Member profiles

Marc Audette is visual artist, educator and curator. He holds a BFA from the Université du Québec en Outaouais and an MFA from York University. Audette was the curator of the Glendon Gallery from 2001 to 2014, and a founding member and first president of the Association of Francophone Visual Artists in Canada. He was also contributory in the creation of the Labo d’art, Toronto – an organization that supports creation, production and innovation in the media arts sector. Audette’s work has been exhibited across Canada as well as internationally, in New York; Besançon, France; Medellin, Columbia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Kiev, Ukraine. His work is in several collections, including Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, City of Ottawa, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and McCarthy Tétrault LLP.

Laura Demers is a visual artist and writer who lives and works in Toronto. She holds a B.F.A. from the University of Ottawa and completed an M.A. in Art History and Theory at the University of Toronto.

My current artistic practice includes making assemblages using found objects and recycled paper as my main medium. The artworks that arise from this creative process are often surrealistic.

Based in Toronto, Simon M. Benedict is an artist working with video, sound, performance, and photo. He repurposes existing audiovisual material and archival documents to explore our relationship to various fictional and historical narrative forms, and their impact on our reading of unmediated reality.

Laura Bergeron graduated with distinction and is a recipient of the Filmmaker Award from the Toronto Film School in 2015. Laura is a bilingual writer, director, editor and animator. She produced two short documentaries in 2015 Entr’actes and Benoit and The Trees, as well as the experimental short film La parade. Her short film Winner Gagnant (2016) was selected for the First Look International Award at the Denver Film Festival in Colorado.

Joseph Bitamba is native of Burundi, where he worked at first on the national Television. He then followed several internships in Belgium, in France and in Burkina Faso and he obtained a certificate scénarisation to the International School of Bordeaux, as well as a certificate in the direction of production cinema in Paris, to the National Institute of the Broadcasting INA (NATIONAL AUDIOVISUAL INSTITUTE).

Josiane is a passionate storyteller and a firm believer in the use of media as a vector of change. Globetrotter passionate about social issues and cultural interactions, Josiane's versatility allowed her to occupy a wide range of positions in Canada, Europe, South America and Africa, memorable experiences during which she had the chance to document the lives of the people she met on her way.

Denis Taman Bradette is an artist and educator based in Toronto and in Northeastern Ontario near Cochrane. He completed his master's degree in fine arts in 2013 (University of Ottawa), focussing on works connected to the elements, time, autobiography and the Anthropocene. Denis participated in the Ontario Arts Council’s Artist in Education program for many years providing mixed-media art workshops (with themes based on autobiography and ecology) to elementary students in classroom settings.

Samuel Choisy (b. 1974, France) is a photo-based visual artist. His work explores the notion of mental territory through different projects and formal approaches.

A graduate of France’s National Theatre School in Strasbourg, Maxime Desmons has appeared in award-winning French films and directed stage plays in Paris and at the Rome Biennale. In 2007, he completed his first short film, BAGGAGE, followed by BONNE MÈRE (Official Selection 2008 Berlinale Shorts) and SOMEBODY IS WATCHING US – all his films touring festivals internationally. Graduating from the CFC in 2008, Maxime directed the short musical D’UNE RIVE À L’AUTRE and AU PLUS PROCHE, a short meditation on mourning.

Following serious health issues, Marcel Grimard decided to reconsider his life and professional career. During his long recovery period, he gradually regained his will to live through his artistic exploration where he, at the same time, he discovered a dormant artistic talent within him.

Jacquelyn Hébert is an interdisciplinary artist whose work stems from an interest in historical, cultural and imagined narratives. In addition to a BFA with a Film, Video + Integrated Media Major from Emily Carr University, she holds a BA with an Anthropology Major from the University of Manitoba. Jacquelyn has presented her work both nationally and internationally, most recently at La maison des artistes visuels in Winnipeg, the FOFA Gallery in Montreal, the 8fest in Toronto and L’Acropolis de Nice in Nice, France. In 2014, she completed a Master of Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal and she now lives and works in Toronto.

Quitterie Hervouet moved to Toronto, Canada from France at the end of 2015. Her career path started in Paris as an actor, with an eye always towards comedy.

