Maya Skarzenski
Artist member since 2019
Toronto, Ontario
Maya Skarzenski creates creatures and emotional milieus through material play and amorphous shapes with paint, textiles, and soft sculptures. She received her BFA from OCAD University in 2020 and in 2023 was the winner of CIBC's inaugural C2: Create and Curate program. Skarzenski's work explores the intersections between the abject and the beautiful. Through the use of material exploration and by incorporating unusual process combinations, she dissolves the the line between fine-art and craft. Painting and textile techniques allow Skarzenski to create bodily imagery that is sensual, fragile, playful, and ambiguous. Art allows her to salvage beauty from the fear and unease in relation to the human body.
Inside the Studio
Q+A
What kind of artwork do you have in your home?
I love botany. Most of the art I collect are prints, usually botanical illustrations or plant related. I really enjoy all kinds of scientific illustration though.
How long have you been creating art?
I've always made art, but I decided I wanted to be a serious artist when I was 15.
Favourite artist(s) right now
Eva Hesse, Remedios Varo, and Ithell Colquhoun
Favourite medium
Embroidery thread. It's liberating. I don't have to decide on painting lines, I can just let the thread fall wherever it decides to go
Upcoming Exhibitions
2025-05-08
Select Past Exhibitions
2024
2024
2024
2023
2023
2022
2020
2020
2020
2020
2019
2019
Accolades
2023
2020
2020
2019
Press
2024
2023
2021
2020
Residencies
2024
2022
2021
Education
2020
Social
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