Ethereal Forms

Jesse King, born Ojibwe from Wasauksing First Nation (Eagle Clan), is based in Toronto. King’s work and curatorial interest frequently explore the many facets of identity, including discussions of queerness, gender, and the importance of cultural representation. 

King’s work has been exhibited internationally in Berlin, Germany, and Tampere, Finland. Their work has been in several independent publications, including fashion magazines such as Wonderland Magazine. King was the Exhibitions and Program Coordinator at imagineNATIVE for three years, immersing themselves in all forms of art that involved integral discussions of Indigenous narratives through collaboration with national and international artists and many essential Toronto galleries. King works with the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) as the Curatorial Assistant for Indigenous, Youth and Artists in Residency Projects.   

King served on the Trinity Square Video board of directors, is now a new board member of The Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA), and sits on the SNAP! X ACT curatorial committee. 

Julia Asimakopulos is a Montreal based artist who creates abstract works with the versatile material of concrete that are hybrids between painting and sculpture, reflecting the fragility of life, the passage of time and the experience of loss. Her desire to encapsulate fleeting moments despite the transitory nature of life has led her to embed fragments of paper, rust, tar, threads, leaving them visible beneath the material’s surface and within carefully created interstices, sometimes leaving only a trace, like memories or fragments of human journeys.

With a Bachelor in Design and a BFA, Julia has been active in the visual arts for over 30 years. She has had numerous group and solo exhibitions, and has received grants from the SIDIM, Canada Council of the Arts and SODEC.

She draws a parallel between her art practice and her work as an occupational therapist, where she’s inspired by the resilience and adaptability of human beings coping with their vulnerability.

Tobias Luttmer is a self-taught sculptor from Calgary working primarily in granite and stainless. He has sculpted monumental works in Canada and Brazil and has smaller pieces in private collections across the globe. He is inspired by nature and mythology. Sometimes he has an idea to convey, but generally he lets the viewer form their own narrative. He is process-driven; he loves the dust, fire, mud, and physicality of the studio. These one-of-a-kind pieces are handmade by him.

Francie McGlynn is multi-disciplinary artist with an interest in pre-patriarchal spirituality. Her 3D assemblages, made from organic, found and scavenged items, explore how contemporary spirituality intersects with that of ancient humans. Her post-modern talismans are intended to be whimsical and temporary. Her greatest influence has been the Yukon Territory. Her muses were inspired by the intense stillness of the land and the art and spirituality of the indigenous people who live there. She has a B.A. with a major in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo and a B.Ed. from Brock University in St. Cathrines.

Francie was grateful to receive Honourable Mention in the 3D category of the 2024 Online International Spiritual Arts Awards. She has shown work at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the Pelham Art Festival, various group shows, the TAG Gallery in St. Catharines and the Jackalope Gallery, Queen St. E., Toronto.

Alexander Millington is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist and professional fine art framer. His practice merges figurative abstraction with the material precision of experimental paper cutting and collage, exploring the interplay of presence and absence through intricately layered compositions. Millington’s recent work engages with the visual language of absence, loss, and fragmentation, using motifs of canaries and the naked body to trace how vulnerability, transformation, and erasure are inscribed on the physical form.

Keenan O’Toole, is a Toronto-based artist, primarily works in ceramics and sculpture. She earned her MFA from Kent State University in 2025, following a Bachelor of Craft and Design from Sheridan College in 2019 and further studies at Alberta University of the Arts in 2020. This fall, she will be an Artist-In-Residence at Harbourfront Centre.

O’Toole’s practice explores form, colour, and scale through traditional ceramic building methods. She engages in a cyclical process of translating structural references into both two- and three-dimensional compositions. This process involves abstraction, investigating how physical frameworks shape perception, memory, and movement. Geometric shapes and modular systems echo underlying infrastructures, such as pipes, grids, and conduits, drawing attention to how we subconsciously navigate space.

