Biography
Maya Skarzenski is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and designer based in Toronto, Canada. She earned her BFA in Drawing and Painting from OCAD University, where she was awarded the Mrs. W. O. Forsyth Award. Her work has been featured in galleries and conferences across Canada, both through juried and solo exhibitions. She currently works as a freelance User Experience Designer, having completed a bootcamp at BrainStation. Drawing from her diverse skills and domains, she creates projects that are compassionate and human-centred.
Notable projects include exhibiting at “The Exchange: Conversations to Inspire Change with Samantha Bee” for International Women’s Day; curating for “Together Apart”, an international arts festival; and building the website for “Exuberant”, a jewellery designer currently exhibiting at New York Fashion Week.
Maya is also an organizer at Long Winter Toronto, where she puts all her skills to use by coordinating arts and music events.
Artist Statement
Much of Skarzenski's work comes from her fascination with the body’s connection and disconnection with the self. She is interested in how our bodies manifest the self and how art mimics the body in this way. The diversity of her work is brought together in harmony as it is thematically and visually similar. Soft-sculptures, satin paintings, and macro photography are the foundations of her practice but her love of each medium allows her to continuously expand her repertoire. She uses her own emotional responses to guide themes in her work. Uncertainty and ambivalence become fuel for her art production.
Artist Curriculum Vitae
Education
2020, BFA Drawing and Painting + Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Minor, OCAD University, Toronto
2022, User Experience Diploma, BrainStation, Toronto
2023, Creative Business Accelerator, Fineline, Toronto
Selected Shows
2023, Fashion Art Toronto Spring/Summer, Toronto, ON
2023, Eat Your Heart Out at The Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON
2022, Class of 2020 at Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, ON
2022, Nightmare on Queer St at The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
2022, Ghostly at 100% Silk, Toronto, ON
2022, The Practice at Habit Coffee, Victoria BC
2022, Objects of Affection, Victoria BC
2021, Keep It Alive at Gallery 1313, Toronto
2021, Collective Experience at Propeller Gallery, Toronto
2020, When I Touch You at OCADU, Toronto
2020, Festival of the Body at OCADU, juried show, Toronto
2020, Art Prom at OCADU, Toronto
2019, Creature Comfort at Dorothy H Hoover Library, Toronto
2018, C.H.U.D. at OCADU, Toronto
2018, Saturate at Beaver Hall, Toronto
2017, Punk Circus at Smiling Buddha, Toronto
2017, Food Print at OCADU, Toronto
2016, Salon of Inclusiveness at Black Cat Artspace, Toronto
2016, OCADU Pop-up at Yorkville Village Arts Festival, Toronto
2016, Viscous, Anniversary Gallery at OCADU, Toronto
2016, Skin Condition, Solo Exhibition, Gladwin Studio, Ottawa
2016, First Year Student Exhibition, juried show, OCAD University, Toronto
2014, Solo Exhibition, Gladwin Studio, Ottawa
2013, Summer Student exhibition, Emily Carr University, Vancouver
Online Exhibitions
2021, Salon 15, Propeller Gallery, Online
2021, Unlimited Dada, Propeller Gallery, Online
2021, Grad Ex 105, OCADU, Online
2020, Off the Screen, Propeller Gallery
2020, DRAWING & PAINTING CLASS OF 2020 GRADEX105 SHOW, Propeller Gallery
2020, Art in the Time of Coronavirus
Curatorial
2021, Sweet Fruit at Together Apart Festival, Curator, Toronto
2021, Long Winter Season 9 Episode 3, Co-Curator
2021, Long Winter Season 9 Episode 2, Co-Curator
2020, Long Winter Season 9 Episode 1, Co-Curator
2019, Symbiosis at OCAD University, Curator, Toronto
2016, South-Division Art Show at Campus Co-op, Curator, Toronto
Awards and Grants
2023, CIBC C2: Create and Curate Program - Recipient
2020, Mrs. W. O. Forsyth Award - Recipient
2020, OCADU Career Launcher Fund - Recipient
2019, Partial X OCADU Career Launcher - Recipient
Residencies
2022, Greenhouse Residency, Sweetpea Gallery, Victoria
2021, Akin Studio Program, Auto BLDG, Toronto
Bibliography
2023, Rising Stars: Maya Skarzenski, Suboart Magazine, online
2021, Episode #14 Maya Skarzenski, Beyond the Frame, Interview, Propeller Gallery, online
2021, Issue VIII, PACE Magazine, Ottawa, print
2020, 105 Drawing and Painting Catalogue, OCAD University, Toronto, print
2020, Remote Art Talks, Interview, Artifier, online
2017, August, “Maya Skarzenski,” Dissolving Film Mag, online
2017, June, “Dermiscapes,” The Humming Magazine, online
2016, June/July issue, The Candy Zine, online