwise seem mundane. A love of life, growth, and learning keeps this artist moving forward and seeing her surroundings not just for what they have been, but what they are today and what they can be tomorrow. She has been involved with arts promotion and arts advocacy, especially in the North of the province. In 2020 Candice received a Creation Grant from Arts NB to create a series that will first be exhibited at Circolo Gallery in Campbellton on May 21st, 2021.

Michael Wood is a contemporary ceramic artist located in Salisbury NB. His focus is on using chemistry and geology to create dynamic glazes using found and locally sourced materials. His work has a modern refined feel with hints of their handmade beginnings.

His journey started with an introduction to ceramics through a night class offered at a community studio; he quickly completed the courses offered and began working inside the same studio teaching workshops and classes. Wanting to learn more and grow as rapidly as possible, he spent his time assisting other ceramic artists, attending conferences and taking online classes. Three years ago, he started his own studio practice, developed his online presence and started selling at local craft shows, stores and online retailers. His inspiration is driven through his passion for self -growth and his desire to use the knowledge that he has gained to help grow others.

Renata Britez is a Multidisciplinary Artist originally from Brazil and based in Fredericton,NB. She graduated from the Textile program and Advanced Studio Practice at NBCCD. Her interest in traditional printing methods and surface design led her to follow the path of textile design. Her goal is to explore traditional textile techniques using natural dyes and fibres.

Shelby Harnish is a Canadian dancer, choreographer, performer, and certified yoga instructor based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Her focus is in Commercial Heels, but her training over the years has extended to several other styles of dance. Shelby has been performing since the age of three, consistently using the art of dance as a form of expression. Her passion for dance is what drives her ambition and is what led her to start her dance company, Out of My Shel, encouraging those of all backgrounds to step out of their shells to discover their sensual confidence through the power of dance.

Cheryl Johnson is an artist and teacher in rural New Brunswick. She works with found objects and natural materials from the backwoods to create unique pieces through various methods of preservation, including taxidermy. Their work is dependent on what nature provides and varies according to the seasons: It is structural, whimsical, and sometimes scary. Cheryl is a trained teacher and program coordinator and has worked in the classroom, taught piano lessons one-on-one, and facilitated various small group workshops for many years. They can be found teaching a variety of interesting things, including small critter taxidermy workshops, throughout southern New Brunswick. When available, her pieces can be found for retail sale at local shops and boutiques including Obscurity in Saint John and Bellwether in Fredericton. For more information, please visit her website at deadstuff.ca

Tracey Lavigne is a filmmaker based in Fredericton. She tells stories about connection and authenticity in worlds where those qualities feel elusive. 

She has written, directed, and produced three award-winning short films and is currently producing the Telefilm Talent to Watch feature Further Than The Eye Can See. She is the 2020 winner of the CBC WIFT-Atlantic Pitch Competition and was selected for the 2020 FIN Atlantic Film Festival Script Development Program, where she received an Honourable Mention for her queer coming-of-age drama Glitter.

Kylie and Tim Osmond, the artists behind Smiley Seahorse Ceramics, are a husband and wife team collaborating to make fun and functional ocean inspired pottery intended to be enjoyed in every day living. Taking their inspiration from the places where they grew up in Atlantic Canada, their work portrays intricate carvings of maritime scenery and colorful sea creatures. They work full time from their home studio just outside of Fredericton, New Brunswick and are constantly producing new work to keep up with an ever moving flow of inventory for their online shop, www.smileyseahorseceramics.com, as well as they are preparing for the grand opening of their mobile boutique in May 2021.

Bernard Quintal was born in 1956 in St-Quentin, New Brunswick. He moved many times in three provinces because of his father’s work. He obtained a medical degree at Ottawa University in 1979. Since 1981, Bernard has lived with his spouse Lucie in the Dalhousie region of New Brunswick in front of the beautiful Bay of Chaleur. Bernard started painting with watercolours in 1979. However, a busy medical practice curtailed his artistic endeavours for many years. Bernard is mainly a self-taught artist, but in 2015 he enrolled in several watercolour workshops. He now paints regularly. Since 2016 he has exhibited his new works in several group exhibitions. Bernard’s current interest is a close-up exploration of Maritime beaches, especially the colourful rocks and odd items found there, such as driftwood, shells and vegetation. In early 2019, he started painting a new collection of larger watercolour works about this subject. He has photographed maritime beaches with an imaginary magnifying glass. He has a need to preserve a memory of childhood pristine shores and reliving the joy of discovery.

For Lucie Quintal, it all started with a deluxe box of Prismacolor coloring pencils when she was four years old. She was fascinated by the kaleidoscopic display of colours and this relationship with colours has sustained her all her life. 

For the last six years Lucie has been immersed in designing and hand-hooking art pieces on linen or burlap. She uses wool, silks, synthetic fibres and repurposed clothing in her art. Lucie also experiments with metal and plastic in her works. 

Ysabelle Vautour is a painter from Grand Barachois NB. Currently living in Fredericton, she is the founder of the New Brunswick Disability Art Collective. This former crisis intervenor decided in 2019 to teach herself how to paint and do art every day for a year as part of a self-care project. In that year, she was invited to speak at Artslink`s Short and Sweet Speaker Series, participated in a few live painting competitions, and started teaching. Her art was featured at the Fredericton Public Library, CBC New Brunswick and Grid City Magazine. Ysabelle’s work was also selected for a juried exhibition at the Nails on the Wall Gallery in Metuchen, New Jersey. 2021 brings two solo exhibitions for Ysabelle, the first at the Penny Gallery in Fredericton and the second at Corid’art Gallery in Shediac. You can see her art at Cinnamon Cafe and Surface Float in Fredericton. She launched Creating Accessible Solutions where she is currently working on a disability art showcase.