Lines function as directional signals in her work, guiding flow through material and form. Through iterative repetition, she builds a visual language that references universal spatial markers, including horizontal and vertical divisions, containment, and extension. Her sculptures and drawings operate like fragmented maps or speculative models, inviting viewers to reflect on the systems that structure both built environments and internal experiences.

Zahra Saleki is an Iranian-Canadian artist and settler based in T’Koronto. Her artistic practice encompasses video, installation art, and photography. She holds a Bachelor of Honors in Fine Art Cultural Studies from York University.
Zahra has showcased her solo exhibitions at prestigious venues including the Aga Khan Museum with “I will stay there, Even in pieces” (2022), Laurier University office with “Call My Name” (2019), Samara Contemporary Art Gallery with “This Storm is You” (2019), Pamenar with “This Storm is You” (2018), and the Ontario Science Centre with “Invisible Tattoos” (2017). Her work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as “Girl Talk” at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in 2017 and “Richmond 401” in 2016.
Zahra’s artistic achievements have garnered attention from various media outlets, including CBC, The Cord, The Creator Class, Canadian Art, BOOOOOOOM, Toronto Guardian, NOW Magazine, BlogTO, Vice, and AGO.

Sharl G. Smith is a Jamaican-born, Kitchener/Waterloo-based Canadian sculptor. Her artistic journey revolves around reimagining the ancient craft of bead-stitching, transforming it into an innovative and engaging form of public art and architecture. As a type of weaving, bead-stitching merges individual elements into a new cohesive whole. Her practice explores the invisible networks and social infrastructure that form the foundation for building communities rooted in care and well-being.

Emily Zou‘s art practice explores the intersection of climate awareness and mental health. She creates intricate, small– to large-scale sculptures of found objects to confront material waste and unsustainable consumerism. She sources her materials from community donations, close connections, and the street, giving trash a new life. Beginning in 2020, during the pandemic, she realized that her apartment had become a pigsty. To declutter her apartment, rather than tossing the mess, she played with the mess. She used string to tie objects together, and this physical act of tying became an obsessive outlet for her anxiety. These works are capsules of the chaotic emotional energy felt during their creation. A metaphor for transformation, change, and healing, trash is upcycled and takes on a new life. She hopes to spark dialogue with people about their stories and experiences with mental health. She wants to inspire people to see their darkness as a source of strength and challenge what we define as “trash.”

She is a Chinese-Canadian multimedia artist, sculptor, illustrator, and painter. As an OCAD University alumna, she has shown her work in exhibitions/spaces such as Nuit Blanche, the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Mackenzie Investments, Arts Etobicoke, Latcham Art Centre, John B. Aird Gallery, Florence Contemporary Gallery, and the University of Toronto.

Andrew Zimbel is a Toronto-based photographer. His training in photography started early at the elbow of his father, George Zimbel, a renowned humanist photographer. From a young age, he believed he would follow in his father’s footsteps. He always had a camera with him and would often spend time with his father in the Darkroom, where the red safety light would reveal the amazing images swimming up from the developer bath. Life had other plans.

After a decades-long hiatus from photography, Andrew’s photographic journey was rekindled by the advent of the iPhone and his discovery of the magic of Photoshop. The beauty of the everyday caught in a moment while rambling through ravines and trails in the city is combined and repositioned to create magical landscapes. His eye, trained with gentle patience by his father, sees the promise in the ordinary, the magic of light and the power of nature.

His artistic vision is driven by the subtle nuances of the world around him, focusing on the beauty that often goes unnoticed. This renewed passion for photography culminated in his first self-produced one-man show, “Whispers of the Ordinary,” on his 65th birthday, exploring the intricate connections between nature and humanity.

Andrew is the father of two amazing daughters, he has had a long career in the event industry and is a writer and coordinator of the Junction Writer’s Group. 2024 will be the first time he has participated as an artist in the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

The images are limited editions and are printed by the Image Foundry on Canson Platine Fibre Rag 310.