Board of Directors

CARFAC Ontario has an seven-person Board of Directors who each serve a two-year term. The Board of Directors are:

 

 

 Hans Engel (President) is a visual artist who works in mixed media painting as well as installations. He has a background that includes years as a young actor in film, television and stage and is a graduate of the National Theatre School Directing Department in Montreal. While working as the Assistant Artistic Director of Theatre at the Banff Centre for the Arts in the late 90s, Hans began painting and has since had solo shows across Canada and is in collections internationally. Currently Hans works for the Directors Guild of Canada and is on the Board of the Actor’s Fund of Canada. Hans is represented by Trias Gallery in Toronto.

Stephen Remus (Secretary) is a visual artist who works in a variety of media including 16mm film, video, print and paint. He is the Minister of Energy, Minds, and Resources at the Niagara Artists Centre, the hardest working artist-run centre in the nation!

Henrjeta Mece Photo

 Henrjeta Mece (Treasurer) is a multidisciplinary artist, and curator. She developed her art foundation and began exhibiting in Europe. After relocating in Toronto, Canada she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design and later, her Masters of Fine Arts. She also holds a Certificate from the Commedia dell Arte Carnavale di Venezia and numerous awards. Henrjeta Mece has been invited to many national and international residencies and her art work and curatorial projects have been exhibited throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

Barbara Gilbert (Vice-President)

Barbara Gilbert is a Toronto-based artist, curator and educator who has exhibited in Canada, Europe and Australia. A bilingual francophone, she was born in Quebec City. She is currently the Director of Le Laboratoire d'art (le Labo), a francophone media arts centre in Toronto. Barbara obtained extensive arts administration experience in the Visual Arts Office of the Ontario Arts Council and in the Education Department of the Art Gallery of Ontario. More recently, Barbara was Board President of the Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography. Formerly Secretariat Coordinator at the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, Barbara has also taught in Continuing Studies at the Ontario College of Art & Design and is a regular participant in the radio show "Au delà d'la 401" on Radio-Canada where she contributes a monthly exhibitions chronicle.

Kohila Kurunathan

Kohila Kurunathan graduated with her Hon. BA from the Art and Art history programme at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Her background is in design, lens-based media, print, drawing and, most recently, animation. She’s worked with the Blackwood Gallery, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, OAAG, and Akimbo. Since 2008 she’s been the  Communications and Outreach Coordinator at SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre).

Devon Ostrom holds an MA in curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has graduated from programs in Non-profit as well as Human Resource management from Ryerson University. His career as an organizer started at fourteen when coordinating a street art contest at the Central Canadian Exhibition in Ottawa. From the Art Gallery of Ontario to a mural and research project at Kingston Penitentiary, he has since gone on to organize countless installations and exhibitions. His exhibition record includes the highly acclaimed Streetscape programming for Luminato 2008 at Regent Park and the Parliament St. Slip / Former Tent City. Other highlights include “Housepaint, Phase 2: Shelter” at the Royal Ontario Museum. As a community organizer Devon was a founder of them.ca (Canada’s largest organization of street artists) and serves as the Visual Arts Director of Manifesto Community Projects. Devon’s advocacy work includes founding BeautifulCity.ca – an alliance of over 60 organizations that recently defeated the world’s dominant media conglomerates in a 29/11 council decision to put a new tax on billboards. (The dedication of funding to art in the public sphere will happen in the budget cycle.) He is also a member of the Toronto City Summit Alliance’s Emerging Leaders Network and was selected as one of Ryerson Alumni’s Top 30 Under 30.

Yvonne Wiegers (Past President) has spent more than 15 years in the visual arts field in various roles including practicing artist, arts educator and arts administrator. Yvonne’s studio practice – as a mixed media sculptor , painter, photographer and installation artist – currently focuses on issues related to accumulation and identity . Her works have been exhibited throughout Canada as well as in the US, Russia and Sri Lanka.  As an arts educator, Yvonne has taught at the university, college and secondary school-levels both in Canada and overseas. Yvonne has also held senior leadership positions in both non-governmental arts organizations and in educational institutions. Yvonne holds an BA in Fine Art from the University of Guelph and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Calgary.

 

Yael Brotman

Yael Brotman received a BA Honours from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Visual Culture from the University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto and teaches in the Studio Program at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She is a practicing artist.

Her exhibition history includes solos at Odd Gallery in Dawson City, Yukon; Loop Gallery and Open Studio Gallery in Toronto; two and three-person shows at McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton; Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s NFLD; and Mt. St. Vincent University Gallery, Halifax. She has also exhibited in numerous group shows, most recently in Melbourne, Australia; Jingdezhen, China; Sofia, Bulgaria; Boulder CO, USA; and in Windsor, Sudbury and London, ON. Her work has been featured in newspapers, blogs and magazines (The Globe and Mail, viewoncanadianart.com, Visual Arts News).

Among her awards, Yael has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, a fellowship from the University of Toronto, and honorable mention in Open Studio’s National Printmaking Competition. Artist residencies include the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Yukon; Sanbao International Art Institute, Jingdezhen, China; and Aras Eanna Art Centre, Aran Islands, Ireland (upcoming 2012). Her work is represented in public and corporate collections including the Canada Council Art Bank; Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada; Sanbao Museum, China; University of Alberta; Ernst and Young; and the BMO Collection.


Past Board members include Tony Urquhart, Greg Curnoe and Jack Chambers.