We Diverge – 2019 Satellite Award Exhibition

We Diverge
2019 Satellite Award Exhibition

Bade Finn
Olivia Mossuto
Sian Smith

September 18 – 28, 2019
Gallery Hours: Wed – Fri 2-7PM, Sat 12-5PM
Reception: Friday, September 20th, 7-9PM

Satellite Project Space
121 Dundas St, London, ON

This year, the Satellite Award Exhibition We Diverge highlights the work of three local emerging artists Bade Finn (Bealart), Olivia Mossuto (Western University, BFA) and Sian Smith (Fanshawe College, Fine Art Diploma). Each year, Fanshawe College, Western University and Bealart award this exhibition opportunity to an exceptional student graduating from their respective programs.

These artists have distinct art practices that employ both traditional and non-traditional materials. Bade Finn works with clay to create intricate, playful and humorous canine figures that reflect her emotions and inner thoughts. Olivia Mossuto’s mixed-media paintings and sculptural works are affective and intimate explorations into the landscape of contemporary relationships and the images and memories we all carry. Sian Smith constructs immersive wall and floor installations that play with viewers’ depth perception and sense of scale.

Bade Finn is a ceramic artist whose work consists of both sculptural and functional pieces. She first discovered her passion for clay in the Bealart program in 2016, which she then attended for the next three years. She is now pursuing a Bachelor of Craft and Design (specialty in ceramics) at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. She is also a two-time summer student member at the London Clay Art Centre and 2019 recipient of the Edith Pierce Award. The wall hanging pieces that occupy the majority of her work resemble brightly coloured hounds, each with their own distinct personalities. She also uses her functional wheel-thrown work as a canvas for more illustrative and intricate surface design.

Olivia Mossuto is a practicing visual artist born and based in Hamilton, Ontario, focusing on the exploration of painting, sculpture and analog photography. Her work seeks to genuinely engage in affective and intimate encounters with both humans and objects. Through consideration of social biases and familial hierarchies that influence our recollection of the past, her work becomes a tool for invoking genuine/second encounters. In more recent years, her practice has become heavily inspired by a strong interest in critical theories, as well as the dichotomous (and problematic) relationship between life and death, thus giving rise to an eclectic form of painting and sculpture that moves in a conversation with figuration, representation, and phenomena. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at The University of Western Ontario in June 2019 and will be attending the University of the Arts London to pursue her MA in Fine Arts in September 2019.

Sian Smith is an Oji-Cree artist currently living in London, Ontario. She is a graduate of Fanshawe College’s Fine Art Program. Her immersive installations are inspired by and resemble architectural models and the layouts of suburban neighbourhoods or are constructed based on how light falls and is shaped by a window’s cast shadow. To construct her wall and floor installations, she uses a time consuming, intuitive process that involves taking, sorting, layering, cutting, and gluing hundreds of paint chip samples.