Sarah Kravetz is a philanthropic filmmaker with over 13 years of distinctive production experience. With a Masters in Communications from Paris, she now documents intercultural stories and unity in Toronto. Starting her worldwide adventure in her twenties, Canon in hand, she took pictures of kids with swags, moments of interactions around games and traditional rituals in more than 40 countries. Her career in the film and entertainment industry includes work as an Assistant Director,Artistic Coordinator and a Production and Stage Manager.

Glen Charles Landry is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been shown all over the world. He is a Visual Concept Designer, Art Director, Scenographer, Scriptwriter, Storyteller, Poet, Lyricist, Writer, Painter and, on some occasions, Comedian. Glen Charles is originally from New Brunswick and attended the National School of Theatre of Canada in Montreal where he studied Scenography from 1995 to 1998.

Originally from Montreal, Julie Lassonde is a performance artist who is interested in subjects such as gender, intimacy, socio-legal norms affecting daily life and processes related to performativity, such as repetition. Trained in corporeal mime school, she presented solo performances and improvisations in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, Berkeley, San Francisco and Edinburgh. She also studied law at McGill University.

Founder, Executive and Artistic Director Cinéfranco since 1997, Marcelle Lean has known several careers in the disciplines of the theatre, translation and education before dedicating herself to working with a large number of artistic organizations in Toronto.

Maria Legault is a performance artist that has hidden in paper bags, married a doll and stuffed crevices with pink icing. She holds a BFA from Concordia University, an MFA from the University of Guelph and is a PhD candidate at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

As a therapist and a photographer, he see life as a personal art project being continually shaped and reshaped. Creativity and storytelling have always been at the core of his personal quest. A photograph is hundreds of stories unfolding in silence looking at the viewer. Therapy is looking at the potential of silence which has been disguised with words.

Humanist in the soul, the development of the human potential and its ability to evolve positively are at the heart of my artistic approach. Passion, intuition, perception and introspection guide my creativity. I am fascinated by colours and textures. My creations are designed to arouse emotions, soothe and delight the soul. Abstract and intuitive paintings in oil, watercolour and mixed media.

After studying cinema in Paris, Alex Loukos made his first documentary about filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos’ unique storytelling (Director of Eternity and a day, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1998). Later, his short film, The Man Next Door, an « almodovarian » comedy, made its way into festivals and on television.

Léa Pascal made her debut in the world of television as a columnist and then as a host. In 1997, she launched her production company to create her own projects, mainly documentary series. In 2009, Léa Pascal won a Gemini award for the Chic Choc series, which featured models of Aboriginal youth.

Madi Piller is a filmmaker, animator, programmer and independent curator currently living and working in Toronto, Canada. Her abstract, nonrepresentational and poetic images are drawn from film explorations in Super 8, 16mm and 35mm, as well as photography and video. The resulting imagery is strongly influenced by diverse animation techniques and styles.

I am an artist who uses techniques and materials specific to design, such as textiles, clothing, knitting and video animation to create conceptual works about the relationship that human beings have with material culture, that is, objects of daily use, in particular clothes.

Geneviève Thauvette is a Franco-Ontarian artist currently residing in Toronto. Her photographs have shown internationally, notably at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival, the Perth International Arts Festival (Australia), the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, and the Vie Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut were she won the gold medal for Canada. Her series Les quintuplées Dionne have been acquired by the Canadian Museum of History and the City of Ottawa Fine Art Collection.

Nadine Valcin is an award-winning bilingual producer, writer and director. Her factual and documentary work has been shown in Canada on CBC, CBC News Network, TVO, W, Artv, Réseau de l’information (RDI), Société Radio-Canada (SRC), TFO, as well TV One and the History Network in the United States.

Paul Walty has suffered an addiction to the visual arts since 1980. Should you press him, he will admit that he is not immune to the seductive allure of photography, sculpture, installation and stop-motion animation. Studies at the University of Toronto, whetted a life-long appetite for archaeology and in particular prehistory, while a later sojourn at the Ontario College of Art and Design primed him for his adventure in the arts.

I started as an enthusiastic film and special effects buff in the 1980's. Through the era of home computers I learned how to program those damn machines, and started to create my own graphics; thinking that, one day in the distant future, I might be able to apply that passion to my films.