Sofia Cristanti is an Indonesian Canadian artist. She emigrated to Canada in 2010. She is based in Saint John, NB. She holds a BFA major in Painting, and MBA from Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia. Her works focus on contemporary art with evolving style and medium. She believes that research and planning is imperative in art making, the process determines what medium, style, and technique that suits to develop and embody the subject matter for her artworks. Having a big life transition during her immigration in Canada, it has brought her exploring the artworks with subject matter that speaks out her voice as a first generation immigrant. 

She has received Cultural Diversity Awards and grants from Edmonton Art Council in 2011 and 2015, some grants, and awards in Canada and abroad. She had exhibited her art in  groups and solo at the Capitol Art Gallery Moncton (2019), The Beaverbrook gallery (2019), Multicultural Association of Fredericton (2019), McMullen Gallery Edmonton (2018), SkirtsAfire Festival (2018), Edmonton Convention Centre (2017-2018), The Works Art and Design Festival (2017), CARFAC Alberta Artist Run Centres (2017), and also in Indonesia. 

Sheryl Crowley is a mosaicist and painter behind Fractured Art Mosaics, based in Saint John, NB. She began creating original mosaic works in 2005 with a hammer and a few hardware store tiles. Her skills developed. The hammer was laid aside and more delicate tools were taken up. Her original designs sprout from both the brilliance of nature and the sometimes dark world of the emotional interior. She has worked on many private and public commissions, exhibits, residencies and classes. Working in traditional glass and ceramic along with metal materials and found objects she is able to create images of whimsy and introspection.

This past decade has proven to be an exciting period for her art. Most recently, she has exhibited her work as part of a CraftNB Exhibit, “Beneath The Surface”, which developed from a June 2019 residency at Fundy National Park. In late 2019, she travelled to Venice, Italy, with the assistance of an artsnb grant. At the Orsoni Furnace in Venice, she participated in a week-long workshop in ancient mosaic technique. Her 2017-18 solo show, “Inside- Out”, was shown at both Sunbury Shores Art and Nature Centre in St. Andrews, NB and at the Saint John Arts Centre. Sheryl has taught mosaic classes through University of NB Extended Learning, the Saint John Arts Centre, the Saint John Multicultural and Newcomers Resource Centre, the ARTrageous Festival at Kingsbrae Gardens and has also been an Artist in Residence in multiple local schools.

Times have been busy. You may see her mosaics at Handworks Fine Art and Craft Gallery in Saint John, NB, Serendipin’ Art in St. Andrews, NB and the Acanthus Gallery in Grand Falls, NB. Major permanent installations may be seen at the Imperial Theatre of Saint John (2019) and the YMCA of Greater Saint John (2015). She is a juried member of CraftNB, and a professional member of both Canadian Artists Representation Le Front Des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) and ArtsLinkNB.

Todd Fraser knits, makes films, previously worked as a catholic altar server and in an artist-run centre, and his grandfather learned to dance in a dream.

His work has screened across the country, from Victoria to Antigonish. He lives in Sackville, New Brunswick. 

Jonathan Haché, also known as Jono, is a hip-hop producer and rapper based out of Moncton, New Brunswick. He has been producing since the age of 10 and writing for as long as he can remember. A fan of writing in both French and English, he combines both in Chiac as part of his upcoming project called “Party Chenous”. He’s also working on future projects for himself and as part of a collective. Having worked for multiple years helping project deliveries as a software developer, combined with his ArtsLink CATAPULT experience, he also aims to help other artists of the local hip-hop community.

Kelley Joyce-Floyd is a visual artist based in Quispamsis NB. She has been focusing on her artistic career since 2015, and is a juried member of Craft NB.  Working mainly with acrylics, Kelley’s current work explores her her fascination with and love for her maritime home and the flora and fauna found there, using saturated colours, a generous dose of whimsy and a touch of magic. Kelley has had her work shown at the Saint John Art Club Gallery, and has an upcoming show in the Grand Manan Art Gallery. In 2017, several pieces of her work were chosen for the Canada 150 Art Acquisition Program, and her designs have been chosen for Discover Saint John‘s  public art installation, Salmon Run, three times. Her works are in private collections across Canada and the US.

Melissa May is an artist that is passionate about detailed, skillful artwork, rivalled only by her love of nature and the beauty of all that it encompasses. She grew up in a small country community in New Brunswick, Canada, free to roam and play on the edge of forests and fields, exploring nature in the intimate way only children can do, and raised to have compassion and respect for all living things. Melissa has a deep passion for protecting the planet, all creatures and especially wildlife who are most vulnerable.

Working with acrylics, Melissa takes great pleasure in realism, priding herself in the ability to convey the emotion of each subject. With great attention to detail, beginning with the eyes, her paintings give a glimpse into the soul of each being, bridging the gap between the human and animal. Melissa’s painting technique is always evolving, growing to bring each painting to life with every carefully placed brush stroke. The amazing thing about her work is how it pulls the viewer in, capturing the very essence of each subject with striking intensity

Simmi Obscura is an abstract, immersive, multi-media artist based in Moncton,NB. Working with new and found objects she creates wild, colorful, exploratory spaces. Her art brings the viewer out of our usual reality and into a neon garden of jewels and drips to inspire the imagination. Her artistic career started while she was taking a graphic design course in 2010. 

From here she would take her academic knowledge and natural talent to create works for a variety of local businesses. As well as co-founding and exhibiting in underground art galleries. She has also participated in local festivals as a volunteer (3 years), volunteer coordinator (1 year), and artist (3years).