Meichen Waxer is an artist, curator and arts worker living in Toronto, and grew up in Aurora, Ontario. She holds an MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and a BFA from OCAD University. Meichen’s intrigue into the history of domestic ornamentation, design and cultural artifacts is the foundation for an ongoing query into personal, cultural and social histories. Throughout her practice, Meichen explores the difficulty of locating her own history within a culture which worked specifically to obscure it, both that of queerness and Judaism. She utilizes collage, sculpture, installation, and image-based media, to reinterpret colonized and homogenized aesthetics of domestic ornamentation and search for a more nuanced relationship material culture. Recent exhibitions include Fort Gallery, Fort Langley; The Plumb, Toronto; Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria; and CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada. Artist residencies have included Treignac Projet, France; Anvil Centre, Canada, Halka Sanat Projesi, Turkey and Parsons, France.
Meichen is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Arts Assembly, a nomadic not-for-profit arts organization which is focused on supporting creative and experimental practice and research. Beginning in 2016, Arts Assembly has worked with a dynamic range of practitioners pushing the boundaries of what art can be and do. You can learn about Arts Assembly at their website. Meichen is a Vice President of the Board of Directors at Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada.
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Which ’hood are you in?
The Junction
What do you do?
Alongside making art and running Arts Assembly, I work at OCAD U supporting Graduate Studies recruitment and community engagement.
What are you currently working on?
A few things! I’ve been working on a series of candle sculptures this past year and am excited to be exhibiting them recently. As well, I’m in the early stages of a new project exploring early northern Jewish settlements in Canada, specifically where my family settled in Krugerdorf, Ontario, southwest of Timmins. I’m also working on a collaboration for a series of rugs based off of my collages. Arts Assembly is collaborating with Dancemakers to host a panel discussion around access and dance, this will coincide with the launch of video recordings of a recent Arts Assembly dance project which happened in Toronto and Vancouver, The Longest Way Round is the Shortest Way Home. We have worked with a dance describer and blind/ low vision consultant to make the recordings of the work accessible to a blind and low vision community.
Where can we find your work?
You can visit my website and Instagram. Also, you can find me at Arts Assembly.
