The Artist in Residence program is part of Workman Arts’ Rendezvous with Madness Festival and is in collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability. By providing time and resources, we believe this can support the development of a body of work to become exhibition ready for a solo show at the Tangled Art + Disability gallery vitrine space in the Spring. We offer this opportunity to a Workman Arts member who has not or has minimally exhibited their artwork, and would benefit from a solo exhibition. Helen Kong is our Artist in Residence for the 2024/25 year.
“After a stressful residential move during the pandemic in 2021, where I lost my home of 10+ years and needed to rehome beloved pets, packed my life rapidly into storage, and found myself transitioning in between spaces that feel yet to be a home. ``ReHoming`` is a project that invites people to join in my journey of revisiting the past wounds, memories, and old dreams through sorting out my storage of belongings. I hold on to these items that seem dear to me, but can no longer keep them. As part of my practice of letting go of the material things along with the sentiments that no longer serve me, I will be finding new homes for objects so they can have a new life."
– Helen Kong, 2024/25 Artist in Residence with Workman Arts & Tangled Art + Disability
This two-part installation will be a live exhibition where the artist will update the contents weekly during the exhibition period.
Part One: Rehoming Objects of Significance – These objects will be catalogued with their stories and dreams of future homes. They are available for people to bring home and revive them again.
Part Two: Rehoming Journal – A visual arts journal where Helen will create small entries to process the emotions throughout this journey (from small paintings/drawings, to weaving samples, to vessels) to rehome and process their overwhelming feelings, as they go through this necessary process of letting go and finding homes for objects that are sentimental, yet currently lifeless.
All the items will be documented in an Instagram account where people can read and listen to stories, details, and/or the history of each piece. DM on the account for inquiries and to request adopting items.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Helen Kong is a tea practitioner, ceramic artist specializing in making tea wares for Japanese and Chinese tea, and the owner and facilitator of Secret Teatime; a clay space hidden in Scarborough where people sip tea and play with clay. Aside from making, she is also a ceramics teacher and a facilitator/organizer of multi-sensory events focused on tea and food where she shares her knowledge about the Way of Tea, its philosophies and how it relates to her daily life. After more than a decade of being a primary caregiver and working as an entrepreneur artist, her studies in ritualized tea have been a source of grounding and coping. Especially in times of life and creative burnout, depression, anxiety, and her own chronic illness. Her studies in tea is also a connection with her East Asian animist roots that allows her to maintain a deep relationship to the materials, tools, and objects she collaborates with in her practice and daily life. Helen is slowly moving from the rollercoaster mindset between over-consumption and scarcity -which manifests in hoarding tendencies- to having true connective appreciation with the objects that she chooses to have in her life. This is a continuous work in progress.
Some of her recent projects include the “Ichigo-Ichie Tea Project” during Nuit Blanche Toronto 2022 which was documented in the C Magazine (Issue 156) article by Jasmine Gui “Different Things in Different Scenes: Encountering Ichi-go Ichi-e in Tea”, “Meeting for Teas” visual arts residency at the Banff Centre (2023), “The Looms We Resemble” group exhibition with Workman Arts (2024), and “In One Chawan: Seasonal Food Labs” co-facilitated with Anson Ng.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Artist in Residence program is part of Workman Arts’ Rendezvous with Madness Festival and is in collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability. By providing time and resources, we believe this can support the development of a body of work to become exhibition ready for a solo show at the Tangled Art + Disability gallery vitrine space in the Spring. We offer this opportunity to a Workman Arts member who has not or has minimally exhibited their artwork, and would benefit from a solo exhibition.
Helen Kong is our Artist in Residence for the 2024/25 year.
FEB 14 - APR 11, 2025
Opening Reception: February 14, 6-8 PM
Closing public event: April 4, 2025 (time TBD)
Location: Tangled Art + Disability (Vitrines)
401 Richmond St W Suite 124, Toronto ON M5V 3A8
Special thanks to our collaborators and funders on the Artist in Residence program.
