MOCA Artist Series: Stephanie Fortin, David Frankovich and Maggie McCutcheon
There are only a few weeks left in Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA , a unique studio residency program in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.
Akin is honored to continue sharing profiles of the remarkable group of artists from our inaugural cohort in this final installation of the MOCA Artist Series. We have posted profiles of the artists throughout the summer and this is our final post; you can click here to see the entire series. Today we are happy to share profiles of three of the Year 1 artists, Stephanie Fortin, David Frankovich and Maggie McCutcheon.
Stephanie Fortin
Stephanie Fortin’s studio methods and research involve resist based techniques - clamping, folding, stitching, wrapping, ikat weaving, natural dye and pigments - plant, animal and mineral. Growing and harvesting dye plants and stitching.
These techniques blur transitions of line, shape and form; regardless of the attention in preparation and creation, there are unexpected moments that occur. The shape and imagery is dependent on the pressure applied during the resist - in kind, resist dyeing becomes an excellent metaphor for life. The process demands closeness, precision, physical and mental endurance that has a narrative of stress on both land and body. Opposing elements of control and lack of control, come together. The body and objects resist colour in the work. There is a directness and connection between the body, the land and colour, that materializes give-and take.
The abstraction grants choice reaction, engaging imagination. Asking viewers to be present and mindful, while contemplating the hidden circumstance of process and colour that go unseen at a scan; and enjoy looking at the same time.
David Frankovich
David Frankovich (born 1985) is an artist based in Helsinki and Toronto working in performance and experimental media. They hold a BFA in Film and Video from York University, Toronto (2007) and are currently pursuing an MA in Live Art and Performance Studies from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Their work is based in the body and its relation to others, including material, space and audience. They have exhibited internationally, including FADO Performance Art Centre (Toronto), Rhubarb Festival (Toronto), Mountain: Standard Time Performative Arts Festival (Calgary), Perform Now! Festival (Winterthur), ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival (Kuopio), CREATurE Live Art Festival (Kaunas), Cyprus International Performance Art Festival (Nicosia), Performance Studies International (Shanghai), Tonight (Helsinki) and Nomadic Arts Festival (Charciabałda and Warsaw).
Maggie McCutcheon
Maggie McCutcheon studied Comparative Literature, copy writing, and creative writing and worked as a writer before realizing she was driven by a need to create something more enduring. She returned to school and studied Furniture Craft & Design at Sheridan College. Since graduating in 2016, she has been working for herself and producing custom pieces, commissions, and the occasional small run of original designs.
Limited Nobility is a Toronto-based, luxury furniture design and production company producing small runs of original designs as well as one-off commissions. It was created in 2017 by Maggie McCutcheon with one eye on languorous indulgence, the second on the significance of materials, and the third on true forms.
Each Limited Nobility piece is on nodding terms with the canon of the past as it embraces elegantly contemporary forms. She creates work that is at once opulent and luxurious without sacrificing purpose, comfort, or concept. McCutcheon believes unwaveringly in the beauty of materials and in the truths belying organic and pure forms.
Thank you for joining us for the MOCA Artist Series - stay tuned to the blog for our announcement about the Year 2 cohort of artists who are preparing to move into the studios at the Museum in October.