Gallery Talk: Ellen Bleiwas on Intergalactic Planetary

Ellen Bleiwas will guide us in a walk-through of the exhibition INTERGALACTIC PLANETARY: Tracey Snelling (on view until December 14th, 2025), with an attunement to world building through architectural sculpture.

Together, we will do a close read of sorts: zooming in and out, from subtle symbols to glowing neon signage, from gritty city blocks to voyeuristic windows, noticing decisions made, pausing on surprises, asking questions, noticing materials and colours, immersing in the sensorial, delving into urban details, feeling the glimmer of recognition, and the thrill of that which is just beyond recognition. We will consider what we are bringing to the work from our personal experiences, building a layered reading informed by the multiplicity of experiences in the room.

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Ellen Bleiwas is a visual artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. Her practice is rooted in space, slowness, and sensory perception, often drawing upon textural materiality, minimalist geometry, overwhelming repetition, and a fulsome emptiness. She holds an MFA from York University, and a Master of Architecture from McGill University. She has participated in artist residencies including the NARS Foundation (New York), Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa), Studio Faire (Nérac, France), Artscape Gibraltar Point (Toronto), and Takt Kunstprojektraum (Berlin). She has exhibited at galleries including The Plumb (Toronto), Galerie And (Berlin), The Robert McLaughin Gallery (Oshawa), and Idea Exchange (Cambridge). Her practice has been supported through grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Urbanspace Property Group, and the RBC Foundation.

Prior to transitioning to visual art, Ellen spent a decade in architecture, earning a Master’s Degree (McGill University); completing internships at Shigeru Ban Architects (Tokyo) and Proje Mimarlik (Istanbul); working at firms including Paul Raff Studio (Toronto) and Design Workshop Architects (Toronto); and working as a Set Designer for the Director’s Guild of Canada.

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Host or Publisher Koffler Centre of the Arts